The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-11-03
,.srrr1Ne By MACHINE.
D-.zs the Key and the Machine
YOU Attends TO the Rest.

- the art OF pTluLlnss HaA sHOASO
In'sI -.,- row Yesterday. and actuated
up .,ivss of curiosity, wandered
6y ofioe not a hundred feet from
In'0 .. buildirg, simply to see how
tle mad got along after his death,
bis az are that be would have received
TIE chADs sstonishment that would have
snoeA ~, gasp. He would have seen
maze IN wearing Derby hat and dla-
youus scarf pin gently tapping some let
III 49, On a machine thaL looked some
t.ss i-- Ike the amework 81 giris corset,
l- ,97f ne had asked him what rs was DOING
re Y Jug man "ouiI nave
'1 I'm se.tiag type"
- rbis would probably have scared old
Gutenberg back to death.
nan nan Ot,ee- lookipg machine was a Rogers
ln5 ,-'b named after its inventor, Prof,
tyIos5 poTers. Itseemed the easiest thing
dom A. '.--or,d TO operate it. All that was
III -1e W.. Was to press a key corresponding
n 80 - that you wanted, and then an
70 tAe ~ and another, until you had fin
oI1ei Inc then touch lever, and there
Hu.bs1 your writing let up IN solid line
- brand-nsw type, manufactured ON the
II Is a wonderful machine, and Sun
so@-tsr spent an hour yesterday In examln-
lepC description Of it IN technical
iDg II you'd be as difficult for the re-
ialsL p write as it would be for the reader
p! .'''o5ts-stand. So here's what it looks like
Tho whole affair, in the first place, rests
4Ia foor. 4 feet square, and Is a. feet
- l. weighs 450 pounds. AT the first
shtit Is seen that there are two distinct
rs tbe body. u mass Of iron and steel,
- Inc upper part, IA network OF wires,
az with It's keyboard, looks like big
.,+Sarr,tsr Ii the bowels of the machine
.5s ronorter could see a blue flame sur
ra,,nding the mouth of q small black pipe.
Tba keyboard was almost the same as thai
of an ordinary typewriter, excepting IN the
s-rsncennant of the letters and Ia the size of
oha tevs When you pressed key it
sart down into hole in the board. Con-
.'octsI with the lover end Of each key was
stiF wire which extended back about
sigbteen inches, and from the outer end OF
his wire dangled strips Of metal which
looked like the steels of corset, only they
yyere notched along the side. These are the
features of the machine which first strike
the observer. When the reporter looked
more closely he found an intricate maze of
wheels and levers and bars and moulds and
cutting machines But complicated as the
machine looked, Its working was very
sin,nle and could be learned in a few min
utes.
The dangling strips at the back of the
machine we're matrices. In the steel side of
eacn was the perfect impression of printed
letter from which type could be made.
At the end Of each stiff wire hung several
matrices contai ing q certain letter, but
the letter was different on every wire. For
instance, at the end Of one wire hung per-
baps dozen matrices, ell containing a
mould of the letter ''e, and another wire
contained matrices OF the letter "a, " and so
on. the numte r Of MATRICES of each letter
depeading on the frequency with which that
.etter occurs in an average sentence. Thus
tL.-o would be twalve or thirteen 'e'sn for
t..e8 or four "xiSn In another part of
the machine is wire which contains lot
q peculiarly shaped disks Of metal which
are used fer spacing the words. These will
be explained further on. The kew board is
about one foot wide, and the stiff wires as
they emerge from under it cover about
that space. Now, these wires spread out
and extend upward and outward, so that
ct tle end from which the matrices hang
they form almost a seInicircle, with the
diameter parallel with the edge Of the key
board This gives all the wires a slant. and
wuen matrlx is released it slides down
the wire toward the keyboard. That much
for The upper part.
trudes from the hot fame of gas Jet or a
lamp, or whatever may be used, connects
with an iron box which is filled with molten
tyne metal Inls is so arranged that when
ROD IN the back Of the machine revolves
II squirts stream Of si!very liquid through
the pipe.
And now for the working of the machine,
Fastened TO an iron stand in front of the
nacnlne was leather seat, just like those
Used On a bicycle. Mr.. c. c. Ruthrauff,
tae vice president and general manager of
Tue rogers 1ypograph Company. who was
explaining all the things to the reporter,
asked him to sit down here aud to
settype. he did not ask Ii the reporter
knew anything about typesetting. He
SIMPLY told him to go ahead and set.
having seen the young man with the Derby
~. az WORK, and knowing little about
GINlng On typewriters, the reporter went
d1ead he pressed the key bearing tine
.5''eT Il" There was little rattle, and
teeh taatrix, which had been released by
we pressure, came sliding down the wire,
guu iei INTO groove right under the key
e2Iu, Ine lower end of the matrix hung
's-l me mouth Of the black pipe. The re-
Lol'ef loked at BIZ. Ruthrauff to see if that
was all right
want ton '0u
Inc reporter touched 81" and there W as
,so Sue' reL1e ana a slide and another
t "'|41 cslhe down on another wire and
au- & ueslde the first, so that the rnolds of
side. =" AL oven nne SLUG oy
49, uppoSlng want to write another word
reporter JUG 'i'S'o0' aSAeu Une
MAJ, Jus. touch that brass key without any
tbe Exporter did so and disk slid beside
gza0f T. Imagine piece of iron the
| MIL, -, na'I dollar, one-Quarter of an inch
mil =. w. oHs Sue and then narrowing down
visi,,r,. "aS about as thick as an ordinary
Il lug ,s cara on The other side.
One of SG u form sort of circular wedge.
na-ror ' o5 wedges slipped down with its
renortan 9 " next to the matrix of ''f" The
srace t'en spelled out You, space, see,
San sr ~ space, In, space the, space,
raufF bo3aGite' It's, space, SO. Mr.. Ruth
and c'nld ~. followed the reporters finger
.Iep9rter said he had finished Mr.
aud said: az JIG row OF matrices
ons lGu haven't filed the line. Touch the
rlgbt marx several times. There. hats
floor Vii 'O"' press that lever near the
agall.n ''ui hoo1, and then take 1t OFF
the wboIpp 0rler did so. aud it seemed that
lever tbUo.4 Dacnlne was in motion The
hachina ; rod in the back of the
aud tho luz .nGo The gear of small d dynamo,
Wonders roo %. turned once and performed
Pressed a.. + Irst 1t moved a bar which
Matrices e0luSI the space disks between the
Spread tbo auu these, acting like wedges,