I restored one of these myself. Beautiful machine.
Posted on 11/04/2014 2:44:03 PM PST by EveningStar
LOL!
I Have two Royals in storage.
I should find a place to display them.
They are mint...
I have to admit, a few years ago I purchased an IBM Selectric, just because I had always wanted one.
I guess you never forget your first love. :)
I don’t have one, but I have a soft spot for a Selectric.
If I could get a PC keyboard that had the same feel, I’d be in heaven. Closest thing I ever had was an OEM PS/2 keyboard.
You can still get the original IBM PC keyboard (but with USB if you prefer that to PS/2):
That is my favorite computer keyboard by far. (I’m currently using a similar, but not identical keyboard).
The very best keyboard I ever used was on an IBM terminal. The keyboard layout was identical to the original Selectric, but the keys themselves didn’t have a decent feel. However, they had a solenoid (essentially, a computer-controlled hammer) that whacked the case with each keystroke. It perfectly emulated the Selectric.
I restored one of these myself. Beautiful machine.
I have a Correcting Selectric II. It was my typewriter for more than 22 years as a secretary. When my employer went into PCs, it offered some of the typewriters to the employees. So I took my Selectric home. It worked for another 10 years. I still have it, but it needs work and I can’t find a repair person around here. I loved that machine and still do.
Up until probably the late 70s, the Marine Corps had an MOS for typewriter repair. I used a lot of manual and electric over many years. The one I hated the most was introduced when PCs and MS Office were just coming in. It was a type-behind Selectric, correcting machine. It buffered a line of typing and then wrote it after the buffer was full. For us old farts who learned to type on manuals, the ear (sound of the click)-brain connection was lost because you hit the key and there was no typing sound so after a half a line your fingers became muddled and typed gibberish. I couldn’t use it for my classified work that needed to be perfect and my admin clerks finally came to me and told me they couldn’t either. After some strongly worded negotiation with supply, we got our old Selectrics back.
The last major typewriter manufacturing facility closed in 2011. Typewriters are rumored to still be manufactured by one or two small companies but it’s essentially a dead technology. We spent one summer looking (successfully) for a manual typewriter requested by an Italian monk. How long he’l be able to get ribbons for it is anyone’s guess.
Yes I imagine the big problem is parts and supplies. Kind of like old appliances. It’s a shame because those old typewriters were built to last. They were work horses. And with apologies to all high tech people, I maintain that typewriters type envelopes and labels a lot better and faster than prepping them on a computer and printing them out.
Connecticut = Typewriters...We had Royal and Underwood.Many Aunts and Uncles retired from both before the companies folded.
I learned to type on an old Royal manual in high school. It must have weighed 25 pounds. Typing was the most useful class I took in high school.
I have within the last year gotten a 1918 Corona III portable.
Anyone know where I can get replacement ribbons?
I have a Smith-Corona electric for which the local office supply store can't get the film ribbons -- only can get the lower quality nylon ribbons. But it looks like I could get film ribbons on amazon.
I put a lot of miles on several MC88s, the official military telegraphers typewriter.
Like a recent New Yorker cartoon:
"I hate check writng, but, hey, it pays the bills."
I think it was one of the most useful as well.
79 with 1 error...LOL
Like that matters anymore.
I let Google spell for me or hit F7.
In 1967, when I was 12 years old and on summer vacation, I taught myself how to type on my mom’s 1930s Underwood, using her textbook from secretarial school. A fond memory!
I think the last time I used an IBM Selectric was in my office in Havana in 1997. That typewriter fit in with the style of the cars on the streets.
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