2003.38

Tellatouch

Tellatouch is a device for communication with a deaf-blind person who reads braille. Similar to a small portable typewriter, Tellatouch has a 4-row keyboard. Letters of the alphabet and punctuation mark keys make up the first 3 rows. The bottom row consists of six standard braille keys. Pushing the keys raises metal pins in a single braille cell located at the top back of the machine. A deaf-blind individual can read the cell by touch as the keys are typed by another individual. The device has a hinged lid with a metal clasp that covers the keys. The exterior is a red-brown leather-textured plastic. A metal plate on top of machine reads: "For Communication in Braille, Tellatouch American Foundation for the Blind, Inc., New York, N.Y." The device weighs about 3 1/2 pounds.

H-2.75 W-10 D-9 inches

ca. 1954

American Foundation for the Blind

New York

Jackson Kleber was an electrical engineer who had worked for both RCA and Bell Telephone. Laid off as a result of the depression, he came to work for the American Foundation for the Blind in 1932 to help continue research efforts on the development of the "Talking Book." AFB launched a major effort on behalf of the deaf-blind in the mid 1940s. One of the first projects was an electrical device that would allow a typist to sit on one side, facing a standard keyboard. The machine would translate the keystrokes into a Braille symbol on a plate at the back of the machine, "where a deaf-blind person could feel them with a fingertip."
Kleber worked out the initial prototype. It was later modified by another important AFB researcher, Clifford Witcher. This early model, the Electro-braille Communicator, failed in field testing and was withdrawn in 1952. Later that year, Charles P. Tolman, a semi-retired engineer, was hired as AFB's technical research chief. Tolman solved the machine's problems by converting it from electrical to mechanical power and it was renamed the "Tellatouch" in 1954.

Museum Purchase, 2003.38.