Someone suggested I start my own thread about typewriters since I go on and on about them, so I am.

We'll play this thread loose and fast.  Post pictures of interesting typewriters, famous people typing, anecdotes involving typing, uses for old typewriters, answer a question "When did you learn how to type?"  "Did you take a class?"  "Do you hunt and peck?" 

I don't care what you post.  I apparently have a strong affection for typing that I did not know I possessed.  :D ;D

Here is a picture of Bob Dylan typing

http://www.jamespreller.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/dylan-at-the-typewriter.jpeg

Some neat typewriter pictures:

http://static.themetapicture.com/media/funny-painting-with-typewriter-colors.jpg


http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l2c0bqh78v1qb0iek.jpg

Remember this little guy from Sesame Street?
http://images.wikia.com/muppet/images/3/31/Typewriter-I.jpg

Here is a typewriter as a planter.

http://media-cache7.pinterest.com/upload/35677022017555196_4UOgGItj_c.jpg

Erin, I don't remember that character.  :-\\

I like that top picture.  It is very artistic.  I also like the bucket of kisses in the photo.  One need energy to type.  :)

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Cvncv4xkHzQ/0.jpg

here is the late great Steven Cannell typewriting.

Here is a typewriter as a planter.

http://media-cache7.pinterest.com/upload/35677022017555196_4UOgGItj_c.jpg

Erin, I don't remember that character.  :-\\


Ya, he would type out a new word for each day. I don't know if he had a name or not. lol

I always say the most useful class I took in high school was typing!
8)

I always say the most useful class I took in high school was typing!
8)



Totally. I mentioned in the other thread about having to use a teletype when I was in the A.F. I forgot to mention AFTER I got out, I got a job doing data entry. Can't find a pic of the machine I worked on. And I even taught typing once way back in the dark ages.


When I was in the A.F. I worked on one of these:

http://lornasvoice.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/keypunch.jpg


But it was that class in jr high (for me) that started it all. It gave me the basics that I needed-and I am still using right at this very moment.  ;)


Cat

Remember this little guy from Sesame Street?
http://images.wikia.com/muppet/images/3/31/Typewriter-I.jpg


Noo noo noo noo noo

I have a friend who owns rental properties and 15 years ago I worked for him helping to repair them. One day we went to this house that was trashed and we were cleaning it up and I volunteered to clean out the crawl space (or "gimp hole," as we jokingly called it). The crawl space looked as if it hadn't been cleaned out in a good 10 years and I was curious to see what I'd find down there. And as I was digging through all the junk I found a case, and when I opened it there was an old manual Royal typewriter inside.

I took it home and cleaned it up a little but the ribbon mechanism wasn't working quite right, so I just put it with the rest of my junk and I don't know what ever happened to it.  :(

Ya, he would type out a new word for each day. I don't know if he had a name or not. lol


He never had a name.

Who remembers those online typing courses?

I always say the most useful class I took in high school was typing!
8)


I took it my... sophomore year in high school and while I had pretty good speed and accuracy, I totally learnt the wrong way to type.  I mean, I look at the keys when I type (well, not so much anymore, but I did when I first started out.)  To my high school teacher, she could care less where I looked when I typed, but for my college degree, I was required to take typing (even though by that point, I'd been typing for 10 years at the library... still looking at my fingers.)  That was cardinal sin to my college teacher, I got a D in that class and boy was I pissed.  I asked for a conference with the head of the department, but teacher intercepted me and it was then I realized I was gonna get nowhere with my complaints.  ::)  I just muddled my way through the class and dropped out for different reasons (I was exhausted) a couple quarters later.  I went back to the same school to take more classes a few years later and that teacher was gone and there was no typewriting course requirement in my degree anymore.  ??? ::)

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Cvncv4xkHzQ/0.jpg

here is the late great Steven Cannell typewriting.


This was his production company logo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qweoMJS1DQ8

For those not familiar with Mr. Cannell's work, Throughout his TV career, Cannell scripted more than 450 episodes and produced more than 1,500 episodes. This staggering number is even more amazing as Cannell was born with dyslexia and held back several grades in school.

