In this view a large National Cash Register once used in the LaPorte County Court House is visible. Underneath it is an early Dictaphone which utilized tribular recording cylinders, like the earliest phonographs. Below that is a spittoon for tobacco-chewing businessmen. The large dictionary rests on a specially made stand that pivots to compensate for the
shifting bulk of the
book, keeping
the pages flat.
This display of early typewriters shows the evolution of this important invention. On the early l9th century deacon's bench are two early typewriters devoid of keys, using a time consuming selector lever instead. These were also low-cost substitutes made at the same time as the keyed varieties. On the top shelf behind the bench is an early model with twice as many keys as later ones it had two keys for each letter, one upper case, one lower case. The machines to its right have letters in the standard positions we are all familiar with today.
The roll-top desk in the Business Office displays a variety of dip-style pens, as well as later fountain types. These contained a rubber bladder that held ink drawn into it from the inkwell, by means of a small lever on the side of the pen. Other items of note in the room are the early electric fan with minimal finger-guards, and behind it, a box of pigeon-holes that served as the mailbox for Door Village, near LaPorte.
