History of the Typewriter

— 36 — of letters by means of stops acting in the notched plate, and operated by the respective keys to which the letters belong. A second motion could also be given to the wheel in the direction of its axis, and thus the letter of any one of the three horizontal rows selected. Both these motions were controlled by one movement of the key, and the same movement, when continued, caused the hammer (marked by the letter h in the front view) to be struck. The return move- ment allowed a coiled spring to draw the paper carriage a step onward. The big key on the right of the keyboard served to return the paper carrier (or carriage) back, and automatically shifted the same up for a fresh line. Those who desire to know more precisely how this early effort operated, may carefully consider the following additional details, extracted from an article written by Mr. Arthur E. Morton in the Phonographic World. Mr. Morton says :— “ The working parts are of brass, steel and iron, the frame being made of the best black Spanish mahogany. The latter contains the working mechanism and is composed of two rectangular frames, mounted the one on the other, giving the side elevation an “ L ” shape. A number of levers, furnished at each end with keys, extend from the front to the back of the interior of the case. Extending across and a short distance above these key-levers, near the centre of the case, are two oscillating bars, A. Between the fulcra of the key-levers and the oscillating bars just mentioned are two other oscillating bars, also placed above and across the key-levers, and fixed below the flat key-lever springs, B. Throe of these oscillating bars are moved, simultaneously by each key and perform simultaneously the three different operations requisite in a machine for writing with type, viz., bringing the types in arbitrary succession to one point, forming a corresponding impression there, and moving the paper. “ First, as to the manner in which the types are brought to the same point. They are arranged in three rows on the face of a small wheel of half an inch diameter, C. This wheel is attached to a vertical steel wire, D, which, at its lower extremity, has attached a small spur wheel, E, controlled by an elongated pallet, E (which is caused to oscillate by one of the oscillating wards, the pallets for governing the movement of the line-frame seen below and, at the same time, rocks the type-wheel pallet free from the spur-wheel). Attached to, and immediately below the spur-wheel, is an elongated pinion which is always in contact with the gear