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Sept 28, 2024 18:16:51 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2021 23:01:57 GMT
I learned to type on a manual typewriter. I also remember using carbon paper on forms and typewriter erasers with a brush on the end. Did you ever use these things?
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Post by bc2ca on May 16, 2021 23:06:50 GMT
I learned to type on a manual typewriter, using carbon paper for copies, but not an eraser of any sort. Once mistake meant starting over. My parents gifted me an electric typewriter when I graduated from high school.
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rgibson
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Apr 26, 2021 22:49:21 GMT
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Post by rgibson on May 16, 2021 23:22:35 GMT
I was given an electric typewriter when I graduated from high school in anticipation of all the essays I would be writing in university. It was probably the best gift I ever got and I still have it. My kids liked to pull it out once in a while when they were younger to try it out - they thought it was pretty crazy when they discovered that there was no delete key.
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Post by ntsf on May 16, 2021 23:24:18 GMT
I got a manual typewriter when I graduated high school.. used it all through college. I took typing class in high school. my first office job--had to prove I could type 50 wpm. I barely made it.
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Post by KiwiJo on May 16, 2021 23:30:05 GMT
Oh yes, I remember those. And the adding machines where you push the number keys then pull down the lever handle on the side to make it add.....
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Post by mollycoddle on May 16, 2021 23:33:05 GMT
I learned to type on one too. I remember the eraser with the brush on the end. Wasn’t there some kind of tape that whited out a mistake?
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Post by nlwilkins on May 16, 2021 23:38:18 GMT
I used these on my first job and then some. I never could get very fast on the manual typewriter. You had to type at least 40 wpm to get a job anywhere, but I could not get much faster than that.
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rgibson
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Apr 26, 2021 22:49:21 GMT
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Post by rgibson on May 16, 2021 23:38:43 GMT
Wasn’t there some kind of tape that whited out a mistake? I forgot about that stuff - dh and I were just talking the other day about typos on the typewriter and we couldn't remember what we did with them, besides starting over. Deinitely used that stuff but only on important things - it was pricey stuff on a student budget!
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Jili
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Jun 26, 2014 1:26:48 GMT
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Post by Jili on May 16, 2021 23:41:04 GMT
I also learned to type on a manual typewriter, but we used those plastic correction strips to fix errors. I used to carry a little box of them in my bag to use during class.
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Post by katlady on May 16, 2021 23:46:00 GMT
Yup, manual typewriter. And I used carbon paper and the white out tape. Later we got an electric typewriter and I loved that it had the built in correction tape. I don't even know how we managed to write out term papers on typewriters, especially when we had to use footnotes! Now that is a struggle to tell your kids about!
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Post by Zee on May 16, 2021 23:54:46 GMT
When I was a kid my grandma gifted me her old manual when she upgraded to an electric. I loved typing up mysterious letters and "clues" on it while playing Nancy Drew.
I learned actual touch-typing in school on an electric, though this was also the age of learning on computers.
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Post by Restless Spirit on May 17, 2021 0:20:03 GMT
I remember all of those. I took touch typing in high school on a Royal Typewriter manual machine. Half of the tests were done in the dark with the teacher reading what to type. Heaven forbid you returned your left hand to the wrong position after doing a return. One really had to hammer the keys on those old machines and throw the carriage with all your might. Switching to electric was a major difference. It took me awhile to learn to lightenup my key strokes.
Most of the places I worked had IBM Selectrics with typeballs. I personally owned Smith-Coronas. I’m sorry I got rid of my last machine, but at the time it was getting impossible to find typewriter ribbon for it. Typewriters were on their way out and computers were on their way in. Sigh.
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milocat
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Mar 18, 2015 4:10:31 GMT
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Post by milocat on May 17, 2021 0:23:21 GMT
I learned on an electric typewriter. I remember in typing class they took pit the correction tape. There was also a correction tape strip you could slide im and go back and re-type the mistake letter and it would bring it up.
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Post by mnmloveli on May 17, 2021 0:48:51 GMT
I remember it all !
When I learned to type in high school, the first semester we had electric typewriters and I loved it and probably typed about 130 WPM. Come the second semester, we had MANUAL typewriters. O M G ! I was horrified!!!! Never thought I’d get thru those months.
