Typewriters

[launderess]

Even with all the power and whatever of a modern computer and TOL office laser printer, still find many things easier on a typewriter. Suppose this is because one learned and is used to doing so from years of various occupations that required. That and or from simply using a typewriter for school, finding work (doing resumes, cover letters, etc...) and etc...

For instance my laser printer must only be used to print full sheets of labels. That is you shouldn't send through a sheet where some have been used (empty spaces). Mind you my older printer could do this, but that is long gone. While the thing can do envelopes of several sizes one finds it easier and faster to run them up on the typewriter instead.

Great thing about typewriters and a reason many seek them out is for filling out forms. Again this is something one did plenty of "back in the day" so to speak, even in duplicate, triplicate, etc... Indeed there is still one USA seller of typewriters (though IIRC the units are produced in Asia), and he supplies many law enforcement agencies, hospitals, coroner's offices, physician offices, jails, prisons, and so forth. Either by statue or habit there are still places where forms must be typed (birth certificates, death certificates, etc...).

For those of us born in the USA say until rather recently more likely than not your original "official" BC was filled out on a typewriter. Many death certificates are and remand still.

 

[petek]

Got me thinking about these

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/state/headlines/20110614-texas-inmates-have-clear-choice-in-typewriters.ece

 

[nurdlinger]

blue and white Royal Safari

This is the typewriter which my parents gave me as a high school graduation gift. I still have it in the back of a closet somewhere, but I have not looked at it in decades. Also stuck in the case are some sheets of onion skin paper, and a few packs of "Co-Rec-Type" sheets which would allow you to type over errors and make them white space again. (because in the early 60s, everything was Black & White...)

 

[launderess]

Onion Typing Paper

Is very much in demand! *LOL* The stuff can go for a tidy sum on places such as fleaPay, especially if it is a full box or ream of NOS.

Ditto the "Corecto-Type" sheets, but managed to nab a box of them on the cheap.

Always preferred the sheets to White Out. The latter made a mess after awhile and you usually found many typewriters with white stains all over the place from the stuff.

 

[mattl]

White-out...

Funny you should mention White-out - just read an article about a guy who used it on his sunbeam Mixmaster to restore the lettering on the handle and the speed control.  I think he went over it with some clear poly to keep it from washing off.

 

[firedome]

Typewriters were/are works of the devil...

and as a programmer in the '70s, IBM 029 punch card machines were even worse - 80 charchaters, no mistakes, throw it out and start all over. This in decks of hundreds of cards for a typical program, and some of the check processing DDA programs we had to maintain had thousands of lines of code. Back in college it was good to be a science major, not many papers to write, lots of lab time, but, oh, to have had word processing back then for all the bs major courses required!!

 

[gansky1]

Pete, you have some great typewriters!   I think a trip to visit our Canadian contingent might be necessary sometime, there are some very nice collections up North!

 

I've had a few typewriters over the years but the only one I've held onto is my Olivetti Praxis 48.  We had one at home when I was learning to type in school and it's still one of my favorites.   

 

The one I miss the most is a black portable Underwood I found at a garage sale.  I let it go not too long ago and now wish I'd kept it.  Same old story... cue violin. 

 

[danemodsandy]

Allen (Whirlcool):

I also grew up with a Royal Safari - that color was catalogued as Periwinkle Blue.

Ours was a bit earlier than yours, with a different Royal logo above the keys, but otherwise the same. We got ours in '63, and at the time, it looked like something out of The Jetsons.

Good typewriter.

 

[passatdoc]

Let's not forget Eaton's Corrasable typing paper! Let you erase errors with a pencil eraser. Went through it in college by the ream.

Eaton's Corrasable Bond - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[ptcruiser51]

@ Launderess

You da bomb, girl!

Not so many years ago, I had to go to my birthplace (East Orange, NJ) to obtain a copy of my birth certificate. For a specific purpose. Miss Barbara Christmas (actual name) couldn't have been more courteous. She scrolled the document into her IBM Selectric, typed out the details, affixed her stamp and I was on my way five minutes and five bucks later. Where has honest service like this gone? Down the toilet, is where.

 

[sudsmaster]

I learned on a manual typewriter back in high school, and always preferred manual typewriters to electric ones (I found the noise of the electrics to be annoying).

