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Post by librarylady on May 17, 2021 14:26:26 GMT
Yes to all those things.
Our dorm had a student with an electric typewriter and we thought she must be wealthy.
I've used carbon paper, white out, the paper strips, the eraser --all those things.
I have typed a page and then realized I didn't leave enough room for the footnotes. (grr)
The younger generation has no idea what "fun" they have missed.
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anniebeth24
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,708
Jun 26, 2014 14:12:17 GMT
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Post by anniebeth24 on May 17, 2021 16:33:21 GMT
I was in college just as personal computers were becoming available for word processing. There was a computer lab on campus that I could use, but only during certain hours. I remember being frustrated that they weren't open all night because that's when I would have normally finished a paper. You didn't compose your paper on the computer at that time, it was just a fancy typewriter!
I was scared to death of losing long papers after saving them on those giant floppy disks.
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Post by papersilly on May 17, 2021 17:07:16 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? i have: -Headline, letters have an outline around them -Orator, very tall letters -Oriental, that slightly pointy letters they used back in the 50's for chinese restaurant signs -Old English, that ornate calligraphy style -Calligraphy, simple calligraphy style then the usual office types like courier, italic, script and pica
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Post by birukitty on May 17, 2021 17:19:16 GMT
I too learned how to type on a manual typewriter all through high school and through college. I hated making mistakes! It was either trying to erase the mistake which made a huge messy mark on the paper or using white out which left a big blob of white on the paper. I'm a perfectionist so it drove me up a wall.
I remember when typing class was offered at our local high school. I didn't want to take it and told my father "I'm not going to be a secretary-why do I have to take this?" He said, "Trust me on this, one day you'll thank me". Oh my gosh he was so right!
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chendra
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,871
Location: The 33rd State
Jun 27, 2014 16:58:50 GMT
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Post by chendra on May 17, 2021 18:34:28 GMT
I learned to type on a Selectric in high school, but occasionally pick up manual typewriters when I see them at garage sales.
We are fortunate to have an old school typewriter repair and sales shop here in Portland, and it's delightfully cluttered and smells like typewriter ribbons. He has some really interesting pieces on display including one made to type music notes! It looks incredibly awkward to use, but very cool nevertheless. It's a guy and his dog (he inherited the business from his father). Now that I think of it, I hope he's still in business because as we know, the pandemic changed everything.
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rodeomom
Pearl Clutcher
Refupee # 380 "I don't have to run fast, I just have to run faster than you."
Posts: 3,670
Location: Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma
Jun 25, 2014 23:34:38 GMT
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Post by rodeomom on May 17, 2021 18:47:11 GMT
Yes! My mother was a Typing teacher. I can hear the "ding" in my head now.
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Post by Lexica on May 18, 2021 2:14:14 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 I told of my hatred for using a manual typewriter for an 8-hour job, but I actually love the old machines. I have a small collection of 6 vintage typewriters. I have a few of them on display (well boxed for my move now) and love playing with them. One of them is a vintage folding typewriter, quite small, and a couple of the others are very large and have a high profile. I wish I had kept the correcting selectric electric typewriter I had, but unfortunately I sold it years ago when I got my first computer. I would have absolutely enjoyed having a collection of the type balls too. I bought my first computer well before you could buy a computer in a store and I had a man custom build it for me in his small shop to run my software for court reporting. Computers were only used in a few businesses way back then. At the time, he marveled at how fast it was and that it could run an entire business. It had the big square soft disk port on it, to show you how very old the technology was.
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Post by Lexica on May 18, 2021 2:17:24 GMT
I learned to type on a Selectric in high school, but occasionally pick up manual typewriters when I see them at garage sales. We are fortunate to have an old school typewriter repair and sales shop here in Portland, and it's delightfully cluttered and smells like typewriter ribbons. He has some really interesting pieces on display including one made to type music notes! It looks incredibly awkward to use, but very cool nevertheless. It's a guy and his dog (he inherited the business from his father). Now that I think of it, I hope he's still in business because as we know, the pandemic changed everything. Oh, how fun! I am moving to Oregon and will absolutely hunt down this store! I have a small collection of old machines and one is missing a key. I will make a trip to this store to see if they can find a replacement key for me. Even if it doesn't match entirely, it would be better than the metal peg sticking up that is there now. I so hope it is still in business!
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Post by greendragonlady on May 18, 2021 2:22:08 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? Yep...all of the above!
