Frank Haven Hall (February 9, 1841 – January 3, 1911) was an American inventor and essayist who is credited with inventing the
Hall braille writer and the
stereographer machine. He also invented the first successful mechanical point writer and developed major functions of
modern day typography with
kerning
In typography, kerning is the process of adjusting the spacing between characters in a proportional font, usually to achieve a visually pleasing result. Kerning adjusts the space between individual letterforms, while tracking (letter-spac ...
and
tracking
Tracking may refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* Tracking, in computer graphics, in match moving (insertion of graphics into footage)
* Tracking, composing music with music tracker software
* Eye tracking, measuring the position of t ...
.
Born in
Mechanic Falls, Maine he served in the
Union Army
During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...
's
Maine Volunteers during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
. After the war he attended
Bates College
Bates College () is a private liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian Houses as some of the dormitories. It maintains of nature p ...
in Lewiston before initiating a teaching career. From 1862 to 1867, he taught at private and public schools throughout the greater
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
area. While in Illinois, he held the political offices of postmaster, township treasurer, and clerk. He also owned and operated a general store, a lumberyard, and a
creamery
A creamery is a place where milk and cream are processed and where butter and cheese is produced. Cream is separated from whole milk; pasteurization is done to the skimmed milk and cream separately. Whole milk for sale has had some cream re ...
. In between his teaching and business interests he began to pursue a career in invention. Hall focused on
experimental typefaces,
typesetting
Typesetting is the composition of text by means of arranging physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or '' glyphs'' in digital systems representing '' characters'' (letters and other symbols).Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random ...
,
type design
Type design is the art and process of designing typefaces. This involves drawing each letterform using a consistent style. The basic concepts and design variables are described below.
A typeface differs from other modes of graphic production su ...
, and
display configurations with ink on paper and metal placings which subsequently led to his first invention: the Hall Braille writer. He publicly announced his invention in May 1892 and unveiled it at the
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...
in October 1893.
His furthered development of the
Hall Braille Writer revolutionized
Braille
Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are blind, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille disp ...
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."
Biography
Frank Haven Hall was born on February 9, 1841, in
Mechanic Falls, Maine
Mechanic Falls is a town in Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,107 at the 2020 census. It is included in both the Lewiston- Auburn, Maine metropolitan statistical area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New ...
.
During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
Hall served in the Union Army's Twenty-Third Maine Volunteers, as a
hospital steward at Edward's Ferry. After the service, Hall attended
Bates College
Bates College () is a private liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian Houses as some of the dormitories. It maintains of nature p ...
from 1863 to 1864.
He married Sybil Hall and with her had three children.
He began teaching primary school in 1864. Two years later he moved his family from Maine to
Earlville, Illinois
Earlville is a city in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,613 at the 2020 census, down from 1,701 at the 2010 census. The city is part of the Ottawa, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area.
History
The Earlville Post Office ...
so Hall could advance his career in school administration. While working for the Sugar Grove public schools, Hall owned and ran a general store, a lumberyard, a creamery, and held the political offices of postmaster, township treasurer, and clerk. Hall and his wife also remained active in their local church.
Hall's first school administration post was as principal of Towle Academy in Maine. In 1866 he moved to Illinois, where he served as principal and teacher at public schools in
Earlville,
Aurora
An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...
,
Sugar Grove,
Petersburg,
Jacksonville
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...
,
Waukegan
''(Fortress or Trading Post)''
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, and
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...
. On May 27, 1892, he introduced the
Hall Braille Writer to the public.
Career as inventor
![Pterotype](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Pterotype.jpg)
Hall traveled to
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...
originally to take up a position as an academic administrator but soon detoured to continue his research in Braille and commercial typewriters. He was present at a typewriter exhibition by
Christopher Latham Sholes
Christopher Latham Sholes (February 14, 1819February 17, 1890) was an American inventor who invented the QWERTY keyboard, and, along with Samuel W. Soule, Carlos Glidden and John Pratt, has been contended to be one of the inventors of the first ...
and saw the first prototype in January 1867. He compared the technical specifications of his earlier prototypes of the Braille writer and say modes to fashion it into a commercial type writer. He was introduced to
Christopher Latham Sholes
Christopher Latham Sholes (February 14, 1819February 17, 1890) was an American inventor who invented the QWERTY keyboard, and, along with Samuel W. Soule, Carlos Glidden and John Pratt, has been contended to be one of the inventors of the first ...
by
Carlos Glidden
Carlos Glidden (November 8, 1834 – March 11, 1877), along with Christopher Sholes, Frank Haven Hall, and Samuel W. Soule
Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''S ...
and along with
Samuel W. Soule began construction of what would be contested as the first commercial type writer in the United States. In 1868 their typewriter was debuted in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...
to critical acclaim. Hall stood by the begin and overall function of the typewriter while
Sholes,
Soule
Soule (Basque: Zuberoa; Zuberoan/ Soule Basque: Xiberoa or Xiberua; Occitan: ''Sola'') is a former viscounty and French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées-Atlantiques ''département''. It is divided into two cantons of the arrond ...
