Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1873-08-30
WHOLE NO. 667.
A WRITING MACHINE.

Dewsmore, seems to be an invention
which, if the difficulty of its somewhat
high price can only be surmounted, will
be almost as great boon to printers as
printing itself was to the world at large.
At oil events its adoption will prove
that hosts humant generis, "the printers
reader" of all chance of throwing back
upon the grabbed penmanship of the
maddened author the responsibility of
the travestie in which he has presented
his pet incubations to bewildered pub
lie. The writing machine is, with it's
stand, about the size of small sewing
machine; and consists of q keyboard,
with three rows of keys, each of which
is marked with II letter or number, and
connected with long wire hammer,
similar in action to those of the piano.
forte, but bearing at the striking end,
instead of the usual hard-covcred leath-
er hammer, the metal dye bearing the
same letter or figure as that on the key.
These hammers are ranged in circle;
SO disposed that each hammer when
thrown up by the action of its kew
strikes upon the same spot on wooden
cylinder, round which is rolled the pa
per to be written upon.
Under this paper is q piece of ordind-
ry carbonized paper, SO that when the
die on the hammer strikes upon it the
white paper is at once marked with
whatever letter or figure may be upon
the die. AS the key which has been
struck rises on being relieved from the
pressure upon it, its action loosens a
catch by which the wooden cylinder
has been detained in its place, and the
cylinder, acted upon by coiled spring
at one end, moves on a small space so
as to expose fresh surface for the inn
print of the next die, which, on its key
being struck, rises as before, and marks
the paper with fresh letter or figure
immediately following tho first. In
this way each word is spelled, the
striking of light wooden bar which
runs along the front of the keyboard
sufficing at the end of each word to-
move the cylinder forward without maxi
ing any mark upon the paper, thus
forming the space between the words.
There are, of course, keys carrying
the various notes of Interrogation, ETC.,
and it will readily be seen that by this
simple arrangement sentence may be
printed off even much more rapidly
than it can be written, each letter re-
quiring, instead of the complicated,
though unconscious, process of forma-
ton by pen or pencil, only the single
rap of the finger upon the key.
The only difficulty in the way-beside
the slight initial difficulty in learning
the keyboard by heart and practicinS
desired letter-is that of finishing en-
tirely with each letter before touching
the key which is to print the next. OF
course, as all the hammers strike pre-
cisely upon the same spot, it will be
readily under stood that the striking of
two keys at time would necessarily
produce collision and very probably
q foul" This, however, q very little
practice enables the writer to avoid,
and, when once tolerable facility of
handling is acquired, there is but little
difficulty in writing with the machine
at from so to 100 per cent. quicker than
is possible with the pen, with the inn
mense advantage that what you have
done is printed in plain, unmistakable
type.
At the end of each line little bell
rings out warning, and simple action
of the treadle, on which the foot rests
while working, shifts the cylinder back
to its starting point, giving it at. the
same time the small turn required to
expose fresh surface for the reception
of the new line, and rewinding the
spring by which it is moved. The ar
rangement of letters on the keyboard
is somewhat curious; following q prin-
ciple the exact reverse of the ordinary
case," and somewhat similar to that
adopted in the distribution of the num-
bers round the cylinder of the roulette
table.
The great object of the compositor's
case is to get the letters which are most
used as much as possible together.
The great object of the writing machine
keyboard is to get them as far as pos
sib'e apart, interposing between them
the letters of less frequent requirement,
and for this obvious reason, that q
hammer that has struck its blow gets
more quickly out of the way of another
hammer ut some little distance off than
of its next door neighbor, and If all
the often used letters were next to one
another, it would be scarcely possible
with rapid work to avoid constant foul
ing. As it is, the machine can be
worked easily up to from 60 to so words
per minute, and with less fatigue to the
operator than in writing the ordinary
way Is or 80 words q minute, BIZ the
use Of tissue paper and adtlit'0nAA car
BOMBED leaves .eeigllt or ten fac an,lcs
can be printed simultaneously 8Isloat
ans extra tro;:Ea.& Il is . ~ asss
ioas machine, apd very si1aPis infFig...=
ssru3tion. sgsDss
- $50 o -
80 Deyelope your miner is
=. Z. = -. :. .-..-L 80