Doing my Freeper Duty
Posted on 09/09/2004 6:21:33 PM PDT by Mean Daddy
IBM announces the Electromatic Model 04 electric typewriter, featuring the revolutionary concept of proportional spacing. By assigning varied rather than uniform spacing to different sized characters, the Type 4 recreated the appearance of a printed page, an effect that was further enhanced by a typewriter ribbon innovation that produced clearer, sharper words on the page. The proportional spacing feature became a staple of the IBM Executive series typewriters.
Did the military in the 70's buy such high end machines? I highly doubt it.
yes you are late to the party...I know there are millions of posts...
Posted by rolling_stone to All
On News/Activism 09/09/2004 12:19:48 PM PDT · 154 of 196
IBM announces the Electromatic Model 04 electric typewriter, featuring the revolutionary concept of proportional spacing. By assigning varied rather than uniform spacing to different sized characters, the Type 4 recreated the appearance of a printed page, an effect that was further enhanced by a typewriter ribbon innovation that produced clearer, sharper words on the page. The PROPORTIONAL SPACING feature became a staple of the IBM Executive series typewriters.
http://www-1.ibm.com/ibm/history/history/year_1941.html
fakes
Check the SIGNATURES
It does not have Super Scripts or produce text identical to a modern Word processer.
there are NO signetures or initials from I hear
Do military memos from this machine come out with the precise formatting and character alignment (in every way possible) to documents created using the default parameters on MS Word and printed on laser printers invented years later?
Experts say the memo's are computer generated.
Proportional spacing is nothing new, of course. But it is suspicious that those proportions appear to match Microsoft Word New Times Roman identically down to typeface, leading, etc. so that overlayed, the typewriter and the Word document match perfectly. I don't think you'll find too many people who've worked with type who'll think that is a coincidence, but I could be wrong. Heck, there are subtle differences in the same typeface from the same foundary on different platforms (TrueType vs Postscript, for instance), but somehow an decades old typewriter matches Word pica for pica?
Did they self type memos from retired Generals a year later?
How much was that feature?
I'll comment.
I'll bet that unit used cogs and stepper motors to assign a width to each letter, but in crude increments of, say, 1, 2 or 3.
True Type technology assigns it down to the pixel.
Also, True Type will kern an i up under an f, or slide the bottom of a capital A under the top of a capital W.
No 1940s technology did that.
It's like the difference between cutting with a sharp ax and cutting with a sharp scalpel.
For this typewriter to be able to have the *identical* font, the *identical* character spacing, the *identical* line spacing would be a miracle enough. But even WITH all of those things, the old electric typewriters, even the nicer Selectrics and Ball based models were NOT 100% consistent with their spacing on every line.
The level of precision in the mechanical feeds was RADICALLY DIFFERENT than computers and printers of today. Even an old 180dpi printer had to have FAR MORE precise mechanicals just to keep the dots aligned than the old mechanical typewriters.
Doing my Freeper Duty
I seriously doubt it too, in a non-executive environment. I worked for IBM repairing typewriters in the mid 60s. The Mod 4 Executive typewriter was considerably more expensive than the standard, non propotional machine.
Using the machine properly required specialized training beyond normal typing courses.
Additionally, the machine was quite tempormental and did not lend itself to working well in dusty, dirty environments. It needed regular, specific maintenance to keep working porperly.
One is signed the other isn't. The comparison between the Known signature and the fake is very interesting. But, now that we know that the Gen mention in the memo retired a year before the fake memo was supposedly written. CASE CLOSED
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