The morning call., 1892-12-28
TYPES OF TYPEwRITERS.
Peculiarities by Which the Work OF
Differeut Persons Can Be Detected.
New York Tribune.

New YORK Tribune.
The:typeWritten page has no Individual
ity for most persons. but study of the
subject shows many characteristics by
which the work of different machines and
different operators can de distinguished
This field presents fewer opportunities
tlan does that Of the handwriting expert.
but is, nevertheless, OF some interest and
importance. In a legal contest the whole
case might hinge on the authenticity Of
page Of: Of:typewriting
For. instanee.:it became necessary in a
court nat long ago TO fnd out whether one
page of ths long typewriter document In
in evidence had not been replaced with
another, in:which the words had been
. changed.
In this case Of course, the suspected page
was written on.the same kind OF machine as
the Others. The difference between lnstru-
nfents of the various manufacturers was,
therefore, of no service,
An expert stenographer and teacher of
typewriting was called as witness In re-
pLy to questions put bV counsel he said that
as general rule it was not difficult for an
expert to: distinguish between the writing
upon different machines Of the same manu-
facture.
Two instruments might write so nearly
alike as 10 make it impossible to determine
upon which of them a certain sheet was
turned out. Still there are many little
marks. OF variance in the writing of differ
elt machines, and even of the same one, at
different times or when used by different
persons.
The witness did rot believe that the page
in question was wfitten at the same time
that the others were, nor by the same per-
: SON.: All might have been written on the
same machine, bnt not consecutiyely.
The reasons given for this conclusion
were. in the first place, that the type used
on page II were-clear; on the others many
of the small letters were clogged up. The
sc" and:"s" were especially bad.
The ribbon used for page II was not so
much worn as that for the rest Of the docu-
1nent.ahd the writing was more uniform in
color TIE latter fact was in part due to
the superior skill of the writer of the single
page.
: Tbs letters were in better alignment on
that page that on the others, in which the
st" and Sc" were badly out of their proper
position. In page II the ''T' was accurately
ceBtered; in the rest il was to the left of
where il should be-.
The "p" was upright ON the suspected
sheet ard leaned a trf1e on the others. be-
ing furned in the bar. The other sheet also
had wider margin by two spaces than
those which followed and preceded it,
When asked why he believed that differ
ent,pefSons wrote the sheets he said that
the operator who turned out page IL was
more expert than the other.
The. formers touch was more uniform
one OF his letters seemed to override each
other. as was sometimes the case On the
other pages. His punctuation marks did
not perfotate the paper
The linden tions of his paragraphs were
six spaces against FIVE On the rest of the
document: He1sed three spaces between
his sentenees: the others, only two. TIE
first made space after comma. the SEC
oDd did not.
The writer of. the bulk OF the paner was
less acquainted with the rules of punctua-
tion- than was the other man, One man al
ways put period and a colon after the
words. Ito Wit; the other used only a
comma.
For the. figure ], in the paging Of sheet II.
lower case 81" was used; on the other
sheets capital ~" The Jury could
hardly help agreeing with the experts con-
clusions.
The quality Of uniformity is one in which
good typewriters may differ greatly. Some
strike harder with the right hand than with
the left, and thus stamp their work indel-
ibly.
Others occasionally shadow" letters
that is, blur their outlines. by holding the
key down. too long or by striking it side
ways. Perhaps the idiosyncrasies of pune
fuaaon are the most Trustworthy earmarks
of all.
The force of habit impeIs operators never
10 vary from their own practice in. given
cases. Take the sentence: "When did you
60 there-Monday ?''
0ns man would put question mark after
there" :; another a comma; still another a
dash, or a 'semi-colon, a comma and a dash
a semi-colon and dash might also be used
a skilled man always follows his own usage
lii such cases..