TYPEWRITING MACHINES : How to Select them.—To the average business man one typewriting machine is very much like to, if not entirely identical with, another, aad such a man usually leaves the selection of the particular make to the operator, or buys from the salesman with the most plausible arguments at his command. The writing machine is, however, such an important factor in the work of the modern office that its selection deserves a little more sensible consideration and a wider knowledge of the facts.
To begin with, all typewriting machines are not alike. It is quite pos sible for Jones to buy a machine which is excellent in every respect for Brown's business, whereas Brown's instrument (bought at the same figure) is the ideal machine for Jones. The writer has encountered hundreds of such instances in his experience. There are three points which every good machine should possess, namely, durability, convenience of operation, and freedom from breakdowns. The greater number of first-class machines on the market to-day have these qualities in a more or less marked degree ; for without them no typewriter can hope to build a reputation. These qualities, excellent and absolutely necessary as they are, do not, however, form the entire make up of a writing machine. In the strenuous age in which we live, the typewriting machine, to fulfil its highest functions, must march with the times as regards labour and time-saying improvements.
Take the point of visible writing. A few years ago many of the best class standard machines did not write in full view of the operator, and the advo cates of these machines put up many more or less convincing arguments to prove that there was no real demand for, or need of, visible writing. Since then all the standard machines have produced visible writing models ; the business man, therefore, does not need further reason for insisting that visible writing shall form one of the features of any typewriter he purchases. In a few years' time the blind writing machine will probably be conspicuous by its absence from the stage of business affairs.
The business man must remember that a typewriting machine can be employed to much advantage, apart from the transcription of correspond ence. A great number of users find it advisable to typewrite their invoices ; a large number use the typewriter in connection with the up-to-date billing system, as well as for the typing of tabular and columnar work generally. No typewriting machine will cope readily and expeditiously with figure work unless it is equipped with a reliable tabulator, the purpose of which is to bring the typewriter carriage to the exact writing point by the simple pres sure of a key instead of the old method of shifting the carriage by hand, or laboriously tapping out the spaces on the space-bar. The tabulator is one of the most useful modern day inventions applied to the writing machine, and the purchaser must determine•for himself whether the work of his office renders the inclusion of this feature necessary.
Tabulators themselves differ in principle. Some are apt to be complicated, requiring from the operator a measure of intelligence and practice which is not always supplied ; others•are the esseilce of simplicity, but with a limited scope of usefulness. The purchaser's test is a simple one. He should require the tabulator to do efficiently and quickly the everyday figure work of his office, and he should make a point of seeing for himself that he, or his operator, is able to do the work without a tremendous amount of tuition or painfully acquired manual practice. 'Where the tabular work is complicated and difficult (a comparatively rare occurrence), it must be admitted that the operator be obliged to spend more time, and to take more trouble in acquir ing dexterity in the manipulation of a more intricate piece of mechanism, but this should be quite within the abilities of every typist worth her salt.