1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,800 Speaker 1: From a single computer to tens of thousands of computers 2 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:06,080 Speaker 1: and servers. Mosey by e MC protects data and files 3 00:00:06,080 --> 00:00:09,280 Speaker 1: with the most trusted cloud backup service for business. Visit 4 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:12,000 Speaker 1: Mosey dot com to learn more. That's m o z 5 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:16,560 Speaker 1: Y dot com. Mosey It's always there. Welcome to brain 6 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: Stuff from how Stuff Works dot com where smart Happens. 7 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:31,000 Speaker 1: Hi Am Marshall Brain with today's question, why are the 8 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:35,480 Speaker 1: keys arranged the way they are on a quirty keyboard? 9 00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:40,920 Speaker 1: In eighteen seventy four, Remington and Sons manufactured the first 10 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 1: commercial typewriter, called the Remington Number one. This typewriter was 11 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:50,360 Speaker 1: designed by Christopher Scholz and used the quirty keyboard we 12 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: are all familiar with. This early typewriter used a mechanism 13 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:58,080 Speaker 1: with characters on the end of a bar. When a 14 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: key was struck, a link would swing the bar into 15 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:06,040 Speaker 1: a tape coated with ink. When the character struck the tape, 16 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,720 Speaker 1: the impression of the character was transferred onto the paper, 17 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:15,080 Speaker 1: which was positioned behind the tape. Shul's original prototypes had 18 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:18,560 Speaker 1: a problem with the bars colliding with each other and jamming, 19 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:22,000 Speaker 1: so the story goes that he arranged the keys with 20 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:25,560 Speaker 1: the most common letters in hard to reach spots to 21 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: slow type is down and try to avoid this problem. 22 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:33,319 Speaker 1: It might seem odd that the keyboard layout that we're 23 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:37,800 Speaker 1: using today, over a hundred years later, would be originally 24 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:42,199 Speaker 1: designed for inefficiency, but nonetheless that seems to be the case. 25 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:46,200 Speaker 1: Whatever the reason for the quarty layout, it seems pretty 26 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:49,200 Speaker 1: unlikely that one of the first keyboard layouts invented would 27 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 1: be perfect, no matter what it looked like. The Corty 28 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:55,800 Speaker 1: keyboard is therefore very different from the divorat keyboard, which 29 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: is trying to be super efficient. The divorat keyboard layout 30 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:03,320 Speaker 1: tries to minimize the distance traveled by the fingers. It 31 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: also tries to make the typeest alternate hands on consecutive 32 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 1: letters as often as possible. The divorc lagout places all 33 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:15,240 Speaker 1: of the most commonly used letters in the home rows 34 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:17,679 Speaker 1: so that your fingers don't have to move at all 35 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:21,400 Speaker 1: to hit these keys. The left hand has all the 36 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:26,919 Speaker 1: vowels and some consonants, and the right hand has only consonants, 37 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,000 Speaker 1: so there are very few words in the English language 38 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 1: that can be typed with only one hand on the 39 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 1: divorate keyboard. To our papaya and opaque. Both Pumpkin and 40 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: minimum can be typed with one hand on a Quarty keyboard. 41 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: Give it a try. You can find websites that show 42 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:50,000 Speaker 1: the layout of the divorate keyboard and measure finger distances. 43 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:52,679 Speaker 1: For example, if I had typed this article on a 44 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 1: divorate keyboard, my fingers would have traveled about thirty meters 45 00:02:56,919 --> 00:02:59,799 Speaker 1: versus the fifty four meters they traveled on a Quarty 46 00:02:59,880 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 1: key board that I used when I type this. Some argue, however, 47 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: that the divorat keyboard is no more efficient than a 48 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:11,680 Speaker 1: Quarty keyboard. An independent study in nineteen fifty six showed 49 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 1: that Quarty type is and Divorac type has had about 50 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:18,119 Speaker 1: the same rate of speed, and continued studies since then 51 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:21,600 Speaker 1: don't show a clear winner between the two. This may 52 00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:25,160 Speaker 1: explain why Corty is still the standard. If you want 53 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 1: to see for yourself, you can switch your keyboard to 54 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 1: a divorc configuration just by changing a setting on your 55 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:35,520 Speaker 1: computer's operating system. Depending on your keyboard, you may even 56 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:38,000 Speaker 1: be able to pry off the keys and rearrange them 57 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: into the Divorac layout. Give it a try sometimes. Do 58 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:45,400 Speaker 1: you have any ideas or suggestions for this podcast? If 59 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:48,040 Speaker 1: so please send me an email at podcast at how 60 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. For more on this and thousands 61 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:54,240 Speaker 1: of other topics, go to how stuff works dot com 62 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: and be sure to check out the brain stuff block 63 00:03:56,480 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: on the how stuff works dot com home page. Protect 64 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: your organization's critical files with Mosey by E m C, 65 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 1: the most trusted name in cloud back up. Don't leave 66 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:10,800 Speaker 1: the security of your business critical files to anyone but 67 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:13,560 Speaker 1: Mosey by E m C. 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