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To: TastyManatees
IIRC, the IBM Selectric of that era did have proportional typing ball-heads. They were high-dollar machines, running in the $800+ range.

What bothers me more than the type faces used in the memos is in #1 and #4:

#1 uses the phrase in para. 2: Report to 111th
#4 uses the phrase in para. 1: feedback from 187th

Notice that both 'th' items are raised (superscripted). I don't think that would have been typeable and reduced size. For such raised (superscripted) characters to occur, the typist would turn the platen/carriage slightly downward, type the characters, and return the plate/carriage to its normal position. Note that the characters then, though raised/superscriptied, would be the same size as those characters in the regular line.

Someone more familiar with the Selectric of that era would verify this. Some typeset machines did exist, but they were too expensive and too large to be used in a typical office of that era.
121 posted on 09/09/2004 8:45:02 AM PDT by TomGuy (His VN crumbling, he says 'move on'. So now, John Kerry is running on Bob KerrEy's Senate record.)
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To: TomGuy

Addendum to my post 121:

Memo #3 in para. 2 and para. 3 has the phrase 147th.

Notice that the 'th' in this memo is not raises/superscripted nor reduced size. The 't' and 'h' are on the same line as the other type and not raises. That is how a 'th' would typically have been typed (other than the platen/carriage movement described in post 121) in the 1972 era office.


125 posted on 09/09/2004 8:50:09 AM PDT by TomGuy (His VN crumbling, he says 'move on'. So now, John Kerry is running on Bob KerrEy's Senate record.)
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To: TomGuy

http://www.mytypewriter.com/item.jhtml;$sessionid$3GQXJHQAAAOUJTZENUFJPQWPERWRJPX0?UCIDs=467301%7C1272517&PRID=1364643


924 posted on 09/10/2004 8:51:53 AM PDT by mad puppy
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