Sholes and Glidden typewriter length. The redesigned platen also introduced the modern spacing functionality (horizontal and axial movement providing letter and line spacing, respectively). The cylindrical platen became "an indispensable part of every standard [typewriter]". By the end of 1872, the appearance and function of the typewriter had assumed the form that would become standard in the industry and remain largely unchanged for the next century. Although the machine possessed a cylindrical platen and what was essentially a QWERTY keyboard, two design elements that would later become essential were lacking: the ability to write in upper and lowercase letters and "visible" print. Although the
Typewriter in the Sky and won reader polls at the time." In his biography of the author, "Bare-Faced Messiah" (1987), Russell Miller characterized "Typewriter in the Sky" as one of Hubbard's works which "would come to be regarded as classics", along with "Fear" and "Final Blackout". In a biography of Hubbard written by Kent State University professor Donald M. Hassler in "The New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction" (1988), he noted, ""Typewriter in the Sky" (1940/1951), which anticipates plot gimmicks now popular among experimental metafictionists, ought to be taken seriously by the critics who will evaluate his strange genius". In a review upon the 1995