History of the Typewriter

— 165 — New York Central Railway have one working with a thirty- six inch carriage. The convenience of this is too great to need a single word of explanation. The machine provides for back spacing, tabulating, and ruling devices, and has a large number of other good points. (2) Book Typewriters. Many attempts have been made to produce a type- writer which shall permit of the writing being performed in bound books, and as we have already pointed out, the French machine of Progin was so constructed that this operation would not have been difficult, even in those early days. Details of other inventions in this direction will also be found in the Supplemental notes laterTon in this volume, but it was not until Messrs. Elliott and Hatch completed their machine that a really practical book type- writer existed. The great line of demarcation was in providing for a stationary platen and a moveable machine, instead of a moveable platen and a stationary machine. The manner in which this was carried out was simple. Fig. 128 I In appearance the Elliott and Hatch typewriter is flat, it being only about six inches high. The keyboard, which usually is the first to catch the eye of an operator, corres- ponds to that adopted by the leading typewriter companies of the day, and is known as the Universal. There are forty-four celluloid keys, which, together, represent eighty- eight characters. The type-basket is circular, is in full view, and is easily accessible at all times. Each type, in striking, has a downward movement, and is brought back again by a long and finely tempered spring attached to the