Technical Device That is Either Broken no Longer in Use - Essay Example

Technical device that is either broken no longer in use: Typewriter For the discussion of Broken Device Report, I would to discuss the good old typewriter as a technical device that its either broken no longer in use because it perfectly suits the description. We have a broken typewriter sitting in our garage, it is a technical device and perhaps it belonged to our grandparents or either from mom and dad. Anyway, it is an electromechanical device used to print letters and characters to be printed on a paper. Before the advent of computers, typewriters were the medium used by students in their school works and even in office works. Our grandparents, even including a portion of our parents time, have used this machine and while this may look obsolete, this thing was very reliable when it was still in used according to my mom. The machine works by inserting a paper in the paper arm which looks like a cylinder or a roller in making dough. When the paper is already properly pressed or laid against the cylinder, letters can be written on it by pressing on the keyboard or typebar. Unlike in computers where the printer is the one that puts the letter, symbol or picture on the paper, it is individual steel sticks with letters and symbols that slam on the paper to print every time its corresponding key is pressed. Make no mistake about it though, because you cannot literally afford make a mistake otherwise your paperwork will become a mess. The letters and symbols cannot be erased when it is already written on the paper and you can only overwrite them with a white snowpake and then overwrite with another letter or symbol. The following parts or components work together for it to operate as a writing device in the paper; a. Carriage – carriage is the whole thing on top of the typewriter that moves to the left everytime we type a word or symbol. When a next line has to be written, it has to be moved back to the right to allow for the words or symbols to be written on the paper. b. Margin stops – This is the indicator which tells you that you have reached the end of your margin. Just like the border in our computer, typing stops there except that a bell will be heard in a typewriter when you reached the end of your typewriter. c. Paper bail – this works like a large clip that holds the paper fastened on to the platen or cylinder to allow the typewriter to type its letters and symbols on the paper when you hit the keys. d. Carriage release – the levers that can be found on the right of the carriage are called carriage release which allows the carriage to be moved anywhere in both direction without pressing the space tab or back space key. e. Paper release lever – just like the carriage release lever, paper release lever loosen the fastening of the paper on the cylinder for it to be easily removed. f. Platen knobs – this is the knob or roller used to feed paper or remove paper from the typewriter. The paper can be moved or rolled up and down on both sides through the platen knobs. g. Back space key – just like the backspace key in our computers, the backspace key moves the typing area one space at a time. The interesting thing about it is that it moves the entire carriage on space backward so that you can type one word or symbol. h. Ribbon selector – this is a lever that is located on the carriage which determines what color (black or red) should be written on the paper when the key is struck. Some typewriter however do not have this lever and only types one set of color which is either black or red whereby the user can just invert the ribbon when the ribbon reaches its end. i. Carriage return lever – this is the lever that does two things. First, it moves the typing line one margin up so that we can type at another line. Second, it moves the carriage to the left to be able to type on the beginning line. j. Line space – The equivalent of space bar in our computer keyboards only that there is an option to single space, double space, triple space or even half0line space. . k. Ribbon – This is not the ribbon we use to tie things. Typewriter ribbon lets the letters or symbols to be written on the paper. The ink, typically black and red, which makes the impression on the paper is contained on ribbon which are winded up on spools which rolls to the other side to make sure that there is a fresh ink for each strike on the keyboards. l. Ribbon spools – They are the container of the ribbon that organizes the ribbon to move for the typerwriter have fresh ink for every strike on the keyboard. It also shields the ribbon from the elements which could affect the quality of typing. m. The slugs – these are the tiny metal sticks which holds the letter or symbol on its head which hits or slams on the paper to print the letter or symbol when you hit its corresponding keys. With regard to the letter, these can be typically small or capital letter which capitalizes when the shift key is simultaneously held while pressing the key which works just like the keyboard on the computer only that we can literally see how the literal is struck on the paper on a typewriter. For our generation, typewriters may seem to be a difficult machine to operate. Compared to computers that we are accustomed today, typewriters have many limitations such as its inablity to print pictures and do some complex formatting. Typewriters however were wonderful devices during our grandparents and to some extent, by our parent’s time for it enabled them to do their school paper and work on that machine. I can only imagine the discipline required to do schoolwork on that machine because it allows no room for error. Read More