646 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



TDec. 28, ig 



plate. Two improvements have recently been intro- 

 duced to meet this difficulty, but they by no means re- 

 move the defect. The weight of the machine, in its 

 wooden case, is only 7 lbs. The type-plate can be 

 readily changed for one of another style, there being a 

 considerable variety. A type-plate of sufficient hard- 

 ness to produce " manifold " copies, has been promised 

 for some years, but had not made its appearance on the 

 occasion of our visit to the agents; though several im- 

 provements appear to have been made with the view of 

 reducing wear and tear. 



It is possible with this machine to use the comma as an 

 apostrophe, or to combine two vowels to make a diph- 

 thong, or to raise the r of M r - by depressing the carriage 

 while the pointer is not fairly in the hole, but is forced 

 to one side. A disadvantage, however, arises from this 

 peculiarity, for if the pointer is not held with a very 

 light hand, allowing it to go straight into the hole in the 

 index-plate, without any side strain, the result will be 

 an irregularity in the printing, and a want of alignment. 

 The Hall is of very simple construction and few parts. 



The last type-writer on our list is the World, and it 

 stands on the borderland between machines and toys. 

 It cannot boast of speed, but an hour's experiment with 

 it is sufficient to show that it may be classed among the 

 more elaborate machines that have been mentioned. Its 

 chief merit undoubtedly is that its price is about one- 

 tenth of the key machines. The paper is passed under 

 a bar and over a rubber roller. 



The type are arranged on a soft rubber segment 

 which is connected to an index-handle, and are moved 

 over an index-plate by the right hand, while the left is 

 used to depress a bar, which brings the type down 

 on the paper, and pushes the carriage on for the next 

 letter. The inking is effected by means of a pad on 

 either side, over which the type-segment is continually 

 sweeping. Considering its price, and that it measures 

 12 inches by 6, weighing 3^ lbs., it is very possible that 

 it may be worth getting when time and trouble are of 

 little consideration. 



The first cost of the type is a serious expense in the 

 construction of a type-writer. Several letters have to be 

 specially cut, the g and .y having shorter tails than usual, 

 and the m and w have to be a little cramped. Consi- 

 derable skill has been expended on the arrangement of the 

 keyboards and indices, with the view of placing the 

 letters which are in most frequent use in the most con- 

 venient position. If this were all, the arrangement 

 would be simple enough, but care is also taken in most 

 machines to place near to each other letters which often 

 come together. In the following examples, the charac- 

 ters which may be produced by depressing changing 

 keys are not given. The Remington keyboard is ar- 



ranged thus : — ■ 





2 3 4 



5 6 



• O W E R 



T Y 



A S D 



F G 



upper Z X C 



V B 



case 





The Hammond thus :- 





Z Q J B P F D 



cap. fig. 



? X K G M C L 



spaces 



lower 

 case 



U I O 

 H J K 



N M , 



H R S U W V 



A E I O N Y : 



It will be seen that the word the is easily written by 



striking the / with the first finger of the right hand, the 



h with the second finger, and the e with the same finger, 



sliding off the upper row on to the e below. 



The keys for the words thai, these, their, on, is, come 

 together in a very convenient manner. 



In the Hall type-writer, the index moves with the car- 

 riage to the right after each letter is printed. The arrange- 

 ment of the characters is therefore from right to left. 

 1. 23456789 

 o " " § i f * £ S 

 KBFGNIASO 

 T CDO EHTWV 

 X M Y L & R U P Z 

 kbfg nias q 

 j cd.oehtvw 

 xmyl.rup z 



.. [i *;,-?. = ] 



In printing the word the, the pointer is pressed into 

 the hole marked t, and, on releasing the pressure, the 

 carriage moves on a step to the right, thus bringing the h 

 under the pointer, which need not be moved at all ; the 

 e follows the h in the same way. The frequent termi- 

 nation, ing, presents itself to the hand in the same way. 

 The characters th, in, ly, are also arranged with the same 

 view. 



Since writing the above, we have sought to supple- 

 ment our personal experience and the glowing account 

 of their own machines which all agents are so ready to 

 give, by a visit to the Westminster Type-writing and 

 Shorthand Office, at 2, Victoria Mansions, Westminster. 

 This is one of the already numerous establishments which 

 is conducted entirely by ladies, for whom, if work they 

 must, no work could be better adapted. In this office a 

 special point is made of perfect accuracy, and we are 

 surprised to hear that a speed of about sixty words a 

 minute is generally kept up. When the subjects un- 

 dertaken are, one day, sermons; another, copies of actors' 

 parts of plays; then a surgical MS. bristling with techni- 

 calities — besides all kinds of legal work and authors' 

 " copy " — even this speed must entail a good deal of close 

 attention and care. 



Should any of our readers feel that they have arrived 

 at that time of life when it is their duty to society to 

 publish their " reminiscences," they need only send for 

 a lady who will take down the matter in shorthand and 

 send it back in print, this being a class of work under- 

 taken by the office we have mentioned ; nor will they be 

 unprepared if the work is to be translated into Russian 

 or Hindustani. 



A Remarkable Meteorite. — The heaviest purely 

 metallic meteorite as yet known is the " thunderbolt " of 

 the Arab Sheik Kalaph Ben Assab. This chieftain saw it 

 falling in the Valley of Kalede, in Central Arabia, in the 

 year 1863, and presented it to the Persian Governor of 

 Bunder Abbas. The latter sold it, along with a formal at- 

 testation of the finder, to the English authorities, and it 

 has since been chemically examined. It consists of 91-04 

 per cent, of iron, 7-40 nickel, o-66 cobalt, traces of 

 copper, phosphorus and sulphur, and 0-39 of amorphous 

 carbon. It contains no stony matter, and only includes 

 scattered traces of troilite and graphite. Its weight is 

 120 lbs., and it is consequently the largest purely metal- 

 lic meteorite or " holosiderite " known. The meteorite 

 of Pallas, now in the St. Petersburg Museum, is much 

 heavier, but it contains many cavities filled with olivine, 

 and is consequently a " syssiderite." It is the tenth me- 

 teorite which has been seen actually descending. It fell 

 during a thunderstorm, and made a deep hole in the 

 earth. 



