Shorthand Typewriter.

Manawatu Herald, 10 May 1894, Page 3

Shorthand Typewriter.

+ This (says the Scientific American) is a typewriter built especially for rapid work ; simple enough to be very strong, and small enough to be light, portable, and noiseless* In fact, it is not much larger or heavier than a pair of opera-glasses. Speed is gained by arranging the keys and type, so that every letter on the keyboard can be printed at one time without shifting the hands, all the most frequently used letters being duplicated. Thus, in writing the word " start," the " sta " would be struck with the left hand and the " rfc " with the right hand simultaneously, the entire word being printed at one stroke, after which the machine automatically draws the paper forward, and is ready for the next to be printed so that it really requires no more strokes of this kind to print a whole sentence on the Anderson Shorthand Typewriter than it would to merely strike the space key for making spaces between the same words on an ordinary typewriter. This arrangement of the keyboard restricts the number of keys, and necessitates the omission of "the less frequently used letters of the alphabet. These omitted letters are represented by combinations of those the raachiue prints ; aud as soon as this list or code of cipher letters is memorised the learner bas a complete alphabet at his service, and can begin practising for speed. Six weeks' practice will, it is said, give a speed of about 100 words a minute. No knowledge of stenography is required. There is nothing to learn except the list of cipher letters,