, and
Carlos Glidden
Carlos Glidden (November 8, 1834 – March 11, 1877), along with Christopher Sholes, Frank Haven Hall, and Samuel W. Soule
Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''S ...
soon disowned the machine and refused to use, or even to recommend it. It looked "like something like a cross between a piano and a kitchen table."
The working prototype was made by the machinist Matthias Schwalbach, but later standardized by Hall. The patent (US 79,265) was sold for $12,000 to Densmore, Yost, and Hall who made an agreement with
E. Remington and Sons (then famous as a manufacturer of
sewing machines) to commercialize the machine as the
Sholes and Glidden typewriter
The Sholes and Glidden typewriter (also known as the Remington No. 1) was the first commercially successful typewriter. Principally designed by the American inventor Christopher Latham Sholes, it was developed with the assistance of fello ...
. Hall would go on to take his standardized version to
Aurora, Illinois where a new position in academia was awaiting him.
After seven successful years in Aurora, he was asked to head the Sugar Grove Industrial School, a work-and-learn agricultural school nearby. Hall spent twelve years as head of the school. From his work around Aurora and Sugar Grove he learned the value of experiential learning and began to lecture at teachers' institutes around the country, challenging the "learning by rote" forms of education dominant at the time. For a short time he became superintendent of schools in Petersburg, Menard County before moving back to Aurora.
Career as administrator
Hall's most distinguished post in academic began in 1890 as
Superintendent of the School for the Blind in
Jacksonville, Illinois, despite his lack of training or experience with education for the blind.
He was a quick study, visiting several schools for the blind on the east coast, and quickly decided that blind students required vocational and experiential learning much the same as any student.
A political power shift in Illinois from the Republican party to the Democratic party caused Hall to lose his post. From 1893 to 1897, during the governorship of Democrat
John Peter Altgeld, Hall served as superintendent of the Waukegan schools.
When the Republicans returned to power in 1897, Hall was reappointed to his post at the School for the Blind. He remained at the school until 1902.
Hall's work led him to advocacy, most importantly persuading Chicago school administrators to create the first public school day class for blind students in 1900. This created an alternative to segregated
boarding schools
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...
for the blind.
Hall was an advocate of integrating farming and agriculture into academic and studious life. He served as the official Illinois state delegate to the Farmers' National Congress in 1908 and the National Farm Land Congress in 1909, and was a member of the National Conservation Commission.
Scientific career
Hall Braille Writer
On May 27, 1892, while working as superintendent for the Illinois Institution for the Blind, Hall unveiled the
Hall Braille Writer.
The typewriter is recognized as the first successful mechanical point writer. Modeled on typewriters of the time, his invention revolutionized
Braille
Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are blind, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille disp ...
communication.
Prior to his invention, Braille was not widely taught by teachers of the blind, because teaching Braille involved writing boards on which a student had to push one or more of six Braille character points in reverse.
The Hall Braille Writer, along with Hall's advocacy, helped make Braille the dominant form of written communication for the blind. He never patented the machine because he thought profit would sully his work with the blind.
The Hall Braille Writer was manufactured by the Harrison & Seifried company in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. It was manufactured for 10 dollars and sold for 11 dollars.
Distribution of the machine has been found in library collections as far away as Australia and China.
Construction and research
This invention took the place of more laborious devices used for instruction. Students were regularly using slate or metal frame to guide a stylus or punch held in the hand. Hall created an instrument that adapted its stripping capabilities to produce a stereotyper, a metal plate from which multiple copies could be made. This system was built upon the previous and more established models however with key differences. One such difference was the creation of non-impressed metal holdings, which subsequently lead to a termed, "Battle of the Dots". Researches at the time, believed strongly of the typographic form of
New York Point
New York Point (New York Point: ) is a braille-like system of tactile writing for the blind invented by William Bell Wait (1839–1916), a teacher in the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind. The system used one to four pairs of poi ...
