The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1895-08-24
A r%YpewR,rlNc,
The Methods by Which Expert Operator,
Arc Able to Attain Great Speed.

Not one person in a hundred who has
dictated 20 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
amannensis who wrote correctly an
average OF III. words a minute in s lort-
hand, ample zine being allowed for
iIanscribing the notes. Nowadays there
those who maintain this speed direct on
the typewriter without ecourse to any
form of ahbrevia'ion whatever An OBJ.
server of the peculiarities of many
speedy typewriter operators said to q
N. Y. San reporter that in almost every
instance the most rapid were piano
players.
Piano players" said he, shave great
facility OF finger movement and even.
ness OF touch and pressure upon the
keys. which is indispensable to fast type.
writing They also have the faculty o.
SO covering the keyboard with the hands
as 10 strike each key with great skill
and precision. BY a much improved
method Of typewriting all the fingers
Of each mand are utilized, and piano
practice is highly beneficial ir
strengthening AMI adapting for use the
third aud fourth fingers, which are al.
ways weaker aud less easily controlled
than the others. 1t also educates the
fingers to cooperate With the mind, and
on the whole is quite an essential pre-.
liminary training for the expert type
writer"
This theory was denied. However, by
expert typewriters whom the reporter
interviewed. II was found that, instead
of using all of the fingers, as on the
piano. comparatively few of the best
tyyewrltcrs employ more than tive
fingers OF zach hand, and that at least
one OF the foremost operators uses only
The index fingers. Great speed is at.
tanned, these experts said, not by
specially training the fingers to act
quickly, but by learning to write rapid
iy the component par..s of words, and
lay becoming familiar with the relative
position of the keys that must be strrck
to form words. To follow the speech
of the average person debating i, is
necessary to strike nj leas! eight KEYS
every second. and the pressure upon each
key must be uniform and regular or
the writing may appear ragged and IN.
distinct.
a skil!fnl' typewriter usually inn
AGNES the keyboard OF his machine TO
be divided near ills center aud each di-
VISION OF keys he operates with the right
or lett hand exclusively. BY always
useing the same fingers 10 write ire.
luently recurring words and combina-
lions he becomes 50 la,niiiar with them
rs 10 be able to write with great speed
and accuracy even wien b%.inlfulucd.
Until within a very few years the ability
Of the operator seems to have been
greater than the capacity of the ma.
chine, and The latter would not respond
to more than ten or twelve strokes of
the key per second. New machines
and devices are now provided by which
sixteen characters have been written in
A second, with perfect impression and
spacing, This would equal Il speed of
more than 100 words II minute. which, If
II could be maintained, would be suili-
cient to record verbatim more than nine
;enths of all publicdspeeches as they are
delivered.
In very rapid writing every little
hinderance to speed has to be avoided,
aud the operator can seldom stop 10 en-
nmine any part OF his work until it is
finished. Many business-houses of the
;ity now employ expert typewriters for
the purposes of correspondence. instead
of having shorthand writer's to receive
rictation and afterward transcribe the
notes. The number Of operators relioI
upon to do this work is very small.
for to become an expert typewriter re-
quires aptness and ability and many
months, if not years, of methodicai
practice; and if amiliarity with the
piano assists a typewriter to speed it
IS principally through strengthening
!he operators memory and persever-
Rnce.