History of the Typewriter

— 66 — before depressing the next, is not required when the machine is set for “ speed.” But unless the operator has a rapid and very steady touch, there will always be the risk of the carriage movement extending to two or even more spaces. The makers, in fact, do not advise the use of “ speed ” by any other than really expert operators. Be this as it may, it finds considerable favour in the land of its birth, although English typists may well be rejoiced at escaping this further strain. Moreover, in the Fox, each key was capable of an in- dividual tension, and, according to the literature issued on behalf of the machine, it was considered that this variable tension presented the true solution of touch-typing, as, with every key varying in the amount of pressure required to bring it to the printing point, the operator would know, at once, whether the key he depressed offered too much or too little resistance. Several forms of the Fox were made. One had eighty- eight characters with the foolscap platen. Another accom- modated paper i6| inches wide, with a line of writing 140 characters long. Another had only seventy-eight characters, and there were others. The machine was equipped with all the usual devices for margins, margin releases, etc., and it was a good mani- folder and stencil cutter. The ribbon movement was purely automatic, and the machine itself presented a handsome and very solid appearance. The International Typewriter. This machine presented a number of very peculiar features. It was, in the first place, exceedingly massive. It had the universal keyboard, and the types were so arranged as to strike upwards in grooves to the printing point..