1998.1

Stainsby-Berridge Braille Writer

Stainsby-Berridge Braillewriter; nickel plated steel writer in a steel framed carriage, screwed to a wooden bed; pegs on the bottom of the bed adjust the writer's position up and down a folding wooden board with a hinged paper clamp at the top; (a) writer has six "dot" keys angled toward the user on both sides, keys are "reversed" (keys arranged for writing braille in reverse as on a slate); die-plate has series of six-dot braille cells; rack serrations are half-circle cutouts; space key on right, two carriage release levers in middle back ; coil springs on "dot" keys, bard spring on space key; margin bell on left, mounted on bracket from the toothed rack, bell hammer on spring-wound wire to left; "B465" and "PAT. No. 177292-21" stamped on space key arm.; wooden bed has rounded corners and wooden guides on sides secured by screws; (b) wooden tablet board is hinged in middle to allow lower section to bend closed when unit is in storage, tongue on center panels joined to grooved side pieces, two columns of 18 holes; hinged hardwood paper clamp on top with brad teeth in both top and bottom, brass catch locks clamp closed; front of clamp chamfered.

H-3 W-13.75 D-14.5 inches

ca. 1922

Stainsby-Wayne

Birmingham, England

Used at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Henry Stainsby (1859-1925), Supt. of the Birmingham Royal Institution for the Blind, along with Birmingham manufacturer Albert Wayne, introduced their portable brailler writer around 1903. Stainsby and Wayne had patented a much different braille shorthand machine in 1899-1900. This model was a variation, patented by Alfred Wayne, Arthur Wayne, and Harold C. Berridge of Birmingham, in 1922. The differences from the original Stainsby-Wayne includes changes to the bell, the die-plate, and the carriage advancing mechanism, and minor changes in the design of the paper clamp.

Gift of the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, 1998.1