Dead
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Subject: Dead Media Working Note 11.2
Dead medium: Pneumatic Typewriters
From: charles_AT_fma.com (Charles Stross)
Source: Century of the Typewriter by Wilfred A Beeching,
ISBN 0 9516790 0 7
While bumming around my local remainders shop I came
across a fascinating book: "Century of the Typewriter", by
Wilfred A. Beeching (Director, British Typewriter Museum).
It's an edited re-release of an earlier edition (1972)
which was considered one of the definitive texts on
typewriters.
Is the typewriter a dead medium? Arguably, yes.
They're still around, but they no longer occupy a central
role in the office, or even in society at large, and the
humble manual portable has all but been killed by cheap
dot-matrix print heads.
And some varieties of typewriter are *definitely* dead:
PNEUMATIC TYPEWRITERS
"Various attempts were made from 1891 onwards when
Marshall A. Wier in London, produced a typewriter with a
pneumatic action. The object of such a machine was to
eliminate the hard work involved in typing and to reduce
the noise and increase the speed. It was also thought to
be a substitute for such power as electricity.
"One of the disadvantages of pneumatic machines has
always been typebars that did not return fast enough, and
although this problem could most likely have been overcome
the fact is, it just seemed to present insurmountable
difficulties.
"It would appear that the last real attempt to
manufacture a pneumatic machine was made in 1914, by a man
called Juan Gualberto Holguin in Mexico. This machine was
known as the 'Burbra', and used compressed air cylinders
as a source of pwoer. In spite of much time and money
spent on the production of compressed air typewriters,
very little result of any importance has ever been
achieved.
"There are reports of various designs of pneumatic
typewriters having been produced by large organizations,
both in American and in Germany in recent years. Most of
these consisted of an electrically propelled plunger which
compressed oil in a tube, fired the typebar forward in a
sharp thrust, had the advantage of being very quiet and
also eliminating most of the moving parts of the
conventional machine. The idea seems to have been
abandoned due to the high cost and probably to lack of
interest."
Charlie Stross
http://www.fma.com/
========
From: Darryl_Rehr_AT_lamg.com (Darryl Rehr)
Re: Dead Media Working Note 11.2: Pneumatic Typewriters
>While bumming around my local remainders shop I came
>across a fascinating book: "Century of the Typewriter",
>by Wilfred A. Beeching (Director, British Typewriter
>Museum). It's an edited re-release of an earlier edition
>(1972) which was considered one of the definitive texts
>on typewriters.
While Wilf Beeching is an admirable old gent, his book is
not considered "definitive" by typewriter collectors. It
has a lot of good stuff such as serial number lists, and a
multitude of photos (many from the massive collection at
the Milwaukee Public Museum), but it is frought with
inaccuracies.
Much more "definitive" is "The Writing Machine," by
Michael Adler, written in 1973. Adler is about to release
a revised edition.
My own book on typewriters ("Antique Typewriters and
Office Collectibles") should be on the street next spring.
It will feature 100% color photos (many from the Milwaukee
Public Museum collection).
Is the typewriter dead? Hmmm, I suppose so. But as you
compose your next computer message, be aware that the
QWERTY keyboard under your fingertips was there at the
birth of the typewriter industry. QWERTY has been with us
since 1872 (next year is the 125th anniversary!).
Darryl Rehr
Dead
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