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on May 17, 2021 1:14:35 GMT
Being a dinosaur, I learned on a manual, used carbon paper and had to erase mistakes with the eraser brush. Even in those days I was a 100+ wpm typist. Remember how hard it was to change the ribbon? At my first real job (1978) I remember being SO excited when they bought a self-correcting Selectric! Because this was long before personal computers, I made quite a bit of money on the side by typing term papers, theses and dissertations for students. The rate for the technical dissertations was the highest due to how tedious they were. And the adding machines where you push the number keys then pull down the lever handle on the side to make it add..... My grandmother had an old one of those in her small grocery store. It was how I practiced my math skills when I was young. No idea what happened to it, but I would love to have kept it.
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Post by femalebusiness on May 17, 2021 1:21:29 GMT
Yes, I took typing in High School. I just tossed out my manual typewriter about ten years ago and since then I have wished that I held onto it.
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Post by Linda on May 17, 2021 1:28:48 GMT
yes - learned on a manual typewriter - my dd21 has a manual typewriter we found for her some years ago at a thrift store - it's a pretty Smith-Corona
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Post by papersilly on May 17, 2021 1:31:29 GMT
Yes. I learned how to use them in Junior high in a typing class. I also collect manual ones from the 1950's. I have over two dozen typewriters from different manufacturers. I especially like the cursive ones. I use them mostly for my craft projects. I tried to post a photo but it said our forum has reached its limit.
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keithurbanlovinpea
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Jun 29, 2014 3:29:30 GMT
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Post by keithurbanlovinpea on May 17, 2021 1:43:02 GMT
I remember all of those things, and I too received an electric typewriter as a gift for HS graduation. What's even more wild is that years after I thought I had seen my last typewriter, I started working for a church in 2006 and they still owned and USED a typewriter for parish records! I was flabbergasted.
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Post by papersilly on May 17, 2021 1:56:21 GMT
At my first real job (1978) I remember being SO excited when they bought a self-correcting Selectric! Speaking of Selectrics, remember those silver balls with all the different kinds of fonts you can get on them? I have a collection of some pretty interesting and hard to find ones. I got started with collecting them because my boss used to have Selectrics all over the office and when they stopped using them, it was a shame to throw out those little type balls.
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Post by Lexica on May 17, 2021 2:18:34 GMT
I learned to type on a manual typewriter. I also remember using carbon paper on forms and typewriter erasers with a brush on the end. Did you ever use these things? Yes, I remember using those things! Did anyone else have to tape a file folder to the top edge of your manual machine prior to taking a typing speed test? You slid your hands under the folder and waited for the start bell to go off. Then the room was filled with the strange "rat-ta-tat-tat" sound of knuckles slapping against the folders all over the room. This was done to teach us to look at our copy, not our keys, while we typed. It had to remain until you passed a set speed. I could type without looking, but the distraction of that file folder really bugged me and slowed me down. I couldn't wait to earn the right to remove mine. I was so happy when the electric typewriters came out. I was once at a job interview where they set me up to take a written exam and a typing test. I remember the thermometer was broken and I've never sat in a colder room. The typewriter was a very old grey manual machine. By this time, the majority of businesses had been providing electric machines for years. I turned in my finished exam and waited while they graded it. The office manager came out and said I had the highest combined score of any of their applicants and she said the job was mine. She started to give me a tour of the building, apologizing for the frozen room. She said no one would work in that room until the thermostat was replaced. Then she took me into the room to meet the coworkers. They were all using manual machines! I asked why they didn't use electric typewriters. She said the owner felt they were an expensive unnecessary luxury. I thanked her for the job offer but said I was going to have to turn it down. I told her that I wasn't interested in using a vintage typewriter for an 8-hour day because they made my hands and arms ache after only an hour. The other women in the room applauded. I guess it was a hot topic for them. The manager probably thought I was a spoiled brat for wanting an electric typewriter to accomplish the job but I wasn't about to risk carpal tunnel for them. And if the owner thought having modern tools was a luxury, I imagine he was a tightwad in all areas. I did enjoy slamming that return arm and and hearing the bell.
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Post by ~summer~ on May 17, 2021 2:25:54 GMT
I grew up with a journalist as a dad so we always had a typewriter. At first it was a super old fashioned one.
But by the time I was at least in middle school it was an electric typewriter that would do this crazy backspace with white out to erase a mistake. I took typing in high school with an electric typewriter too.
