Slate and stylus

The slate and stylus are tools used by blind persons to write text that they can read without assistance. [Alpha Chi Omega (1908)] [Shrady, etc al.(1902)] Invented by Charles Barbier and Louis Braille as the tool for "writing" Braille, [Lowell, et al.(1893)] [Sauvage (1913)] [Note; Different references assign invention of the slate and stylus to either Barbier or Braille. Braille was a student of Barbier and without doubt improved on the original work of Barbier.] the slate and stylus allow for a quick, easy, convenient and constant method of making embossed printing for Braille Character encoding. Prior methods of making raised printing for the blind required a movable type printing press.

Design

The basic design of the slate consists of two pieces of metal, plastic or wood fastened together with a hinge at one side. [Alpha Chi Omega (1908)] [Harry Houdini Collection (1888)]

The back of the slate is solid with slight depressions spaced in braille cells of six raised dots arranged in a grid of two dots horizontally by three dots vertically. In the shape of an inverted braille dot of approximately convert|1.5|mm|in|abbr=on|sigfig=2 diameter; convert|.75|mm|in|abbr=on|sigfig=2 depth or height; the horizontal and vertical spacing between dot centers within a braille cell is approximately convert|2.5|mm|in|abbr=on|sigfig=2 cell to cell ("dot 1 center to dot 1 center horizontally") convert|6.5|mm|in|abbr=on|sigfig=2. [Harry Houdini Collection (1888)] [ADA (1994)] [Note: The spacing for Braille dots and cells are NOT consistent throughout the world, See [http://www.tiresias.org/publications/reports/braille_cell.htm Braille Cell Dimensions] at tiresias.org for a chart of different standards.]

The front of the slate has a corresponding rectangular cells with indentations in the side of the cell, over the depressions in the back so the blind user can properly position the stylus and press to form a dot. [Harry Houdini Collection (1888)]

There are pins or posts in the back of the slate positioned in non-cell areas to hold the paper in place and keep the top properly positioned over the back. The pins align with matching depressions on the opposite side of the slate. A slate as designed for a normal 8.5 inch piece of paper has 28 cells. It can have any number of rows, usually at least four. [Harry Houdini Collection (1888)]

The stylus is a short blunted awl with a handle to comfortably fit the hand of the user.

Writing

Writing is accomplished by placing a piece of heavy paper in the slate, aligning it correctly and closing the slate. The pins in the back of the slate puncture or pinch the paper securely between the two halves of the slate. [Alpha Chi Omega (1908)] [Harry Houdini Collection (1888)]

The person writing begins in the upper right, each combination of dots in the cell has to be completed backward. The awl is positioned and pressed to form a depression in the paper. The writer moves to one of the other dots in the cell or to the next cell as appropriate. [Dodge (1920)]

The slate is repositioned as needed to continue writing on the paper. When completed the writer removes the slate and turns the paper over to read the braille by feeling the dots that were pushed up from the back. [Harry Houdini Collection (1888)]

History

Prior to the system devised by Louis Braille, a number of other methods for blind people to read and/or write on paper were used. One of the more popular was the English system of Dr. William Moon invented in 1845. [Harry Houdini Collection (1888)] cite web
last =Duxbury
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =ENGLISH/MOON
work =
publisher =Duxbury Systems, Inc
date = September 2006
url =http://www.duxburysystems.com/lan_english_moon_no_capitals.asp
format =web
doi =
accessdate = 2008-04-01 ] The English/Moon system or Moon type is easy to learn for the newly blind as it has a strong resemblance to the familiar written alphabet, but Braille has such great advantages over the Moon system for regular usage that it quickly eclipsed the Moon system. [Oregon Education Department (1897)] Braille with its "slate and stylus" was unique in that it was the first and until computers with screen readers the only method a blind person could write and read themselves what had been written. [Lowell, et al.(1893)]

The earliest systematic attempt to provide a method to "teach the blind to read and to write, and give them books printed by themselves" was by Valentin Haüy who used a system of embossed roman characters. In June 1784, Haüy sought his first pupil at the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. On 5 December 1786, Haüy's pupils had embossed from movable letterpress type his "Essai sur l'éducation des aveugles" (Essay on the Education of Blind Children) the first book ever published for the blind. [Lowell, et al.(1893)] [Stadelman(1913)] Prior to 1786 tools for the blind to read or write were the results of individuals personal approaches to solutions. One of the more notable approach was that of Nicholas Saunderson (Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge) blind nearly from birth, devised an Arithmetical slate. [Lowell, et al.(1893)]

