Editing Typewriter (section)

=== Index typewriter ===
[[File:Hall 1 typewriter, 1881 (Martin Howard Collection).jpg|thumb|Hall 1 typewriter, 1881 – the first index typewriter]]
[[File:Mignon Mod.4,Bj.1924.jpg|thumb|right|Mignon Model 4 – a portable index typewriter still manufactured in 1934]]
The index typewriter came into the market in the early 1880s.<ref name="EOM">{{Cite web |title=Antique Index Typewriters |url=http://www.officemuseum.com/typewriters_index.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160702212611/http://www.officemuseum.com/typewriters_index.htm |archive-date=2 July 2016 |access-date=13 March 2017 |website=Early Office Museum}}</ref> The index typewriter uses a pointer or stylus to choose a letter from an index. The pointer is mechanically linked so that the letter chosen could then be printed, most often by the activation of a lever.<ref name="Early Office Museum" />

The index typewriter was briefly popular in niche markets. Although they were slower than keyboard type machines, they were mechanically simpler and lighter. They were therefore marketed as being suitable for travellers and, because they could be produced more cheaply than keyboard machines, as budget machines for users who needed to produce small quantities of typed correspondence.<ref name="EOM"/> For example, the Simplex Typewriter Company made index typewriters for 1/40 the price of a Remington typewriter.<ref name="PoltWeb">{{cite web |first=Richard |last=Polt |website=The Classic Typewriter Page |url=https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/simplex.html |title=Simplex |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606050123/https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/simplex.html |archive-date=6 June 2021 }}.</ref>

The index typewriter's niche appeal however soon disappeared as, on the one hand new keyboard typewriters became lighter and more portable, and on the other refurbished second-hand machines began to become available.<ref name="EOM"/> The last widely available western index machine was the Mignon typewriter produced by [[AEG (German company)|AEG]] which was produced until 1934. Considered one of the very best of the index typewriters, part of the Mignon's popularity was that it featured interchangeable indexes as well as [[Sort (typesetting)|type]],<ref name="Mignon2">{{Cite web |title=The Mignon 2 |url=http://www.typewritermuseum.org/collection/brands/index.php3?machine=indexmignon2&cat=is |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003035122/http://www.typewritermuseum.org/collection/brands/index.php3?machine=indexmignon2&cat=is |archive-date=3 October 2016 |access-date=13 March 2017 |website=The Virtual Typewriter Museum}}</ref> [[font]]s and [[character set]]s. This is something very few keyboard machines were capable of—and only at considerable added cost.<ref name="Mignon2"/>

Although they were pushed out of the market in most of the world by keyboard machines, successful [[Japanese typewriter|Japanese]] and [[Chinese typewriter]]s are of the index type—albeit with a very much larger index and number of type elements.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mullaney |first=Thomas S. |date=2016 |title=Controlling the Kanjisphere: The Rise of the Sino-Japanese Typewriter and the Birth of CJK |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44166285 |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |volume=75 |issue=3 |pages=725–753 |doi=10.1017/S0021911816000577 |jstor=44166285 |issn=0021-9118|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

[[Embossing tape]] label makers are the most common index typewriters today, and perhaps the most common typewriters of any type still being manufactured.<ref name="PoltWeb"/>

The platen was mounted on a carriage that moved horizontally to the left, automatically advancing the typing position, after each character was typed. The carriage-return lever at the far left was then pressed to the right to return the carriage to its starting position and rotating the platen to advance the paper vertically. A small bell was struck a few characters before the right hand margin was reached to warn the operator to complete the word and then use the carriage-return lever.<ref name="The Remington Type-Writing Machine">{{Cite journal |year=1876 |title=The Remington Type-Writing Machine |journal=Nature |volume=14 |issue=342 |pages=43–44 |bibcode=1876Natur..14...43. |doi=10.1038/014043a0 |doi-access=free}}</ref>