Hansen Writing Ball

The writing ball (Danish: skrivekugle) was invented in 1865 by the reverend Rasmus Malling-Hansen (1835–1890) principal of the Royal Institute for the Deaf-Mutes in Copenhagen.

The Hansen ball was a combination of unusual design and ergonomic innovations: its distinctive feature was an arrangement of 52 keys on a large brass hemisphere, causing the machine to resemble an oversized pincushion.

This electro-magnet was powered by a 10 or 12-cell battery, and controlled a mechanical escapement in the typewriter's clockwork, moving the carriage a fixed amount each time one of the pistons was depressed.

[1] Malling-Hansen made several improvements on his invention throughout the 1870s and 1880s, and in 1874 he patented the next model, and now the cylinder was replaced by a flat mechanical paper-frame.

The electromagnetic battery was still used to move the paper along as the Ball typed upon it, and the design led to a lower possibility for error.

But due to its hand-crafted production, it was overtaken in the market by the mass-produced Sholes and Glidden typewriter which E. Remington and Sons started to make in 1873.

It was the newest model, the portable tall one with a color ribbon, serial number 125, and several typescripts are known to have been written by him on this writing ball (approximately 60).