• Update – 12:30 PM EST
    Attachments are now working, and all members can once again upload files.
    We are currently testing URL redirects and other miscellaneous features across the site.
    Thank you for your continued patience and support during this migration.

    Prefer a darker look? You can switch between light and dark modes in your account settings:
    smith-wessonforum.com/account/preferences

The people who still use typewriters

oldbrownhat said:
So much for the old army saying, "Never volunteer." :)
Click to expand...

Sometime along in the Eighties company clerks disappeared as a authorized slot in the TO&E, those tasks now theoretically consolidated at higher HQ. For certain, there was a desk in the Orderly Room and a clerk behind it. That be somebody grabbed out of a line platoon simply by the First Sergeant asking, "Anyone here, know how to type?"

That the clerk was marked ED on the DA Form 6, aka "duty roster" and did not stand guard duty, KP or CQ was a nice perk to the job.
 
I took typing in high school in 1965. My mother was a typist and she had a machine I played with as a kid. I loved to make the bell ring. I knew I was going to college and knew it would be a needed skill. I typed a lot of term papers. I was the reporter for my troop at the 1964 Boy Scout Jamboree and was able to buy a Royal portable for $40.00 after I used it for a week.

I worked as a pt asst clerk during MP school. I helped in the evenings. That got me out of kp. My first day in Vietnam, a group of about 20 recent grads from MP school were standing in the blazing sun at at the repo depot. A guy walked up and the first words out of his mouth were "Anybody a college grad who knows how to type?" I spent a year typing intelligence reports and a monthly report that went to a bunch of pentagon addresses.

I have a typewriter that needs repairs. I get forms that need completing and my handwriting is so bad I have my wife fill them out. I would like to be able to type the info.
 
I had to take a typing class in 9th grade, but didn’t see why I needed to learn typing as so wasn’t planning to be a secretary, I was going to be a cop. My grade was “unsatisfactory”, but since the grade didn’t matter for purposes of moving on to 10th grade I didn’t care. Typing was offered again as an elective in 12th grade, but I elected to have an extra study hall.

Five years later I go to work for the county and discover there is a lot of typing in law enforcement. I got to be pretty good at “hunt and peck” typing, first on a type writer and later a computer. We still have a couple of typewriters in the office for filling out pre-printed forms. Some of our new employees have never used a type writer, I don’t think they even believe my stories of carbon copy forms and files on micro fiche.
 
Years ago, I had a lot of experience in making microfiches of financial records. Sometimes thousands of pages. I suppose that making them is a lost art today.
 
Muss Muggins said:
Geez. A keyboard is a keyboard, regardless of how the taps get transferred . . .
Click to expand...

True enough, except for the old manual typewriters that took some power to complete each finger stroke on the keys. The big bulky Remington typewriters were a physical workout machine.

In the Army we called the clerk-typists "Remington Rangers", they never retreated but were known to backspace from time to time.
 
DWalt said:
Are there still dial phones used in the US? I don’t remember seeing one since the 1980s. The phone company once charged extra for touch tone service.
Click to expand...

I still have working dial phones in my house. I want to be the only one on the block able to make a phone call when the power goes out.
 

Attachments

  • DSCN0372 (1).jpg
    DSCN0372 (1).jpg
    72.9 KB · Views: 6
Golddollar said:
I still have working dial phones in my house. I want to be the only one on the block able to make a phone call when the power goes out.
Click to expand...

Sorry to burst your bubble, but no matter what type telephone you're using, the switching network is still digital.
If the power outage takes down the switching network your calls aren't getting through, unless the power outage is just your neighborhood.
 
Last edited:
In deference to another antique skill, I have a WW2 US Navy "mill." This was a special typewriter used by radiomen to copy Morse code messages. It is has several distinctive features. First it types in all caps, there are no lower case letters. Second, since there are no lower case letters, you cannot use the lower case L as the number l. There is actually a key for the number unlike almost all other manual typewriters. Third, distinctive feature is the slash through the zero to avoid confusion with the letter "o"

Back in the day, Navy CW operators were trained to touch type before they learned Morse code. Normal fleet traffic was sent at 25 words per minute.

Any ham ready to pipe up with he can "head copy' a lot faster, show how me a solid copy two minute string of five character code groups
 

Attachments

  • mill.jpg
    mill.jpg
    112.2 KB · Views: 13
Last edited:
I was in Shock, when I first saw my first "Dancing Ball", electric typewriter.

Who the hech, thought up that thing?

No more locked up letter arms to fight with.

Sorry,I just had to add this.
I studied that ball, for a long time, tring to figure out how it worked.
 
Nevada Ed said:
I was in Shock, when I first saw my first "Dancing Ball", electric typewriter.

Who the hech, thought up that thing?

No more locked up letter arms to fight with.

Sorry,I just had to add this.
I studied that ball, for a long time, tring to figure out how it worked.
Click to expand...
Yeah when IBM came out with the Selectric mechanism it made it possible to type a WHOLE lot faster.

Anybody remember the daisy-wheel typewriters that came after the Selectric?
 
Do I still use a typewriter? Here’s the way to find out. Sell me a Registered Magnum revolver in its original box very cheaply and accept payment by check and see if the three figure check was typed on my 1913 L. C. Smith typewriter.
 
When I ran a small factory we had IBM memory typewriters that would hold a certain number of keystrokes in memory. We had a young woman who could type faster than the machine could keep up. I don't remember how many words per minute, but she was the fastest I have ever seen.
 
I still have my Smith Corona XD4800 electric typewriter. Are ribbons still available for this?
 
I also took a typing class as a senior in high school, partly because that was where the girls were in the majority. I got kicked out of choir because I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. I still use a keyboard on my computer and hate the hunt and peck method the cell phone requires, not to mention the need for auto correct and often not being able to get my point across. Never a big fan of correct grammar of sentence structure.
 
SMSgt said:
In today's world, typewriters are about as useful as rotary telephones. Nostalgic, yes. Useful? Meh.
Click to expand...

I must respectfully disagree. There are some areas and jobs where technology does not have the longevity (such as a long power outage or area where there IS no power). In such cases then an old fashioned manual typewriter is the way to go.

While the niche market is small, I wouldn't say it is completely extinct. Personally I wouldn't mind having a new manual typewriter for such events.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top