And that was British made I think.
-----Original Message-----
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Norman (Redacted sender "normanwaddington504" for DMARC)
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2016 11:46 AM
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [access-uk] Re: [Bulk] Re: Alternatives to Perkins
Hi,
I can remember the Lavenda. If anyone has one I would be interested to
have
one for my collection of Braille machines.
Norman.
-----Original Message-----
From: Colin Howard
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2016 11:39 AM
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Bulk] [access-uk] Re: Alternatives to Perkins
Greetings,
Mike Ray wrote:
I have used at least 4 different Perkins in my lifetime and I find
them
to be the most unreliable, inconsistent and unreliable machines I have
ever touched. To say nothing of the arcane design.
I am very surprised to read your comments Mike, I've owned two Perkins
Brailers in my life, have used a third at work and have found them all
totally reliable. I have owned and still regularly use one purchased
for me
in 1963 and it has seen me through all my exams and school work. It
has
only had two servicings in the fifty-two years I have owned it. The
machine
still smells new and now a little slower, produces very very good
quality
braille. I have used all kinds of material on which to write from
very thin
to card-thickness paper and, most of the time, have nothing about
which to
complain. Obviously, if I need produce more than one copy, pressing
more
slowly and harder allows me two, sometimes three copies and the first
one or
two, though the dots are somewhat sharp, prove absolutely perfect.
The one
I used for work, though more modern being made I believe in about
1970, has
proved equally reliable and needed only one service in the 27 years of
use.
The third one, I purchased second-hand and, though it works well, has
a
habbit of producing shadow dots but this is a modern machine made, I
believe, in about 1993.
The touch on my oldest machine is still very good still, a tad tight
perhaps
hence not so fast, the keys are still very springy considering I have
what
many might think of as a rather heavy touch.
The Stainsbey? yes, good in it's time, available in two basic forms -
write-as-you-read or write-as-you-write.
The first format wrote from left to right, the dots made by crossed
levers
from the keys, meaning dots 1 2 3 on the left 4 5 6 on the right a
space bar
between. The write-as-you-write worked from right to left and dots 1
2 3
were on the right, dots 4 5 6 on the left. I never used one of these
but
did have two of the write-as-you-read variety. I only ever had
interlined
boards but interpoint could readily be obtained.
These machines tended to be very noisy, a class of more than half a
dozen
made it almost impossible to hear dictation.
I learnt Braille from five years old, on a hand frame, with clamp,
dotter
and two-line guide. I can easily switch writing braille backwards
from
right to left without having to think about it.
I remember the Lavenda, one person on this list, a certain David
russell
(use to live in Ware) who came up the college with me, had one of
these and
one day, the thing whilst in use, more or less fell to pieces! A good
idea,
cheaper than the Perkins (which, when I had mine in 1963/4 cost
thirteen
pounds ten shillings, but made of plastic and springs used to keep
going,
can't remember how much it cost, think about ten pounds, sure Russ
will
correct me on this. Yes, produced good braille and easy to use but
shoddy
workmanship.
Think I have gone on enough for now, sure others will come back with
comments and additional information.
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