History of the Typewriter

— 166 — type-bar at its bearing. The fingers of the keys are steel, and are sufficiently heavy to insure firm and positive de- pression, and yet are light enough to render their action perfectly free and elastic. Governing the operation of the keys, an especially nice device is that for making capital or upper case letters. And it should be said here that the owners of this machine are the first to solve the problem of how to obtain, by means of a shift key or otherwise, both upper and lower case letters on a book typewriter. At the left side of the keyboard is a key marked “ Caps.” When that is struck a metal disc, located in the top and centre of the type- basket, and about the size of a fifty-cent piece, is depressed. Each type that is struck while the disc is in that position, comes in contact with it, and, with no perceptible check to the movement of the type-bar, the lower-case letter is temporarily displaced and an upper-case letter substituted. When the key is released, the lower and upper case characters resume their former places automatically. The change is made possible by a decidedly clever arrangement of the type at the end of each bar, which, at the option of the operator, permits either an upper or lower case character to strike the paper. The mechanism is so simple and perfect, that the amount of friction caused by changing from one case to the other is almost infinitesimal. The type is inked by a ribbon, the movement of which is automatic and simple. A striking peculiarity of this bookwriter is to be found in the following circumstance : Instead of the paper moving to accommodate the position of the type, the type them- selves move to suit the position of the paper. In other words, the keyboard and type-basket of the machine are constantly travelling from left to right while the keys are being manipulated, and at the end of a line are drawn back for another trip across the page. Yet, so skillfully have the inventor and mechanic done their work, the muscular force necessary to return the carriage is sur- prisingly slight. An excellent auxiliary to the bookwriter is a contrivance at the back, which is operated by a thumb-screw, and is used for regulating the height of the machine from the table. To accommodate books of varying thickness, the typewriter proper is raised or lowered until it is on a plane with the page to be written on, and by employing the device referred to, that task is performed in a jiffy, and with scarcely any exertion. When once set, the plane regulator