History of the Typewriter

— 88 — The platen can be lifted out of the machine by merely raising a couple of catches. It is thus quite easy to clean the machine, or the type, without fear of having a heavy carriage falling on one’s fingers. Improved paper guides are provided which grip the paper firmly as it passes through the machine, and which can also be adjusted so as to hold any width of paper, from an inch wide upwards. The paper needs only to be placed on the paper shelf, and the platen revolved. There is no need to lift the platen or the carriage in order to pass it under the centre guide. ^The carriage band, or “ strap ” is of steel, and indeed, steel seems to be practically the only thing, save the key tops of the platen, employed in the making of the Smith Premier. As an example of Smith Premier methods, the following incident is worth recording. The Company decided to build a new factory. On the 2nd March, 1903, a site was found. On the 3rd March workmen commenced to dig the foundations. The president of the Company determined that the factory should be ready in four months. The architects demurred, saying that the finished drawings would take almost as long. “ Very well, then,” said Mr. President, “ very well, then, we’ll do without the finished drawings.” And so they went to work. They started building in one place, before they had even decided what the length of the building was to be. It was a neck and neck race between the architect and the builder, and the architect just managed to keep one floor ahead of the builder all the time. And the difficulty of building the factory will be all the more clearly understood when we say that it was necessary, in order to bring the material to the place, not only to build a branch railway, but also to build a bridge across the adjacent creek. Four million bricks were put into that building, 2,200 tons of stone, 250 tons of iron, and over a million feet of “ lumber.” And so the factory was built, and a thousand hands set to work to make the Smith Premier. The Duplex. In the desire to obtain the highest possible speed from the typewriter, a great many expedients have been adopted, such as “ Speed Escapements,” “ Automatic Terminal Spacing,” etc. The Duplex, however, sought to provide a means of doubling the output of the operator by pro-