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chendra
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,871
Location: The 33rd State
Jun 27, 2014 16:58:50 GMT
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Post by chendra on May 18, 2021 3:27:50 GMT
I learned to type on a Selectric in high school, but occasionally pick up manual typewriters when I see them at garage sales. We are fortunate to have an old school typewriter repair and sales shop here in Portland, and it's delightfully cluttered and smells like typewriter ribbons. He has some really interesting pieces on display including one made to type music notes! It looks incredibly awkward to use, but very cool nevertheless. It's a guy and his dog (he inherited the business from his father). Now that I think of it, I hope he's still in business because as we know, the pandemic changed everything. Oh, how fun! I am moving to Oregon and will absolutely hunt down this store! I have a small collection of old machines and one is missing a key. I will make a trip to this store to see if they can find a replacement key for me. Even if it doesn't match entirely, it would be better than the metal peg sticking up that is there now. I so hope it is still in business! I checked and he is still in business! His name is Matt and the business is called Ace Typewriter in the St. Johns area of Portland. His website is spare, but has contact information, so you can call or email about your missing key: acetypewriter.com/ Definitely visit the shop when you get here! Here is a blog with some photos of the shop. You can just smell the typewriter ribbons. writingball.blogspot.com/2015/08/a-visit-to-ace-typewriter.html
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Post by Lexica on May 18, 2021 3:50:50 GMT
I checked and he is still in business! His name is Matt and the business is called Ace Typewriter in the St. Johns area of Portland. His website is spare, but has contact information, so you can call or email about your missing key: acetypewriter.com/ Definitely visit the shop when you get here! Here is a blog with some photos of the shop. You can just smell the typewriter ribbons. writingball.blogspot.com/2015/08/a-visit-to-ace-typewriter.htmlI am so excited to go there. I looked at both of the links you provided. I felt so excited just looking at pictures of the shop and was excited to learn that they also sell machines! I can't wait! Thank you, thank you!
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Sept 28, 2024 16:50:31 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2021 23:14:58 GMT
I was SO interested in my dad's law practice, so I offered to transcribe dictation tapes in my spare time. I LOVED typing! It was a manual typewriter and you couldn't have any length on your nails (ouch!). I learned how to type up legal briefs, Last Will and Testaments, etc., and mostly letters. I used whiteout for mistakes. I'd make up to 2 copies with carbon sheets. Good times!!
By the time I tried an electric typewriter, my fingers just FLEW! In high school typing class, I clocked in at over 90 wpm and my teacher was amazed. I still love typing.
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Post by simplyparticular on May 19, 2021 4:32:44 GMT
I practiced typing on my grandmother’s Royal electric. I loved how pretty the blue was, and the loud hum. She had a manual before that, so she still used the eraser with brush even though her new machine had a corrector ribbon.
I tried to take typing in high school, but got tired of getting yelled at for moving off home position - my hands are small and I still cannot reach the return or outer keys without moving my hands, so I dropped it.
I began to use Apple Mac computers for the school newspaper, and developed my own methods. Used the Mac and Windows computer labs at college, but my work schedule often interfered so I bought a Brother word processor - a typewriter with a 3 line monochrome display and a floppy drive. That sufficed for a couple years, but I bought my first Mac and a bubble jet printer from Sears on clearance right before Apple opened their own stores.
Didn’t see a typewriter again until my third job after college - we kept a few IBM and Panasonics around for filling out grant applications, until everything finally moved to PDF. The machines are still in the mailroom, with a ridiculous supply of cartridges. Probably all old and dried out now.
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Post by Patter on May 19, 2021 10:26:56 GMT
Okay so a little off topic but does anyone remember doing this? Man, I used to LOVE when my teacher would ask me to go to the workroom and "run copies" on the mimeograph machine. It was a manual machine, and I loved the damp paper and the smell. LOL! Here is a fun video but makes me feel really old! www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFIUm0DWA74
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teddyw
Drama Llama
Posts: 7,052
Jun 29, 2014 1:56:04 GMT
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Post by teddyw on May 19, 2021 10:37:46 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..... I stopped at an Amish greenhouse this weekend and that’s what they were using.
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Post by rst on May 19, 2021 14:06:17 GMT
Patter -- for me, mimeograph ink smell makes me feel sick and triggers panic -- lol. And why did it sometimes print purple? Was that a different ink, or was it just a sign of it being old or running dry?
