Does Anyone Else Also Use Manual Typewriters? What For?

[Kamuela]

I took 4 years of Latin in school (this was back in the 1970's), and my teacher was always complaining that he couldn't read my handwriting (funny, nobody else ever complained). Our homework assignments were required to be in a spiral-bound notebook. So, the way I shut him up was to unwind the spiral binding at home, take out a page and put it in my typewriter, type out my assignment, and finally re-thread the spiral binding back onto my notebook, including the typewritten pages. Both my teacher and fellow students were awe struck - they couldn't figure out how I was able to stuff my whole notebook into a typewriter! And, this was a college prep school with supposedly "bright" students. Anyway, that teacher's harassment was turned into respect from that point forward.

Very shrewd indeed!!!

Cool.

jim.

[Kamuela]

I'm a retired businessman. (back in the day) I used to use manual typewriters to type out tenant leases and contracts, in triplicate, with icky carbon paper.

 

Times have sure changed. . . . . .

 

aloha

jim

[dkirchge]

I used one when I was in grade school for my reports, then upgraded to an electric in college, although at that point I wound up using a word processor more often than not, I bought a Royal a few years ago for creative writing projects and my wife loved the sound, but I found I preferred doing my creative writing with pen and ink, so let the typewriter go.

[omarcenaro]

Grandfathers typewriter. Works like a charm. I replaced the ink ribbon a few years ago and its still good. I've use it a few times to fill out some forms.

 

[Kamuela]

 

Grandfathers typewriter. Works like a charm. I replaced the ink ribbon a few years ago and its still good. I've use it a few times to fill out some forms.

 

 

 

What a beauty!

j

[dennis_f]

 

Grandfathers typewriter. Works like a charm. I replaced the ink ribbon a few years ago and its still good. I've use it a few times to fill out some forms.

 

 

 

That's just beautiful. Wow.

[ParramattaPaul]

I hated doing it, but I donated the Smith Corona portable typewriter that traveled much of the known world since I bought it in early 1969. That was at the insistence of my late wife during a particularly aggressive 'Spring Clean'.

 

St. Vincent de Paul's gain, my loss albeit mostly nostalgic.

[Aquaria]

I have an old electric Olivetti from (I think) the 60s or 70s, that I use for labels--mailing, file folder, etc. When I need only a handful of printed labels, the typewriter is aces, because I can pick up where I left off on a large roll or sheet. Sometimes, I need only 8-10 file folder labels, not 200 of them. So I can type them up, quick as can be, and no worries about how to align that half-used sheet of labels into the printer to get them to work.

 

I prefer them for typing addresses onto an envelope for mailing. I don't do this often, so I only need something quick and easy.

 

For anything I need to fill out on a duplicate or triplicate form--increasingly rare, but still out there, I use the typewriter.

 

I also used it in the past for practicing typing tests, because it's the best way to gauge accuracy. You can't cheat by hitting a correct button with most of the old school typewriters.

[nitemagyk]

On 4/26/2019 at 4:08 AM, Kamuela said:

Does anyone else also use manual or vintage manual typewriters?

What do you use it for?

Correspondence?

I do. I have several machines. I use typewriters to do my first drafts. No corrections. I just bang away and put down my thoughts. No distractions besides choice of music and refilling my mug of coffee. Oh, and the dogs feeling love-lack.

[inkstainedruth]

Not sure how I missed this thread before now....

Back in the day, my mom wrote something like 30 novels on a Royal manual typewriter, before upgrading to an IBM Selectric electric one).  When she finally broke down and got an early word processor, she called me up one time (I was married by then) all excited because she had figured out how to use the search function to edit stuff, like changing a character's name) and I was going "Yeah, Mom, on my Apple computer it's "command key, F key...".  After she died, I gave the Royal to a friend who collects typewriters (he was a graphic artist and typesetter by trade, after going to art school).  Not sure what happened to the Selectric, or my old manual typewriter from middle school or high school, which was bought (along with one for my brother) about the same time she got the Selectric).  Dave may have gotten those as well.  

She also did correspondence (even personal letters) on a typewriter rather than by hand.

The comment that someone made about not typing on one without paper in the platen is a good one.  In fact, I was taught to have TWO sheets of paper the second one being extra cushioning, even if you weren't making a carbon copy.  (For my mother, it was often TWO carbon copies for the manuscript -- the good copy (on good paper) to send to the publisher, a backup copy for her, and a third copy one cheap yellow paper as a "just in case".  And when editing, she'd have three boxes on the dining room table (one for each copy), using the lids to turn each set of pages into so the pages would stay in order, and that way made sure any changes went into EVERY copy.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[abstract49]

Last I used a manual typewriter - Underwood "5" - was in college.  I typed my own research papers, my then wife's, and some other students' for a fee.  While still in college, I went to work in a title insurance/abstract firm, and my new boss insisted I use the electric ones there.  Got used to them in time, and I don't recall what I ever did with the old Underwood.

 

BS 1972, btw.

[miwishi63]

I completed my BA in Classical Languages (minor in Philosophy) using a Smith Corona manual typewriter. I gave it to my mother-in-law when I "upgraded" to an electronic typewriter. I would love to get back into using a manual typewriter but am reluctant to fall down another rabbit hole...

[PaperDarts]

I have two Underwood portable typewriters - I'm the second owner for each of them, one from my godmother and another from a dear friend who died far too young. I used the first typewriter through high school and my first degree before I switched to an electric model. Now I've pulled both typewriters out of storage and had them reconditioned. I love the sound and feel of using them, and who can argue with instant printing, no wifi connection needed! 