He created and wrote Baa baa Black Sheep Squadron, Baretta, The Rockford Files, The Greatest American Hero, Riptide, The A-Team, 21 Jump Street, among others.

Totally. I mentioned in the other thread about having to use a teletype when I was in the A.F. I forgot to mention AFTER I got out, I got a job doing data entry. Can't find a pic of the machine I worked on. And I even taught typing once way back in the dark ages.


When I was in the A.F. I worked on one of these:

http://lornasvoice.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/keypunch.jpg


But it was that class in jr high (for me) that started it all. It gave me the basics that I needed-and I am still using right at this very moment.  ;)


Cat


Please excuse my ignorance, but what is a teletype?  Is that those things you see in movies that spit out the news for reporters and of those machines that they show rich old people checking how their stocks are doing? 

http://media-cache5.pinterest.com/upload/228557749808529729_g6WkPfU8_c.jpg

I have a friend who owns rental properties and 15 years ago I worked for him helping to repair them. One day we went to this house that was trashed and we were cleaning it up and I volunteered to clean out the crawl space (or "gimp hole," as we jokingly called it). The crawl space looked as if it hadn't been cleaned out in a good 10 years and I was curious to see what I'd find down there. And as I was digging through all the junk I found a case, and when I opened it there was an old manual Royal typewriter inside.

I took it home and cleaned it up a little but the ribbon mechanism wasn't working quite right, so I just put it with the rest of my junk and I don't know what ever happened to it.  :(


ewww...what a fabulous find.  Color me green with envy.  I've read an article recently about how typewriter repairmen are still rather busy, even though computers are in wide use now.  Meet the Last Generation of Typewriter Repairmen http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2010/05/gallery-typewriters/all/1

Here is an online repair website with tips, if you ever get around to finding in and fixing it.  :)  http://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/tw-restoration.html

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is a teletype?  Is that those things you see in movies that spit out the news for reporters and of those machines that they show rich old people checking how their stocks are doing? 


You guessed it on the first.  Teletype is a trademark held by the Teletype Corporation for a teleprinter.  Teletype is a generic trademark, like Frisbee for flying disc or Band-Aid for bandage, so the word is still capitalized. 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/What-is-teletype.jpg

The second device you're thinking of is a stock ticker which transmitted stock prices over telegraph wires. 

http://edison.rutgers.edu/webimages/universal-historic-photo.jpg

That's where we get the famous "ticker tape parades" in which old stock ticker ribbon was used for confetti.

I remember my high school teacher talking about a key punch machine.  Anyone have any experience or knowledge of them?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkc1f2S5bpE

Keira Rathbone uses old manual typewriters as a unique
tool to draw portraits of people with astonishing accuracy.



Dan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow1wFrIsicY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYzAHnVcD8A

A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. Typically one character is printed per keypress, and the machine prints the characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the sorts used in movable type letterpress printing. From their invention in 1868 through much of the 20th century, typewriters were indispensable tools for recording the written word. Widely used by professional writers and in offices for decades, by the end of the 1980s, word processors and personal computers largely displaced typewriters in the settings where they previously had been ubiquitous in the western world.

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is a teletype?  Is that those things you see in movies that spit out the news for reporters and of those machines that they show rich old people checking how their stocks are doing? 

http://media-cache5.pinterest.com/upload/228557749808529729_g6WkPfU8_c.jpg


I think it's one of those typewriters that court reporters use?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vuDMInQMYQ

Leroy Anderson - The Typewriter {1950}



Dan

I remember my high school teacher talking about a key punch machine.  Anyone have any experience or knowledge of them?



