[dredmorbius]

The tray-based design not only permits swapping out the entire characterset, but also sections.

My understanding is that Chinese typewriters typically have a large number of characters in common, but also provide for characters specific to specialised activities, e.g., government, commerce, education, science, technology, and the like, which are addressed in the auxiliary characters used.

Vague recollections from a New Books Network episode some time back. I'm pretty sure it's this episode with Tom Mullaney:

<https://newbooksnetwork.com/006-the-chinese-typewriter-a-his...>

Mullaney is also the basis for several other links provided by others in this thread, particularly <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43212063>.

[ebruchez]

You swap character by character, and of course if you want to swap a group of characters related to a particular domain you can do so. The tray is just a grid so you have as much flexibility as you want as long as you have the appropriate characters at your disposal.

I have just finished reading Mullaney’s book.

[dredmorbius]

Thanks.

The impression I'd had from the interview(s) I'd heard were that it was common practice to use a fairly standardised characterset and then the specific auxiliary set as needed. How much individual typists might move between different machines and (nonstandard?) configurations I don't know.