Stenographer's Typewriter

March 12, 2004 12:10 AM

How does a stenographer's typewriter work?
posted by tomharpel to Technology (3 answers total)

Best answer: The stenographer presses chords on the keyboard to represent phonemes, which are printed one phoneme per line on paper tape. Details here.
posted by jjg at 12:55 AM on March 12, 2004

Thanks, jjg - and thanks for asking this, tomharpel - it's exactly the kind of thing I've always wondered, but never remembered to ask.
posted by soyjoy at 9:50 AM on March 12, 2004

Response by poster: I can only imagine that there is a secret society of stenographers who meet monthly at rented halls and banquet rooms to discuss their secret knowledge and how best to ply it to steer the course of humanity.

I might be stretching there. Thanks jjg for the link. Good lord, what complicated business.
posted by tomharpel at 9:17 AM on March 13, 2004