The original tabulator stops were adjustable clips that could be arranged by the user on the tabulator rack. Pressing the tab key would advance the carriage to the next tabulator stop. To simplify this, a horizontal bar was placed in the mechanism called the tabulator rack. The word tab derives from the word tabulate, which means 'to arrange data in a tabular, or table, form.' When a person wanted to type a table (of numbers or text) on a typewriter, there was a lot of time-consuming and repetitive use of the space bar and backspace key. On this machine, the tab-rack is removable for easy reconfiguration. The tab rack from a Flexowriter model 2201.
