Description: Jackson Kleber was an electrical engineer who had worked for both RCA and Bell Telephone. Laid off as a result of the depression, he came to work for the American Foundation for the Blind in 1932 to help continue research efforts on the development of the "Talking Book." AFB launched a major effort on behalf of the deaf-blind in the mid 1940s. One of the first projects was an electrical device that would allow a typist to sit on one side, facing a standard keyboard. The machine would translate the keystrokes into a Braille symbol on a plate at the back of the machine, "where a deaf-blind person could feel them with a fingertip." Kleber worked out the initial prototype. It was later modified by another important AFB researcher, Clifford Witcher. His model, the Electro-braille Communicator, failed in field testing and was withdrawn in 1952. Later that year, Charles P. Tolman, a semi-retired engineer, was hired as AFB's technical research chief. Tolman solved the machine's problems by converting it from electrical to mechanical power and it was renamed the "Tellatouch" in 1954.
Height: 2.625
Width: 8.5
Depth: 9.625
Date: 1954
