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10 responses

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  Fred Moskey   said (20 Jul 2012):

  Strange looking machine. Does it connect to the internet?

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  Regenia Brabham gave props (21 Jul 2012):

  I remember those. They were dinosaurs when I used them. I love that you chose black and white for this.

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  John Linton gave props (24 Jul 2012):

  Old school cool.

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  Ann Reece   gave props (25 Jul 2012):

  I started learning to type on one of these and it hadn't changed much in 50 years. Then electric typewrites came along and we thought we were set ... until computers showed up. Now they are outdated almost when you buy one and get it home!!!

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  Cheryl Andrews   said (25 Jul 2012):

  Ann, I learned on one of these as well ... really strengthened the fingers. Do you remember the Memory Writer that pre-dated computers?

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  elfriede fulda gave props (25 Jul 2012):

  Love the b&w , this is a great old typewriter !

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  Bailey Cooper   said (14 Aug 2012):

  Well... let me join in ladies. My grarndma had one of these and I distinctly remember 'unsticking' the keys (see image) and fingers covered in ink. One of the electrics I remember was the 'Selectric'. The carriage didn't move. A 'ball' over the paper did. We (I use the term loosely) have seen a lot, haven't we - (ding... end of line).

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  Cheryl Andrews   said (15 Aug 2012):

  I remember the 'Selectric' too, Bailey, but not 'til you mentioned it. When I was in high school the nuns taught us to type on something akin to this antique Underwood, with a pointer in hand to wrap on tables, typewriters and fingers!

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  Bailey Cooper   said (16 Aug 2012):

  Being Protestant, I never experienced the pointer/ruler thing. However, my 5th grade teacher did hurl an ink bottle at me one afternoon.
  
  About learning to type, I never had instruction. When I left high school I went to business school to become a keypunch operator. I was taught the machines and the numeric keyboard but I was on my own for the alpha. After I graduated, I applied for a couple of positions and failed the tests miserably. You can't hunt and peck your way into a refinery or steel mill.
  
  At the time my parents were starting a 'shopper' out of our basement. Determined to succeed, I took my older sister's typing book (the kind that opens like a steno pad), stood it up next to one of the business typewriters and holed up until I knew the keyboard... two weeks nonstop as I recall. Probably one of the best things I've ever done to advance my cause, particularly because there was a speck floating around in my crystal ball that I found out later was a laptop.

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  Cheryl Andrews   gave props (16 Aug 2012):

  You are simply too kool, Bailey! Great story.