Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-05-15
y TYPEWRITER.
A H~abor-saving. Machine Which Sprung
Immediately Into Popularity.

XAE TYfes"11 e""
v.hor-say,ng. Machine Which Sprung
Immediately Into Popularity
The click of the typewriter is one Q
the most familiar sounds to the re-
ouenter, Of downtown offices. In
nearly every large office one or more OF
these little machines can be found in
! constant use and they are still growing
N popularity.
About ten years ago the first type.
writer was invented. 1t was patented
! by two Detroit men who soon solo
their rights to the machine, but dre" =
ROYALTY on it for some years. one o
these. men was a printer by trade' anu
for wears he had been experimenting
with a writing machine to supplant Inc
pen. He first invented a machine 1or
numbering automatically the pages Oh
books such as ledgcrs. When thetypc-
writer was first upon the market 1T was
| a crude machine, very different from
| what it is to-day. The foot was brought
| into operation in it to pull back tho
carriage upon which the paper was
rolled, somewhat like sewing machine.
There were various other clumsy ap-
p~liances connected with it, and the ma
chine was regarded by the public more
as a curiosity than as a practical writ
ing instrument. A few large offices,
however, began the use of type-writers.
and the advantages OF the instrument
were seen where a large number o
manifold copies were required and 1t
was desirable to have a very plain and
easily deciphered copy. improvements
were made from time totime in the
mechanism, and as the machine was
gradually being perfected it became
more and more popular.
Meantime its success prompted otner
inventors to apply themselves to the
subject Of writing machines. One ot
the first to come out was invented IN
Sweden and patents obtained upon it
throughout Europe. The principle OF
this typewriter was radically different
| from that of the American machine.
| Instead of the type heing arranged in a
| circular pocket and flying up to hit the
| paper, in the foreign machine the type
and keys were arranged like pins in a
| pincushion and the instrument was in
the shape of a hemisphere. With the
keys sticking out all over it's surface it
| very much resembled aporcupine. This
machine was very small and could al
most be carried in the pocket. 1t had
many advantages ove the American
machine, and likewise many disadvan-
tageA
Hardly had the foreign machine been
| upon the market than another Ameri-
can machine came out upon some Of
| the principles of the first machine, the
! patents upon which had expired. This
was followed on an altogether differ
ent plan, the type being made OF rub
| Der and all together on a little pad.
When writing the letter is brought
over a small hole in a plate and
through this hits the paper, all the 9TH
er types at the same time taking up a
supply of ink. On the other machines
an linked ribbon is brought between the
| type and the paper, and the ink takes
the shape of the letter pressing against
it.
This vas followed by still another
machine wherein the type, made of
hard rubber in the form of a cylinder,
revolved in a horizontal cavity and the
paper was driven up against the type
by the release of a small hammer
every time a letter was struck. One of
the advantages of this latter machine
is that IN infinite number of characters
"a be used in it and type for writing
in German and other foreign 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 type
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
Efiendi made q copy Of them and
gave it to an engraver to make a set of
letters for She typewriter. 1t was
only at the last moment that he dis
covered that all the ~type-writers work
from left to right, as the English Ian
guage 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 IL this country.
The traveller can now find the Ameri-
can machines in daily use in England,
France, Germany, Russia, and in
deed in all the European countries.
The English Government, which is
very slow to make changes OF a radical
or progressive nature, has adopted the
American typewriter, and in all the
Government offices in India, rs well as
those in London and elsewhere the ma
hun is IN constant use.
The Chinese are about the only pco-
pie who will be left out of the type-
writing nations. There are so MANY
thousand characters in their language
that 1T would be impossible to con
struct a machine capable of doing their
work.
There are many thousands of type
writer's in daily use in New York CITY.
and the instrument has long since
ceased to be q curiosity. With the tel
eplOne, the Wall street ticker on1 +ha