History of the Typewriter

—200— new line, and either single, double or triple spacing can be secured. The platen itself is instantly detachable from the car- riage. This is a distinct advantage where a second and a harder platen is required, or where, in the case of extra work, two platens are desirable. Special hard platens for card work are furnished when ordered. The escapement on the New Fox Visible is the same as that used on the regular models of the Fox. It is a wheel escapement used in conjunction with the rocking- dog block, on which are mounted the escapement dogs. By means of the lever on the dog block, the speed of the machine can be instantly changed at the will of the operator from “ regular ” to “ reverse.” This means that the type- writer will accommodate itself to the speed of the operator, no matter what that speed may be ; a feature which, it is considered, will be instantly appreciated by any fast operator. The Stearns Visible Typewriter. This machine, manu- factured by the firm of E. C. Stearns & Co., of Syracuse, New York (who have attained considerable reputation as bicycle manufacturers), is advertised as being a writing and billing machine that embodies every known convenience and, as the illustration shows, has not only the virtue of visible writing, but is fitted with a decimal tabulator, and special provisions for the use of cards for card indexing, and so on. Particular attention is called to the attractive- ness of the machine and the durability of its finish. The japanned parts are rubbed down to a fine piano polish, and nickeled parts are first heavily copper-plated, as a protection against rust, and are then nickled and buffed down to fine silver effect. The other parts are first blued, or oxidised, and then lacquered. As in the case of other members in this family group, there is a single keyboard, working with a shift-key, which is duplicated at each side of the keyboard. A shift-lock key (the last on the right in the second bank up) is also provided. So far, of course, the Stearns Visible follows closely in the wake of other machines of the kind, but in addition to these features, it has a great number of others, which cause it to stand out in marked relief. It was the first machine of its kind to possess a decimal tabulator, as opposed to jumpers. This tabulator key is seen in the right hand side of the front framework, By