Excerpt from Daily Shorthand: The New Lightline

Practically all shorthand systems in use in the United States at this time are based on that of Isaac Pitman, of England, or that of M. Duploye, of France.

Pitman used geometrical straight strokes and curves as symbols for the consonants, and these were grouped in pairs to indicate similar (cognate) sounds, having a light line to represent the light sound and a heavy line to represent the heavy sound. For vowel notation a scale of three dots or dashes, placed at the side of the consonant strokes, was devised.

Duploye avoided shading by making one of the cognate sounds short and the other long. He avoided lifting the pen to form an outline by using a connective vowel scheme, , which is the best feature of his system. His method of representing the consonants wastes much valuable material which may be used to represent a great many frequently occurring sounds.

The New Lightline tries to avoid the mistakes of both these authors and their followers. A new lightline alphabet is used, which is composed of lines of a uniform length, except H, Y and W. The vowel representation has been tested and found to be the best ever presented.

Well-known and tried principles have been used to build up a system which, the author believes, excels in brevity, legibility, and simplicity.

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