Wow, that's fascinating. The only old braillers I've ever used were made by Hall. Does anybody know if the little Banks pocket braillers are still available anywhere? I guess the note-takers we have now have probably made them irrelevant, but they were a neat little machine. -----Original Message----- From: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jay Williams Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2007 10:51 PM To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Subject: [BlindHandyMan] re: general electric braille typewriter Hey, folks, This message is from Richard Polt, a knowledgeable and conscienscious collector who acquired the machine I inquired about recently. Since none of us had heard of this one, I thought you'd be interested to hear his observations. I've done a bit of editing and condensing from two of his emails. Jay
---- Original Message ------ From: Richard Polt <[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:polt%40xavier.edu> edu Subject: Braille typewriter Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2007 22:00:53 -0500 Today I picked up the Braille writer. It's in better shape than I thought! There is rust and dust, but it's basically functional. The rust isn't as bad as it looked in the photos. Parts move, and will move better when I clean it up. The electrical device is a solenoid (electromagnet) with patent 1696615, granted Dec. 25, 1928. There's a repair tag dated 1960, and the tag is still wrapped around a couple of key levers, so I don't think it was ever used after that. There's My general impression is that this is a carefully designed machine, produced either in a factory or in a very well-equipped home workshop. To give a rough description: when activated (I'm not clear exactly how) the solenoid makes a hammer move towards the front of the machine, where it meets some pins that press the paper into indentations in the head of the hammer. Which pins are activated depends, of course, on the configuration of the typebar that hits the pins. The carriage moves from left to right (backwards), as someone on the list figured out: you are making impressions that stick out towards the back of the typewriter, so essentially you are writing on the back of the paper and must write from right to left. The paper is held between two rollers and goes down into wire holders -- much as in a Hammond. The shift moves the carriage down, not up. The typewriter used is definitely a Woodstock, faint, but possibly serial number B48964, built between 1916 and 1920. The actuating solenoid is patented 1929. I am optimistic that when I lubricate crucial parts and replace the cord, I can get this thing working! (I also plan to remove some rust. Rust has no historical value, I've decided.) Thanks for your interest, Richard [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] To listen to the show archives go to link http://acbradio.org/handyman.html or ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various List Members At The Following address: http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ Visit the new archives page at the following address http://www.mail-archive.com/blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com/ For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man list just send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blindhandyman/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blindhandyman/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
