Frank Haven Hall

Frank Haven Hall
Frank Hall in 1899
Born	9 February 1841 Mechanic Falls, Maine, U.S.
Died	3 January 1911 (aged 70) Aurora, Illinois, U.S.
Nationality	American
Fields	Physics Engineering Communication
Alma mater	Bates College
Known for	Inventing the first typewriter Hall Braille Writer Communications theory Stereotyper Development Transistor Movement Braille Development Keyboard Structuralism Tactile Writing Systems Hall's Mathematical Series

Frank Haven Hall (February 9, 1841 – January 3, 1911) was an American inventor, author, academic administrator, and theoretical structuralist. He invented the first successful mechanical point writer and developed major functions of modern day typography with kerning and tracking. He along with Christopher Latham Sholes has been credited as the inventor of first type writer in the United States. His furthered development of the Hall Braille Writer, in 1892, revolutionized Braille communication by dramatically speeding up the rate by which one could produce Braille characters. His research and development in the tactile writing system used by people who are blind or visually impaired, has been hailed as "the most innovative development of communications for the blind in the 19th century." His main research focused on specialized machines with differentiated keys, one for each dot in the Braille cell. He also created the stereo typewriter which produced copies faster and cheaper, derivative of inventions by Danish counterpart Rasmus Malling-Hansen, in 1893.

Early in his engineering career, Hall focused on experimental typefaces, typesetting, type design, and display configurations with ink on paper and metal placings. His first showing of his inventions occurred at the Chicago World Fair in which he displayed his newly invented and developed, stereotyper, in 1893. His technical innovations spawned a pioneering of non-impressed metal holdings, which led to the termed, "Battle of the Dots", between the traditional New York Point and his typographic structure. He adapted the stereotyper and Braille writer, subsequently creating a new precedent for blind education and information technology. It quickly spread around the country and was established on a global scale soon after.