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February 28, 2012

"The typewriter is a mechanical device with keys that,"

blochtypewriter.jpg

when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. The first commercial typewriter was produced in the US in 1867 and by the turn of the century had developed into the standardized QWERTY format keyboard that we still have on keyboards today. The device was used extensively through much of the 20th century by many authors and businessmen. --Last typewriter factory in the world shuts down - TechSpot News

Posted by gerardvanderleun at February 28, 2012 9:01 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

One good class X 43 coronal mass ejection in the wrong direction and the mechanical typewriter makes a comeback- big time.
Oh, and did I mention a little thing known as EMP.

Posted by: Stuart at February 28, 2012 9:29 AM

The wife still has her college typewriter in the basement. Still works. How long till they're featured on Antiques Roadshow?

Stuart, time to stock up on ribbon?

Posted by: Soviet of Washington at February 28, 2012 9:44 AM

I could kill myself for giving away my mother's dainty Smith-Corona. It was truly a portable---about four inches tall and about eleven inches square. She bought it new in 1966, to teach herself how to type---before going off to college at the fine old age of 39. She was a sweetheart, and so was that little typewriter.

Posted by: Deborah at February 28, 2012 11:50 AM

Being the last of my age to learn "typing" on a manual, I shall not shed a tear. When I watch Mad Men, I do go a bit misty for the Selectric. The day of days though was when we got our first memory typewriter. No longer were we at the mercy of clerk/typists.

Posted by: Casca at February 28, 2012 12:16 PM

All typewriters from the venerable Underwood to the Selectric had a singular problem. None can spell any better than the typist.

Posted by: Peccable at February 28, 2012 3:44 PM

I have two typewriters I inherited from my father: A Smith-Corona Coronet XL electric which dates from the 1980s, and a Royal Quiet De Luxe manual from about 1950. (I can't find a date on the machine itself, but the owner's manual is ©1950.)

I just hunted both of them down and looked them up online before typing this comment.

I remember playing around with the Royal when I was a kid, but I never did learn to type properly. When I was in high school, it was mostly girls who took typing. I went through about half of a beginner's typing book when I got my first computer in the early 1990s, so I can plod along adequately.

Nowadays I still use the Courier font for e-mail, and also for those rare occasions when I have to type a paper letter. I may do it using Adobe InDesign on a late-model Power Mac, but I make it look like a typewritten letter, just for the hell of it.

Posted by: rickl at February 28, 2012 4:24 PM

Read it again. There's an update.

Posted by: Andrea Harris at March 1, 2012 9:13 PM

Thanks. Got a new item from that.

Posted by: vanderleun at March 1, 2012 10:05 PM

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