2016.25

Andersson & Sorensen Writer

Andersson & Sorensen

(a) crackled-black enameled aluminum body; diebox arch is very flat on top as it reaches over carriage; machining and painting of machine is very neat and precise; six rectangular Bakelite resin braille keys, with a space key extending from middle, set at 90 degrees to the other keys; stamped onto angled front plate above the keys, "ANDERSSON & SORENSEN COPENHAGEN 757"; nickel plated back space push lever on right side of frame along with smaller nickel-plated carriage release knob and a tensioning screw for the mainspring, which is concealed inside the chassis; carriage has black enameled aluminum sides, a toothed steel bar on lower front which engages with a drive gear inside the chassis, a hollow aluminum tube on top front that engages a steel bar bracketed to the back of the drive gear housing, a lower aluminum paper roller with a paper clamp and black rubber knobs on both sides, an upper hard rubber secondary paper roller, and a notched margin set bar with spring-loaded margin sets on each side; a roller mounted in the middle of the margin set bar rests on a nickel-plated steel rod--square in section--that is screwed to the back of the lower die box; a tooth screwed to the bottom right of the carriage activates a nickel-plated end-of-line bell when the carriage is all the way to the left; (bc) crackled-black enameled two piece case; writer (a) is secured to plywood base(b) with four screws; (c) enameled stamped steel top has an angled front, crimped edges, four steel feet on back; black plastic handle, stamped nickel-plated steel hardware, and keyed lock on front.

H-5.5 W-14 D-13 inches

ca. 1935

Andersson & Sorensen

Copenhagen, Denmark

This writer was given to the donor in 1968 as a young girl by a close friend of her parents, Carol M. Driscoll (1906-2007). The two used it to send letters to each other in braille. Driscoll was a graduate of the Illinois School for the Blind and Wheaton College. She was a certified braille transcriber, living at 218 North Maple Street in Sycamore, IL in 1973.
Andersson & Sorensen is a Copenhagen, Denmark manufacturer founded in 1913. According to the Dansk Blindesamfund website A&S began manufacturing a braillewriter design in the 1930s, probably this style. In 1950, Outlook for the Blind announced in its January issue that A&S had introduced a new and improved design. The five A&S machines in the APH Museum collection feature differences which suggest modification over time. By 1963, A&S machines were distributed in the United States by the Beutler Company, New York, NY.