Sunday, March 3, 2019

Typewriters

Before the Internet there were computers. Before computers there were word-processors.  Before word-processors there were electric typewriters. Before electric typewriters there were manual (non-electric) typewriters.

Manual typewriters were invented around 1870 and continued to exist for the next hundred years. They were still in use when I grew up. With valuable prescience, my mother insisted I take a typing class in junior high school and I was taught on a manual. Electric machines were available then but they were more expensive and reserved for adults. Manuals were cheap, could take a lot of abuse and were given to teenagers. There were even manual typewriters designed for children with smaller keypads and bright colors (Tom Thumb was a popular brand).

I like old technology. It captures the spirit of an era. Last mid-century was filled with typing -- which provided employment to many women in the workplace. From 1930-1970 companies hired scores of young unmarried women to type; huge rooms were filled with them. Manual typewriters are noisy and the clacking in those rooms was deafening. Professional typists had to meet a minimum number of words without error. Correcting errors was an ordeal so accuracy was prized.

There were many odd conventions which, today, amuse me. For example, early typewriters saved keys by not having a key for a character that could be created by another one. E.g., many lacked a key for the number one which was created by typing a lower-case L; many lacked a key for the number zero which was created by typing an upper-case O; many lacked exclamation points which were created by typing a period, backspacing and typing an apostrophe over it; many lacked the symbol for cents which was created by typing a lower-case C, backspacing and typing a slash through it.



When I was in high school, you were allowed to submit handwritten work but you got better grades if you went to the trouble of typing your reports. In college, everyone was required to submit typed work. Many students couldn't type so they had to pay or beg other students to do it for them. It was possible to make good money off of this skill back then.

Whether you realize it or not, the design of current computer keyboards follows early typewriters. An example: the first typewriters didn't have both upper and lower case letters but only one of them; later machines had two separate sets of letters for both upper and lower cases; finally the "shift" key was invented to require only one set of letters which could shift between upper and lower case by holding down a shift key with your pinkie. The "Caps Lock" on your computer today is a direct descendant of the shift key, as is the whole QWERTY arrangement of letters on your keyboard.

I'd like to buy a few vintage machines both to use and display. They're getting harder to find and ironically more expensive. Until ten years ago, sellers couldn't give them away; old manuals were considered worthless but now people like myself are interested in collecting them. Prices are rising.

Have you used a typewriter? Electric or manual?


22 comments:

  1. Love this flashback! At my school, we were all required to take typing classes for a quarter in 7th and 8th grade (as well as Industrial Arts, Fine Arts and Home Ec.)

    Remember writing term papers with footnotes on a typewriter? What a nightmare!

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  2. Love this post, Ally, especially since I have a vintage mechanical typewriter of my own. It's a Corona, dating from the late 1920s, early 1930s, and it used to be my grandfather's. It's got a so-called Belgian keyboard with the vowels on the left and the consonants on the right. It became obsolete just before the Second World War. Did you know that here in Belgium, as well as in France, we have AZERTY instead of QUERTY? I learned to type on a mechanical machine - and was notoriously bad at it and consequently hated it. But now I'm glad I learned to type ... When I started work, I got an electric typewriter, which took some getting used to. Only one colleague insisted on using a mechanical one, and you could hear him bashing the keys from the next room. I would love to have some more vintage machines, but that will never be due to space limitations. xxx

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    1. I heard of alternate keyboards but never saw one. When tech is new, conventions haven't been set yet and experiments are common.

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  3. I have a thing for typewriters too, so beautiful. I wish there was more room for it now so I could find an excuse to buy one for me

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  4. Ah Ally! I see you doing a post dressed as the secretary you describe here using a typewriter as a prop.
    I typed double spaced reports in University. Urgh!
    My son now has a manual portable typewriter for historical flair.
    I too learnt to touchtype as a teenager, just because it felt cool to do. I'm very grateful I did.
    Funny how we keep conventions that really mean nothing now. Like ISO on cameras.
    xo Jazzy Jack

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  5. I learned to type in high school on an electric typewriter, but I used my mother's manual at home when I was writing my term papers through high school and college. I used to love that thing. I always felt so legitimate when I used it. I love this post!

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  6. I enrolled in summer school at Westbury HS to take typing because it was not offered in Catholic school. It is a skill that has stood the test of time.
    That Royal you picture looks like an old machine that my folks had at home. I had a portable Underwood (bought used for $5) that got me through HS, college and law school. It was always a pain changing or even trying to 're-ink' the ribbons.

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    1. I've seen many of those Royal machines. They were sturdy and popular.

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  7. I love them so much!!! I was just talking about buying an old model some days ago, you know! I used them when I was a kid and later I switched to an electric typewriter, but the old one is the most charming one of all! Kisses

    Fashion and Cookies - fashion & beauty blog

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  8. This is another interesting post. Like you, I am always intrigued with older technology. I find these machines very beautiful in a way that it’s hard to describe. Oh yes I do remember using them, as well. I always typed up my reports because my handwriting was not very elegant.
    ❤️❤️❤️
    Elle
    https://theellediaries.com/

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  9. My mom also forced me to take Typing 9 and 10 in junior high - I was a slow typist, so I was stuck on the manuals. Only the fast typists got the electrics!

    The QWERTY keyboard layout was set up to avoid having the manual keys jam - frequently-used letters are separated out on the right and left so that both hands are used evenly.

    I earned some cash in university by typing reports for students on my IBM Selectric, a monstrously huge and heavy electronic typewriter. It hummed and it also had a 10-key memory for errors (it would back up and retype the letter through a strip of whiteout!).

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    1. Great anecdotes! I remember those electrics with memory.

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  10. We used to have one when I was growing up, it was the kind that would fold into a suitcase. We had it when I was in sixth grade or so, and I would sit on the back porch and try to type out letters to friends. The worst was when I made a mistake, because we had to use white out and I was almost always too impatient for it to dry and would end up typing over it and it would be a messy blob. I hope that you start a typewriter collection! I am sure you can find some via Craigslist or Facebook? Excellent post!

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  11. I remember typing over wet white-out! Couldn't wait for it to dry. There are some machines here on Craigslist but most need restoration work. There's a single shop left in New York which I plan to visit this week; their machines are in good condition. The next nearest shop is down in central Jersey. What a trek -- back in the day, there was a street in New York City called "Typewriter Row" because it had so many typewriter stores on it. *sigh*

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  12. Love the idea of having a typewriter on display. My grandmother used to have one in her office and she'd set me up with ink and paper and let me play- it was so fun!

    -Ashley
    Le Stylo Rouge

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  13. Wow, such an interesting post, I love old things, I still remember such typewriter when I was a kid. Time really flies.
    Have a nice day.
    http://www.rakhshanda-chamberofbeauty.com/

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  14. Love this post Ally … I took typing classes for my last 3 years at school - all on manual typewriters - and didn't love it but am so happy that I did. I still have the typewriter that a friend of my Mom's bought me to practice on. It sits on an antique dresser in my craft room.

    Now I love to type and can do so quite quickly. My first couple of jobs were typist jobs. Was introduced to a golf ball typewriter which made just as much noise as a manual one. Next came the word processor and eventually a computer. How things have changed in the years since I learned to type.

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  15. I took typing in school so, yes I am familiar to electric and manual typewriters. I remember doing papers on them in high school. By the time I was in college the computer had stepped in.
    I own 3 typewriters: one manual and two electric - they are just in display.
    When my friends' children visit they usually as "what is that..?" i love to explain. They are usually in awe.

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