History of the Typewriter

— 136 — out of the true line owing to the failure of the carriage to return quickly enough, nor could the half of a small and half of a capital letter print, as may often be seen when typing is very hurriedly performed by operators who are not absolutely competent workers. Means were also Fig. no provided for taking up any wear that might show itself in the type-bars, and a further provision was made to secure alignment by directing the bar, in its downward movement, through the teeth of a comb, a device which is found in various forms, in many other machines. The Waverley also adopted the principle of differential or variable spacing, as illustrated in the case of the Maskelyne. To secure this end, means were provided whereby, on the depression of a medium or wide spaced letter key, a sliding collar moved out of the way of thp loose dog, which was thereby permitted to move back two or three spaces, according to the width of the letter. But the Waverley system of differential spacing varied somewhat from the Maskelyne, since in the latter the proportion of widths was taken as i, 2, 3, 4, and in the Waverley they were 1, 2, 3. As in the Maskelyne, however, the results were very neat and good, and produced work bearing a very strong resemblance to ordinary printing, although the blur caused through printing by means of a ribbon prevented the real effect being shown. The effort to obtain results as nearly as possible like actual printing