Braille Printers

Speech synthesizers are the devices screen readers use to provide verbalized information about the computer display to a blind or visually impaired person.

American Thermoform Corp.

2311 Travers Ave.
City of Commerce, CA 90040
voice phone: (323) 723-9021
The Braillo: Comet, the 200, the 400S, and the 400 SR. Character speeds and paper-handling capabilities depend on the model purchased.
The Ohtsuki braille printer: Manufactured in Japan, this printer can produce braille and print on the same page.

Blazie Engineering

109 E. Garrettsville Rd.
Forest Hill, MD 21050
voice phone: (410) 893-9333
fax: (410) 836-5040
Web site: http://www.blazie.com
Braille Blazer: A 15 characters-per-second (CPS) braille printer with speech output. Uses only 8.5" x 11" paper.
VersaPoint: Embosses braille at a 40 CPS rate; this printer is capable of using both 8.5" x 11" and 11" x 11.5" paper.
VersaPoint Duo: Similar to the unit described above. The duo is capable of printing on both sides of the paper, a process known as interpoint braille.

Enabling Technologies Company

1601 N.E. Braille Place
Jensen Beach, FL 34957
voice phone: (561) 225-3687
(800) 777-3687
fax: (561) 225-3299
e-mail: enabling@brailler.com
Web site: http://www.brailler.com
Enabling Technologies produces a variety of printers.
The Braille Bookmaker: Prints at 80 CPS; it is an interpoint printer with built-in speech. All menus are spoken, and the unit can serve as a speech synthesizer.
The Braille Express 100: Offers features similar to the Bookmaker; it produces interpoint braille at 100 characters per second.
The Braille Express 150 is similar, but prints 150 CPS.
The ET Braille Printer: Prints at 60 CPS and handles up to 40 characters per line. Includes built-in speech.
The Juliet Classic Braille Printer: A 40-CPS interpoint printer. With the right accessories, it can handle both fan-fold and single-sheet paper.
The Juliet Pro 60: Prints 60 CPS and includes built-in speech.
The Juliet Pro: A 40 CPS unit; single-sheet capability and built-in speech are standard rather than optional with this printer.
The Marathon Braille Printer: Prints 200 CPS on one side of the page.
The Romeo and Romeo-rb25: Prints 40 CPS and 25 CPS respectively. Speech and single-sheet capabilities are optional.
The TED 600: Produces interpoint braille at 350 CPS. Predominantly used for large braille production jobs.
The Thomas Braille Printer: A desktop unit, similar to the Romeo. Single-sheet capability and speech are optional.
The Transend Printer: Creates pages containing print and braille. Pages move through the standard printer then through the braille printer.
Please note that Enabling Technologies is a U.S. distributor of the following printers:
The Porta-Thiel: A German-made printer capable of 10 CPS. An interpoint version is also available.
The Thiel Beta X-10: An interpoint braille embosser capable of printing 300 CPS.

HumanWare

6245 King Rd.
Loomis, CA 95650
voice phone: (916) 652-7253
or (800) 722-3393
Web site: http://www.humanware.com
Braille-N-Print: Capable of translating brailled material into ink print. A Perkins braillewriter is required.
The Paragon Braille Embosser: Produces 40 CPS on a single side. Additional paper-handling options are available.

Sighted Electronics

464 Tappen Rd.
North Vale, NJ 07647
voice phone: (201) 767-3977
e-mail: sighted@idt.net
Web site: http://www.sighted.com
This company serves as a U.S. distributor for the following companies:
The Everest line of printers uses single sheets of paper and brailles at a 100 CPS rate.
Thiel printers available include: The Impacto, 850 pages per hour, the Porta-Thiel and Porta-Thiel Interpoint, and the Thiel Beta X-10.
Also available is the Index Basic D and Index Basic S. The Basic D is an interpoint printer, and the Basic S prints on one side of the page. Both create braille at a 100 CPS rate.
The Index 4x4 Professional handles single sheets and comes with its own sound enclosure.

ViewPlus Technologies, Inc.

3223 NW McKinley Dr.
Corvallis, OR 97330
voice phone: (541) 754-4002
fax: (541) 753-8286
e-mail: vpt@viewplustech.com
Web site: http://www.viewplustech.com
Tiger 1000 Personal Tactile Graphic Embosser: A braille printer which can produce text and graphics directly in any Windows 9x or NT application. It prints on single sheets as well as fan-fold paper. It prints approximately 20 CPS and can reproduce images from clip art and other graphical files.

03/24/05