History of the Typewriter

— 115 — literary or linguistic work. It should, however, be noted that the No. 4 Model is a special machine and is not an improved No. 3 Model, nor is it intended to take the place of the No. 3. Its keyboard contains ninety-six characters, which is largely in excess of the number on any other standard machines. The Maskelyne Typewriter. The present machine, although fitted with a carriage at the rear, and thus falling within the present structural group of machines, yet bears very little resemblance to those instruments which we have already described, since the type-bars neither strike downward, nor do they slide forward. On the contrary, the type-heads lie together, resting in a moist ink-pad, and on a key being struck, the corresponding type-bar is lifted from the pad in an upward direction, then it darts forward, and finally pounces on to the paper as it rests on the platen. The Maskelyne is the invention of Messrs. J. N. and Neville Maskelyne, of Egyptian Hall fame. It was made in London, and during its effective career was worked by an English'company. But from reasons which we shall endeavour to show, it was not accepted by the English public with that enthusiasm which might have been expected, and accordingly, after two or three distinct models had been placed on the market, it passed away. The aim of the inventors was to secure the greatest possible beauty of work, and it is fairly safe to say that, when the Maskelyne was in perfect order, and the types quite clean, no machine, either before or after, has turned out such beautifully clean cut work. The Maskelyne worked with a double shift, having thirty- two keys, governing ninety-six signs, a larger number than any other machine then on the market. As stated, it used a pad, so that the ink passed direct on to the paper. In addition to these points, the great feature of the machine was the fact that it was a differential-spacing machine. This point must be made quite clear to the reader. In ordinary typewritten work, all letters are made to fill the same space, namely, one-tenth of an inch. In Elite machines, there are more than ten spaces to the meh, and in large type instruments, there are only nine °r eight, or even less, but whatever the number of spaces maY be, each and every letter, whether it be a large W or a full-stop, has just the same space provided for it. Fortunately, the majority of letters in ordinary type have