I already answered your question.  ;)






When I was in the A.F. I worked on one of these:

http://lornasvoice.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/keypunch.jpg





Cat

I took it my... sophomore year in high school and while I had pretty good speed and accuracy, I totally learnt the wrong way to type.  I mean, I look at the keys when I type (well, not so much anymore, but I did when I first started out.)  To my high school teacher, she could care less where I looked when I typed, but for my college degree, I was required to take typing (even though by that point, I'd been typing for 10 years at the library... still looking at my fingers.)  That was cardinal sin to my college teacher, I got a D in that class and boy was I pissed.  I asked for a conference with the head of the department, but teacher intercepted me and it was then I realized I was gonna get nowhere with my complaints.  ::)  I just muddled my way through the class and dropped out for different reasons (I was exhausted) a couple quarters later.  I went back to the same school to take more classes a few years later and that teacher was gone and there was no typewriting course requirement in my degree anymore.  ??? ::)


When I taught typing, I taped a piece of paper over the keyboard so my students couldn't look at their fingers. The goal of the class was that students had to pass their typing requirement-which meant 25 words with 5 or less errors. Looking at their fingers slowed them down. I had one student who THOUGHT when he reached the 25 word mark, he stopped typing. However, he THOUGHT wrong and stopped at 24 words-so he failed the test. I had two classes and I think I only had one student who didn't pass.


Cat

I already answered your question.  ;)





Cat


Oooooohhhhh.  I don't know why I thought they were different animals.  Although, I'm not even sure whatever I had in my head was a real machine at all. 


Does anyone know what machine would be used to read those little cards that voters use (you know... with the infamous Chads of Bush election infamy?) 

Also, when they give students those standardized test with the "fill in the circle of your answer completely and ONLY use a number 2 pencil."  How do those get read?

I'm just full of useless questions lately.

Also, keep it up Everyone with the video posts.  I'm enjoying them immensely.  Who knew so much music is based around typing?  ;D

The other day I heard someone's cell phone ring and it was the sound of a Teletype machine.  I am half-tempted to find a ringtone to download, if I can just figure out how to do that.  ;D

Also, keep it up Everyone with the video posts.  I'm enjoying them immensely.  Who knew so much music is based around typing?  ;D

The other day I heard someone's cell phone ring and it was the sound of a Teletype machine.  I am half-tempted to find a ringtone to download, if I can just figure out how to do that.  ;D


Don't you want music for your cellphone ringtone?

Can't find a pic of the machine I worked on. And I even taught typing once way back in the dark ages.

When I was in the A.F. I worked on one of these:

http://lornasvoice.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/keypunch.jpg


Hooked up to an IBM System/360 thingy ca. 1964?  Neat!  If it was older than that 029 (or 129?), could it have been an IBM 1401 (1407 was the keypunch system), a couple of years before than got built?  If you can say so, was it older or newer than the one depicted?

Hooked up to an IBM System/360 thingy ca. 1964?  Neat!  If it was older than that 029 (or 129?), could it have been an IBM 1401 (1407 was the keypunch system), a couple of years before than got built?  If you can say so, was it older or newer than the one depicted?



I couldn't tell you. I used it roughly around 1983-85. It wasn't a machine we used all the time. We only used it once in a great while and even then it was only to do one or two cards at a time (header & end of a card message).


Cat

Also, when they give students those standardized test with the "fill in the circle of your answer completely and ONLY use a number 2 pencil."  How do those get read?

I'm just full of useless questions lately.


Optical mark reading software of some kind.  I can't recall any brand names any more!  I used something similar for data collection when I worked in an ergonomics research laboratory.  Instead of answers A-E we had ratings from 1 to 5 for comfort, satisfaction, etc.

Has anyone used the computer software "Dragon naturally speaking"?  It's more or less, a stenographer.  You just talk and it transcribes everything you say mostly accurately.  My husband, as a writer, uses his software a good bit.  I, personally, hate talking (that's probably why I was so quiet in Philadelphia to those that I met).  So I don't know how useful that software would be for me.

I must say that their telemarketing department is very aggressive.  They are calling alot to try to sell him a subscription for updates and such.

Optical mark reading software of some kind.  I can't recall any brand names any more!  I used something similar for data collection when I worked in an ergonomics research laboratory.  Instead of answers A-E we had ratings from 1 to 5 for comfort, satisfaction, etc.


