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 into the front rank of science fiction writers of the late 1940s." Writing in "Dream makers: The Uncommon Men and Women Who Write Science Fiction" (1983), Charles Platt called the book, "one of Hubbard's most well-known and playful pieces". The "St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture" (2000) described "Typewriter in the Sky" and "Fear" as Hubbard's "most famous stories" in the genre of science fiction. "The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography" (2003) in its biographical entry on L. Ron Hubbard characterized "Typewriter in the Sky" and "Slaves of Sleep" among classics in science fiction, as did "The Riverside Dictionary of