Carlsson Scotograph & Braillewriter
ca.1871
C.A. Carlsson
Manilla, Stockholm, Sweden
Unfortunately there isn't much known about this apparatus for the blind. From the markings found on the example belonging to the London Science Museum, we can deduce that it was invented by C.A. Carlsson and that it was developed in Manilla, Stockholm, Sweden. Manilla was home to The General Institute for the Deaf and Blind to Manilla, the first such institute in Sweden beginning in 1817. I assume that C.A. Carlsson was somehow associated with the The Institute but I have yet to find any concrete evidence. The school's name was changed to Manillaskolen in 1879. Though it's not the original building because it was demolished, the one that the school occupied from 1864 until 2013 still stands here.
Carlssons were dual purpose writing machines for the blind with which the user may either compose in Braille by clamping a sheet between the brass guides and using the accompanying perforator, or hand write with the scotograph component in order to write one letter at a time in a straight line (scotograph) was the 19th century term used to describe any instrument for writing in the dark, or by the blind). The scotograph's steel guides would also clamp down a sheet of paper while in use.
Lastly, it appears that changes were made to the Carlsson from one example to the next, primarily to the clamps. Operationally, though, they were all the basically the same.
Comments? Have a Carlsson writing machine for sale? Please email me at Antikey.Chop@gmail.com or call +1 860 729 2252
