The interchangeability of single element fonts
1977; Elsevier BV; Volume: 10; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/0300-9432(77)90020-6
ISSN1878-318X
Autores Tópico(s)Mathematics, Computing, and Information Processing
ResumoThe objective of manufacturing a typewriter with interchangeable fonts is almost as old as the typewriter industry itself. The earliest serious effort in this direction was by Edmund Davis of New York who, in 1877, was granted a U.S. Patent for an “improvement in typewriters”. In his application, Davis declared, “I propose to use three sets of types... capable of being used interchangeably as required, one set being the upper and lower case of common Roman type, another the upper and lower case of italics, and the third the upper and lower case of a full-face or in some manner different style of type, to be used for headings and the like” [l] . Although Davis’ invention, requiring three swing position mounted wheels, is now a mere footnote to history, the idea of a typewriter capable of using more than one type font has become a modern reality. The first serious production model of a typewriter with interchangeable type was the 1880 Hammond, equipped with a two row “Ideal” keybank and an interchangeable partial wheel [2]. The typewriter had been designed by James Hammond, a newspaper correspondent, whose dispatches to his publisher were frequently misunderstood in the composing room. Hammond thought that a typewriter utilizing interchangeable type would enable him to prepare his dispatches using italics and bold fonts, thus aiding the composers. The keybank and basic styling of the first Hammond were refashioned several times [3] and the “Universal” keyboard arrangement was adopted, but the basic operating principles of the typewriter were unchanged when it was continued in 1927 as the Vari-typer [4] produced by Vari-typer, Inc. of New York. Rights to the typewriter were then bought by Ralph C. Coxhead who owned the Vari-typer until it was once again sold, in 1958, to Addressograph Multigraph. During its history, the Hammond-Vari-typer has achieved a noted place in the chronology of typewriters. It was the first typewriter to use a carbon ribbon and the first to introduce a carriage moving right-toleft or left-to-right at the turn of a switch [5]. President Wilson prepared his historic “Ten Points” on a Hammond, and it was on a Vari-typer that
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