THE “STENOTYPER.”

Waipukurau Press, Issue 303, 3 September 1908, Page 7

THE “STENOTYPER.”

At last a machine has been devised for writing shorthand —a machine so easy that anyone can master it, and so efficient that even the highly trained stenographer cannot hope to do more than rival it, says an exchange. The “Stenotyper,” as this wonderful contrivance is called, is in bulk and weight a mere fraction of the.ordinary typewriter, and can readily be worked on the operator’s knees. It has just six keys, and by permutations and combinations of these six keys, taken two or three together, a complete alphabet is built up—an alphabet of dot and dash, similar in kind to that of a Morse code. The learner has simply to commit this alphabet to memory and the machine will do the rest. With less diligence than is often devoted to the acquisition of a mere parlour game, any ordinary person should be able to “stenotype ” at quite a serviceable speed. This new shorthand is not based on phonetics. Its units are not single sounds, but syllables, many of which can be formed by one touch of the hand on the keyboard. As if playing the piano, the operator simply strikes a chord and imprints a character decipherable to the trained eye at a glance. The construction is of admirable simplicity The keys print on paper that is self-feeding fronran endless roll. A spring lever and a few cog-wheels make up the essential working parts. There is none of the mechanical intricacy of the typewriter, and therefore there is nothing to go wrong. The machine is so easily portable . and works so silently that there is no reason why it should not be used for ordinary reporting work ; but for commercial purposes its usefulness is still greater, for the notes taken by one operator can be distributed for transcription among any number of clerks.