>X-From_: [log in to unmask]  Mon Jul 13 14:41:44 1998
>Date:         Mon, 13 Jul 1998 14:38:59 -0700
>Reply-To: "* WEB http://www.rit.edu/~easi" <[log in to unmask]>
>Sender: "* WEB http://www.rit.edu/~easi" <[log in to unmask]>
>From: Robert Jaquiss <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject:      TACTILE GRAPHICS PRINTER PRESS RELEASE
>X-To:         Press List <[log in to unmask]>,
>              [log in to unmask], Deaf-blind Mailing list
>              <[log in to unmask]>, BlindLaw list <[log in to unmask]>,
>              [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], nfb-talk
>              <[log in to unmask]>, Rapid Prototyping <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
>INTERNATIONAL BRAILLE RESEARCH CENTER, INC.
>4424 BROOKHAVEN AVENUE
>LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY  40220
>Phone: (502) 458-7157
>Email: [log in to unmask]
>
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    Contact: T. V. Cranmer
>July 10, 1998                                    (410)728-8823
>
>Dallas -Here to attend the annual convention of the National
>Federation of the Blind,  Dr. Tim "T.V." Cranmer, President of the
>International Braille Research Center, today announced receipt of
>a grant award of $375,000 to the IBRC from the U.S. Department of
>Education's  National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation
>Research under the Field-Initiated Research Program (NIDRR grant
>H133G80103).
>
>
>     The program, which officially begins July 1, will provide
>commercial transfer and availability of the device after
>development.  The Tactile Image Printer will have the capacity to
>translate graphic visual material, such as maps and diagrams, to a
>dimensional format which can be perceived by touch.  The new
>technology is expected to lead to many more in-depth development
>efforts aimed at making visual aspects of the world accessible to
>the blind.
>
>     "Ever since the first typewriter was built by Pellegrino Turi
>in 1808 to enable his blind friend, Countess Carolina Fantoni da
>Fivizzono, to write legibly, it's been two steps forward, one step
>back, with regard to access to printed materials by people who are
>blind or partially sighted,"  said Dr. Cranmer, an inventor
>recently referred to as "the Thomas Edison of the blind" by Leslie
>Stahl on the television program Sixty Minutes.,
>
>     Dr. Cranmer, who will serve as the principal investigator for
>this grant-funded project  explains: "The need for a practical
>method of producing tactile graphics is well-known and has
>attracted the attention of researchers world-wide.  In Britain,
>Germany, and Australia, research and development efforts have
>presented various approaches to this problem since 1991.  The only
>method proven effective for direct, immediate representation of
>graphical information - raised line graphics -  is not supported by
>existing technologies.
>
>     While printers designed to produce visual images abound - in
>schools, industry, and commerce - there does not now exist an
>analogous machine for creating images for presentation through the
>sense of touch.  The primary goal of this project is to produce a
>machine with this capability -- the tactile image printer."
>
># # #
>
>
>The International Braille Research Center is a non-profit
>organization  committed to the goal of assuring the quantity and
>quality of instruction  that will lead to Braille literacy for all
>blind persons.
>
>


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