Correspondence

1886 Scientific American  
THE FIRST TYPE WRITING MACHINE. bulk of general correspondence and increasing the vol-®o��e9 p onbence. (Continued from first page.) ume of professional papers. .::_-=-=-= -=-=_-= == == == == == == == == == = or dictation is done almost as fast as Olle can speak; In all the larger cities a great many persons are em-COlDbustion oC Powder Outside oCthe Gun. and thirty duplicates may be simultaneously printed. ployed as copyi s ts in type writing altogether, usually To the Edit01' o/the Scientific
more » ... American: Besides the mechanism just named, there are on the in connection with shorthanders, who solicit all kinds "Expulsion of Unburned Gunpowder from C annons." market the C aligraph and other most excellent maof dictation jobs in the courts and offices, and even go -Admitting the correctness of your remarks concerning chines, working on the same principle. M oreover, there ing to small business houses by the hour, where a perthe wear sustained by guns from the friction of un are various forms of type writers, acting on different manent clerk could not be maintained. To become burned powder, I think it advisable to point out that principles and doing good work, though perhaps lack-most proficient in this kind of work requires intellithe outer projections in your engraving are not only Ing in speed or means for duplication. gence and practice. due to the combustion of powder outside the llIuzzle, The first example of a type writer was a model ma-M anifolding, or producing duplicate copies at once, but also to pieces of ignited semi.carbonized asbestos chine made by M r. Beach in 1847. It printed upon a in all type writers depends on the ability to impress cloth or other material used to wrap the charge. In Bhe et of paper, supported on a roller, carried in a slid· with force from hard faced type. A book of alterna t e deed, I question that the most progressive gunpowder ing frame, worked by ratchet and pawl, had a weight white and colored leaves is made, and put in the type would travel eight times the length of the gun (as per for running the frame, letter and line spacing keys, writer as a single sheet. Black is the ordinary color engraving) before complete combustion. paper feeding device, line signal bell, and,carbon tissue. used. A paste, �principally of pure carbon or lamp· CHARLES A. SERRE, F. C .S. It had a series of finger keys, connected with printing black and tallow, is smeared on one side of a tough Brooklyn, December 4, 1886. levers, which were arranged on a circle, and struck at tissue paper, and hence arises the common designation .. I. I • a common point on t.he roller. This machine worked of all transferring sheets as carbon paper. The col· Eif'ect of' the Earthquake on the South Carolina very well, but the quality of its printing did not satisfy ored side is put against the leaf to be printed on. The Railroad.
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican12181886-389 fatcat:27kp7y75o5dm7b3lsa2tgsshve