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17-6-2013 06:29:59  #1


Mystery key with six dots

Any ideas, folks?
It's not margin release, tab, tab set or clear.  I don't own this machine (just thinking about it) so would like to know.

Last edited by beak (17-6-2013 08:24:54)


Sincerely,
beak.
 
 

18-6-2013 02:06:52  #2


Re: Mystery key with six dots

Does it print anything when you press it? I've never seen such a key. It looks like three colons all lined up together. 


"Not Yet Published" - My History Blog
"I just sit at a typewriter and curse a bit" - Sir Pelham Grenville "P.G." Wodehouse
"The biggest obstacle to professional writing is the necessity for changing a typewriter ribbon" - Robert Benchley
 

18-6-2013 10:51:25  #3


Re: Mystery key with six dots

My first answer is that it is a "check protector" type of character, designed to be typed over the amount on a check* to prevent or at least make it very difficult to erase the amount and type in a different value. Of course it can be typed over anything else you might want to protect from alteration. Type your amount, then backspace and type this character; you can still read the value easily.

It could conceivably be a logic character, like "therefore" or "exclusive or" but I really doubt it here.

It's not a margin release, nor tab, etc., because it's on a key that actually types a character. Typewriters don't have keys that mix functions like that.

* A check was a small form, the size of a dollar bill, that operated like an IOU, in that you would fill in the amount to be paid, to whom, and give it to the person that you were paying, who would then give it to their bank and their bank would trade the form with your bank for money which they would then place in the person-to-be-paid's account. It worked pretty well but was much slower (several days, at best) than our modern electronic system(s). :-)

== Michael

 

08-11-2013 10:45:32  #4


Re: Mystery key with six dots

I just picked up an Olympia SG3 and it has the exact same key.

The symbol on the key is a little misleding as it doesn't type what is shown on it, instead each key stroke puts 15 closely spaced dots on the page. After trying it out my conclusion would be that Michael (M. Höhne) was correct that it's for typing out cheques and filling in the blank area after the dollar amount to protect the cheque from being altered.

I'll try to post a few photos later on today.


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

09-11-2013 01:05:35  #5


Re: Mystery key with six dots

Thanks - would love to see that picture!


Sincerely,
beak.
 
     Thread Starter
 

09-11-2013 21:36:47  #6


Re: Mystery key with six dots

Uwe, two notes about this:

Probably, the keytop has six dots while the typeslug prints 15 simply because fitting 15 dots on the keytop would be too dense to look good with the rest of the keys. It only needs to be a representation, a reminder, of what the key prints.
I wonder whether there are other instances where the keytop doesn't match the printed character. For example, a dollar sign where the keytop shows a single vertical line yet the printed character has a double vertical line, or vice versa.

Second, I think the character is not simply to fill in the blank space after the amount, but rather to overstrike the actual amount (without obliterating it) so that it would be practically impossible to alter the amount. It is clever to make the numbers black and the overstrike red.

Cheers, and thanks for a great forum== Michael

 

10-11-2013 14:42:14  #7


Re: Mystery key with six dots

Well, here's a scan of the type and a few examples of how it might have been used. It's been years since I have seen a paper cheque that would have included such security type, so I'm not sure that I've got the format correct, but it's close enough to get the idea across.

The "multi-dot" key on the Olympia SG3:



Typing with the "multi-dot" key:



As for how many other keys don't exactly represent what is typed on the page, I would say it is most of them. Take for example, as Michael suggested, the dollar symbol. Look at what it looks like in the above type sample in comparison to what the key shows (below). This mismatch holds true for most of the keyboard.





 


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

10-11-2013 18:16:29  #8


Re: Mystery key with six dots

Excellent demo, Uwe. I like the second line of #5.

The dollar sign turns out to be a great example, too; but the "4" doesn't match either, and when you get right down to it, think of all those sans serif keyboards that print serif characters. They're all just hints, indicators.

On the computer too, WYSIWYG does not refer to the keyboard--it refers to the screen. What you see on the screen is what you get on the printout. And when you realize that and you realize that our piece of paper is the analogue to the screen, then what we see on the paper is what we get on the paper. Neat, eh?
 

 

11-11-2013 03:27:52  #9


Re: Mystery key with six dots

Great domonstration of that key - thanks!

I tend to think the overstike is the intended function; alteration-exposing background, as others have suggested.

Also agree that no keyboard is an exact representation of the typeface printed on the paper - least, I have never seen one that is.  Given that manufacturers often offered several typefaces, you could not expect them to match the keyboard to any one of them.  And that may never have been the best thing to do anyway; indentifying the key you wish to hit is one thing, but reading words typed on the page is another, so it is natural that a different 'font' may would chosen for each job.

Thanks again for the photo.


Sincerely,
beak.
 
     Thread Starter
 

18-6-2014 15:13:21  #10


Re: Mystery key with six dots

Here is a similar key and glyph from a 1984 Facit 1740. (Thanks to Uwe for directing me to this thread.)



 

Last edited by rdj (18-6-2014 15:14:59)

 

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