the typebar circle

the typebar circle

Effect of keyboard formats on typing performance
Reviewing the history of the so-called standard typewriter keyboard, Dvorak’ noted that the original keyboard design was based on the assumption “that typistsw ould ‘hunt and peck’ with the first finger of each hand,” and that in 1873, to avoid mechanical problems, the designer, c . L. Sholes, was therefore forced to locate “in different quadrants of the typebar circle the letters most frequently used in words.”2 The result was, Dvorak asserted,“one of the worst arrangements possible” for the modern touch typist. Declaring that “there is a better typewriter keyb~ard,”h~e thenp roposed what has since been generally known as the Dvorak-Dealey keyboard. Although convincing evidence was submitted to support his Dvorak’s design did not (for reasons that need not be discussed here) displace the original Sholes arrangement, and keyboard configurations continue to be a subject of investigation.

The Yost introduced the grasshopper movement for type bars and produced extremely well-aligned work, due to the square alignment hole that guided the type (pict.5).

the grasshopper movement
the grasshopper movement　typewriter
The Virtual Typewriter Museum: Yost 1