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TYPE-WRITERS. 



immediate neighbors, will be spoiled. Inasmuch 

 as the impact of the type hammer makes its im- 

 press through the ribbon on the " ribbon sheet," 

 it is to be observed that in all cases the carbon- 

 ized side of the carbon paper is to be so laid that 

 its impress will be given as if it were acting in 

 place of the ribbon, consequently, in laying the 

 folds the alternate sheets must in all cases be 

 laid with the carbon side up. Care must be 

 taken to have them evenly adjusted, lest the 

 edges become blurred or soiled. A book of al- 

 ternate white and colored leaves is made, and 

 put into the type-writer as if a single sheet. 

 For special purposes thin oiled paper is employed 

 for duplicates, with double carbon paper, set- 

 ting off on both sides, the work being readable 

 through the oiled sheets. The' ribbon is removed 

 to save its interference with the sharper impres- 

 sions. From twenty to thirty copies have been 

 secured by this procedure. Although black is 

 the color ordinarily used, the set-off sheets are 

 readily colored with aniline dyes. 



The Stenograph or Shorthand Machine. 

 The stenograph is the invention of M. M. Bar- 

 tholomew, who was court stenographer at Belle- 

 ville, 111., near St. Louis, Mo., and secured under 

 letters issued May 20, 1879, followed 'by several 

 others as improvements were suggested". It has 

 .achieved marked success. It is a small machine, 

 consisting of 5 writing keys, each carrying a 

 marker. There is a spacing key, a paper guide, 

 an inked ribbon, with reels for holding it, a de- 

 vice for moving the paper forward, and a reel 

 for holding the paper. Four of the writing keys 

 are V-shaped, and one is straight. All the letters 

 -can be made either with the right hand or the 

 left. The 4 finger pieces on the left of the key- 

 board are duplicates of those on the right, arid 



THE STENOGRAPH. 



make the same marks on the paper. Those on 

 the left are operated by the fingers of the left 

 hand, and those on the right by the fingers of 

 the right hand. The straight key is operated by 

 either thumb. The spacing key moves the paper 

 without making any mark on it. The possibili- 

 ties of mechanical writing were made the subject 

 of investigation by Mr. Bartholomew as early as 

 1873. Sentences were analyzed, the average 

 number of letters to the word essential to legi- 

 bility estimated, and he endeavored to ascertain 

 the number of distinct movements of the fingers 

 of expert telegraphers and musicians. The re- 

 sult of his labor was a machine so made that the 

 complete alphabet is produced with either hand 

 .and the hands used alternately in writing, as the 



feet are in walking. The problem was thus 

 solved. The idea of V-shaped keys soon pre- 

 sented itself, leaving no doubt as to the feasibility 

 of the undertaking. His work proceeded slowly 

 but early in 1879 a machine was in writing or- 

 der. The first person to put it into practical use 

 was Henry Thwing. of Belleville, 111., who, in 

 September, 1879, began work as a stenographer 

 for the St. Louis branch of Fairbanks & Co. In 

 the autumn of 1881 the inventor began using it 

 in his work as court stenographer, but no ex- 

 tended effort was made to introduce it until the 

 autumn of 1883, when a company was formed in 

 St. Louis called the United States Stenograph 

 Company. At this time about 80 instruments 

 had been sold, chiefly through the efforts of the 

 inventor, while still continuing his regular work. 

 The spelling employed differs from the common 

 spelling chiefly in the omission of the silent let- 

 ters and unnecessary vowels, with a strong lean- 

 ing toward phonetics. Owing to the mechanical 

 uniformity of the characters produced, the work 

 performed by the use of the machine is more ac- 

 curate than pen and pencil shorthand. There 

 being but one way of writing a character or rep- 

 resenting a sound, it is much more easily learned 

 than ordinary shorthand. It can also be used 

 without looking at it, enabling the operator to 

 look at the person speaking while writing what 

 he says, and to keep his eyes on a book or paper 

 while copying extracts from it. 



The Columbia Type-Writer. This is the 

 invention of Charles Spiro, of New York city, 

 first patented July 28, 1885. Mr. Spiro was a 

 watch and chronometer maker, and had won 

 reputation as an inventor of watch machinery. 

 In his type-writing mechanism he sought a per- 

 fect alignment and to have the words printed 

 in view. The base of the instrument is of metal. 

 Two sizes are made. The No. 1 complete weighs 

 about 3 pounds, is 9 inches long, 2 inches wide, 

 and 6 inches high, printing only capital letters. 

 No. 2 weighs with its case 4| pounds, and prints 

 both capitals and lower-case. There are 2 disks, 

 1 vertical and revolving, the other horizontal 

 and stationary. The vertical has printer's type 

 driven into its periphery, and moves over a rub- 

 ber-covered cylinder platen. On the left of the 

 instrument is a projecting frame and a milled 

 groove in which runs the paper carriage. From 

 the back of the frame, between two standards, a 

 round steel arm projects to the right and over 

 the center of the machine about 6 inches. This 

 main arm is fitted with a beveled toothed lock- 

 ing wheel, back of which is a space ring contain- 

 ing as many different depressions as there are 

 widths of letters. It is so placed that each letter 

 is opposite the proper depression on the locking 

 wheel, and when printed takes up the space that 

 its thickness requires. This feature belongs to 

 no other type-writing machine heretofore known, 

 and entirely eliminates the peculiar appearance 

 recognized as a characteristic of type-writing in 

 general. The alignment is perfect, and the ap- 

 pearance of a printed page is as if done in a 

 Eirinting-office. The operator turns the rubber 

 andle on the vertical disk, until the index fin- 

 ger on the dial wheel points to the required let- 

 ter, presses down, and the letter is made. The 

 inking apparatus consists of a round pad, re- 

 volving on a shaft fitted to the inner arm. 



