History of the Typewriter

—181— wonderful instrument, made in England and of purely English invention, was placed upon the market. This was called the Stainsby - Wavne Embossed Shorthand Typewriter for the Blind. An illustration of this marvellous instrument will be found with this article. As will be seen, it consists of a framework holding seven keys. Now, since one dot or any any other number will take no longer in execution than is required to depress the keys, and as (as before mentioned) Fig. 137. upwards of sixty combinations can be made, it follows that by working upon a continuous tape a very high degree of facility can be easily acquired. This facility is increased by the free introduction of word signs, prefixes, affixes, phrase signs, etc., and so successful has the machine proved that there are to-day a large number of operators, totally devoid of sight, who earn a living by means of this machine in conjunction with the typewriter. They are shorthand clerks, and their duties consist of everything that this term implies. They take down, as we ourselves have witnessed, dictation at a speed of 140 to 150 words per minute. No pencil shorthand can ever hope to vie with the mechanical method in its simplicity, nor one would think, in its speed. That it is legible goes absolutely without saying. There can never be any question as to whether a sign is short or long, thin or thick, curved or straight. The most complex combination takes no longer to execute than the simple single dot. A blind operator took down some test sentences in our