[Bogey78O]

It looks like only the Selectric II could do it. It required the person to type every line twice so the typewriter could judge proper spacing. Would a military man have an advanced top of the line typewriter and go through so much?

http://www.ibmcomposer.org/SelComposer/description.htm

[bondjamesbond]

The Selectric II did not do this.

Look at the picture...

See the black band on the vertical face just above the keyboard? That is the ball position indicator. It advances one space for each letter, and the indicator jumps one tenth, or one twelfth of an inch for each space, depending on the font pitch selection.

There are five levers on the top of the machine. The rear-most left lever set the font pitch for 10 or 12 spaces per inch. The rear lever on the right adjust the ball for half-spaces for forms and such.

The Selectric II was a nice machine. I held onto mine long after it should have been retired. Either that or a Selectric III were the best ever made at multi-part forms. But it could not do proportional fonts. No way, no how. It had no logic, no memory. It was completely mechanical.

[bondjamesbond]

An IBM Selectric II and a IBM Selectric Composer are not the same thing. The Selectric II was either on every secretary's desk, or she was trying to figure out how to get one on her desk, for all of the 1970s. The Selectric II was a great, rugged, reliable machine, but it could not do proportional fonts.

I have been in office environments for twenty five years, and I have never seen a IBM Selectric Composer, ever. This was a piece of specialty equipment, and was not in common use.