History of the Typewriter

— 137 — has made itself manifest in many ways, and one of the latest devices in this respect is a peculiar fount of type fitted to the Yost machine, called “ Imperial type” in which the effects of thin and thick lines are (owing to the fact that the Yost uses a pad), very beautifully distinguished. It is curious also, that of the four machines falling within the present chapter, two of them should have stood alone in the adoption of a device for securing terminal spacing. It was considered that if, simultaneously with the striking of the last letter in a word another key could be struck and the space at the end of a word made at the same time, at least twenty per cent of the work of the operator would be performed automatically, and, of course, a corresponding saving of the time made. Save only in the case of the Waverley and the Brooks, and some models of the Blickensderfer, to which we shall make reference hereafter, we cannot recall any other machines using this device. Of course, in the case of spacing out, for headings and so on, and display work generally, the advantage of this addition to the machine was very great, but there is little room for doubt, that after the operator has been taught to use the spacer after every word, the effort to remember to strike the two keys simultaneously must have caused hesitation, and thus involved the loss of more time than was otherwise gained. The paper was fed in under the scale bar, which thus served as a pressure bar to keep it in order and snug to the platen, and after being typed upon passed round the platen into a receiver in front of the carriage. Thus, only one or two lines of writing were really visible, but of those which were, there could be no doubt as to the visibility. The usual convenience for varying line space, automatic line spacing with return of carriage, margin stops, warning bell, etc., were provided for. The right hand margin stop consisted of a collar sliding on a screw, and could be thrown out of position by a mere touch of the hand, when desired, in order to insert marginal notes. The Waverley weighed about eighteen and a half lbs. It was a magnificent piece of work, but the Company did not last long. At the proceedings in connection with the winding up, it was stated that so far as the machine itself was concerned, it had proved , a commercial success, but the further exploitation thereof was rendered impossible for want of sufficient capital.