Prepared By: Dr. Ridamjeet Kaur Assistant Professor, Dept. of Forensic Science and Toxicology

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Prepared by:

Dr. Ridamjeet Kaur


Assistant Professor,
Dept. of Forensic Science and Toxicology
Few decades back, the typewriters were the major
instrument of document preparation.
Typewriters have been used in the production of
everything from travel documents to wills to
threatening letters.
But still FDE’s can sometimes still be called upon to
analyze older documents, forms, or anonymous documents
created on a typewriter.
 In 1873 the first successfully marketed typewriter, the
Remington Model, was launched.
 The typewriter was first practically started used in 1876
by Christopher Latham Scholes.
 He tried to create a system where they could print
numbers, letters on the pages of books.
 They marketed their “Type-Writer” to Remington &
Sons, a firearms and sewing machine manufacturer.
 The early typewriters made use of metal typebars, which
bore letters and numerals.

 These typebars are engaged when a corresponding key is


depressed. The typebar strikes an inked ribbon and
transfers the impression to the paper. Another component
of the typebar machine is its moveable carriage.

 The carriage moves from right to left in order to produce


typing across the width of the page. The platen holds the
paper in place and provides a striking surface for the
keys.
 Remington No. 1 (1876) and No. 2 (1878),
 The Calligrapher (1883), and the
 Underwood No. 1 (1896).
 Typewritten script can be compared on the basis of
 Individual Characteristics found in the machine:
• Style Of Font/typeface
• Size Of Font/typeface
• Misalignment Of Font/typeface
• Broken typeface
• Ribbon pattern
• Pitch identification
 Ribbons
most commonly used on a typebar
machine are cloth.

 Clothribbons can be made of many different


kinds of fabric, but the most common is nylon.

 Depending on the cloth used, weave patterns


and yarn counts can be determined.
 Under magnification, typebar impressions are not crisp,
but rather somewhat fuzzy in appearance,
 Fabric pattern of the ribbon can usually be observed.
 The cloth ribbons used on typebar machines are
difficult to read for two reasons.
 First, once a letter is typed, the ink of the cloth ribbon will fill in that
void and the letter will no longer be decipherable.
 Second, subsequent typing using the ribbon will be stacked on top of
previously typed text, thus rendering it illegible.
 Horizontal spacing, called pitch, is another
characteristic to consider when evaluating a
typewritten document.
 Pitch can be measured by use of an ordinary ruler or
grids.
 Traditional spacing on the early machines was either
pica or elite.
 Pica spacing is 10 letters per inch .
 Elite spacing is 12 letters per inch or
 As per law of comparison: only similar language, text is
to be selected for comparison.
 Typed text from suspected machines.
 Collect maximum number of known samples from
single machine
 If text is suspected to be type in particular time , ten
documents typed in similar chronology be selected.
 They were introduced in 1961.
 The Selectric consists of two distinct typing parts, the
machine and the typeball, or element.
 The type ball contains the letters and characters in
rows and columns around the element.
 Depressing a type key causes the ball to rotate and tilt
in order to position the proper character and then
strike the paper.
 The Selectric typewriter replaced typebars and moving
carriages with a printing element, the typeball.
 The ball moves along a slender metal rod, tilting and
rotating at a very high speed as it selects the desired
character.
 The ball elements contain characters in a row encircling
a ball.
 All capital letters are on one side and all lowercase on
the other.
These ball elements are
interchangeable from one
machine to another and
significance of these
interchangeable is that ball
elements is that different
typestyles can be produced on a single
page, without having to remove the
paper from the machine.
 Carbon film ribbons were used in Selectric typewriter .
 A carbon ribbon consists of a carbon wax coating on a
polyethelene base.
 Carbon ribbon impressions are crisper than those of
fabric ribbon.
 The amount of impact generated by typeball machines
in creating typed impressions is less than was seen in
typebar machines.
 In 1971, with the introduction of the Selectric II, further
additions were made to typing technology.
 It contained a dual-pitch mechanism that allowed for
typing at both 10 and 12 characters per inch.
 As a result, pica-size type at elite spacing (crowded effect)
and elite size type at pica spacing can appear.
 These machines were fitted with two types of ribbons: a
special correctible carbon ribbon and a lift-off correcting
ribbon.
When first typed, the ink of these carbon ribbons
does not adhere strongly to the paper.
As a result, a second typing of the same letter through
a lift-off ribbon, which has a highly tacky coating, can
remove the original letter.
Only a blank impression of the original letter, which
can be observed microscopically using side lighting,
remains.
Special typestyles Courier and Prestige Elite were
designed for machines.
 Critical features to consider when examining a
typewritten document that may have been created on a
typeball machine include
 carbon ribbon (with or without lift-off corrections),
depth and unevenness of impressions,
 unique typestyle, and
 individual, identifying defects.
 Type wheel machine was introduced in 1974.
 It is often referred to as a daisy wheel, is a hub
surrounded by a series of spokes or arms, each of
which contains a single typeface at the end.
 After a letter is rotated to align the typeface to print, a
plunger strikes the back of the typeface, forcing it into
the ribbon and onto the paper.
 Carbon film ribbons are used on this class of machine
that gives are very crisp and clean impressions.
Daisy wheel, is a hub
surrounded by a series
of spokes or arms, each
of which contains a
single typeface at the
end.
Type wheel can develop individual defects like
 worn or spokes twisted or broken.
 metal or plastic coating on the wheel can also flake off
due to striking of plunger on typeface causing defects.
 scope of misalignments due to typewheel mechanism
 After the typewheel machines came the age of electronic
typewriters.
 There are few mechanical actions.
 Almost all of the typewriters’ actions are controlled by
the electronic unit i.e. spacing, movement of drum, very
consistent finished products at high speed.
 As a result of this speed and efficiency, came the advent of
word processing with information storage, editing, and
search systems on magnetic cards, tapes, disks.
 O. Hilton, Scientific Examination of Questioned
Documents, CRC Press, Boca Raton (1982).
 A.A. Moenssens, J. Starrs, C.E. Henderson and F.E.
Inbau, Scientific Evidence in Civil and Criminal Cases, 4th
Edition, Foundation Press, New York (1995).
 R.N. Morris, Forensic Handwriting Identification:
Fundamental Concepts and Principles, Academic Press,
London (2000).
 E. David, The Scientific Examination of Documents –
Methods and Techniques, 2nd Edition, Taylor & Francis,
Hants (1997).

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