The IBM Stand Alone was the first "desktop" device that produced type with proportional spacing. Not to be confused with the better-known IBM Selectric Typewriter, which it only vaguely resembles, the IBM Stand Alone Composer has 4,000 moving parts, none of them electronic. It utilizes a complex mechanical device called a "colour justification tube" to encode how "short" each line is of justification, allowing for the operator to note down the colour codes and then REtype the entire page, setting each line of type up according to the colour codes and producing a second-generation page in justified format. A well-cared for IBM Stand Alone Composer, instruction and repair manuls, and 32 type balls (a different one for each font and point size) has been located in the possession of catherine yronwode of Forestville, California. Negotiations for purchase are undwerway and the search is on for a repair person who can fix the machine's steel "drive band," which broke one week before Ms. yronwode bought her first copy of Quark Xpress (version 1.1) in the1980s.
You are unbelievable. I can only stand (ok, sit) in awe.
Hold it. catherine yronwode? As in the one discussed here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1167751/posts
Given the usenet post is from 1995, it's probably just a coincidence, but still, it's odd.