TYPE-WRITERS. 



813 



the problem of producing a perfect type- writer. 

 The features desired, in addition to ease of oper- 

 ation, durability, and manifolding ability, are 

 automatic variable space for each letter as 

 printed, according to its width, the ability to 

 read each word and letter as printed as in hand- 

 writing, and increased speed. The result is the 

 Brooks type-writer, on which patents were issued 

 March 6, 1883, and Aug. 4, 1885. This is a type- 

 bar machine of the same class as the Reming- 

 ton, but is so constructed that the printing is 

 done on top of the platen instead of underneath, 

 and is always visible. It has 46 keys, printing 

 92 characters by means of a shift key for capi- 

 tals. Among its more marked features are 12 

 keys printing combinations of two or more let- 

 ters or words at a single stroke, and a space key 

 which may be operated simultaneously with the 

 last letter of any word. These elements consti- 

 tute the machine a practical stenograph, upon 

 which an expert operator can take down dicta- 

 tion in full, and by means of Mr. Brooks's sys- 

 tem of abbreviated long hand can do the work of 

 the stenographer in characters that can be read 

 by any person. 



The Hammond Type- Writer. This instru- 

 ment is an original and most ingenious concep- 

 tion, differing in construction from all others in 

 the market. It was invented by James B. Ham- 

 mond, of New York city, as the result of some 



THE HAMMOND TYPE-WRITER. 



sixteen years of study. Mr. Hammond began to 

 work before he was aware that any invention 

 for mechanical writing had ever occupied the 

 thoughts of others. In studying out the prob- 

 lem before him, he aimed at a construction that 

 would admit of speed while producing a perfect 

 impression and alignment, freedom in action 

 and lightness in touch, with such a position of 

 the paper to be written upon that an examina- 

 tion could be readily had. The plan originally 

 conceived was pursued, with only changes of de- 

 tail, to the end. Speaking generally, this con- 

 sisted in placing the characters to be printed on 

 a type wheel, any letter of which should be im- 

 mediately impelled by any of a set of keys to its 

 proper point and printed. The plan, as well as 

 the means, proved novel, for while during forty 

 years the best inventive skill had been devoted 

 to movements of telegraphic type wheels (a kind 

 of type-writer), no one had adopted the simple, 

 but "at the same time more difficult, method ot 

 impelling the tvpe wheel directly from the key- 

 board. At first view the Hammond type- writer 



has the appearance of a mammoth inkstand. It 

 is semicircular on the front, and its table spaco 

 is a little more than half the area of a circle 14| 

 inches diameter. The distance from from to 

 back is 12 inches, and its gross weight in wooden 

 case is about 16 pounds. There is on tin- con- 

 vex front a series of 80 keys in 2 Imnkv 

 key carries ordinarily 3 letters or characters, 

 arranged as capitals, lower-case, and figures, 

 fractions, etc. The ordinary stroke produce* a 

 lower-case letter. For a capital, a "shift " 

 marked "caps" is touched by either hand, ami 

 the pressure on any key produces its appropriate 

 capital, while a similar pressure on the figure 

 shift" produces the required figure, fraction, or 

 commercial sign. The keys are fitted upon 

 knife -shaped levers, which converge in the 

 "Monitor turret" in the middle of the in-tru- 

 ment. The turret is open at the top and on tin- 

 side where the type is presented to the paper, 

 and its interior can be readily examined. Stand- 

 ing upright in its center is a shaft carrying two 

 sections of a type wheel, facing respectively t. 

 the right and left. These sections are flanged, 

 and on their surface in bold relief are the char- 

 acters to be used, each section carrying its own 

 quota! By pressure on a spring catch, the type 

 wheel can be removed and a different style sub- 

 stituted. On either side of the turret are the 

 spools carrying the inking ribbon, which can be 

 fed from right to left or left to right at the will 

 of the operator. Hidden from view by the cover 

 on the turret are a series of pins acted upon by 

 the key levers, so that when a key is depressed 

 its appropriate pin causes the type wheel to stop 

 in the proper position to receive the imp 

 of the hammer. When the selected type is in 

 position for printing, the hammer is released, 

 which, acted upon by a spring, gives a uniform 

 blow on every type, thus giving a uniform im- 

 pression. The paper is fed in from above, and 

 passing down into a cylinder of nearly horse- 

 shoe form in its sectional view, is locked in posi- 

 tion between two rubber rollers. By the turning 

 of a thumscrew it can be fed down into the 

 cylinder until the place for the printing is 

 reached. The capacity of the cylinder is such 

 that a web of 50 feet in length can be stored. 

 While the columnar scale fitted to the front of 

 the cylinder indicates 105 spaces, yet the Ham- 

 mond" is not restricted to any particular width of 

 page, but is so constructed that paper of any 

 width can be readily used. 



The alignment is extremely accurate. The 

 type segments are cut specially, and all the 

 characters print in equal spaces. In the adjust- 

 ment of the paper two sheets are used the one 

 to be printed, and a second, preferably a thick 

 sheet, to be used as a " backer." As the carnage 

 will hold any width of paper, it is evident that 

 any desired margin may be left on either side <! 

 the writing. There is a shield of thin metal 11 

 front of the sheet of paper, and to insert a word 

 or character accidentally omitted, if the omission 

 is discovered before the paper is fed up for the 

 next line, it is only necessary to move t 

 riage until the place where the omission has 

 curred is directly below a notch in the shield. 

 The omitted character is then printed in perf< 

 alignment with the others. 



At the American Institute Fair of 1874 a 



