Square index typewriters

The most comfortable and fastest index typewriters were the square index machines, like the Hall and the Mignon. Only minor hand movements were needed to select a character and print it.

In fact, the producers of the Hall typewriter advertised their machine as being healthier than keyboard typewriters and even than the pen, because of the limited strain the machine put on the wrists. Which goes to show that today's keyboard-related health problems are not a new phenomenon.

Some square indexes, like the American Visible and Pettypet were arranged like the qwerty keyboard. This is a feature that is more often seen on toy typewriters,