Rod Reader

One way to make books available to the blind is to have readers with crisp, clear voices record them phonographically. At the disposal of the country's blind are some 5,000 books translated into Braille. But whether he listens to a recording or reads Braille, the blind person must confine himself to those books which have been selected for him. Last week at Northwestern University a young graduate student in psychology named Emil Ranseen demonstrated an invention by which a sightless reader patient enough to learn a touch code may read any book he chooses. After it is adjusted for proper spacing, a scanner supported on tiny rollers moves back & forth across the printed page examining one letter after another in rapid succession. The light passes through a lens, thence to a slotted, motor-driven disk which analyzes the shape of the letter. Then a photo-electric cell converts the light into electric current. The reader places his hand on a wooden box so that it rests against a row of nine small glass beads. The electric current causes tiny rods to push up momentarily through holes in the beads. The position of these rods corresponds to the letter which is being translated. Besides offering an unlimited choice of reading matter, Inventor Ranseen believes that reading by his method is easier to learn than Braille.

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