OAD 8

Machine
Shorthand
INSTRUCTOR:
Maria Cresanta G. Hitalia
 Machine Shorthand

Definition
A stenograph or stenotype machine is
a specially designed machine which is
used for taking shorthand.
 Machine Shorthand

At present, the Stenograph or steno

type machines are principally
employed for conference and court
reporting. They have keyboards of
22 keys.
 Machine Shorthand

Many court reporters use stenograph

machines to quickly and accurately
record testimony, and the devices are
also used by students to take notes, and
closed captioners who want to be able to
quickly write captions for live
broadcasts.
 Machine Shorthand

Immediate transcription of the machine

shorthand notes is made possible by
computer-aided transcription (CAT).

Computer software translates the shorthand

and displays the text on a computer screen
ready for editing before it is printed. CAT
provides a printed transcript within minutes
of the reporting of court evidence,
parliamentary debate, business
correspondence or meeting proceedings.
 Machine Shorthand

Shorthand writers also provide CART

(Communication Access Realtime
Translation) or live-event writing services.
CART provides a complete translation of all
spoken words and environmental sounds for
the benefit of an individual or larger group
anywhere where communication access is
needed, including classrooms, lectures,
religious services, conventions and
conferences
History of
Machine
Shorthand
 History of Machine Shorthand

The history of the stenograph machine is interwoven with the history of

shorthand and the typewriter. Effectively, the typewriter made writing
faster and the stenograph machine made recording shorthand faster.
History of Machine Shorthand SHORTHAND

Isaac Pitman (1837)

Introduced modern English shorthand in 1837.
His shorthand was a phonetic system using light and heavy lines to
distinguish sounds.

John Robert Gregg (1888)

Introduced his shorthand in 1888.
His shorthand was also a phonetic system but used line length to
distinguish sound. Gregg’s shorthand became mainly popular in
the USA.
History of Machine Shorthand TYPEWRITER

Pellegrino Turri (1808)

Made the first typwriter in 1808.

E. Remington & Sons (1873)

Produced the first widespread American typewriter in 1873.
It featured one of the first QWERTY keyboards.
History of Machine Shorthand TYPEWRITER

Underwood Typewriter (1895)

Produced in America on 1895.
It featured a frontstroke, type bar design, a QWERTY (4
rows) keyboard, and used an inked ribbon. The design
became the standard “look” for the typewriter
History of Machine Shorthand

Miles Bartholomew
The Father of Stenograph Machine.
Invents his Stenograph Machine in 1877.

Bartholomew's Stenograph (1877)

It created one "letter" at a time, represented by a series of dashes, by
pressing one or more keys simultaneously in alternating right and left hand
movements.
His machine was used as late as 1937 by official courters.
History of Machine Shorthand

George Kerr Anderson

Invents the shorthand typewriter in 1889.

Anderson's Shorthand Typewriter (1889)

The letters on his machine were arranged by frequency and into 3 sections
(controlled by shift keys). Using a combination of the printing (letter) keys
and shift keys, any word or syllable could be printed. In fact, no shorthand
was needed.
History of Machine Shorthand

Ward Stone Ireland

Worked as a court report in Texas and then
as a reporter for the Panama Canal
Commission.
He returned to Texas in 1900 and began
work on a shorthand machine.

Ireland's Stenotype (1911)

Printed the Roman alphabet (english letters) and allowed one
or more keys to be pressed at the same time, so that a word or a
syllable can be typed in one stroke.
History of Machine Shorthand

National Shorthand Machine (1917)

Ward Stone Ireland, 1917

In mid-1914, the Stenotype Company made munitions contracts

with the Russian government, but got hit with a large debt after the
1917 communist revolution.

In 1917, Ireland produced the National Shorthand Machine which

had more keys and was more difficult to operate (and never caught
on). That company folded. He work on other inventions including
the washing machine and commercial refrigeration.
History of Machine Shorthand

Master Model (1917)

The Stenotype Company, 1917

The Stenotype Company -- after Ireland left in 1917 -- was lead

by two previous company employees, Wiliam Ebelhare and
Clarence Arvidson. They produced the next Stenotype machine,
the “Master Model”.