By the time I was a junior or senior in high school we had a Macintosh computer to write papers and boy did I think that was fancy! We also had a VCR with a remote with a CORD that I thought was super fancy! lol
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Post by rst on May 17, 2021 2:34:08 GMT
In high school and for half my freshman year of college I used a typewriter for all those term papers, including footnotes and quotes and bibliographies. But once I had access to a computer lab and word processing, I never looked back. however, I did find a cute vintage (1930s) typewriter in a thrift shop last year, and I've had fun cleaning it well and getting it back in working order. It definitely takes some strength in the fingers and wrists! I like setting it out on a table when we have family gatherings and seeing what random things people type into it. Sometimes we get weird disjointed stories going, or haiku, limericks, faux proverbs -- it's a fun thing to have around.
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on May 17, 2021 2:41:48 GMT
Speaking of Selectrics, remember those silver balls with all the different kinds of fonts you can get on them? I have a collection of some pretty interesting and hard to find ones. I got started with collecting them because my boss used to have Selectrics all over the office and when they stopped using them, it was a shame to throw out those little type balls. I do remember those silver balls! Courier was my favorite. What are some of the more unusual ones you've added to your collection? But once I had access to a computer lab and word processing, I never looked back. You are definitely younger than me! This is one of those things that you can use to tell people how old you are without saying how old you are!
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Post by rst on May 17, 2021 2:54:45 GMT
You are definitely younger than me! This is one of those things that you can use to tell people how old you are without saying how old you are! Kinda. But I may be older than you think. I was an early adopter of word processing, as I was a dual major -- Literature and computer programing. So I was a little ahead of most English majors in terms of jumping into tech whole- heartedly. I remember my English profs being hesitant about accepting papers that were printed on dot matrix printers (understandably-- terrible quality), so I had to hold out for the printers that had daisy wheels and nice type fonts, but then some profs didn't like justified type and I had to spend time figuring out settings that would disguise or minimize my word processing "cheat". Also, switching to endnotes vs. footnotes was apparently a huge big deal, but I was using Wordstar or Wordperfect or something like that, and footnotes were miserable to format. By the time I was a senior, the English department was offering word processing skills classes and feeling very progressive about it. But freshman year, I was breaking new territory and it was quite the battle.
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Post by buddysmom on May 17, 2021 4:08:50 GMT
And a little bit of trivia--White out--the stuff you "painted" over typewriter errors--was invented by Mike Nesmith's mother (the guy in the Monkees). Per wiki, he inherited half of her $50 million estate in 1980. I guess that's why he didn't care much to participate in their reunion tours until recently.
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Post by Patter on May 17, 2021 9:39:30 GMT
Yes to all of those things. In our typewriting class, we put the covers of the manual typewriters over our heads so that we could not see the keys. There is a picture in my yearbook somewhere of us doing that. I believe it was 1975. Anyway, I got to 90wpm, and LOVED it. I still have two manuals that I use. Used one the other day for labels in fact. LOVE them!
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hannahruth
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Aug 29, 2014 18:57:20 GMT
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Post by hannahruth on May 17, 2021 10:57:41 GMT
I learnt to type on a manual typewriter, and worked initially with one. Next came an electric with a golf ball alphabet and went on to a computer - showing my age well and truly here. Only this week I have purchased an old portable typewriter - I have wanted one for ages to use with scrapping. I have sourced two new ribbons as well - I would hate not to be able to get supplies in years to come
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Post by craftedbys on May 17, 2021 13:10:50 GMT
I first typed on a Royal manual but actually learned to type (like you are supposed to, not just hunt and peck) when I got to high school. Those IBM Selectric were some fancy technology back then.
When I graduated high school my parents gave me a Smith Corona electric typewriter that I used throughout college and beyond.
I still have the Royal and Smith Corona as well as an ancient black Underwood that belonged to my mother when she was growing up. I have it on display.
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bklyngal62
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Jun 26, 2014 12:16:11 GMT
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Post by bklyngal62 on May 17, 2021 14:25:06 GMT
I remember having a manual typewriter. I used carbon paper to make copies and a correction tape strip for mistakes. I remember my father putting it on layaway for me so I wouldn't have to keep borrowing one. To this date I still have it
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