Editing Typewriter (section)

==== Dead keys ====
{{Main|Dead key}}

Languages such as French, Spanish, and German required [[diacritic]]s, special signs attached to or on top of the base letter: for example, a combination of the [[acute accent]] {{char|´}} plus {{char|e}} produced {{char|é}}; {{char|~}} plus {{char|n}} produced {{char|ñ}}. In [[Typesetting#Movable type|metal typesetting]], {{angbr|é}}, {{angbr|ñ}}, and others were separate [[Sort (typesetting)|sorts]]. With mechanical typewriters, the number of whose characters (sorts) was constrained by the physical limits of the machine, the number of keys required was reduced by the use of [[dead keys]]. Diacritics such as {{char|´}} ([[acute accent]]) would be assigned to a [[dead key]], which did not move the [[platen]] forward, permitting another character to be imprinted at the same location; thus a single dead key such as the acute accent could be combined with {{char|a}},{{char|e}},{{char|i}},{{char|o}} and {{char|u}} to produce {{char|á}},{{char|é}},{{char|í}},{{char|ó}} and {{char|ú}}, reducing the number of sorts needed from 5 to 1. The typebars of "normal" characters struck a rod as they moved the metal character desired toward the ribbon and platen, and each rod depression moved the platen forward the width of one character. Dead keys had a typebar shaped so as not to strike the rod.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Smalley |first1=William A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MXM_RL4UWe0C&pg=PA115 |title=Mother of Writing: The Origin and Development of a Hmong Messianic Script |last2=Vang |first2=Chia Koua |last3=Yang |first3=Gnia Yee |date=1990|publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-76287-6 |language=en}}</ref>