TheMountbatten Brailler is an electronic machine used to typebraille on braille paper. It uses the traditional "braille typewriter keyboard" of thePerkins Brailler with modern technology, giving it a number of additional features such as word processing, audio feedback andembossing. The machine was pioneered and developed at theUnited Kingdom'sRoyal National College for the Blind inHereford by Ernest Bate.[1][2]
Initially the Mountbatten was manufactured inAustralia.[3] On January 1, 2010, manufacture of the Mountbatten was taken over by Polish company Harpo Sp. z o. o.[4]
The Mountbatten was developed afterLord Mountbatten left a bequest in his will for the development of a modern, low cost, portable brailler.[5] It has been available since 1991.[3]
Like the Perkins, the Mountbatten has a key corresponding to each of the six dots of thebraille code. By simultaneously pressing different combinations of the six keys, users can create any of the characters in the braille code. In addition to these six keys, the Mountbatten has a space key, a backspace key, and a new line key. Like a manualtypewriter, it has a knob to advance paper through the machine, although unlike the Perkins the bar does not move.[3] There is aReturn key rather than a carriage return lever. The rollers that hold and advance the paper have grooves designed to avoid crushing the raised dots the brailler creates.
In addition to the traditional keyboard, the Mountbatten has several other features. These include memory which allows braille text files to be stored in much the same way as is done with aword processor, speech feedback allowing the user to listen to the text they have just typed or from files, and forward and back translation betweentext and braille. The Mountbatten can be connected to a printer allowing files to be printed as text, while a regularPC keyboard can be connected to the Mountbatten enabling text to be produced as contracted or uncontracted braille.[6]
There are several models of the Mountbatten; the basic Mountbatten Writer, the Mountbatten Writer Plus, the Mountbatten Pro,[3] and the Mountbatten Learning System.
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