Speeding Up he Typist

Cue (NZERS), Issue 22, 30 April 1945, Page 32

Speeding Up he Typist

A typist has created a new world speed record of 180 words a minute, exceeding the previous performance by 31 words. A newly designed typewriter with a radically altered keyboard, made the feat possible. The inventor of the machine, Lieutenant-Com-mander Dvorak, of the United States Navy Department, who is also* Director of Educational Research at Washington University, has puzzled over the typewriting alphabet for 20 years, trying to devise a keyboard system that would permit more of the work to be done by the operator’s right hand.

It is calculated that using the new typewriter, the right hand will do 56 per cent, of the labour against 43 per cent, possible on standard machines at present in use. The work of each index finger will be mere evenly distributed, being reduced in the case of the right hand index finger from 21 £ per cent, to 18j per cent. The left hand index finger will do little more Than 14 per cent, as against 23 per cent, formerly.

Lieutenant-Commander Dvorak’s machine is now being used with great success in the Navy Department. If it is generally adopted by the commercial world there will need to be some revision in the methods of tuition for typists. The ”Q” row of the standard keyboard is replaced by one which reads ”?. ;PYEG CR L ” This has three alphabetical letters loss than the normal. The ”A” row includes all the vowels and reads ” A O E U I D H TN'S The arrangement of the bottom row is ”iQJKX B M W V Z

The world’s first typewriter is believed- to have been invented in the early eighteenth century. Queen Ann granted a patent to a certain Henry Mill, but he did net put -his machine into production. An American, Wiliam Burt, built a machine in 1829, which hie called the typograph, but it was destroyed by fire. ; / The 'first typewriter to gain general favour was one invented in 1873. had four rows of keys, and was designed for two-finger typing only.