View Full Version : When was the last time you saw one of these?
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-hM8q72Q7Mfs/UjPHL-EvljI/AAAAAAAAGjI/6Pb2g7G8PbY/s640/20130913_124022.jpg
I am something of a Luddite. :)
Ribbon on order. From Amazon, of course.
Tussiemussies
9-13-13, 10:54pm
WOW...it's been a long time....
shadowmoss
9-14-13, 4:59am
The DMV in the small town in Honduras where I lived typed out all my forms (and there were a lot) for my Honduran driver's licsense on a small electric typewriter like that. That would have been last year.
This one is actually a manual.
early morning
9-14-13, 6:35am
It's been a while! I spent many hours typing specialty menu stencils on a script-writer about that size, an Olivetti, I think. Hated it - I always hit the return too hard and it would skitter across my desk... LOVED my big old Royal. THAT thing didn't move on return, lol. Both were lost in a fire in 87, and were replaced with electrics. Not the same. I have a couple manuals stashed at my moms- thanks for the reminder that I can find ribbons online, Tradd! Might dig one of them out this winter!
I saw at least 3 manual typewriters at yard sales just last week! Was thinking my daughter would LOVE to have one to do things with, but thought they were priced way too high, and didn't know if ribbons would be available.
Yes, I remember well. I went to Katharine Gibbs in the early 70s AFTER I graduated with a B.A., Magna Cum Laude, because guess what--I needed skills to get a job. That 8-week program at Gibbs was actually called the "Entree Program"--especially designed for women college grads so they could learn to type and gain "entree" into the business world. We've come a long way, baby. I can't think of one man who had to learn to type to get a job.
Anyway, back the point--I have certainly done my share of typing on all kinds of typewriters--at Gibbs we were trained on manuals, and carbon paper, and those little eraser pencils with the brushes at the other end. No Korrectape for us!!
Thanks for the memories, Tradd.
How many USB ports?:)
Very neat. Brings back good memories of the odor of white out and long nights typing term papers.
I was given a portable when I went to university for my essays. I loved it! It was earlier this year when I finally discarded it almost 50 years later.:D
You can download apps that provide typing sounds for your computer, in case you miss the sound of the carriage return. :)
SteveinMN
9-14-13, 12:16pm
I think my "portable" typewriter weighed as much as the first "portable" (really, luggable) computers :0!. In fact, I'll bet my laptop and the inkjet printer I can (but rarely) print on combined weigh less than that typewriter did.
Typewriters actually had a surprisingly long lifespan where I worked simply because it was easier to create a business envelope on one than it was to load an envelope into one of the centralized printers, hope you loaded it the right way, and hope someone didn't submit a print job before you did. But I suspect they're all pretty much gone now.
Interesting: I just did a Web search for typewriter ribbons and found typewritersupply dot com at the top of the list. With the larger-type boldface statement:
Rather not order online ?
You can always call typewritersupply.com and speak
to a real person !!
I have to think all of that is exactly what their customers want. :D
How many USB ports?:)
Very neat. Brings back good memories of the odor of white out and long nights typing term papers.
Oh, yes, Rogar, I had those long nights slaving over a typewriter, too.
We have a couple here. I think we have 2 manuals and 2 electrics. Just can't seem to ever want to get rid of them.
Gosh.......especially the manuals.....are fairly hard to type on, compared to the computer keyboard. I used to be a secretary, so I did alot of typing on the old Selectrics. (The ones with the ball that would spin around with the letters on it, instead of the keys). It was hard to learn to not press the return button on the keyboards!
We have a couple here. I think we have 2 manuals and 2 electrics. Just can't seem to ever want to get rid of them.
Gosh.......especially the manuals.....are fairly hard to type on, compared to the computer keyboard. I used to be a secretary, so I did alot of typing on the old Selectrics. (The ones with the ball that would spin around with the letters on it, instead of the keys). It was hard to learn to not press the return button on the keyboards!
I definitely remember the Selectrics.. they were state-of-the-art! You're right--after being used to shoving the platen from left to the right to return it to the next line, pressing the return button was amazing!
The next BIG step for office work was the WANG word processor. I had to teach one of the older executive secretaries how to use it (she was probably actually younger than I am now), but she was so unteachable!!!! She couldn't get the concept of putting the cursor behind the letter you want to change and backspacing. She couldn't get ANY of the concepts and kept saying "If I had my typewriter, I'd have been able to type three letters by now!!" She was frustrated, I was frustrated, and it had a big impact on me in that now I think I try really hard to stay somewhere on the technology curve, even lagging way behind, so that I don't become her.
CathyA, my office still has one of the IBM Selectrics. Believe it or not, there are still forms and things we have to fill out that look much better when typed. Customs has some forms on its website that need to be submitted in paper hard copy, but they're not writeable PDFs!
I'm sitting next to one. Not that model, but we have a typewriter behind the circ desk at work.
I still use an old Olympia for most of my writing. We also have my wife's grandmother's Royal portable from the thirties, and I have an Olivetti Lettera 22 and Olivetti Studio 44, (Tennessee Williams' favorite typewriter).
The Olympia is the most solid. I bought it at a thrift store years ago, and I don't believe it had been used much. I used to have a few more manual typewriters, but I gave the bulk of them away some years ago.
For me, computers are good for distraction, but typewriters still excel for actual writing.
My mom had one - a little older, that we kept in the hall closet - brought it out when we wanted to turn in a really good
looking paper at school.
I remember when we got an IBM selectric (sp) with the little ball - very up town - and it sounded pretty cool too!
Gardenarian
9-16-13, 2:48pm
I'm sitting next to one. Not that model, but we have a typewriter behind the circ desk at work.
Me too! it's a heck of a lot easier to type labels for books than try and set up a computer for that process. Also good for envelopes and odd sized things.
We have one at home too - dd like to write at a typewriter.
I love retro technology too, but retyping a whole paper after finding a missed sentence on the front page? Bad memories of a bad typist ...
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