History of the Typewriter

— 170 — great, and the noise is very considerably increased, so much so, in fact, that it is found, by some persons, to be a barrier to the use of the Tabulator at all. Modern machines, particularly those of the Front- strike variety, are all fitted with a Tabulator as part of the machine, without necessitating an extra outlay of four or five pounds as with earlier devices. These are, for the most part, capable only of being set to fixed points, so that any irregularity which may be desired must be obtained by the depression of the space-bar. In these machines the unit is always regarded as on the left side, so that if we desire a column of figures, we can set the stop for say, 1,000 and depress the space-bar once or twice when hundreds or tens1 only are required. And as the makers point out, the Tabulator on some machines is so constructed, that the travel and noise of the tabulator in under entire control of the operator all the time, and he can permit the carriage to travel quickly and noisily, or quietly and slowly, as he may desire. Many attempts have been made to aid the operator in performing tabulated work, without the assistance of a com- plete tabulating attachment. One of the most meritorious Fig. 131 of these was a device called the Columnator, introduced by the Yost Typewriter Co., which consisted of a supple- mentary scale bar affixed to the front of the machine. This bar was made to carry a number of moveable indicators, which were set at the places at which columns were desired to commence. The operator then tapped the space-bar until the front pointer on the carriage, indicated that it had reached the place of the moveable indicator, when the required letters or figures would be typed. In connection with this device, the No. 10 Yost could also be fitted with a modified form of tabulator called a Jumper, which passed from fixed point to fixed point by the mere depression of the margin release key. Various other makers have devised moveable stops to be fixed to the scale or other parts of many machines, all intended to assist in the correct and easy manipulation of display work. One, patented by