However, the company also made munitions for the US

government after the Country entered WWI. The company
folded in 1919, after the US government failed to pay its bills.
History of Machine Shorthand

Master Model 4 (1927)

LaSalle University Extension, 1927

In 1927, the LaSalle University Extension in Illinois acquired the

rights to make Stenotype machines. They produced a smaller
version of the “Master Model” and called it the “Master Model 4”
(or the LaSalle Stenograph), which featured a two-spool ribbon
system. This model was manufactured until 1949.
 History of Machine Shorthand

Secretarial (1939) Reporter (1939)

W.H. Wright, who lead the stenograph operations at the LaSalle University Extension, left in the
1930’s and started the Stenograph Company in 1939. The company produced the Secretarial and
Reporter models in 1939. They featured a single, endless ribbon. W.H. Wright’s son, Robert, refined
Ireland's design and took over the control of the company until his death in 2000. The Stenograph
Company is the leading producer of stenograph machines in the USA..
 History of Machine Shorthand

In the 1960's, stenographs were first

connected to computers, introducing
the concept of "realtime". Twenty
years later, various companies
produced stenographs with "memory"
(diskettes, flash memory, etc.) and
realtime interfaces.
History of Machine Shorthand

Stentura (1992)
In 1992, Stenograph started to produce the
Stentura line with realtime functionality. During
this time, Stenograph also started purchasing rival
companies (Xscribe, BaronData, etc.) and
discontinued their products.

Elan Cybra (2001)

In 2001, Stenograph starts the Elan Cybra, the first paperless
stenograph machine.
How A Steno
Machine Works
 How A Steno Machine Works

The keyboard of a steno machine is divided into a number of major groupings,

shown in the illustration above. The system is roughly phonetic; for example the
word cat would be written by a single stroke expressing the initial K, the vowel A,
and the final T.
 How A Steno Machine Works

In "home position", the fingers of the left hand rest along the gap between the two
main rows of keys to the left of the asterisk (little finger on the "S" to forefinger on
the "H" and "R"). The fingers of the right hand lie in the corresponding position to
the right of the asterisk (forefinger on "FR" to little finger on "TS"). The thumbs
produce the vowels.
 How A Steno Machine Works

Because the operator uses all fingers, any number of keys can be struck
simultaneously. The machines print Roman letters on a strips of paper that folds
automatically into the back of the machine. The operator controls the keys by
touch and is thus able to watch the speaker.
 How A Steno Machine Works

The fingers of the left hand controls the keys that print consonants occurring before
vowels. These keys print on the left side of the tape.

The thumbs control the vowels, which are printed in the center of the tape.

The fingers of the right hand control the consonants that follow the vowels, which
are printed on the right side of the tape.
 How A Steno Machine Works

To enter a number, a user presses the number bar at the top of the keyboard at the
same time as the other keys, much like the Shift key on a QWERTY-based keyboard.
Numbers can be chorded just like letters can.

It is possible to write 137 in one stroke by pressing the number bar along with SP P,
but it takes three separate strokes to write 731. Many court reporters and
stenocaptioners write out numbers phonetically instead of usingthe number bar.
How A Steno Machine Works

Steno Paper
Steno paper has become almost obsolete with the
advancement in paperless stenotype machines. When it
is used, steno paper comes out of a stenotype machine at
the rate of one row per chord, with the pressed letters
printed out in 22 columns corresponding to the 22 keys,
in the following order:

STKPWHRAO*EUFRPBLGTSDZ
How A Steno Machine Works

The example on the left shows how steno paper

coming out of the machine represents an English
sentence. Notice that key combinations can have
different meanings depending on context.

In the first stroke of the word example, the PL

combination refers to m. In the second stroke of the
word, that same key combination refers to the two
letters pl.

Many words have been abbreviated: this, of and from

are chorded as th, f and fr, and machine and
shorthand become mn and shand respectively.
 How A Steno Machine Works

CHORDS

The following is a basic chart of the letters of a steno machine. There are, however,
different writing theories that represent some letters or sounds differently (e.g., the
*F for final v in the chart below), and each court reporter develops personalized
"briefs" and alternate ways of writing things.