Word: linville
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Since Louis Braille devised his raised-dot alphabet in 1829, there has been no other practical means for the blind to read. For 17-year-old Candy Linvill, blind since the age of three, Braille's system of dots posed little problem, but she was still confined to those...
Candy recently read the adventures of Christopher Robin and the Autobiography of Malcolm X without the aid of Braille. Similarly, she can read typed letters from friends and current novels or textbooks not yet transcribed into Braille, as well as newspapers and magazines - all previously inaccessible to the blind. The...
Linvill's "Opticon" (for Optical Tactical Converter) reflects an enlarged image of each letter onto a disk of light-sensitive transistors. The transistors, energized by the image, trigger a corresponding group of pins that vibrate in an outline identical to the printed letter. By lightly fingering the pins, the...
Linvill's idea for the probe-pin design came from a high-speed computer that printed its answers with electrically charged pins instead of solid typeface. When he found that the blind could be taught to recognize vibrating patterns, he built the first model of his machine. Next, he...
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