What Perkins Products calls an electric brailler is a unit without a
computer interface, where the keys activate solenoids which emboss the
braille.  The advantage to a transcriber or a physically disabled person is
that it is less tiring to write on.

There was also a Cranmer Modified Perkins Brailler, which may have been sold
by Blazie Engineering for a time in the mid-80's.  This one had
VersaBraille/BNS keys on it, plus an RS-232 interface.  It was very, very
noisy, and could emboss at just a few characters per second.  Since there is
no way to do tractor feed on the Perkins Brailler, you had to feed each
sheet manually, just as if you were brailling the material yourself.  Being
a modified Perkins, the Braille was quite good.

When my parents bought me a Perkins Brailler in 1963, they were about $75.
They are close to $750 now, because of all the hand assembly that is
required.  And a new model is coming out, designed by APH, at a slightly
reduced cost.
73,
Lloyd Rasmussen, W3IUU, Kensington, Maryland
Home:  http://lras.home.sprynet.com
Work:  http://www.loc.gov/nls
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of Kevin Kwan
> Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2008 7:36 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: good old brailler
> 
> well what exactly is an electric brailer for? Besides hooking it to a
> computer. At school I saw an electric brailer printer hooked to the apple.
> That thing was loud. Then there was a regular brailer hooked to the apple
> and it was used for scribing, but that stuff is old.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2008 7:08 AM
> Subject: Re: good old brailler
> 
> 
> Is the electric one the one that looks like a regular brailler but has the
> box on the site to hook up to a computer, with the switch on it? If so, I
> had one in school we borrowed when one of ours broke, never gave it back
> either, but anyway, I used that one like a manual one. I'm not sure if
> that's what that was or if this was some sort of add on kit, we borrowed
> it
> with no cables or anything so we could only use it like a manual one.
> Actually, that was the old style so that had to be some sort of add on
> kit,
> I don't know, I'd bet that school still has it since the person with the
> connections to borrow that one is long gone to another part of the country
> and I visited her at school about a month before she left and it was still
> there then. It was a 6 month borrowing that went to, actually middle
> school
> too so it was probably 7 years at least they had the thing that I know of
> and it's probably collecting dust somewhere now still with in the schools.
> I'd sure hope they learned to use the computerized stuff, I'd hate to
> think
> of a poor teacher brailling everything out like they did for me.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Walt Sebastian" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2008 6:42 AM
> Subject: Re: good old brailler
> 
> 
> > Hi Guys,
> > When I lived in Florida, a man in Orlando repaired them at no cost
> except
> > if
> > he had to order parts.  I went to the Miami area and took my Perkins
> with
> > me
> > to run the medium speed CW net.  The man said, if he knew that was what
> I
> > wanted, they had one.  I am glad I took mine.  The one they had didn't
> > work.
> > I learned that his wife bought if at a yard sale for $15.  When I left,
> > they
> > gave me the brailler.  I took it to the man or Orlando and he had to
> order
> > a
> > main spring, a $6 item.
> >
> > His wife was a professional Braillist and used an electric Perkins.  One
> > day
> > while I was there, I had the opportunity to try it out.  Physically, it
> > looks like any other Perkins, except for the switch on the right side.
> > Oh,
> > btw, it is much noisier than the manual version.
> >
> > Walt
> > WA4QXT
> > New London CT
> > [log in to unmask]