The last good manual typewriter I recall using was an Olivetti manual portable someone lent me for a short time in college. I was very sad to see that go. Since then I've picked up another couple of portables, and a Royal standard, but none of them seem to work right. Either my fingers are weaker or they all need overhauls. It might just be that I'm now very used to typing on a computer keyboard at speed and the slower more emphatic pace of a manual typewriter is a skill I've lost.

My mom used to have a big black heavy Underwood which also seemed to work well.

 

[passatdoc]

I learned in fifth and sixth grades on a Royal manual at school. Never got over 22-23 words/minute. But at home, I was able to do 35-38 wpm at the end of sixth grade (eight weeks of instruction spread out over two years) on our home Smith Corona Electra portable electric. I didn't foresee transferring these skills to a computer, but I could see that electrics were the wave of the future (1968....) vs. manual models, despite the added noise. The extra speed of the electric is what kept me going and striving to maintain and improve my skills.

 

[abcomatic]

Jim

I used the same paper by Eatons. I had/have a late 1940's Royal office machine. It is black, weighs a ton and still works well. That machine got me through my time spent at ISU. Where does everyone get ribbons for your machines? thanks, Gary

 

[launderess]

Where America Shops

FleaPay! *LOL*

That or what are left of local stationary and typewriter repair/selling shops.

Believe it or not there actually are groups of persons worldwide who collect and or still use typewriters. Just as with us and appliances here they even have various Internet groups and even meet up for "Type-Ins". Tom Hanks uses and loves typewriters: http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/22/tech/social-media/apparently-this-matters-hanx-writer/

For repairs am lucky that Gramercy Typewriter Repair is still going strong in NYC. They are located in the now very trendy FlatIron Building district, so easily reached by subway, taxi or bus. http://www.yelp.com/biz/gramercy-typewriter-co-manhattan

There are still plenty of places to find typewriter ribbons. You can start here: http://www.mytypewriter.com/

But also simply search the Internet, you'd be surprised what comes up. Just make sure you are purchasing from a reputable dealer who is selling good stock. Also know what sort of ribbon you are after (refer to your typewriter's owners manual), as to what suits.

The Classic Typewriter Page : All About Typewriters

All about typewriters: history, use, collecting, restoring, and more.

site.xavier.edu

 

[launderess]

My All Time Best

Just after high school and into college post graduate years was around 50 to 60 wpm. Mind you in those days both in high school secretarial classes and when taking exams for agency or pre-employment errors were subtracted from one's results. So saying one did 100 wpm meant nothing if you only had 75% accuracy. One of my best girlfriends in high school *could* hit 100 wpm without breaking a sweat.

The one thing we were taught in typing class over and over was *NEVER* to look at one's hands/the typewriter. Rationale was that whatever one looked at is what one would type, and or the distraction caused errors. One kept one's eyes on the material or in the case of dictation what was being heard.

 

[nurdlinger]

Eyes On The Copy

Our elderly but kindly high school typing teacher admonished us all the time. Typing class for me was as a freshman. We randomly seated ourselves the first day, and those became the assigned seats for all year. The guy sitting next to me became my good friend, and remained so for decades after graduation. During the "timed writing" tests we would count up our errors. After reaching some number, the test was worthless. Instead we typed absurd things at eachother with the goal being to break up the other guy and incur the wrath of the teacher.

 

[tolivac]

The typing instructor I had would walk the classroom student rows carrying a ruler-if she saw you looking at your keyboard-she would wack your hands with her ruler!OUCH!!!

 

[passatdoc]

18-23 wpm in elementary school on manual, 35-38 wpm on a Smith-Corona electric.
40-45 wpm in college on a Smith-Corona electric
80-85 wpm today on a computer keyboard.

I never actually timed myself on an IBM Selectric which I used in various jobs (paid and volunteer in high school/college) but I think it was a lot faster than 45 wpm and may have been closer to 70 wpm. But I never OWNED a Selectric because, to the best of my knowledge, IBM initially did not sell them but only LEASED them (I think the same was true with their computers). So it appeared to be impossible to buy one for residential or personal use. I knew a woman in college who had one, her father was a physician and I suspect he leased them for his office and paid the lease on an additional one for his daughter to use in college. She typed 140 wpm and earned a lot of money typing fellow students' term papers.