DRAWING BY MACHINERY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2325, 22 September 1898, Page 60

DRAWING BY MACHINERY.

CLEVER ARTISTS WHO USE NEITHER PEN NOR PENCIL.

The art of designing ornamental borders and other similar artistic devices upon an ordinary typewriter has long been known and practised, both in this country and in America ; but it was not until a comparath ely recent date that it was conceived possible to produce by similar means a freenand black-and-white drawing. Exactly to whose inventive genius we owe the first machine-drawn sketch, or when and where it was first produced, cannot now be deter-

mined with any reasonable degree of accuracy. It is pretty well agreed, however, that the fad had its origin on the other side of the Atlantic. But if we do not know which was the earliest drawings, we do know which is the latest. It is the picture, reproduced herewith, of London's Great Wheel. This specimen of the typist's art was executed specially for this article by Miss Flora F. Stacey upon j a new Barlock machine. j Miss Stacey, it may be mentioned, is gene- j rally considered the doyenne of this particular branch of type-writing business — and lias even beaten the Americans on their own '

ground, carrying off prize after prize in the tjTewriter drawing competitions inaugurated by the New York Phonographic World. A peculiar interest is attached to the typewritten sketch of the ill-iated battleship Maine. By a careful study of this drawing it is possible to form a very good idea of the method of its production and to realise something of the care and pains necessary to produce such a result. The straight lines, of which, it will be observed, there are an unu?tal number in this particular _ nkctcli, are arrived at by the use of the characterknown among typists as the "underscore," and the same character, placed at slightly

■varying angles, suffices for the waves of the sea. The portholes large and small, are made by the capital and small "o," as are likewise the mouths of the cannons and the ornamental work on the central davits. The " stripes " on the national flag at the stern of the vessel and on the summit of the foreloyal masts are parenthesis marks a number of periods doing duty for the " stars." The first-named character has also been made use of in drawing the funnels, the small stern davits, the electric searchlight apparatus, the beats, the big guns, and suchlike. This drawing, a <very fine one of its kind, was executed in the snpne: of this year by a Mr August Roeder, of Baltimore, U.S.A.' On this page also is the typewritten piece o? music — three lines from " God save tlie Queen." Our illustration is an exact reproduction of the original, but is reduced about

one half in size. Users of typewriters will doubtless be interested in knowing just how this latest production of fancy typewriter work was made. Excluding the words, 10 characters are used — the underscore, parenthesis, oblique, small "o," capital "0," figure "3," figure " 4," small " c," hyphen, and period. The lines, including added lines, are made by using the underscore; quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes by lower case "o " filled with putty ; half- notes by capital "0" ; stems of notes by underscore ; hooks on eighth notes by hyphen ; coupling of eighth and sixteenth notes by the oblique ; dots after bass clefs and quarter notes by period ; bars and sub•^fcutea | or braces b£ M&Kfcorej. flats b£

I reversed lower case " c," underscore, and ture of the Tower will be of interest. It reJ period ; treble clef by parenthesis, under- presents one of the very earliest specimens score, oblique, hyphen, and period ; bass clef of typewritten drawings extant, and is made Iby underscore, oblique, and period. Exactness - . n , , n », 0 oi«n-nri ni™ *. *• i * or trueness of the result depends entirely upon U P. x * be obseived > a^°st entirely of the accurate adjustment of the scale of the straight lines.— Answers. God save our gricicus Queen, Send her victorious, Long live our noble Queen, Happy and glorieus, God save the Queen 1 Long to reign over us, God save the Queen !

machine, which makes a far more reliable guide than the eye alone ; and the regulation, to a hairsbreadth, of the paper in the typewriter, aided by the use of the auxiliary ratchet spring. Studies of animals are among the most difficult of accomplishment of any class of typewritten drawings. Indeed they were considered to be practically impossible until Miss Stacey showed us the way. Note her " Cat's Head" — a genuine study from life, the

A Machine-drawn Peacock. (This beautiful specimen took three days to produce.) animal being her own. For breadth of treatment and faithfulness to nature, combined with genuine artistic aplomb, this little sketch would be hard to beat. This drawing by the way is further remarkable for the small number of characters . used in its construction. The fur is entirely made up of countless parenthesis marks, and these, with the addition of the characters for underscoring and the period, constitute all that have been called into requisition. The " Owl " sketch, again, is almost equally simple in appearance, although it involved

and Finest Specimens of the Typist's Art. an immense amount of tedious and conscientious work. Indeed, an outsider, or one unaccustomed to the use of the typewriter, can scarcely realise what an expenditure of time and patience is necessary in order to successfully execute one of these curious drawings. The paper has, of course, to be turned and re-turned and twisted in a thousand dif-

ferent directions, and each character and letter must strike precisely in the right spot. Often, just as some particular sketch is apparently on the point of completion, a trifling miscalculation, or the accidental depression of a wrong key, will totally ruin it, and the whole thing has to be begun over again. The difficulty is, as may be well imagined, very much enhanced in the case of specially intricate or unusually elaborate drawings — such as, for instance, the " Peacock." This latter is believed to be one of the most beautiful machine-made sketches ever produced. It took three whole days to complete. 'I As a contrast to these elaborate and infeicafce ftiecea o| woric._the accoffißMaaSLEJei