Dactyle typewriter (1894)

A French typewriter, from Paris

It’s a little portable typewriter, very light and simple to use.

In fact it’s the French version of the Blickensderfer Number 5, made for the French market.

But in the keyboard there isn’t the usual layout we have also now. George Blickensderfer made a careful analysis of the English language, and placed the most used keys on the lowest row. This positioning allowed the typist to keep his hands on the home row as much as possible, minimizing hand movement and increasing efficiency.

Blickensderfer made the same analysis for other languages, so according to his studies, these letters are the more common on the French language, and have been placed on this line.

Here there is a video about this old typewriter.

and a short, with the Blickensderfer and the Dactyle together.