Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/75

LEFT TYPEWRITER 57 TYPHOID FEVER which was taken in sections by an as- sistant and spaced into lines of the proper len^h by hand. The distribution was effected by pushing the type, a line at a time, from an inclined galley, the nicks on the body of the type, different for each character, determining the chan- nel in which each one was deposited. Following these machines came the Burr, afterward called the Empire^, and the Thorne. The latter combines the dis- tribution and composition in a single mechanism. The Mergenthaler linotype is incorrectly spoken of as a type-setting machine. It does not set type but mat- rices, from which a bar called a linotype is cast, this being the equivalent of a line of type. It is worked by a keyboard and has two advantages over other ma- chines; no time is lost upon justification, as the spaces are cast at the same time as the letters, and there is no necessity of distribution. When the matter is done with it is melted up and used over again. The irregularity of the face of the type was at first one of the objections to this machine, but this was corrected. It is in general use in large newspaper offices. The Lanston monotype casts separately each letter, point and sign, including the space. Typesetting by machinery has revolutionized printing, one operator at a machine being able to do the work of four men. TYPEWRITER, a machine fitted with types which print by a pressure on the keys with the fingers. The principle, briefly stated, is that of a series of rods pivoted to keyed rods, similar to the ac- tion of a pianoforte, the ends of the rods carrying the characters of the alphabet and all striking on a common center. There is a self -inking arrangement, and several minor improvements have been added in recent years, bringing the in- vention to a high state of perfection. It is on record that one Henry Mill obtained a patent in England, Jan. 7, 1714, for such a machine. The record does not de- scribe it, except that it was a device to write in printed characters one letter at a time, one after another. Strange as it may seem, there does not appear to have been another effort made for more than 100 years, for the next record found is that of the "Typographer," the first typewriter invented in the United States, patented by William A. Burt, of Detroit, Mich., in 1829. After this came the Eng- lish patent of 1841 to Alexander Bain and Thomas Wright, entitled, "A Ma- chine to Print Intelligence at Distant Places." It was designed simply for what is now called the printing tele- graph. All printing telegraphs are really notning more nor less than typewriting machines, and that machine had many of the devices and characteristics of the typewriter. It was not, however, a suc- cessful machine, and never came into use. The next record is that of the United States patent to Charles Thur- ber, of Woi-cester,, Mass., in 1843. Thur- ber's machine was slow and tedious. The next is that of the patent to Fairbanks, in 1848. It consists of several series or systems of vertical converging rods, the rods of each system adapted to be pushed up vertically, like piston rods, against a common impinging point. On the upper end of each rod was the desired type. The machine was designed for printing colors on cloth, but it really belongs to the tjrpewriting art, and is now properly classed therewith. It, however, was im- practicable, and was never used. The next is that of the French patent to M. Pierre Foucault, a blind man in the Paris Institute for the Blind, in 1849. This machine printed embossed letters to be read by the blind. The machine proved a success. Several of them were made and were sent to and used in the blind insti- tutions of Europe. It was exhibited at the World's Fair in London, in 1851, and commanded much attention. The next is the patent of Oliver T. Eddy, of Balti- more, in 1850. No model of this inven- tion can be found. No machine of the kind ever came before the public. In 1852 there was another patent issued ; in 1854 another; in 1856 three others, one being to A. Ely Beach, of the "Scientific American," and one to Dr. Samuel W. Francis, of New York, Oct. 27, 1857. After that several other patents were is- sued in 1858, 1859, 1860, and so on UD to 1865 or 1866; but none of these inven- tions proved to be of much practical value. The writing machine called the type- writer was invented at Milwaukee, Wis., in 1867, by C. Latham Sholes, Sam- uel W. Soule and Carlos Glidden. One device after another was conceived and developed till 25 or 30 experimental in- struments were made, each succeeding one a little different from and a little bet- ter than the one preceding. They were put into the hands of stenographers — practical persons who were presumed to know better than any one else what would be needed and satisfactory. In this way the invention grew till, at the beginning of 1873, the device was thought complete. The use of the typewriter has completely revolutionized the copyist's trade, and the useful little instrument is one of the most valuable labor-saving devices of modern times. TYPHOID FEVER, m pathology, a kind of continued fever which is known