Blast from the Past

Reading Machine for Blind Transmits Message by Touch
From: Popular Mechanics, December 1954, page 146

Blind persons can read an ordinary newspaper with a machine invented by an
Italian electrical engineer. A photoelectric cell mounted on a framework is
placed over the reading material. Electrical impulses are transmitted letter
by letter to corresponding rods on the keyboard of the reception box. The
blind operator "reads" the rods with his finger tips. The instrument, if
successful, could revolutionize the reading habits of blind people. At
present, they must depend upon scarce, expensive Braille translations.