. His adaptions created a new precedent for blind education and information technology, it quickly spread around the country and was established on a global scale soon after.
Stereotyper
Hall invented several other tools used for Braille communication, most notably a stereotyper used to make typeset plates for printing Braille books. He unveiled this device at the
Chicago World Fair.
Other inventions include an apparatus for skimming milk and co-invention of the stereo typewriter.
A Jacksonville gunmaker named Gustav A. Sieber often helped Hull with the engineering of his inventions.
Chicago World Fair
He also co-founded the
stereo typewriter which produced copies faster and cheaper, a derivative of the inventions by
Rasmus Malling-Hansen
Hans Rasmus Johan Malling-Hansen (5 September 1835 – 27 September 1890) was a Danish inventor, minister and principal at the Royal Institute for the Deaf. He is famous for inventing the first commercially produced typewriter.
Early car ...
, in 1893.
At the Chicago World Fair, Hall was displaying his latest invention, the stereotyper, when Hellen Keller famously approached him and publicly hugged and kissed him, drawing gasps from the crowd as such an occurrence was against social structure at the time. In the book
Devil in the White City,
Erick Larson retells the emotional story of Hall meeting
Helen Keller at the
Chicago World Fair in 1893. According to Larson, when Helen Keller learned that Hall was the inventor of the Braille typewriter she used, she hugged and kissed him. Larson added that retelling the story always brought Hall to tears.
She was later integral to the establishment of the practice buy learning multiple codes in order to read and write.
Research and investigations
Hall was a researcher focused on the development of the
Hall Braille Writer, first formed in 1892. It would go on to revolutionize
Braille
Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are blind, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille disp ...
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 worked on international uniformity of the
braille alphabets, and the development of
typesetting systems.
Death and legacy
In the spring of 1910, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis of the lungs and diabetes. He died the following January.
Hall's final resting place is in
Aurora, Illinois.
Hall's legacy is honored through the names of a few Illinois area schools. The main administrative building at the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired is named the Frank Haven Hall Building. Also, in the West Auroral School District 129, where Hall served as Superintendent, the
Hall Elementary School is named for him.
Artist
Rudulph Evans
Rudulph Evans (February 1, 1878 – January 16, 1960) was a sculptor.
Early life
Rudolph Evans was born February 1, 1878 in Washington, D.C. to Frank L. Evans, the descendant of a Quakers, Quaker family, and Elizabeth J. Grimes, the daughter o ...
commissioned a sculpture of Hall's likeness in 1912. It stood for many years at Hall Elementary, and is now on permanent loan to the Smithsonian Institution.
Publications
Hall's Mathematical Series
Hall has written approximately twenty widely circulated textbooks and publications on
mathematics,
structuralism, and
educationalist policy. He was widely known for his publications of Hall's Mathematical Series.
Some of the most prominent textbooks and publications include:
* Hall, Frank H. ''The Arithmetic Primer; an Independent Number Book to Precede Any Series of Arithmetics.'' Werner School Book Co. (1901)
* Hall, Frank H. ''The Werner Arithmetic: Oral and Written. Books III – Parts I and II.'' Werner School Book Co. (1898)
* Hall, Frank H. ''The Practical Arithmetic: Oral and Written.'' Werner School Book Co''.'' (1899)
* Hall, Frank H. ''Arithmetic, How to Teach It'' Published: Werner School Book Co. (1900)
* Hall, Frank H. ''The Primary Arithmetic: Oral and Written.'' Werner School Book Co. (1906)
Selected works
* Hall, F.H. (1909)
The ethical value of vocational stitution in secondary schools (National education association of the United States. Journal of proceedings and addresses). Publisher: s.n.
See also
*
List of inventors
This is a list of notable inventors.
Alphabetical list
A
* Vitaly Abalakov (1906–1986), Russia – camming devices, Abalakov thread (or V-thread), gearless ice climbing anchor
* Ernst Karl Abbe (1840–1905), Germany – Condenser (micros ...
*
List of people from Maine
The following is a list of prominent people who were born in the American state of Maine, live in Maine, or for whom Maine is a significant part of their identity.
A
* Angela Adams (born 1965), designer; born in North Haven
* Paul André ...
*
List of Bates College people
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Frank Haven
1841 births
1911 deaths
People from Aurora, Illinois
People from Mechanic Falls, Maine
People from Earlville, Illinois
People from Sugar Grove, Illinois
19th-century American inventors
20th-century American inventors
Typewriters
Bates College alumni
Braille
Educators from Illinois