This “hand-writer” of the mid-1700s could be programmed to scrawl specific messages. Quite extraordinary, really. One wonders why this desgin was not pursued more fully, given the drive to produce writing machines in the 18th and 19th centuries. Imagine a writing machine that hand wrote documents.
Note: Updated Jan. 10, 2015, with embedded video from original source.
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This is just… wow! I have no words for it. WOW!!
Michael Adler discusses writing automata in his great book The Writing Machine. They really aren’t typewriters at all, but they prove that 18th-century technology was definitely sophisticated enough to produce a typewriter if inventors had put their minds to it.
Have you seen “Hugo”?
I haven’t seen “Hugo,” but when I resubscribe to Netflix, I might.
You’re right, the technology was certainly available. I’m surprised the development of the typewriter was so halting at first.