If you had a typist who could do centering using proportional-spaced fonts, I'd like to meet her/him!
It is hot too difficult to manually center lines using an old proportional typewriter. As a typist, you would know the pica or width value of each letter. A lower-case 'm' for instance, might be worth 5, while a lower-case 't' might be worth 2. As I recall, the widest of all letters on the old IBM Executives was 7 (upper case W). Then it's just a matter of totalling the value of each letter, adding an average of 3 picas between each word, dividing by 2, finding the center point, backspacing the required number of units, and then typing the line. The typist had the freedom to add or subtract units between words (or even units between letters in a word) so as to make an individual line or word come out "right." I have done this exercise hundreds, if not thousands, of times, in my old life as a "repro" typist in the 1970's.
On other thing, the 'backspace' key on these typewriters moved the platen back just 1 unit. I.e., to backspace over an 'm' would take 5 strokes, over a 't' would take 3 strokes.
All of this is just to say that I am becoming convinced the Killian document is a forgery. While it is definitely possible to manually center individual typewritten lines, it seems implausible to me that such lines typed 30+ years ago would somehow exactly duplicate the same exercise of today's word processors.
Sorry to be so long winded.
Centering on a proportional spacing typewriter. . . .
I'm really telling my age. I typed on an IBM Executive Typewriter, with proportional spacing.
I remember something about putting a "grommet" on the typewriter, when you needed to center a line. You'd type the line, and the grommet would keep the keys from hitting the paper, but the typewriter would advance the proper spacing just as if the keys were hitting.
Then, you knew exactly how long the line was going to be, so you could backspace exactly 1/2, and type it again (without the grommet), and it would be perfectly centered. Wow!
Does anyone remember the old grommet? It was a small piece of black rubber, round, with a whole in the middle, with an opening on one side. I remember many-a-day, walking around the office, asking, "Who's seen my grommet?"
This whole thread is cracking me up!!!
>>If you had a typist who could do centering using proportional-spaced fonts, I'd like to meet her/him!
Absolutely correct. You HAD to use mechanical typesetting devices like the Varityper or the IBM composer for this.
If all FReepers switched to your tagline next April 1st - just for the hell of it.
What we need is a self-FReep to "encourage" it.