The typewriter is a machine making it possible to write documents with printed characters. It is appeared as a keyboard comprising a certain number of keys representing the characters which will be printed on the Papier.

It was used end of the 19th century until the appearance of the Ordinateur and the Logiciel S of Suite office automation, which today are mainly used.

History

  • 1714: first patent;
  • 1870: “ The Writing Ball ” of Rasmus Malling-Hansen
  • 1873: the first machine marketed under the mark of Remington, “ The typewriter ” of C.L. Sholes
  • 1874: the teleprinter of Emile Baudot
  • 1914: first electric machine
  • 1935: the small portable machine, the “ Hermes-Baby ”
  • 1961: the machine with ball of IBM
  • 1976: the machine with daisy
  • 1977: Olympia creates a new typewriter portable
  • 1992: First typewriter with screen created by Powerbook 145
Thereafter, the Clavier of computer will replace the typewriter gradually.

Typewriter entirely mechanical

The first machines were entirely mechanical, without processor, electricity. Only Gears S, lever S, Spring S, articulations. Each letter is engraved on a small block of metal, at the end of a rigid stem. The support on a key of the keyboard raises this stem, and the block of metal strikes a ribbon soaked with ink. The image of the letter is printed then on paper. Paper, with the roller which maintains it and the inking ribbon, shifts slightly on the left under the effect of a Ressort so that the following letter comes to be printed slightly on the right, and the inking ribbon also shifts, so that the following character is correctly ink thanks to a new portion of the ribbon.

When one arrives at the end of the sheet, or when one wants to go to the line, one actuates a lever located at the end of the roller, which makes it possible to rearm the spring while bringing back the roller at the beginning of line and to actuate a mechanism which makes turn the roller of a notch to go to the following line. These actions are carried out, on the electric machines, by support on a special key which makes turn the roller (so that one prints on the following line) and which makes return the unit (roller, paper and ribbon) at the beginning of the line. This unit is called the Chariot, and thus, the Touche which carries out this jump of line calls the “  return chariot  ”. From where the abbreviation RC (CR = Carriage Return), which indicates, for the programmers, a return to the beginning of the line and a Jump of line (LF= Line Feed), still now.

Technical evolution

  • the electric machine decreases the effort of pressure on the keys and displacements of carriage.
  • the Teleprinter.
  • the machine with ball IBM: the carriage does not move laterally any more but a ball moves in front of paper. The police force is interchangeable in three seconds per exchange of the ball and the paper, which does not move, remains impeccable. As the carriage does not move either and that the ball, out of plastic, is light, this machine is also very quiet, which ensures its success in the mediums of direction.
" The principle of the ball or the cylinder truncated date completion of the 19th century, it made it possible already to change the polices."
  • the ribbon carbon, which replaces the inking ribbon for a clearer impression.
  • the machine with daisy  : the characters are on a wheel, which one can exchange to change bill of character.
  • the machine with correct ribbon - which requires in fact two ribbons, one being used for the impression, the other with the correction itself.
  • the electronic machine with correction of text.
  • the impression by needles makes it possible to change cast iron of character without mechanical handling.
There exist also machines with thermal impression, which make it possible also to change police force and size of the body of the letters. As well as the jet impression of ink which one finds on the word processing and the printers.

Various keyboards

  • the provision of the keys on the keyboard was decided according to the number of blows, not with an aim of increasing the keying speed but according to the most used keys, so that they are not wedged by typing them too quickly, which would be the case if they were left adjacent.
  • There exists several type of keyboard according to the languages notamment :
    • the keyboard QWERTY, for the English language
    • the keyboard QWERTZ, for the German language
    • the keyboard AZERTY, for the French language
    • the Arab keyboard
    • the Clavier Dvorak was developed for the comfort of the anglophone user, who can strike the majority of the current words while remaining the same touchline. According to its promoters, it would allow a profit keying speed of 40%. It is currently usable out of standard on all the versions of Windows, but the physical keyboards are not very widespread in the French-speaking world .

Museum

A collector of typewriters is a mécascriptophile . The museum of the typewriter Lausanne thus has a mécascriptophilie of more than 500 different models of which a Japanese machine, and Chinese, of 2  450 characters each one as well as keyboards Korean, Russian, Hebrew, Greek, Hindi, Arab, Braille, etc

Vocabulary

  • the whole of the stems carrying the letters is called the basket
  • the part around which one rolls up the sheet is the roller

See too

  • Typewriting, technique of striking on a typewriter

External bonds

  • Historical History
  • of the typewriter
  • typewriters old
  • National association of the collectors of typewriters and to calculate mechanical (ANCMECA), France

Simple: Typewriter

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