Speaking of direct-connected laptop sized keyboard/printer unit that runs forever with no recharging

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sudsmaster

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I just picked up a full size Royal 440 manual typewriter the other day.

It's in very good condition. Probably needs some oiling and minor servicing. But this think is built like a tank, and probably represents the pinnacle of manual typewriter technology.

I don't know the vintage of this machine, but it seems very reminiscent of the manual typewriters in my high school typing class. I'm old enough to remember that for producing documents outside of a printing plant, you had two font choices: Elite (small), or Pica (large). Back in the 60's, I preferred Elite, because you could cram more words on a page. (I used to produce masters for newsletters etc). I also thought Elite type looked more professional and "adult". Nowadays I prefer Pica, perhaps because my eyesight is every so slightly not what it used to be. This machine happens to be Elite, so it's even more nostalgic.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised that I instantly knew what nearly all the controls were for... some things you just don't forget.
 
Oh, my word,

that is it, that is the instrument of torture that made first bell of my junior year of high school pure agony!

UGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

Thanks for the grim little laugh.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
I love typewriters, dont' have much of a collection though, Rich (Perc-o-prince) has how many, 800? I grab the SCM Electra's and Coronets these days whenever I run across one. I always liked them. As well I found a very nice little Remington portable and case a couple of weeks ago that looked like it had never been used so for about $4 I took gave it a home. The oldies are so neat though. At my highschool we learned on big Underwood Typemasters, then in the second year if you continued you moved up to the IBM selectrics, the small version, not the bigger office one. I've one IBM Selectric now and a honking huge Xerox Memorywriter, what a monstrostity that thing is but they were very avant back in the early 70's
 
In typing clas, there were about 10 IBM Selectrics, 15 Royal manuals, and 3 Leading Edge computers with a laser printer.

If you ran like hell, you could get seated at a Selectric and if you hauled @$$, you might get on a computer. Back then, my Commodore 64 ROCKED compared to the monochrome blah computers at school, and swapping games was a way of life.
 
When a very good friend of mine retired as V.P. from one of our local banks they gave him his Olympia manual typewriter as a gag gift. He loved it as it was one of the few remaining pieces of original office equipment from when the bank opened in 1962. He is still using that machine in his office at home. P.S He retired in 1990, and he was one of the original 12 employees.
 
I hate to admit it, but the typing class in my high school was full of this very machine. Royal 440's were the machine of the day. Later when I started teaching typing, the high school that I started at had Adler manual typewriters for the Typing I classes and Adler electrics for my Typing II classes.

Even though I, like, Rich (Perc-o-Prince), have a large collection of antique typewriters, someone gave me one of these a few years ago, and I still can't part with it. Brings back some good memories.

Enjoy!

Ron
 
Score! Good find. (Where's the CTRL key?:-) Somewhere in storage I still have an Olivetti portable and a bigger gray metal typewriter that might be a Royal (can't remember at the moment). Useful to have in case the Decline & Fall goes further than expected and the grid goes down chronically.

Two semesters of typing in highschool have proven quite helpful for being able to write quickly. We had big old manual typewriters. fff_fdf_ddd_dfd_ ... etc...
 
Our typing class used SCM machines, I think they were SCM Couriers, all metal with modernistic curved sides.(1968) I didn't want to take typing classes, I wanted to take more auto mechanics and electrical mechanics classes. My Mother told me that if I take typing I'll be able to get thru my college term papers much quicker as they won't pay for someone to do the typing for me. They had a "typing for men" class, which only met twice a week.
At the end of the sememster, I could type 32 WPM!I now type closer to 90 WPM. But now, years later, do I realize that it probably was the most important class I took during all my high school education. Who knew about the future coming of the Personal Computer back then? It's a skill that I use almost every day!
We have one of the later, self correcting IBM Selectrics here at home in our office. They come in handy when you need to address just ONE envelope, or need to type those little tiny pieces of paper for tabs on files in the filing cabinet.
 
Yes-I took typing class as well-trying to remember the typewriters they had-just remember they were big old manual units.-with the advent of computers-that typing class was handy.Most computer keyboards suck to type on though-something about the "feel" of typewriter keyboards that computer ones can't duplicate.My freinds mother used to work at a newspaper as a lynotypist-we love to type on the Lynotype machines and watch as it cast out the line you typed! were fascinating machines.
 
I think I took typing when I was a junior in high school. I remember the instructor, who was also the mother of a friend of mine, telling us at the start that this would be one of the most valuable skills we would ever learn. I suppose she said that because the exercises were so boring and occasionally frustrating. This was back in 1967 or 68, when nobody dreamed of using a home computer, and some people hesitated to take the class because they didn't want to become secretaries or part of a typing pool.

But of course she was right. Being able to touch type has (usually) been a big benefit not only to my professional life, but also to my social life. I was never a secretary or a typist, but being able to communicate in writing was a big plus. In the early days of the pre-internet ('88-94), I used to provide "live" sports reports via a portable computer at the event and a dial-up connection. Being able to touch type was critical to that process.

I will admit that being able to touch type has occasionally enabled me to get into more trouble than fun, but in the end it's just a tool for communication - the keyboard doesn't care about the content.

One tidbit I remember from typing class, that this Royal 440 machine helped to bring back: I remember that we were compelled to type fractions like 1/2 and 1/4 using the standard number and slash keys. We were forbidden to use the built-in 1/2 and 1/4 keys on the machines. This I found really annoying, for some reason. I figured that if the keys were there, we should use them. But I got over it.

Now, I need to find a nice juicy ribbon, full of jet black ink.
 
Litton Industries?

I noticed on the front of that machine that it had the Litton Industries logo between "Royal" and "440". I never noticed that before.
 
most useful of all

If you were on the "academic track" in junior high you had typing. I took all two years of typing and shorthand. Together with Latin, they were the only subjects I had which were of any use what-so-ever to me later in life. All the rest of junior high was an entire waste of my time. Complete, utter, total worthless waste of three good years.
Well, ok, when Johnny pulled me under the stands and gave me my first real kiss...hmm.
But that was it. Thanks Mrs. Ouret (Typing) Thanks Magistrae Birchfield (Latin) and (posthumously) thanks, thanks, thanks Johnny B. Why typing (keyboards today?) is not mandatory in the school system is beyond me. The "voice recognition" stuff still doesn't work worth a tinker's...and typing other guy's term papers got me through quite a few semesters in college.
We had Royals and Adlers, by the by. The 440's were a dream to type on. Back then, quality was more than just marketing blah-blah.
 
I enjoyed typing in High School. We used IBM Selectrics. For Christmas that year, my grandparents got me one of the first typewrites with a "correct" button. It had a strip of Liquid Paper Tape on the ribbon.
 
My piano teacher in junior high had me type page after page of text on one of these to build muscles in my fingers. I thought this a highly eccentric idea, but I wound up being the fastest typist in my business class, so I guess it was worth that, at least, LOL!
 
It's interesting how one activity will help another.

My typing training helped give me what later piano teachers would always compliment me for - a good hand position (shut up!). I didn't take my first piano lesson until I was 19, in college, so it helped.

I also used to find that if I practiced violin in my 20's, it helped my softball batting accuracy tremendously. Something about hand/eye coordination, and the position one's arms assume to play the violin is not far off from the raised position of swinging a bat). I once told another player what my "secret" was, and he was incredulous.
 

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