The Northern Pacific farmer., 1885-04-30
THE TYPE-WRTER.
4 Mechanical Contrlvance with Unbounded
POpulRritY,

| POpulaflCys
The click of the typewriter IS one
Of the most familiar sounds to the fire.
queRtets of ,ddwn=tQwn efices. In
aearly: every, large office, 8n6 1f th0r9
Of these little: machines can be found
in constant use andy they are still
craving in popularity. = . '.~~
About ten years ago the first type
writer was invented. 1t was, patented.
by two Detroit men who sold their
rights to the machine, but drew q
royalty Oh it for some years. One OF
these men was printer by trade; and
for years he had been experimenting
with writing machine to supplant
the pen. He first invented a machine
for numbering automatically the
pages of books such as ledgers.
When the typewriter was first Upon
the market it was a crude machine,
| very different from what it is to-day.
The foot was Brought into operation
in it to pull back the carriage Upon
which, the paper was rolled, some=
what like d Sewing machine: There
were various other Clumsy APPLIANCES
connected with it, and the machine
was regarded by the public more as
instrument. 4 few 1dfffgs 3ffceg; how;
ever, began to use type-writers' and
the advantages of the instrument. we're
seen where a large number of; mani;
fold copies were required and it was
desirable to have very plain and
easily .,dec1phered copy, =, Improve
ments were made from time to time
in tho mechanism, and as the machine
was gradually being perfected it be-
came more and more popular.
Meantime it's success prompted 9TH
er inventors to apply themselves 60
the subject of writing machines. One
Of the first to come out was invented
ID Sweden and patent, obtained upon it
throughout Europe. Tho principle of
this type writer was radically differ
eht from that Of tho American ma
chine: Instead of the type being ar
ranged in a circular pocket aid fly
ing DIP to hit the paper, in the for
eign machine the type and keys were
arranged like pins in pincushion
and the instrument was in the shape
Of hemisphere. With the keys stick
ing out all over its surface it very
much resembled a porcupine. This
machine was very small and could
almost be carried in the pocket. It
had manly advantages over the Ameri-
machine, and likewise many disad-
vantages.
Hardly had the foreign machine
been upon tho market than another
American machine came out upon
some of the principles of the first
machine; the patents Upon which lad
expired: This was followed by anoth-:
er, on an altogether different plan,
the type being made of rubber aud
all together on little pad.
When writing the letter is brought
over small hole in plate and
through this hits the paper, all the
other types at the same time taking
up supply of ink. On the other ma
chimes an linked ribbon is brought be-
tween the type and the paper, and the
ink takes the shape of the letter pres
sing against it.
This was. followed by still another
machine wherein the type, made on
hard rubber in the form OF a cylinder,
revolved in horizontal cavity and
the paper was driven up against the
type by the release of small hammer
every time letter was struck. One
of the advantages of this latter ma
chine is that an infinite number of
characters can be used in it and type
for writing in German and other for
eign languages can be inserted at will.
A member Of the Turkish Legation
| in the United States not long ago ex-
pressed his admiration of the tvpe-
writer and his intention of having one
made that would write in the Turkish
language. There are thirty-three
letters in this language and Hassin
Efendi made a copy of them and gave
it to an engraver to make a set of
letters for the typewriter. 1t was
enly at the last minute that he dis
covered that all the type-writers work
from left to right, as the English
language is written, while Turkish is
written from right TO left. The ex-
cessive cost of altering a machine to
write in this direction decided him
not to get one. A typewriter for
writing in any language can be made,
however.
The manufacture of type-writers is
now an important American industry.
Nine-tenths of all the type-writers
used in the world are made in this
country. The traveller can now find
the American machines in daily use
in England, France, Germany, Russia,
and indeed in all the European coun-
tries. The English Government,
which is very slow to make changes
of radical or progressive nature, has
adopted the American typewriter,
and in all the Government offices in
India as well those in London and
elsewhere the machine is now in con-
stant use
The Chinise are about the only peo-
Pile who will be left out of the type
writing nations. There are 50 MANY
thousand characters in their language
that it would be impossible to con
struct machine capable of doing the
work.
There are many thousands of type
writer's in daily use in New York City,
and the instrument has long ceased to
be curiosity. With the telephone,
the Wall street ticker and the type
writer a part of every well-appointed
office, the duties of clerks have indeed
been revolutionized within the past
half century.
Very many authors now write all of
their books and magazine articles on
the typewriter, and among these are
w. D. Howells and Mark Twain. The
Declaration of independence was not
written on type writer, but if
Thomas Jefferson lived this in day he
would probably have ticked off his
immortal document upon one of these
little labor-saving machines. A legal
decision has been rendered to the ef-
feet that although type-written manu-
script is printed it is writing all the
same, and the postal authorities re.
gard it as written matter which must
pay full postage. One of the openings
for women that are constantly coming
up is copying manuscript on the type
writer, and very many girls and young
women now find it a pleasant and re-