[Kamuela]

Apologies for being away from the FPN for awhile (health issues. . old age. . . nothing new).

I've had to correspond more with my small collection of vintage manual typewriters due to carpal tunnel and nerve issues in my hands that make my handwriting more illegible than it already is.

 

Here's one of my favorites. I think it's about 1948. A Smith Corona Sterling in mint restored condition. It feels great to type a letter on it. Something about the sound and the feeling of the keys.

 

Remember when everything for school and work was done on a manual typewriter?

And, things "Mathematical" were done on a manual 10 key machine?

 

image hosting free

[inkstainedruth]

On 8/30/2022 at 3:50 PM, Kamuela said:

Apologies for being away from the FPN for awhile (health issues. . old age. . . nothing new).

I've had to correspond more with my small collection of vintage manual typewriters due to carpal tunnel and nerve issues in my hands that make my handwriting more illegible than it already is.

 

Here's one of my favorites. I think it's about 1948. A Smith Corona Sterling in mint restored condition. It feels great to type a letter on it. Something about the sound and the feeling of the keys.

 

Remember when everything for school and work was done on a manual typewriter?

And, things "Mathematical" were done on a manual 10 key machine?

 

image hosting free

I wrote term papers in high school and college on a low end portable typewriter, but one that I could use the two color ribbons on.  But "mathematical" things were  done the old fashioned way -- on paper with a pen or pencil (except in my high school calculus class, where we were allowed to use early forms of electronic calculators for stuff like figuring out stuff like sine/cosine calculations).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[jesus iribarren]

Mmmm, paraphrasing Buñuel, that obscure object of desire

...Leica m3, Olympia Carrera o Sm3, Montblanc Meisterstruck, ...and else

[OregonJim]

On 4/25/2019 at 1:08 PM, Kamuela said:

Does anyone else also use manual or vintage manual typewriters?

What do you use it for?

Correspondence?

Yes.

 

  I lost count of how many typewriters I've collected.  Fifteen?  Twenty?

 

  Right now, there's a Smith-Corona Classic 12 manual to my left, and an IBM Selectric II to my right.

 

  My favorite machine (which, at the moment, is at my feet in its case) is a 1948 Royal Quiet Deluxe - the one designed by Henry Dreyfus:

 

 

I use a typewriter every day for writing, journaling, copying poetry, correspondence - all the normal things that you would expect in pre-computer times.  My first drafts are done exclusively with pen and typewriter.  So are the following drafts.  The computer never sees a word until the final draft - even then, no spell checkers or grammar correctors.  The computer's sole purpose is to convert my writings into an easily transmissible form.  I view computers as anti-writing tools - the perceived "ease" of editing and undo and copy/paste is antithetical to clear thought.  The computer is a great publishing tool, but a lousy writing tool.  Convenience is not always a good thing.

 

I learned touch typing in the '70s on typewriters in school.  Around that same time, my Latin teacher complained that my handwriting was less than exemplary.  Our homework assignments were done in spiral notebooks.  One night, while doing my homework, I unraveled the spiral coil on my notebook, inserted a page into my typewriter, typed my homework, and then re-threaded the spiral back into the notebook along with my typed pages.  The next day, my Latin teacher was impressed - as were the students in my class - it took them a minute or two to figure out how I did it.  I gained a measurable amount of respect that day.

 

Don't think me a luddite - I've designed a number of computers in a former life and even have some of my designs orbiting us at this very moment aboard the International Space Station.  But as of late I've gained the wisdom to realize that technology can be pushed too far, too easily.  Hail the typewriter (and pen)!

 

 

 

 

[Kamuela]

That is an outstanding looking Royal Typewriter. Wow. 1948. Has it been fully restored or refurbished, new rubber platen, etc?

 

Thanks for sharing your typewriter journey and current use.

I recently purchased 3 completely restored Olympia typewriters. One is in the italic font, a portable Deluxe. The others are the SM4 and the last in the line and most advanced semi portable size, the SM9, all made in "western germany" as the plate on the back reads. 

For me as well, I'm not a collector per se, I have 7 or 8 vintage typewriters that get used and have to work as intended and work well.

 

Thanks again.

k

[OregonJim]

Just now, Kamuela said:

That is an outstanding looking Royal Typewriter. Wow. 1948. Has it been fully restored or refurbished, new rubber platen, etc?

 

Thanks for sharing your typewriter journey and current use.

I recently purchased 3 completely restored Olympia typewriters. One is in the italic font, a portable Deluxe. The others are the SM4 and the last in the line and most advanced semi portable size, the SM9, all made in "western germany" as the plate on the back reads. 

For me as well, I'm not a collector per se, I have 7 or 8 vintage typewriters that get used and have to work as intended and work well.

 

Thanks again.

 

Thanks.  No, the Royal is all original - no restoration or refurbishing.  I do clean it once a year.  The platen is still soft and quiet, so I believe it will outlive me.  The machine doesn't have a single issue, cosmetically or mechanically.

 

Those Olympias sound beautiful.  I've seen a few SM4s locally, but haven't felt the need to pick one up.  Yet.  I do want to find a Royal KHM for sentimental reasons - my grandmother had one when I was a child - but the prices as of late seem outrageous.  The ones I've seen are in the $150 US range in "as-is" condition...

[gpsgrandpa]

Outrageous does nicely describe the level that typewriter prices has reached. I recently did a search on Etsy for Hermes 3000 script machines and people were asking well over $1000! Fortunately there is a dealer in Canby with more reasonable price tags for typewriters.