There is considerable saving in the use of special characters, as evidenced by the following example:
OCT 14 09.
This necessitates nine strokes where each letter is written separately. Had this been written by three special characters, it would have necessitated five strokes only. The special characters would be used as follows: OCT.-space-14-space-09.
To the uninitiated, it would seem that a special character of three letters, such as the abbreviation OCT., would occupy three spaces on the machine, and consequently would overlap on the word at the right. This is obviated by placing the type on the type-bar in such a manner that the letter T of the abbreviation is in the printing point of the paper. The following illustration will show how the type are placed or aligned in order to secure the desired results:
| OCT | 14 | 09 |
| │ | │ | │ |
As the month always precedes the next word, the abbreviation OCT is aligned so that the two first letters are to the left of the printing point. In case a machine were equipped with numbers for all the days of the month, the character 14 would be aligned to print either side of the printing point. As the abbreviation 09 would always follow and never precede, it would be aligned with the 0 in the printing point, with the 9 printing to the right of it. It is very important to have special characters properly aligned so that the abbreviations which always precede are aligned to print on the last letter, and the abbreviations which follow are aligned to print on the first letter.
It is impossible to print abbreviations in solid matter such as a letter. They are only to be used in connection with dates of invoices or orders, in connection with names of firms. For instance, the abbreviation Messrs., at the beginning of a firm name where such a term is desired, or the abbreviation Co. at the end of a firm name or the abbreviations Pr., Doz., Gro., and similar abbreviations, come in the body of a bill and, preferably, in the first column after the quantity.
It should be remembered that when the rubber platen of a billing machine becomes worn and cut with holes incident to the use of periods, commas, hyphens, etc., the special character type will sometimes print heavy at the top and light at the bottom of the letter, or vice versâ. This is remedied to some extent by placing a new rubber roll on a cylinder billing machine, or a new rubber covering on a flat-bed billing machine.
Special characters are used to a better advantage on the under-stroke (or blind machine) than on the visible machine. In the latter, the type-bars are all grouped in less than a half circle, which necessarily crowds the type-bars a little closer together, and therefore does not permit of special characters of a large size.
Tabulators on Billing Machines. It is absolutely essential that every billing machine be furnished with either a single-stop (known as a column-stop) tabulator or a decimal tabulator, preferably the latter. A single-stop tabulator is used as follows: