Object: Typewriter

Facts about typewriters:

- Its a mechanical device

- Its a printing method and form

- It was invented in 1870

- By the 1980's personal computers displaced typewriters

- Several inventors created the item; not just one

- The electric typewriter was invented by Thomas Edison in 1870

-  In the mid 20th century lessons were given on correction standards

- An erasing method could be used when a mistake was made

- In the 1950's - 60's correction fluid became the popular method of correction

-  In 1874 Sholes and Glidden developed the 'QUERTY'  layout for the keys

- The typewriters which survived into the computer era, the keys used computer jargon

- When the typewriter first became available, women were the most common to use it, so many were decroated with flowers.

- Ernest Hemingway used to write his books standing up in front of a Royal typewriter suitably placed on a tall bookshelf. This typewriter, still on its bookshelf, is kept in Finca Vigia, Hemingway's Havana house (now a museum) where he lived until 1960, the year before his death

- The word "typewriter" is often cited as the longest English word that can be typed using only one row of keys of a QWERTY keyboard. This is untrue, since "rupturewort" (a kind of flowering plant) has 11 letters, while "typewriter" has only 10.

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Opinions / quotes in regard to typewriters:

- Marcus Glenn, "Live by the typewriter, die by the typewriter!

- "a machine he called the 'Soft Typewriter' was writing our lives, and our books, into existence," - William S. Burroughs

- 'A typewriter is a means of transcribing thought, not expressing it.' - Marshall McLuhan 

- "I had a TV set and a typewriter and that made me think a computer should be laid out like a typewriter with a video screen." - Steve Wozniak 

- " No one uses a ribbon typewriter any more, but your final draft is not the time to try to wring a few more sheets out of your inkjet cartridge." - Lynn Abbey 
- "When a reporter sits down at the typewriter, he's nobody's friend."  - Theodore White 
-  On Yahoo Answers: 
'How do I buy a typewriter? I want to get my first typewriter. Can someone tell me from experience: the difference between electronic and manual typewriters; what model was most dynamic or comfortable for you to use; what is your favourite typewriter; where to buy a typewriter (online and stores); and your experiences with a typewriter? I want to know what to look for."
Answers:
- "You can get nice used typewriters at thrift stores pretty cheaply. The problem is...and why they're at the thrift stores..is that it's increasingly difficult to get typewriter ribbons for them. We liked our little typewriter but finally had to send it off because we couldn't get replacement ribbons anywhere. Obsolete"
- " Lot of used ones available on ebay. Royal was one of the best manual typewriters on the market."
- " if they are still ou there try a brother word processor , can be switched to either a word processor or a manual typewriter"
- " Find one that feels good. A typewriter should be ergonomically correct. Typewriters are not cars. It's tough to go wrong. Either they type, or they don't. If they don't, they're probably not for sale. It's more of using your "consumer's common sense" or CCS."

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Images of Typewriters:

Sholes & Glidden Type Writer, which began production in late 1873 and appeared on the American market in 1874

This Caligraph has a "full" keyboard -- separate keys for lower- and upper-case letters.

The Hammond prints from a type shuttle -- a C-shaped piece of vulcanized rubber. The shuttle can easily be exchanged when you want to use a different typeface. There is no cylindrical platen as on typebar typewriters; the paper is hit against the shuttle by a hammer. 

Other machines typing from a single type element rather than typebars included the gorgeous Crandall (1881)

.. and the practical Blickensderfer.

The most popular model of early Underwoods, the #5, is still to be found everywhere.

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Words relating to typewriters:

- Keys

- Paper

- Mechanical

- Ink

- Old

- Heavy

- Press

- Punching

- QUERTY

- Writing Machine

- Type

- Keyboard

- Printed

- Paper

- Letterpress

- Metal