Typewriters

[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.

http://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/index.html

 

[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.