Maltron

The company was founded in 1977 to make fully ergonomic keyboards and has been doing so ever since. Maltron's success in so many RSI recovery cases confirms that they are the industry leader in ergonomic keyboard design. The company was founded by Stephen Hobday as a result of a meeting between himself and Lillian Malt when Stephen Hobday became intrigued by the problems surrounding the use of the Scholes Qwerty keyboard layout. At the time, Stephen was running Printed Circuit Design Ltd. (known as PCD), a small company in Farnborough Hampshire that made electronic equipment. Stephen was interested in buying some new products to manufacture, and coincidentally, a local company had asked him if he would be interested in making them into a computer keyboard. This led to discussions with Farnborough Technical College about the design of the keyboard, and in turn to meeting keyboard training specialist Lillian Malt, who was closely involved with the graphics industry to tutor Linotype operators in the use of computer keyboards.

History

Lillian Malt ran a secretarial training company beginning in 1955. Based on her experience with typos (having worked closely in the printing industry retraining Linotype operators to use computer keyboards), she came up with the idea for a typewriter keyboard with the keys so different finger lengths, but found no manufacturer willing to work with her. In 1974, Stephen Hobday came to her with a one-handed keyboard he had designed for the disabled. Malt made several suggestions for improvement and told Hobday that she had failed to engage the interest of manufacturers in actually building her ideal keyboard. Hobday told her, "Tell me what you want and I'll tell you if I can build it or not." The first Maltron keyboard was the result of their collaboration. The company's full name, PCD Maltron Ltd, comes from Hobday's original electronics company, Printed Circuit Design Limited, based in Farnborough, Hampshire. The seeds of PCD Maltron were sown when another Hampshire company had inquired about the possibility of manufacturing a custom 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 had been all but 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) even mentioning her, mentioning only Hobday. [1] Malt did, however, present a paper describing her work: Malt, Lillian G., "Keyboard design in the electronic era," Printing Industry Research Association, Symposium Paper No. 6, September 1977.

Models

There are five models of Maltron keyboard. Two target general users, one of which is the original retro-style curved keyboard. The other three are aimed at people with more pervasive disabilities. Although the general shape has remained the same, the original keyboard has undergone several revisions. Maltron keyboards became known in the 1980s and 1990s for their distinctive layouts. Hackaday described the Maltron keyboard as "a mass of injection-molded plastic with two deep scales for all the keys." [3] Tom's Hardware said the keyboards were "one of the truly first ergonomic, split-keyboards to use keywells. Designed for people suffering from RSI, the makers sought to address the needs of people who were harmed or at risk of being harmed by extensive typing. "[4] Customers asked for a halfway house between a conventional QWERTY keyboard and the curved Maltron, so a flat (2D) version was introduced that, although lacking the curvature of the 3D keyboard, features split keywells and shifted letter rows to accommodate different lengths of fingers. For severely disabled users, there are the one-hand, headstick, mouthstick and extended models. All Maltron keyboards use Cherry MX brand key switches, which are much more responsive and durable than the membrane or dome keyboards used on most keyboards.

Layout

Maltron 3D and 2D (flat) keyboards are produced with three different layouts: QWERTY, Dvorak and Maltron. In 2009, PC World magazine proclaimed the devices "the weirdest keyboards in the world," particularly the right-handed one-handed model that sold for US$413 at the time. In the Maltron layout, the starting row of keys is "ANISF" for the left hand and "DTHOR" for the right hand. This can be used to type many more complete words than those on a QWERTY keyboard. [6] The Maltron layout is derived from frequency of use (FoU) statistics, plus additional considerations, such as the most common two- and three-letter combinations found in words. Such combinations should be placed as non-blocking sequences whenever possible.

FAQ

When selecting a product, it is important to determine in advance the purpose of the purchase and your requirements for the product. Then use our search filters to come to the selection of the right product that fits your symptom profile and workplace. No human being is the same, so above all choose a product that suits your personal requirements. By adapting the workplace to the person rather than the other way around, many physical complaints are prevented or remedied.