I originally went to get the $5.00 typewriter...

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I have a IBM pictorial reference/adjustment manual and model C and D had dual ribbon capability too.

I'm wondering if the fabric ribbon was used for rough drafts and the film for final copy.
 
Hey Cory....

Yeah, I want to see the keypunch machine....and you wouldn't have a 1401 RAMAC system by chance, would you? Hehe!

Jim, I can imagine all kinds of uses for the dual ribbon. Like you say, fabric for rough draft, film for final. Fabric for internal correspondence, memos, carbons. Fabric for the peons, film for the executives who drove Lincoln's, Cadillac's, and Imperials with great big fins on them....

John
 
IBM Instruction Manuals

I have instruction manuals for Selectric I, II, and III in PDF format that I've burned on to CD. I also have manuals for Model D (Standard and Executive), Model B Standard, and Model C Executive.
 
Here's a picture (not mine, from the web) of the first IBM I learned Fortran and Assembler programming on back in the day. It's an IBM 1130. The console keyboard and printer were mainly used to setup the machine functions and program it though they could be used for actual data entry. Most programs were pre punched onto cards on IBM keypunches and fed thru the card reader on the left and the the results were printed out on a larger and separate printer about the size of a medium home freezer. Above the console printer that rectangular piece has the red "stop" sort of an emergency button on the left and the dial on the right (forget what that is) and all that stuff in the center is indicator lights to the various functions and processes going on.
BTW pushing the emergency stop button did not stop all peripherals like the card reader and form printer. If the big printer was caught in an endless loop it would keep going until you shut that off as well, spewing paper everywhere. Somehow I really remember that LOL

4-3-2009-17-47-32--petek.jpg
 
Can't say as I know anything about the diskette punch but you can tell they carried over the styling and the keyboard and switches from the 129 card punch if what I'm seeing across the top of the keyboard those 3 little toggles. Even the on/off switch is located much the same on the lower left. The only thing maybe not the same is that the keyboard on it looks fixed anddoesn't look to swivel 3 or 4 inches either way like those on the card punches.
 
Section "Sign" & IBM Power Cord

The double, partially overlapping S "key" is a Section Sign - usually used to refer readers to a particular section of a document. It's often used along with the "backwards P" which as we all know, refers to a paragraph.

And as for the power cord pin configuration, I've seen plenty of these on office machines, IBM especially. I don't believe it indicates any sort of 220-volt conversion, just a proprietary connector (although I think used by others) - and they're very cool.
 
The IBM 407

Here's a machine no one is likely to see anymore but one I was very familiar with, the IBM 407 accounting machine. It's not a computer per se but more like a glorified adding machine calculator. Why it's so interesting is how it is programmed. You see the chrome handle on the right hand side, well that "door" is about the size of a dishwasher door and you pull it open and off. The "backside" of that door itself is sort of one big pegboard or litebrite circuit board panel with push pins and such arranged in such a way as to control the functioning of the machine process including spacing, forumulas etc. To change from one type of accounting, say receivables to payables or monthly statements required you to remove the door, put it away on a huge rack on the wall and grab another whole door and hook it on the bottom hinge and close it up. That's how it's programmed as to what job it's supposed to do etc. but to enter your accounting data that was done again on IBM punch cards, you can see the punch card holder on the left top. You punched all your data on the cards and laid them face down in the holder and put the weighted "lid" back on top of the pile and then turned it on basically. It held form paper about 20 inches wide and used a chain printer much like a bicycle chain spinning around to print. As it "calculated" it shook and shaked and so the whole machine is mounted on heavy springs. Probably weighed a ton literally, these machines were all steel and iron.

4-3-2009-22-05-13--petek.jpg
 
IBM had some great colors. The typebar typewriters had some interesting colors like lemon yellow and even orange. I've seen some interesting adds for the the Model A and B machines on eBay.

I saw a Selectric with bright blue platen knobs and I think blue keys. There's a chance I might have saved the picture it. If I did I will post it, it's rather cool.
 
Back in college I had a summer job working for an auto parts company as a operator of an IBM System 3. What an interesting machine. It was used for inventory control and accounting for a few of their retail locations. The System 3 didn't use standard punched cards, but smaller square ones.
Those round things on the desk were disk drive disks. I think they held 40MB each.
We also had a tape subsystem too.

4-3-2009-23-58-55--whirlcool.jpg
 
A System 3 Punch Card

Here is what the System 3 punch card looked like.

Over a Christmas holiday one year a friend in Chicago who worked for IBM took me on a tour of the computer "show room" for the IBM mainframes at the IBM builing in downtown Chicago. They had everything from System 3's to IBM 370/168 machines in every color imaginable. Blue, Red, Coral, White, Yellow, Tan, Green. The salesman giving us the tour said IBM would supply any color you wanted as long as it was not pink.

The System 3 had an "Emergency Pull" red button too. I was told to only pull it if the machine caught on fire or somebody was getting electrocuted by it. Fortunately, that never happened.

4-4-2009-00-05-22--whirlcool.jpg
 
Back To Washers

John, would you make a video of the Whirlpool portable washer? It was a nice little washer if you were doing laundry for one person, and kept up with it on a regular basis. Mine was very quiet for the most part.

Thanks,
Jim
 
Jim....will do...

Give me a couple of days, as I'm rearranging things around here. But will do.

And you're right, I was surprised as to how quiet it is! I just love the little guy....now to find the matching dryer! :)

John
 
And back to typewriters

I had to take this home from Value Village the other day. Nice little Olympia portable electric. Made in Japan by not sure who made them for Olympia, maybe Brother.

4-5-2009-23-39-4--petek.jpg
 
The Olympia could have been made by Brother or Nakajima. Nakajima made the electronic machines for Olympia, Royal, and Swintec. I have one similar to the one in the picture, the space bar needs adjusted, and one key is stuck down.

I had the matching dryer to washer, great little set; kept me from going to the laundromat.

This is the Olympia I've been looking for

4-5-2009-23-54-55--autowasherfreak.jpg
 
Pete, I like that style of Olympia...function...smart, subtly stylish. I also like the red repeat keys!
 
Here's my Olympia. I need a new 2 key for it and the zero and period key won't stay up, and the space doesn't seem to come up all the way after pressed. I like yours better John, what's the model number, I will have to look for one.
 

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