History of Braille
Night writing was originally conceived in the early 1800s so soldiers could read dispatches without light. Louis Braille refined the system and delivered a way to read and write to the blind. Braille is a system of transferring the alphabet into raised dots on paper that you can read with your fingertips. Each letter, called a "cell," is comprised of six dots in two vertical columns of three dots each. To read, you move your fingers over the dots and you are able to "see" the words. Many special tools are available to braille users so that they can write as well.
Slate and Stylus
Slate and stylus are used to indent the dot cells onto paper so that you can read them. The stylus is shaped like an awl with a rounded tip that you use to punch the dots on the paper. A slate is a hinged metal or plastic plate that has rectangular holes on the top panel through which the dots are punched and indentations on the bottom panel. These indentations match the groupings of six dots that comprise the letters of the alphabet. Shaped like a bowl, the indentations keep you from punching all the way through the paper. The hinge keeps the two halves of the slate from moving around as you write and ensure that the holes you punch through always line up with the depressions on the bottom slate. Because of the way the dots are punched into the paper, when using a slate and stylus, you have to punch the holes from right to left, so that when you turn the paper over, it can be read from left to right like all English writing.
Mechanical and Electronic Methods
A brailler is like a typewriter, but with only six keys that correspond to the dots that make up a cell. The keys are pressed simultaneously in various combinations to achieve certain letters. A standard computer keyboard can be reconfigured using the braille ASCII codes so that the keys use the braille alphabet, rather than the standard English one. The finished document is sent to an embossing printer for output.
Still in Development
In 2006, undergraduates at Johns Hopkins University developed a prototype that will allow more people, especially those of limited financial means, access to a braille writer (see link in Resources). It operates with the slate for braille writing, but instead of a stylus, you have a hand-held device that has six keys that will cause up to six pins to emboss the paper rather than having to punch six separate holes with the single-pointed stylus. The four engineers who designed the writer estimate that--with mass production--the device would cost no more than $10 and could be operated without electricity.
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