History of the Typewriter

—183— CHAPTER VIII. Front Strike Machines. WE now reach a stage in our recital wherein we record the development of one of the most interesting theories of construction which has, so far, been submitted. At the moment of writing, inventors on all sides are working on machines of the kind herein des- cribed, not only in the United States, but also in Ger- many. Whether the Front Strike theory will ever become a universal favourite is hard to prophecy. But the whole idea is so simple, and appears to be meeting with such great success, that the various competing machines are worthy of the closest examination. Prouty. This machine was invented in 1886, by Messrs. E. Prouty & Company, of Chicago Lawn, Illinois, U.S.A. It forms the root of origin of the present series of writing machines, although the Daugherty machine was conceived at least two years earlier. As may be seen on reference to the illustration, the keys to the number of forty-four are arranged in two groups, to the right and left respectively of a larger key used as a spacer. This, in itself, is a source of weakness, since it renders difficult the use of the thumb for spacing, and thus precluded the ready adoption of tlie machine by those who were already operators. The ribbon was a very wide one, and traversed from the rear of the keyboard, right over the type-basket, into a guide, and then passed straight down, behind the type- basket, and under the machine, where it wound auto- matically on to a separate spool. The method of reversing the feed of the ribbon, as will be seen by the cut, was very simple. A dog or clutch played in the teeth of a ratchet wheel, and when one spool was full, the dog was lifted over on to the other wheel, and the ribbon reversed. The carriage, it will be noticed, was elevated, and the type struck the front of the platen, through the ribbon.