Thanks.  Always been curious about it.  It made me deathly afraid of leaving smudges in any other circle in case that it picked up the errant marking.  ;D

I've used the Optical Character Reading feature of my scanner to scan in my family obituaries for geneology/web site purposes.  The one I had did alright, was not terribly accurate.  I figured that is what they did when they offer portions of books online.  I can't imagine someone sitting there typing whole books online.  :-\\

Has anyone used the computer software "Dragon naturally speaking"?  It's more or less, a stenographer.  You just talk and it transcribes everything you say mostly accurately.  My husband, as a writer, uses his software a good bit.  I, personally, hate talking (that's probably why I was so quiet in Philadelphia to those that I met).  So I don't know how useful that software would be for me.

I must say that their telemarketing department is very aggressive.  They are calling alot to try to sell him a subscription for updates and such.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0GXX-SJuQM

I would suggest browsing Youtube for reviews.



Dan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0GXX-SJuQM

I would suggest browsing Youtube for reviews.



Dan


Oh we already have a version of the software (or at least my husband does on his computer).  I was more or less trying to find topics for discussion that involved typing of some nature.  ;D  I think I'm starting to lose steam on my obsessive typing talk.  :\'(

Thanks.  Always been curious about it.  It made me deathly afraid of leaving smudges in any other circle in case that it picked up the errant marking.  ;D


You have to do a quick visual check before scanning the answer sheet.


I've used the Optical Character Reading feature of my scanner to scan in my family obituaries for geneology/web site purposes.  The one I had did alright, was not terribly accurate.

Yes, I once spent a good portion of my time correcting academic articles that had been scanned in to a database.  I think the problem was mainly poor original copies (i.e. usually not the original!)

Yes, I once spent a good portion of my time correcting academic articles that had been scanned in to a database.  I think the problem was mainly poor original copies (i.e. usually not the original!)


Now that makes sense.  Something I had not considered at all.  I know I was frustrated with it, but they were copies of copies of copies that I was trying to scan  ::)  So if I had better quality originals, I wouldn't have to correct as much as I did.  Never occured to me at all.  Duh!  I guess I was having a technophobe moment.  ;D

Eye yam useing it noun to tight this mess edge.


Dan

Who has taken typing courses before?

Who has taken typing courses before?


I took a typing class in High School..and I'm glad I did!


Dan

Eye yam useing it noun to tight this mess edge.


Dan


;D ;D ;D  You are hilarious.

I took a typing class in High School..and I'm glad I did!


Dan


I had one but wasn't really good.

I took a typing class in High School..and I'm glad I did!


Dan


I remember a friend of mine, Howard, doing a typing class at school.  There was him and about 20 girls.  This was in 1983/84.  He wanted the typing skills for writing his own computer programs. I know lots of people laughed at him at the time, but he really saw the shape of things to come!

I remember a friend of mine, Howard, doing a typing class at school.  There was him and about 20 girls.  This was in 1983/84.  He wanted the typing skills for writing his own computer programs. I know lots of people laughed at him at the time, but he really saw the shape of things to come!



When I took it back in the dark ages (late '70s), the class was about half & half. I think it was a requirement that everyone had to take it.


Cat

I took a typing class 15 years ago this summer, between my junior and senior years of high school. It was a requirement for me. The classroom in which this class was held, was equipped with electric typewriters. At first, I was really slow on the keyboard, and my grade at the midway point (end of July) was a 'D', but I managed to pull it up to 'C'. My typing speed has greatly improved since then...and I don't think I've even used a typewriter since the late 1990's.

I remember a friend of mine, Howard, doing a typing class at school.  There was him and about 20 girls.  This was in 1983/84.  He wanted the typing skills for writing his own computer programs. I know lots of people laughed at him at the time, but he really saw the shape of things to come!


what was the name of the program at the time?  ???

what was the name of the program at the time?  ???


Notdoneyet

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/600602_227169734067571_2105841275_n.jpg

I expect this will be a law soon as well.  No typewriting while driving...  :-\\  ;)

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/600602_227169734067571_2105841275_n.jpg

I expect this will be a law soon as well.  No typewriting while driving...  :-\\  ;)


Sad thing is, you just know there had to have been at least one knucklehead who really did this back in the 20's or 30's.  :P