The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-02-01
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RAPID TYPEwRITINe.
The Methods by Which Expert Operators
Are Able to Attain Great Speed.

xn8 MeEnOQS DY w mon Expert OpoT6COES
Are Able to Attain Great Speed.
Not one person in hundred who has
dictated to an expert typewriter is
aware Of the numerous devices and
methods of practice which the operator
resorts to in order to keep up with the
dictation. Five years ago a pupil was
thought to be qualified TO be an Office
amanuensis who wrote correctly an
average of 115 words minute in short
hand, ample time being allowed for
transcribing the notes. Nowadays there
are those who maintain this speed di-
rect on the typewriter without recourse
to any form of abbreviation whatever.
An observer of the peculiarities of many
speedy typewriter operators said to
Sun reporter that in almost every in
stance the most rapid were piano play
ers.
'sPiano players, - said he, ''have great
facility of finger movement and even
ness of touch and pressure upon the
keys, which is indispensable to fast
writing. They also have the faculty Of
so covering the keyboard with the hands
as to strike each key with great skill
and precision. By a much improved
method of typewriting all the fingers of
each hand are utilized, and piano prac-
tioe is highly beneficial in strengthen
ing and adapting for use the third and
fourth fingers, which are always weaker
and less easily controlled than the 9TH
ers. It also educates the fingers to CO.
operate with the mind, and on the whole
is quite an essential preliminary train
ing for the expert typewriter. -
This theory was denied, however, by
expert typewriters whom the reporter in
terviewed. 1t was found that instead Of
using all the fingers, as on the piano,
comparatively few of the best typewrit-
ers employ more than two fingers Of
each hand. and that at least one of the
foremost operators uses only the index
fingers. Great speed is attained, these
experts said not by specially training the
fingers to asst quickly, but by learning
to write rapidly the component parts Of
words and by becoming familiar with
the relative position Of the keys that
must be struck to form words To fol-
low the speech of the average person
debating it is necessary to strike at least
eight keys every second, and the pres
sure upon each key must be uniform
and regular, or the writing may appear
ragged and indistinct.
A skillful typewriter usually imagines
the keyboard of his machine to be di-
vided near its center. and each division
of keys he operates with the right or
left hand exclusively. BY always using
the same fingers to write frequently re-
curing words and combinations he be-
comes SO familiar with them as to be
Ill
curacy even when blindfolded. Until
within very few years the ability of
the operator seems to have been greater
than the capacity of the machine, and
the latter would not respond to more
than 10 or IL strokes of the keys per
second. New machines and devices are
now provided by which IS characters
have been written in a second, with per-
feet impression and spacing. This
would equal speed of more than 100
words minute, which, if it could be
maintained, would be sufficient to re-
cord verbatim more than nine-tenths Of
all public speeches as they are deliv.
cred.
In very rapid writing every little
bindrance to speed has to be avoided, and
the operator can seldom stop to examine
| any part of his work until it is finished.
Many business houses of the city now
employ expert typewriters for the pur.
poses of correspondence instead of hav.
ing shorthand writers to receive dicta-
ton and afterward transcribe the notes.
The number of operators relied upon tc
do this work is very small, for to be.
come an expert typewriter requires pc
culiar aptness and ability and many
months, if not years, of methodical prac.
tice, and if familiarity with the piano
assists typewriter to speed it is prin.
cipally through Strengthening the oper.
ator's memory and perseverance. New
/ York Sun