1876.01.03 English

THE ROYAL INSTITUTE

 

FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB

 

 

 

                                                                                                 JANUARY 3, 1876

 

 

 

MY DEAR BROTHER!  FROM MY SWEET CÄTHE, FROM ALL THE TINY TOTS AND FROM MYSELF OUR MOST SINCERE AND WARMEST WISHES FOR A GOOD AND HAPPY NEW YEAR, BY THE GRACE OF GOD , TO ALL THREE OF YOU. FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEART, THANKS TO YOU AND DEAR BROTHER JOHN FOR YOUR LETTERS. WE ARE VERY PLEASED TO LEARN THAT OUR CHRISTMAS GIFTS WERE SO WELCOME; BUT REST ASSURED THAT WE FELT THE SAME ABOUT YOUR CHRISTMAS PRESENTS. THE CUTE AND VERY INNOVATIVE MEDALLION LOOKS SPLENDID IN OUR BLUE SITTING ROOM. JULIANE AND I HAVE READ THROUGH THE FAIRYTALE BOOK, AND AT THE MOMENT CÄTHE AND ENGELKE IS TACKLING IT. THE DOLL HAS BEEN UNDRESSED AND DRESSED AN INFINITE NUMBER OF TIMES ETC.. EVERYTHING BRINGING MUCH PLEASURE.

 

 

ATTACHED I AM TAKING THE LIBERTY OF SENDING YOU TWO LETTERS FROM MY AMERICAN COMPETITOR, YOU KNOW OF HIM ALREADY, I ASSUME THAT HIS COMPANY WILL IN DUE TIME PURCHASE THE PATENTS FROM ME. HE IS SURPRISED THAT I, WITHOUT KNOWING HIS MACHINE, HAVE TAKEN THE LIBERTY TO PROVIDE A COMPARATIVE REVIEW OF THE TWO MACHINES; HOWEVER, THIS WAS QUITE NATURAL, SINCE I RECEIVED A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE AMERICAN MACHINE FROM THE INVENTOR HIMSELF. EVEN MEASUREMENTS AND WEIGHTS WERE INCLUDED. HE IS CORRECT IN NOTING THAT MY LETTERS ARE POORLY ENGRAVED, BUT AS YOU KNOW THIS IS NO FAULT OF MY MACHINE[1]

 

 

ON THE OTHER HANDS, HIS WRITING SHOWS CLEARLY THAT HIS PISTONS ARE WOBBLING, AND THAT IS DUE TO HIS MACHINE DESIGN. MY MACHINE IS NOW CUBIC-WISE AT LEAST 15 TIMES SMALLER THAN HIS, AS WELL AS MANY OTHER ADVANTAGES. WOULD YOU PLEASE TRANSLATE THESE TWO LETTERS FOR ME, BUT NOT MAKE A FAIR COPY OF THE TRANSLATION, JUST SEND ME THE ROUGH DRAFT. WARMEST REGARDS TO DEAR MOTHER AND BOTH OF YOU DEAR BROTHERS FROM ALL OF US.

 

 

YOUR DEEPLY DEVOTED BROTHER. VERY HASTILY.

 

 

signed by hand:                                             R.  Malling  Hansen

 

 

[1] CB: What American model could this be?? It cannot possibly be the Remington – since RMH is indicating further below that the writing ball has a volume which is 15 times less than that of the American one?

SA: I do believe it is the Remington. And the American must be Mr Densmore, who bought the patent of this machine. The first models were very big – however, RMH is exaggerating! He was probably very proud of his latest model of the writing ball, which featured a drastically reduced size and weight. It is evident that RMH at this time doen’t have a clue how fateful it turns out for him that he doen’t succeed in selling his patent to Remington. Perhaps he was too sure about himself and his writing ball? With hindsight and the knowledge we have today, he should have, if necessary, rather given away his patent for free and on conditions of payment depending on the actual production. If the writing ball had been put into production at the Remington factory, a lot of things would have been different today with regard to typewriters and computer keyboards!