[GreenKeys] 90-key Teletype(setter)

dmm at lemur.com dmm at lemur.com
Sun Jul 4 13:16:15 EDT 2010


And now for something completely different...

http://www.lemur.com/temp/brewer-keyboard-small.jpg

By way of explanation:  As you probably know by now (from my
interminable ramblings about Linotypes), the Linotype does not have
a QWERTY keyboard.  Instead, it has a 90-key keyboard arranged in
a 15x6 pattern.  It is generally "read" down the columns, and the
letter order of the left two columns give it its common name:  "etaoin shrdlu"

The keyboard perforator pictured here is what appears to be a more
or less ordinary Teletypesetter Corp. Keyboard Perforator, less its
keyboard, with a 90-key Linotype-style keyboard in front of it
(and a Linotype style copyholder to boot).

It was developed by a guy named Brewer in the research department of
the International Typographical Union.  I know nothing more about it,
save that it was not successful.

(The image here is from a presentation by Hal Sterne at the
2010 conference of the American Typecasting Fellowship.  Hal developed
an entirely practical QWERTY keyboard for the Linotype/Intertype
back in the 1960s, and was giving a presentation on various bits of
QWERTY/ETAOIN keyboard history.  He very kindly gave me the printout
of his slide for the Brewer.)

So, yes, there was at least one 90-key ETAOIN Teletype, without a
green key in sight!

Regards,
David M.
===
Dr. David M. MacMillan * dmm at lemur.com * www.lemur.com & www.CircuitousRoot.com

   The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts.
       - Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915); Aldo Leopold



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