The inked ribbon which passes underneath the paper is so arranged that no two successive letters strike it on the same place. It moves from an ink reservoir on the right to another on the opposite side, and it can be made to return beneath the paper, thus keeping up the supply. The impression being made in copying ink, the message or letter when finished can easily be reproduced in an ordinary press. The characters are all “capitals.”
At first it may be found a slow means of writing, and the manipulator may imagine he can do better without it. But if the author be certain of what he intends to say, after a little practice at the instrument, and when he becomes accustomed to the positions of the various letters, etc., the rate at which words can be printed off will far exceed that at which even rapid writers can work. A young English lady after some days’ practice was able to write as many as ninety words a minute with this machine—a rate more than double the average writing rate of penmanship. When such a rate or an approximation to it can be attained, those who are quick in their ideas will find the machine a great saving of time, and for any one afflicted with “writer’s cramp” the gain must be enormous. We need not insist upon the advantages the adaptation of the apparatus would confer upon editors and readers of MSS. too often badly written, and to compositors the invention is a great boon.
Finally, the working of the machine could be entrusted to the blind, and by teaching them the form of letters which could be raised upon the key-board, those so sadly afflicted could write with facility. Some methods for teaching the blind to manipulate and to read from the impressions of the hammers on the paper have already been tried with success.
The Electric Pen, an invention of the fertile brain of Mr. Edison, is shown in fig. 259. The “writing” consists of a series of little holes close together, made by a fine steel point like a put-crayon. This point is thrust in and out with great rapidity, and passes quickly over the paper. If the characters cannot be formed so quickly as with an ordinary pen, the writing is very distinct.
The alternative movement is given to the pen by an electric motor at once simple and ingenious, which is placed on the top of the penholder. The general appearance of the apparatus will be understood from the cut on next page.
The point is the termination of a wire which traverses the penholder, and the upper extremity of which catches on the motor by an eccentric. This eccentric has three teeth or cogs, and it makes sixty revolutions a second, thus producing one hundred and eighty beats in that time. The axle carries a plate of soft iron, which acts like the armature of an electro-magnet, before which it turns with great rapidity, the current being interrupted twice in every revolution by the commutator. The current which moves this little apparatus is furnished by a pile of two elements in bichromate of potash, according to Mr. Edison’s arrangement, which is considered very successful. Carbon and zinc are employed, and when ready for action the battery assumes the appearance of the cells in the illustration. When the operator wishes to discontinue writing, he simply raises the stem which has the electrodes attached to it, and the elements are thus preserved for a future time.
Under these circumstances the battery could be made to last several days without any renewal of the liquid, and the plates will last for weeks. Thus a very simple arrangement is at our disposal. Let us see what use can be made of it.
Fig. 259.—Edison’s Electric Pen.
When we use the electric pen we obtain a great number of small holes close to each other. Such hand-writing is not easy to decipher by mere inspection like ordinary writing. By holding it up to the light it is more easy to read, but in both instances reading is not easy, nor does it come by nature as Dogberry declares. But if we consider the paper as a “negative,” we may obtain a number of positive proofs or copies of the writing. To obtain these successfully we must use a press, as shown in the accompanying illustration (fig. 260).