Comments on: Typewriter Heirloom http://www.erik-rasmussen.com/blog/2007/01/08/typewriter-heirloom/ Thoughts and photos from an American living in Spain. Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:03:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Paul http://www.erik-rasmussen.com/blog/2007/01/08/typewriter-heirloom/comment-page-1/#comment-325 Paul Sat, 13 Jan 2007 11:59:13 +0000 http://www.erik-rasmussen.com/blog/2007/01/08/typewriter-heirloom/#comment-325 I asked Mom about that typewriter when I called her last night. She said Dad picked it up from Carthage College in the 60's when they upgraded all of their typewriters to IBM "ball" Selectrics. I liked that Underwood fine, but after I took a typing course in '66 using electric typewriters, I wanted one of my own. Smith-Corona came out with a $249 portable electric typewriter about then, and it was the first useful thing I bought with my summer lifeguard money. I asked Mom about that typewriter when I called her last night. She said Dad picked it up from Carthage College in the 60’s when they upgraded all of their typewriters to IBM “ball” Selectrics. I liked that Underwood fine, but after I took a typing course in ‘66 using electric typewriters, I wanted one of my own. Smith-Corona came out with a $249 portable electric typewriter about then, and it was the first useful thing I bought with my summer lifeguard money.

]]> By: erik http://www.erik-rasmussen.com/blog/2007/01/08/typewriter-heirloom/comment-page-1/#comment-323 erik Wed, 10 Jan 2007 09:58:07 +0000 http://www.erik-rasmussen.com/blog/2007/01/08/typewriter-heirloom/#comment-323 Hey! It just occurred to me why the "shift" key is called the "shift" key. If the uppercase letter was right next to the lowercase one, some part of the mechanism would have to "shift" a little bit to change case. It may seem archaic, but the keyboard you typed your comment on got <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTY" rel="nofollow">its key layout</a> from trying to solve mechanical problems with those long hammers. Even after we remove the mechanical parts from our current keyboards, that damn QWERTY layout will prevail. By the way, it's weird typing the word QWERTY. Hey! It just occurred to me why the “shift” key is called the “shift” key. If the uppercase letter was right next to the lowercase one, some part of the mechanism would have to “shift” a little bit to change case.

It may seem archaic, but the keyboard you typed your comment on got its key layout from trying to solve mechanical problems with those long hammers. Even after we remove the mechanical parts from our current keyboards, that damn QWERTY layout will prevail. By the way, it’s weird typing the word QWERTY.

]]> By: Uncle Steve http://www.erik-rasmussen.com/blog/2007/01/08/typewriter-heirloom/comment-page-1/#comment-322 Uncle Steve Wed, 10 Jan 2007 06:51:46 +0000 http://www.erik-rasmussen.com/blog/2007/01/08/typewriter-heirloom/#comment-322 I also remember both the 'a' key, and jamming letters together. How archaic of a device that is - I mean how it was designed, to mechanically throw a long lever/hammer with an image of an 'a' (and 'A', just above it; two letters per hammer I think) towards paper, and at the last second to mechanically move an inked fabric into the way... smack! Seems shocking that it is still operational. And even more shocking that Neil still has it. I also remember both the ‘a’ key, and jamming letters together.

How archaic of a device that is - I mean how it was designed, to mechanically throw a long lever/hammer with an image of an ‘a’ (and ‘A’, just above it; two letters per hammer I think) towards paper, and at the last second to mechanically move an inked fabric into the way… smack!

Seems shocking that it is still operational. And even more shocking that Neil still has it.

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