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An alpha-numeric data input keyboard is described which, by utilizing chords of two keys per character, minimizes the reach movements which are an intrinsic feature of typewriting. An experiment was carried out in which two groups of postmen wore trained for seven weeks, one group on the chord keyboard, the other on a standard typewriter. The results showed that the chord group became ‘ operational ’ about two weeks sooner than the typists. Beyond that point, improvement rates could be reasonably regarded as parallel, with the typists a little slower than the chord group with little difference in accuracy, other than that attributable to the special experimental conditions.
Conrad et al. (Fri,) studied this question.