History of the Typewriter

— 134 — The Brooks. The inventor of the Brooks typewriter is Mr. Byron A. Brooks, who is stated to have been a pioneer in the typewriting field, and his machine is said to present the culmination of a lifetime devoted to typewriter invention. Its general appearance may be gathered from the illustra- tion. It will be noticed that the order of the keyboard follows the standard arrangement, and works with two shifts. The depression of the keys is^about five-eighths of an inch, whilst the force required to^“ down ” them is only seven ounces. The result is that the Brooks is a very easy machine to work with, and the touch being so light an operator may work for a considerable time without Fig. 109 feeling fatigued. The writing as will be gathered, is perfectly visible, and it is claimed that as a manifolder, the Brooks is far superior to all other machines. The ribbon movement is peculiar, as it feeds transversely at each impression, and longitudinally between words. The weight of the Brooks is about seventeen pounds, and its dimensions are x 14 x 14I inches.