You never know what kids will pull out of the water when they start magnet fishing…
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明快打字机的前世今生 

我一定要造一部打字机,使我可以真正的打字

——林语堂

今天突然看到何同学在YouTube上2025年10月14日发布的视频,这个视频其实在2023年就看过了,在今天又遇见,仿佛在看一个全新的视频一样。

三级滚筒系统

  • 大油桶上装着6个中滚筒,每个中滚筒装着6个小滚筒,就如图3所示(图三、图四)
  • 每个小滚筒有八面
  • 每面上又有20个字模(图5),而明快是29个字模(图6明确数出来了确实是29)
  • 所以明快可以打出668*29=8352个字模

魔眼装置

要打“呼”字,先打“口”再打“竖钩”,然后就会到小滚筒的某一节上,前面说了每个小滚筒有八面,所以一般有八个有“口”有“竖钩”的汉字,(所以我觉得6629*8=8352更符合直觉)这使用了林语堂自己发明的”上下型检字法“(图8)

我觉得更奇妙的是还有个预览滚筒(图7)
大滚筒上处于打印位置的八个字;
就是预览滚筒上被放大的八个字;
然后按键盘下的”87651234“8个按键中的一个,就可以选择正确的字。

声旁+形旁

8352个字模里,有7000左右是可以直接打出来的,剩下的是偏旁(70声旁+1300个形旁)
比如情,通过打声旁”竖心旁“和形旁”青“
所以这样就可以很轻松的通过组合打出字!甚至可以打出生僻字,自创汉字!
猜, 睛, 精, 倩, 清, 请, 晴, 情,等等等等
所以经过简单排列组合就是70X1300=91000个字

  • 林语堂在1947年发明的明快打字机的故事。(视频前期主题)
  • 这台打字机能够打9万个字,解决了汉字数量多的问题。它通过三级滚筒结构和上下行检字法实现。(视频中期主题)
  • 尽管这台打字机设计巧妙,但由于成本过高,未能量产,林语堂也因此负债。(视频后期主题)

注意:何同学在YouTube的视频中删减添加了很多的片段

关于明快打字机下落消息(2025.1)

明快打字机原型被找到

Facebook原地址
reddit-唯一一台明快中文打字机原型机已被找到

按照reddit的说法:

这台打字机是纳尔逊·费利克斯在他妻子祖父家的地下室里发现的,他首先将其发布到了一个 Facebook 群组中。
明快打字机是第一台使用键盘的中文打字机。它由林语堂发明,于1947年5月22日首次生产。它是当时速度最快的中文打字机,熟练的打字员平均每分钟可以打出约50个字,即使是未经训练的用户也能达到每分钟20个字的速度。
林德森委托卡尔·E·克鲁姆公司制造了一台定制原型机。在研发过程中,他背负了巨额债务,最终未能将打字机商业化。1948 年,默根塔勒·林诺打字机公司从林德森手中买下了这款打字机的专利权。该公司也收购了那台原型机,据说后来将其丢弃了。

视频信息(2025.11.29)

Youtube We Built a Chinese Typewriter.. 1,105,163次观看
Bilibili【何同学】我们做了一台中文打字机... 1675.1万

维基百科:

中文打字機#明快

其他图片来源:

https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2025/05/mingkwai-chinese-typewriter-prototype-stanford-libraries
https://patents.google.com/patent/US2613795A/en
https://tool.yzitc.com/ytb/
https://tool.yzitc.com/bili/

@board @worldboard
#youtube #bilibili #哔哩哔哩 #林语堂 #LinYutang #MingKwai #明快打字机 #Chinese_typewriter #patent #何同学 #HTX #TechArchaeology #MechanicalMarvel #Chinese #History #fedi #gotosocial #fediverse #mastodon

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