Maltron

PCD Maltron Ltd., d.b.a. Maltron, is a manufacturer of ergonomic special-needs keyboards, founded by inventor Lilian Malt, the namesake of the company^[1], and manufacturer Stephen Hobday. Maltron specialises in making keyboards for the prevention and etiological (root cause) treatment of repetitive strain injury.

Maltron manufactures several models of keyboards, in varying levels of adaptation. Lilian Malt's original invention and the company's flagship design (Types L and E) is the most highly adapted; it incorporates a curved surface for the keyboard, in which the keys' angles are staggered to compensate for the different lengths of the fingers. A trackball is a customer-selectable option, at additional cost. As well, for all Maltron two-handed keyboards, also including the Type J and the Executive, an alternative keyboard layout is inbuilt, with a key installed to switch between the two. Maltron keyboards are electrically compatible with IBM PC keyboards and Apple Macintosh keyboards, using either USB or PS/2 connectors; in the early 1990s, a DIN connector was available, but has been discontinued.

History

Lillian Malt ran a secretarial training business from 1955. Based upon her experience of typing errors (having been closely concerned in the printing industry with the retraining of Linotype operators to use computer keyboards), she conceived the idea of a typewriter keyboard designed with the keys arranged to fit different finger lengths, but found no manufacturer who was willing to work with her. In 1974, Stephen Hobday came to her with a one-handed keyboard that he had designed for the handicapped. Malt made several suggestions for improvement, telling Hobday of her failure to engage the interest of any manufacturers in actually building her ideal keyboard. Hobday told her "You tell me what you want and I'll tell you whether I can build it or not." From the resulting collaboration, with Malt's expertise in keyboard design and Hobday's expertise in electronics, came the first Maltron keyboard.^[1]

The full name of the company, P.C.D. Maltron, Ltd, stems from Hobday's original electronics firm, Printed Circuit Design, Limited, based in Farnborough, Hampshire. The seeds of P.C.D. Maltron were sown when another Hampshire business had inquired about the possibility of custom manufacture of a computer keyboard. This led to discussions with Farnborough Technical College about the design of the keyboard, and in turn to the meeting with Malt.

Stanley notes that Malt was almost erased from history in the 1970s, with the only one of two 1979 articles in The Inventor (the journal of the British Institute of Patentees and Inventors) that even mentions the names of the keyboard's inventors at all, crediting it solely to Hobday.^[1] However, Malt did present a major paper describing her work: Malt, Lillian G., 'Keyboard design in the electronic era', Printing Industry Research Association, Symposium Paper No. 6, September 1977.^[2]

Models

There are several models of Maltron keyboard; three of them target most users, while another three are geared towards people with more pervasive disabilities. The original bent, retro-styled keyboard devised by Lillian Malt is one of the former three; although the general form has remained the same, the original Maltron has gone through several revisions.

Due to customer requests for a halfway house between a conventional Sholes keyboard and the bent Maltron, two keyboard models have been introduced: the Type J, offering the same retro styling and finger length-adapted key positions on a flat projection; and the Executive, a modern-styled keyboard in metal and Perspex adapted to the Maltron keyboard layout.

For individuals with more visible disabilities, there are the single-handed, headstick, and expanded models.

All Maltron keyboards use Cherry MX brand key-switches; this makes keys much more responsive and durable compared to membrane or dome key-switches, used on the majority of keyboards. Some exceptions are the Das Keyboard (which also uses Cherry switches) and the IBM Model M.

Layouts

Maltron 3D and Executive keyboards are produced with three different layouts:

QWERTY layout
Simplified Dvorak layout
Maltron layout

In the Maltron layout, the home row of keys are "ANISF" for the left hand and "DTHOR" for the right hand. This home row can be used to type many more complete words than that found on a Qwerty keyboard.

The Maltron layout has been derived from frequency of use (FoU) statistics, plus additional considerations, such as the most frequent two- and three-letter combinations found in words. As much as possible, such combinations need to be placed as non-blocking sequences.

Whilst the letter E is normally regarded as the most common letter in the English language, one should not ignore the Space character, as it is nearly twice as frequent; additionally, in punctuation, the comma and full-stop are more frequent than the letters KVJZXQ.^[3]

Directional or cursor keys have also been subject to changes in design approach. Whilst the earlier PC-XT compatible Model B featured opposing keys near each other such as PgUp and PgDn aligned vertically on the left little finger, and arrow keys arranged UP/DN and LF/RT on either thumb, later models were to introduce a complete design philosophy where such keys were split into left-right locations matching the former re-arrangement of such characters as "(" and ")" which had been moved to sit above the numbers 5 & 6 (as "< >","[ ]", "{ }" and "/ \" had all been respectively separated). This meant that any cursor or movement key which moved to the left or up in a document (Backspace, PgUp, Left etc.) were all moved to the left hand and those which moved right or down (i.e., forward or CR/LF) in a document were placed on the right hand.

Further variation in design has been a slight rotation of the key-bowl upward in the center which reduces the amount of pronation in the operators' wrists. Referring back specifically to the Model-B, the key-bowl required the hands, although separated from each other, still to be rotated outward as though operating a flat keyboard.

Newer evolutions include moving the pseudo-standard 12 Function keys into a new top row inside the bowl rather than a straight line along the back as can still be seen on the single-handed versions. The standard numeric row (1 through 0) has also been shifted one column to the left aligning "1" with "F1", "2" with "F2" and so on. The blank area between the two thumb keys has also been raised to a significant height in order to prevent "dropped-wrist" operation of the number pad, although because of its location and layout, continuous one-handed numeric data entry requires physical movement of the keyboard to properly accommodate the dominant hand (left or right) which increases the amount of desktop real estate that the keyboard occupies.

The more observant user will also note that there is only one key below the home row for the ring finger (made obvious by the gap in the next row). As the long finger and the ring finger share the same tendon along the back of the hand, removal of excess "under-reach" for the ring finger alleviates potential stress on this tendon thus contributing to the keyboard's overall success in reducing Occupational Overuse Syndrome (aka RSI) type injuries.^{[clarification needed]}

Design and Construction Issues

There has been much complaint about the cost of the Maltron Keyboard over the rival Kinesis which copies the same "bowl" design for each hand along with the thumb keys, but omits the numeric data pad which is embedded in the right bowl and activated by key or footswitch.

However, there are important differences: the Maltron is made by hand in a small business setting, while the Kinesis is mass-manufactured.

Technical support and customer service, also, are of different character; the technical support at Kinesis is more in line with modern practice, whereas that provided by Maltron hearkens back to the 1970s.

The Kinesis, however, is far more modern-styled, which is seen as an advantage by most; the Maltron is formed out of matte grey plastic and is reminiscent of the 1960s.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Stanley, Autumn (1995). Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History of Technology. Rutgers University Press. p. 369. ISBN 0813521971.
^ http://www.maltron.com/maltron-academic-papers.html
^ "English Prose FoU". PCD Maltron. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)

External links

PCD Maltron web site, including:
Ergo-Comp Systems Frequently Asked Questions — detailed explanations of the curved keyboard shape and the Maltron layout
Maltron Keyboard Layout — Karl Fogel's diagram of the Maltron layout
Maltron Keyboard — the 2002-12-03 review by PC Magazine

[MAD-1] Stanley, Autumn (1995). Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History of Technology. Rutgers University Press. p. 369. ISBN 0813521971.

[2] ttp://www.maltron.com/maltron-academic-papers.html

[3] "English Prose FoU". PCD Maltron. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)

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