Braille evolved from the night writing of Charles Barbier. "Ecriture Nocturne" (night writing) was invented in response to Napoleon's demand for a code that soldiers could use to communicate silently and without light at night. Because it used a cell with 2 columns of six dots each a total of 12 dots could be required for a single symbol, the cell was too large for a single touch and was hard to read and learn, it was not successful.cite web
title =What is Braille?
work =
publisher =American Foundation for the Blind
date =
url =http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=6&TopicID=199
format =web
doi =
accessdate = 2008-04-02 ]

Gallery

ee also

*Perkins Brailler

Notes and references

*cite book
last =Alpha Chi Omega
first =
authorlink =
title =The Lyre of Alpha Chi Omega; Teaching the blind
publisher =Alpha Chi Omega
date =1908
location =Original from the New York Public Library
pages =page 285
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=PxgTAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA285&dq=stylus+and+slate&as_brr=1#PPA285,M1 | doi =
id =
*cite book
last =Dodge
first =Mary Mapes Dodge
authorlink =Mary Mapes Dodge
title =St. Nicholas; Chapter XI, the nine gifts
publisher =Scribner & Co.
date =1920
location =Original from the University of Michigan
pages =page 910
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=qK1NAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA910&dq=stylus+and+slate&as_brr=1 | doi =
id =
*cite book
last =Perkins School for the Blind
first =
authorlink =
title =Report
publisher =Perkins School for the Blind
date =1907
location =Original from Harvard University
pages =page 69
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=Wf4AAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA69&dq=stylus+and+slate&as_brr=1#PPA69,M1 | doi =
id =
*cite book
last =Shrady, et al
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Joseph Meredith Toner
title =Medical Record
publisher =W. Wood
date =1902
location =Original from Harvard University
pages =page 621
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=4RYCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA621&dq=stylus+and+slate&lr=&as_brr=1 | doi =
id =
*cite book
last =Harry Houdini Collection
first =
authorlink =
title =The Popular Science Monthly; Writing machines for the blind
publisher =D. Appleton
date =1888
location =Original from the New York Public Library
pages =page 645
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=YS0KAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA645&dq=stylus+and+slate+Braille&lr=&as_brr=1 | doi =
id =
*cite book
last =Oregon Education Department
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Biennial Report
publisher =Oregon Education Department
date =1897
location =Original from the New York Public Library
pages =page 164
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=i0UTAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA2-PA164&dq=stylus+and+slate+Braille&lr=&as_brr=1#PRA2-PA164,M1 | doi =
id =
*cite book
last =Lowell, et al
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =Josephine (Shaw) Lowell, Fannie W. McLean, Mary B. Damon, Agnes L. Brennan, Blanche Wilder Bellamy, Jean Fine Spahr, Helen Moore, Elaine Goodale Eastman, Maud Wilder Goodwin, Julia Margaret Fuller Lloyd, Mrs Frederick Rhinelander Jones, Amelia Stone Quinton, Laura M. Doolittle
title =The Literature of Philanthropy
publisher =Harper & Brothers
date =1893
location =Original from Harvard University
pages =page 187
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=DqgCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA186&dq=stylus+and+slate+Braille&lr=&as_brr=1#PPA187,M1 | doi =
id =
*cite book
last =Wisconsin State Board of Control
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Biennial Report
publisher =Wisconsin State Board of Control,
date =1904
location =Original from the University of Wisconsin - Madison
pages =page 222
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=1sxGAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA222&dq=stylus+and+slate+Braille&lr=&as_brr=1#PPA222,M1 | doi =
id =
*cite book
last =Stadelman
first =Joseph M.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Valentin Haüy;
publisher =The Encyclopedia Press
date =1913
location =Wikisource
pages =
url =http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_%281913%29/Valentin_Ha%C3%BCy
doi =
id =
*cite book
last =Sauvage
first = G.M.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Louis Braille
publisher =The Encyclopedia Press
date =1913
location =Wikisource
pages =
url =http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_%281913%29/Louis_Braille
doi =
id =
*cite book
last = ADA
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Americans with Disabilities Act: Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings
publisher =DIANE Publishing
date =1994
location =
pages = page 14
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=KkxKeW7SIIwC&pg=RA1-PA14&dq=dimensions+%22literary+Braille%22+braille&as_brr=1&client=firefox-a&sig=oGuVBbWGo6As0hoRbzqOHI0-12o
doi =
id = ISBN:0788118307

External links

* [http://www.bpa.org.in/writing.htm How Tactile Writing Began] at www.bpa.org "Blind Persons' Association"