2013.31

Terratype 8-point Braillewriter

Terashima, Keiji

(a) bright nickel plated steel; uncomplicated stamped plate construction; rectangular base rests on four round rubber feet; carriage with both keyboard and diebox slides on sawblade rail on back; paper roller on front with black plastic roller knob on right and two knurled paper advance wheels; keyboard has four keys on each side of diebox--three angling away to the back and a fourth wing-shaped key flanking the spacebar; wide spacebar in front of the diebox, carriage release lever on back right of diebox; the front of the base is piano hinged and folds down; the top front of the base is also hinged; when opened, these two flaps reveal the spring pulley and the carriage return bell; 32 cell wide indents on lower table; stamped on base "62365"; printed paper Omoto prayer amulet label glued inside base, in Japanese; (b) nickel plated steel cover, secures to writer with pivoting hoots on sides; stamped and riveted construction; steel handle screwed to top; stamped in handle bases, "TAKIGEN" (the name of a manufacturer of handle hardware); braille dymo-tape label on front.

H-3.125 W-10.125 D-2.75 inches

ca. 1995

Nagano shisko kiki

Mamejima, Nagano, Japan

Nagano shisko kiki (Machines for the Visually Impaired) was founded by Mr. Keiji Terashima in the city of Mamejima in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Terashima was a retired teacher from the school for the blind in Nagano Prefecture. His Terashima braille typewriter, or the Terratype, was introduced in 1985. It came in two varieties, a traditional six point brailler and this eight point variety. Basic Japanese braille uses the traditional six dot cell, but this is not always satisfactory to represent the hundreds of Chinese characters used to write Japanese. One solution was the use of an eight point cell, although it was not widely adopted.

Museum Purchase, 2013.31.