| James Densmore | |
| Birth Date: | 1820 2, mf=yes[1] |
| Birth Place: | Moscow, New York, United States |
| Death Place: | Brooklyn, New York, United States |
| Nationality: | American |
James Densmore (February 3, 1820 – September 16, 1889) was an American businessman, inventor and vegetarian. He was a business associate of Christopher Sholes, who along with Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soule helped contribute to inventing one of the first practical typewriters at a machine shop located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[2]
It was believed that Densmore had suggested splitting up commonly used letter combinations in order to solve a jamming problem, but this called into question.[3] This concept was later refined by Sholes later refined this concept, so it became known as the QWERTY key layout.
Densmore was a militant vegetarian. His diet consisted of mostly raw apples.[4] His brother was physician Emmet Densmore.[5]
Densmore also supported women's suffrage in Wisconsin. When he was the editor of the Oshkosh True Democrat the paper publicly supported women's right to vote.