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The Wikipedia article on the Velotype keyboard claims:

A practiced "veyboarder" can produce more text than on a traditional keyboard, as much as 200 words per minute, double the rate of a fast traditional typist. Because of this, Veyboards are often used for live applications, such as subtitling for television and for the hearing impaired.

Is the claim that this keyboard layout allows for superior speed true?

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    As most traditional keyboard layout were designed to slow typing (because of the first typing machines mechanical limitations), that's not a hard case to make. It would be better to compare it to other modern keyboard layout.
    – MakorDal
    Jul 4, 2016 at 15:08
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    @MakorDal : That's an urban myth that's false.
    – Christian
    Jul 4, 2016 at 18:18
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    @Christian Calling it false is a bit misleading. They spread out the commonly used keys to avoid jamming from hitting consecutive letters too quickly. Spreading out the common keys slows striking the keys. That's why the Dvorak keyboard does the reverse, putting the most common keys together. This had the effect of both slowing typing (in the sense that it would take longer to move one's fingers) and speed typing (in the sense of producing output without having to stop and unjam the typewriter in the middle).
    – Brythan
    Jul 4, 2016 at 21:11
  • @MakorDal "It would be better to compare it to other modern keyboard layout" - Are you saying that we should have a different question instead of this question?
    – user30557
    Jul 8, 2016 at 16:22
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    @Brythan Spreading out the common keys does not slow striking the keys, it actually speeds it up by spreading the load among your fingers keeping them from tiring. The QWERTY layout, entirely by accident in the process of trying to avoid a now non-existing problem, is nearly optimal for its current applications.
    – David Schwartz
    Jul 13, 2016 at 9:28

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