248 SCIENTIFIC RECREATIONS. 



be of any less width, and a post-card or any small sheet of paper may be 

 substituted. If the width be thus limited the length may be indefinite, and 

 a very long line of paper may be used if desirable. The cylinder being made 

 of gutta-percha offers a soft surface to the impression of the hammer, and 

 causes the letter to assume greater distinctness. 



The inked ribbon which passes underneath the paper is so arranged 

 that no two successive letters strike it on the same place. It moves from an 

 ink reservoir on the right to another on the opposite side, and it can be made 

 to return beneath the paper, thus keeping up the supply. The impression 

 being made in copying ink, the message or letter when finished can easily be 

 reproduced in an ordinary press. The characters are all " capitals." 



At first it may be found a slow means of writing, and the manipulator 

 may imagine he can do better without it. But if the author be certain of 

 what he intends to say, after a little practice at the instrument, and when he 

 becomes accustomed to 'the positions of the various letters, etc., the rate at 

 which words can be printed off will far exceed that at which even rapid 

 writers can work. A young English lady after some days' practice was able 

 to write as many as ninety words a minute with this machine a rate more 

 than double the average writing rate of penmanship. When such a rate or 

 an approximation to it can be attained, those who are quick in their ideas 

 will find the machine a great saving of time, and for any one afflicted with 

 " writer's cramp " the gain must be enormous. We need not insist upon the 

 advantages the adaptation of the apparatus would confer upon editors and 

 readers of MSS. too often badly written, and to compositors the invention 

 is a great boon. 



Finally, the working of the machine could be entrusted to the blind, and 

 by teaching them the form of letters which could be raised upon the key- 

 board, those so sadly afflicted could write with facility. Some methods for 

 teaching the blind to manipulate and to read from the impressions of the 

 hammers on the paper have already been tried with success. 



The Electric Pen, an invention of the fertile brain of Mr. Edison, is 

 shown in fig. 259. The " writing " consists of a series of little holes close 

 together, made by a fine steel point like a put-crayon. This point is thrust 

 in and out with great rapidity, and passes quickly over the paper. If the 

 characters cannot be formed so quickly as with an ordinary pen, the writing 

 is very distinct. 



The alternative movement is given to the pen by an electric motor at 

 once simple and ingenious, which is placed on the top of the penholder. 

 The general appearance of the apparatus will be understood from the cut 

 on next page. 



The point is the termination of a wire which traverses the penholder, 

 and the upper extremity of which catches on the motor by an eccentric. This 

 eccentric has three teeth or cogs, and it makes sixty revolutions a second, 

 thus producing one hundred and eighty beats in that time. The axle 

 carries a plate of soft iron, which acts like the armature of an electro- 



