Overview
Its distinctive feature was an arrangement of 52 keys on a large brass hemisphere, causing the machine to resemble an oversized pin cushion. From the book Hvem er Skrivekuglens Opfinder, written by Malling-Hansen's daughter Johanne Agerskov, we know how Malling-Hansen made experiments with a model of his writing ball made out of porcelain. He tried out different placements of the letters on the keys, to work out the placement that led to the quickest writing speed. He ended up placing the most frequently used letters to be touched by the fastest writing fingers, and also placed most of the vowels to the left and the consonants to the right. This, together with the short pistons which went directly through the ball, made the writing speed of the writing ball very fast.
The first models typed on a paper attached to a cylinder, and included an electromagnetic escapement for the Ball, thus making Malling-Hansen's machine the first electric typewriter. He made several improvements on his invention throughout the 1870's and -80's, and in 1874 he patented the next model, and now the cylinder was replaced by a flat mechanical paper-frame. The electromagnetic battery was still used to move the paper along as the Ball typed upon it, and the design led to a lower possibility for error. Malling-Hansen improved further on his design, and created a semi-cylindrical frame to hold one sheet of paper. This best known model was first patented in 1875, and now the battery was replaced by a mechanical escapement. All these improvements made for a simpler and more compact writing apparatus.
It was exhibited at a great industrial exhibition in Copenhagen in 1873, at the world exhibition in Vienna in 1873, and at the Paris exhibition or Exposition Universelle. All through the 1870s it won several awards.
The writing ball was sold in many countries in Europe, and it is known that it was still in use in offices in London as late as 1909. But due to its hand-crafted production, it was overtaken in the market by the mass produced Sholes-Glidden machine which E. Remington and Sons started to make in 1873.
Malling-Hansen also invented a very high speed writing machine for stenography, called the Takygraf, and a copying technique called the Xerografi- both invented in 1872.
More-or-less intact Hansen balls have fetched hundreds of thousands of Euros in auctions. Few remain in existence today.
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