Valathak's Writing Machine

In recent years, a new type of writing implement has become common among some scribes and other high officials. Named for its inventor, Valathak's Writing Machine is an odd contraption that allows for the printing of characters onto paper.
The machine consists of a cylinder to which paper is affixed, over which a semi-spherical array of key corresponding to characters is arranged. The keys consists of a printing block on one end and a flat head with the characters etched on the other. By depressing the head of the key, the printing block is pushed down against an ink ribbon and onto the paper, leaving an ink impression of the character. They come with a spring mechanism that allows the cylinder holding the paper to shift slightly after each stroke such that the characters are printing side-by side and not on top of one another and also to shift to a new line when the end of the line is reached. Additionally, they feature a lever for the manual reposition of the cylinder, allow the typist to freely position the text on the paper.
Each individual Valathak's Writing Machine is made to order, though many of the parts are produced in batches. The individual tailoring of the machine to the typist allows for some adaptations in terms of handedness, language or writing system used, size, degree of customization and so on. For example, some early users have prefers to manually reposition the cylinder after each keystroke, typing one-handed and using the other hand to move the paper. Others have commissioned larger versions of the machine including more than one writing system.
Although Valathak's Writing Machine is become increasingly common, many still prefer to write by hand as it requires no repairs or technical understanding, and takes up less space. Additionally, commissioning and maintaining one of them is too expensive to be accessible to a wider public.

Image credit: The Hansen Writing Ball, the first typewriter sold commercially, invented by Rasmus Malling-Hansen around 1865, first manufactured in 1870. Image is a scan from an image owned by his descendants, specific source unknown.
General credit: idea entirely stole from the Hansen Writing Ball because it is super cool.

Item type

Mechanical