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Post by Patter on May 19, 2021 16:06:28 GMT
Patter -- for me, mimeograph ink smell makes me feel sick and triggers panic -- lol. And why did it sometimes print purple? Was that a different ink, or was it just a sign of it being old or running dry? Oooh, sorry it did that to you. Ours was always a shade of purple/blue.
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Post by workingclassdog on May 19, 2021 16:49:06 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 and yes... I'm 53... I don't think I used a manual typewriter very much.. but we had one at home I would mess around with.
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Post by Susie_Homemaker on May 19, 2021 16:59:09 GMT
Okay so a little off topic but does anyone remember doing this? Man, I used to LOVE when my teacher would ask me to go to the workroom and "run copies" on the mimeograph machine. It was a manual machine, and I loved the damp paper and the smell. LOL! Here is a fun video but makes me feel really old! www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFIUm0DWA74My first job was a 'work co-op' while I was in 10th or 11th grade (mid 80's). I would go up to the elementary school and run copies of whatever those teachers needed. The ink was purple and I can still smell it and hear it. It was electric, not manual.
I also had to feed cards with bubbled in answers (I can't think of what they're called!) into a reader. That was a boring job..
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Post by workingclassdog on May 19, 2021 17:06:58 GMT
I kid you not.. at my last job we still had to use the typewriter for government paperwork ( certain type of tax forms).. so unless things changed in the last four or five years, they are still typing out those dang forms. I'll have to ask my friend who still works there. I got one of the typewriters when I left as they only needed one. I still have it and use it when I scrapbook on occasion.
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Post by workingclassdog on May 19, 2021 17:10:54 GMT
Okay so a little off topic but does anyone remember doing this? Man, I used to LOVE when my teacher would ask me to go to the workroom and "run copies" on the mimeograph machine. It was a manual machine, and I loved the damp paper and the smell. LOL! Here is a fun video but makes me feel really old! www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFIUm0DWA74We had some sort of machine like that when I was in grade school.. I remember helping out the teacher and make copies for her. I feel like we had a 'newer' machine though.. but not a copier. This was in a private Catholic school.... mid to late 70s, or 1980-81ish?
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Post by papersilly on May 19, 2021 17:44:44 GMT
Okay so a little off topic but does anyone remember doing this? Man, I used to LOVE when my teacher would ask me to go to the workroom and "run copies" on the mimeograph machine. It was a manual machine, and I loved the damp paper and the smell. LOL! Here is a fun video but makes me feel really old! www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFIUm0DWA74for some reason, i was a teacher's "aide" a lot in my school years. yes i remember the mimeograph machine. it pumped out slightly damp purple-ish copies that we all believed we were getting high off of. i also remember running the scantron machine for another teacher.
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Post by papersilly on May 19, 2021 17:48:43 GMT
I learned to type on a Selectric in high school, but occasionally pick up manual typewriters when I see them at garage sales. We are fortunate to have an old school typewriter repair and sales shop here in Portland, and it's delightfully cluttered and smells like typewriter ribbons. He has some really interesting pieces on display including one made to type music notes! It looks incredibly awkward to use, but very cool nevertheless. It's a guy and his dog (he inherited the business from his father). Now that I think of it, I hope he's still in business because as we know, the pandemic changed everything. my current typewriter repair guy has a similar set up. small store in an old neighborhood. typewriters parts, bodies, and full machines stacked to the ceiling and crammed into shelves. the place smells of stale cigarettes, machine oil, and old papers. he is an older guy with a horrific toupe but the nicest personality. he has one of those old t.v.s with an antenna sticking up from it and the t.v. is always on. he will revel you in stories of the days when he would service Selectrics at all the big offices and how they all went to computers. when we move up to your neighborhood, i hope your buy is still around so i can take my machines to him.
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Post by Susie_Homemaker on May 20, 2021 14:56:32 GMT
it pumped out slightly damp purple-ish copies that we all believed we were getting high off of. i also remember running the scantron machine for another teacher. Yes, to the damp, purple-ish papers! And "scantron" is the word I couldn't think of! I did that too.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Sept 28, 2024 16:50:31 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2021 16:00:04 GMT
it pumped out slightly damp purple-ish copies that we all believed we were getting high off of. i also remember running the scantron machine for another teacher. Yes, to the damp, purple-ish papers! And "scantron" is the word I couldn't think of! I did that too. I remember all these things including the overhead projectors teachers used. Whenever it was late in the day and they turned down the lights, I’d start to doze off. Worse was those educational videos. The narrator always seemed to have the same monotone voice and it was a struggle to stay awake.
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