Braillewriters

Introduction to Braillewriters

Students at a school for the visually impaired in Tanzania working on their Braille Typewriters.

A braillewriter is a machine used to write braille. The provenance of this technology cannot be fully understood without first introducing its origins in the development of braille and the early devices used for its writing.

Louis Braille (1809-1852) is famously credited for his invention of braille, a universal system for reading and writing using raised dots for people who are blind or visually impaired. This system was one of several other forms of indented print at the time of its invention, including those developed by William Moon and others. The system soon became a global phenomenon, as it was very compatible with the slate and stylus, an earlier form of a printing slate developed by inventor Charles Barbiere, and was widely used throughout Europe by 1905.

Braille would continue to influence the lives of people who were blind or visually impaired throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the first mechanical devices that printed braille was known as the Hall braillewriter, developed by Frank Hall in 1892. The original Hall braillewriter consisted of a rectangular cast iron frame, a keyboard resembling a piano with six black keys in total, and cast iron arches over the top of the machine and down to where the paper feeds through rolls.

The Braillewriter would continue to evolve throughout the coming decades, with the most recent form of the braillewriter being the Perkins Brailler, still manufactured today. The Perkins Brailler originated in the United States and was developed by the Perkins School for the Blind in Massachusetts. After decades of development in the school's in-house printing house, the machine finally hit the market in 1951 and is still sold and used today in the United States, Canada, and beyond.

Digital Resources for the Study of Braillewriters: Instruction Manuals

Braillewriting Dot by Dot: In One Volume

Braillewriting Dot by Dot: In One Volume is an instruction manual in the writing of braille using both slate and stylus and briellewriters. It was written by researchers Eleanor Pester and Fred Otto and tangible materials designer Tom Poppe and published by the American Printing House for the Blind in 1995. The manual is targeted at teachers for students who are visually impaired and includes 10 lessons on the Perkins Braillewriter:

Lesson 1: Introducing the uses of the braillewriter and the numbering of dot positions on the braillewriter

Lesson 2: Anatomy of the braillewriter and the loading and unloading of the braillewriter with paper and line spacing

Lesson 3: Correct fingering on the braillewriter

Lesson 4: Creating spacing between letters

Lesson 5: Typing words and phrases

Lesson 6: Correcting errors by backspacing and adding dots

Lesson 7: Correcting errors by erasing dots

Lesson 8: Creating spacing and columns

Lesson 9: Typing numerals

Lesson 10: Review

The Perkins Brailler

The manufacturer's website for the Perkins Brailler allows viewers to download instruction manuals for their products in five different languages.

The manuals contain 10 sections on the usage and repair of their classic braillewriter:

Section 1: Unpacking the Braillewriter to prevent damage

Section 2: Getting Started with information on who to contact if the braillewriter is damaged

Section 3: Machine Layout and Basic Functions with instructions on how to use the components of the braillewriter, such as its keys, paper feed knobs, and paper rollers

Section 4: Inserting and Removing Braille Paper

Section 5: Inserting Paper

Section 6: Removing Paper

Section 7: Brailling Tips

Section 8: Correcting Brailling Errors

Section 9: Care and Storage with information on how to prevent damage to the braillewriter during usage

Section 10: Returning the Brailler for Repair with packaging instructions for when the braillewriter needs to be returned

Digital Resources for the Study of Braillewriters: Virtual Museums

The Typewriter Museum

The Typewriter Museum is a private Finnish museum collection boasting over 150 calculators and 300 typewriters, which are divided into 102 total collections. All of their collections can be viewed virtually.

The Typewriters for the blind collection features 10 braille typewriters originating from 6 different countries and manufactured between 1821 and 1989. Clicking into it produces a list of the braille typewriters currently on display in the Typewriter Museum. Each type of typewriter is accompanied by a description of its manufacturing company, country of origin, and dates of manufacturing, as well as a brief history, such as how the typewriter may have found its way to Finland or how its design has evolved if it is still being manufactured in the modern day. Images are included of each typewriter and some also contain details to how the typewriter is displayed in the museum.

Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind

The Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind provides both a featured collection and an online catalog of their mechanical braillewriters.

Featured Collection

The Featured Collections page in the Research and Collections section allows virtual visitors to "View Our Collection of Mechanical Braille Writers." Clicking into the subpage produces an index of 35 mechanical braillewriters for embossed characters. Cataloging data is provided for each braillewriter, such as its manufacturing date, dimensions, and brief notes on the mechanisms it uses to emboss characters. Images of each braillewriter are also provided.

Online Catalog

The Research and Collections section also contains a hyperlink to the museum's online catalog, which allows viewers to access online exhibits. Braillewriters are featured under the "Writing: Braille Slates, Braillewriters, and Writing Guides" exhibit page. Clicking into this begins the exhibit tour, where visitors can either view the full individual records of artifacts by clicking "Next Record" or view and navigate through their entire catalog of braille slates, braillewriters, and writing guides first by clicking on the "Table of Contents". Cataloging data accompanies each braillewriter, including manufacturing date and dimensions, as well as short descriptions on both the material components and history of the machine. These descriptions are more thorough than those provided in the Featured Collections section. Images for each braillewriter are also provided and can be enlarged when clicked on.

Envisioning Technologies

Envisioning Technologies is an online exhibit on the "history of disability and technology in Canada." The site contains both exhibits on the evolution of braille technologies and collections of the technologies themselves.

Exhibits

The "Emergence of Braille Technologies, 1860-1951" exhibit provides a comprehensive introduction into the history of braillewriters, from slate and stylus to the Perkins Brailler.

Images are provided in each exhibit that hyperlinks to the technology's catalog data, including which collection the technology is featured in, its manufacturing date, and so on.

Collections

The "Canadian Science and Technology Museum, Collections, Library and Archives" collection features 4 braille writers manufactured between 1892 and 1962, as well as 2 instruction manuals on how to repair the Perkins Brailler at home, dated to 1989.

The collection provides images for each artifact alongside catalog data, its manufacturing date, manufacturing or publishing company, and so on.

Both the collections and exhibits can also be browsed by tag, where searching "braille writers" also generates a list of braillewriters from all of their exhibits and collections.

Digital Resources for the Study of Braillewriters: Manufacturer Websites and Online Stores

The Perkins Brailler

Example of a 1951 design Perkins braille typewriter, once used by the Liverpool School for the Blind and now displayed at the Museum of Liverpool.

The Perkins Brailler is a braillewriter still manufactured today with minimal changes to its original design. The manufacturer's website, also an online store, provides various digital resources into the study of the Perkins Brailler, such as its history, information on the products currently for sale, such as product features and specs, information on product care and repair, and instruction manuals available for download.

Features and Specs

The Perkins Brailler website currently sells a number of products, such as the Perkins Brailler, electric Perkins Brailler, accessories, and spare parts. For each product, the website provides information about its features and specs. For the Perkins Brailler, this includes its keypad design, paper size, mechanical anatomy (e.g. metal carrying handle, round paper-feed knobs), and the size and spacing of the dots it produces.

Product Care and Repair

The product care and repair section provided alongside each product description provides information on the long-term preservation of the product. For example, the description states that the braillewriter should be stored in a dry environment, as "humid or moist conditions can accelerate corrosion of the metal components."

Images of the products listed for sale are also provided with their descriptions on the manufacturer's website for reference.