History of the Typewriter

—197— a two-colour ribbon may be used, the second colour being brought into use by pressing the small switch to be seen just below fifty on the scale. Three degrees of line spacing are provided for, and variable spacing for permitting of writing on ruled lines can also be effected. The line spacing is made by the same movement as that which returns the carriage for a fresh line. What is regarded as a valuable feature of the present machine is the ability to remove the platen in order to replace it with another, such as a hard platen for use in manifolding or mimeographic work. As in the case of the Monarch, the depression of the shift-key affects not the carriage or the platen, but the type-basket, which is raised, and it is recommended to lock the shift-key in order to raise the type-heads whenever it becomes necessary to clean the type. The escapement of the Smith Visible is rapid in the extreme, the touch light and pleasant, and the machine has been devised in such a way as will permit of the hardest possible work being executed, with a minimum of wear and tear upon the parts. The Fox. In addition to the machine mentioned in Chapter III., the Fox Typewriter Company have also introduced one falling within the present group of machines. As will be gathered from the illustration, the writing is visible and the writing line is in the direct line of vision of the operator. The importance of the type-bar is very strongly insisted upon by the makers, and we cannot do better than reproduce their whole argument in support of the methods which they have adopted in arranging the type-bar mechanism of the visible Fox. “ Any expert typewriter mechanic,” says the Company, “ will say, ‘ Show me the type-bar hanger and I will tell you how long the typewriter will retain its alignment and whether or not it will be durable.’ The type-bar is that part of the typewriter that holds the type ; when a key is depressed, it is the type-bar that swings upward and biings the type to the printing surface. Consequently, the bar must be strong and heavy, for it has many thousand such operations in every day’s work. “ The type-bar hanger holds the type-bar in position. The point where the bar ‘ swings ’ in the hanger is the * bearing point ’ and it is the wearing quality at this point