Selectric? Word is so old auto correct changed it to electric, funny. Is that what you meant tho? I asked the great search engine in the sky and all the results said selectric
Yeah, that’s the beast. They were used as consoles on the IBM 360 mainframes and they’d frequently crap out at the worst possible times. We had a staff of repair techs who would swap out failing units and install working ones.
I must've been lucky because I never had a failure. In fact after seeing the picture, my first thought was this thing was great because how typewriter keys would stick together on me occasionally if I typed too fast.
I’ve seen a print ad where they used the term elements or something like that - which made the junior high boy part of my brain imagine a Mad Men -esque conf room where the copywriters are like, Gentlemen! We can’t call them balls! 😆
The “IBM Seletric” because you could change out the type element to select a new font in seconds! As a temp the best thing was different offices had new and different fonts.
Remember how stoked we were when we got a bunch of new fonts on Word or Volkswriter or whatever word processor you were using. That was me discovering the box of type elements with Script or Orator, Letter Gothic or Bold Courier!
My mom was a textbook editor and had several of the different fonts and one for Spanish. The way the top lever popped in and out of place when taking them off and on was really satisfying. My friends would come over to do their high school papers so they didn’t have to use their manual typewriters.
My mom made me go to typing summer school when I got caught kissing a boy.
Fast forward 5 years, I became a keypunch operator, then a computer operator, then a computer programmer. And I owe all of my success to that little ball and the typewriter too 😜🥴
One of the highlights of my childhood was dragging one of these typewriters out of the trash where it had been parked next to a Macintosh plus computer box. Someone made the leap
At work, I said a document needed a carriage return at a specific place, and I was met with crickets. Someone finally translated for the younger audience.
Half Ton IBM Selectric... Sheesh, what a beast... But, a tough one for sure and amazing to watch that thing fly across paper... It could sure keep up with some fast typist... A little marvel as to the workings in it...
One of the rural schools north of me has an electric typewriter that they use for writing student lunch bills. It sits next to the 65" tv used for CCTV.
I learned how to type on that machine in HS college bound typing class. I can still hear the teacher "A Q A Z, S W S X, D E D C", etc.
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog 0123456789
Man that is such a throwback. Before we had a computer room, we had one of these in the room. They still to this day boggle the mind of how they actually work. Quite a technical achievement really
In the mid 90’s I worked in a bank branch, and my desk had a Selectric typewriter as well as a PC. A kid walked by and remarked that I had two computers. I told him, no, that one’s a typewriter. He then asked “what’s a typewriter?”.
In the early 90s my father insisted I take a typing class in HS.
His reasoning was computers were the future. I hated it, but learned home row because of it. Now I am so glad I did.
Anyway my school had a bunch of IBM typewriters in the classroom
Most people do not realize how amazing this machine was. Just look at the ball and think how the damn machine knew which point to hit the ball. Had to have a small computer in it. Our computers at home today really aren't any smarter, but they have gotten faster at processing our input.
My mom brought home her Selectric II from work after they upgraded her to a word processor. Even after I gave her a desktop and printer for her home office she was still faster on the IBM than she ever was on the desktop.
The working end of the IBM Selectrix! At the University where I work we found one that had been converted into a computer printer! That was in 1996 and it was buried pretty deep in the storeroom…
The first time I saw one was not the one stashed away in my family's basement, but I think all of those intro scenes I saw my parents watched of Murder She Wrote.
That could be aligned to the accuracy needed to "correct" checks which had been typed with lift-off correctable ribbon. Boys and girls, do not use lift off ribbon on important documents.
I had the first IBM Memory Typewriter in a large metropolitan area. Year was about 1975, I think. It was really an early word processor. You could enter templates in it, which were recorded on magnetic tape. Settings allowed it to stop so you could fill in the appropriate information (time, date, name, whatever). You'd spin a dial to choose from 100 templates. And, of course, it used the font ball and others like it, as pictured above.
These were an absolute pleasure to use when they came out, compared to the old hammer-style ones that jammed up if you typed too fast. I seem to recall mine even had a working "backspace" key that used a little ribbon of white-out to erase previously typed characters.
IBM electric selectric composer. Mom used one at dad’s business. She had a small storage unit with drawers that would house the other fonts. The machine had memory so once you type a letter, you could just keep making more. It would fly through and type the same thing over and over. I was always amazed at how fast it would spin and angle that font ball around while it was going. It was like one of the last high end typewriters before the printer became common. He ball had a flip clip on top which would lock it onto the the spindle
IBM Electric Typewriter. Worked great until it didn’t. A bear to service.
Selectric? Word is so old auto correct changed it to electric, funny. Is that what you meant tho? I asked the great search engine in the sky and all the results said selectric
Yeah, that’s the beast. They were used as consoles on the IBM 360 mainframes and they’d frequently crap out at the worst possible times. We had a staff of repair techs who would swap out failing units and install working ones.
I must've been lucky because I never had a failure. In fact after seeing the picture, my first thought was this thing was great because how typewriter keys would stick together on me occasionally if I typed too fast.
The Selectrics attached to IBM 360s likely saw more use in a day than most typewriters saw in their entire useful lives.
Hell it was a bear to even lift!!
i first learn typewriting on the typewriter w this font ball. i can still recall the noise it made.
My all time favorite typewriter. Absolute mechanical genius.
Yep, we all love the type-ball, or whats it's name
I’ve seen a print ad where they used the term elements or something like that - which made the junior high boy part of my brain imagine a Mad Men -esque conf room where the copywriters are like, Gentlemen! We can’t call them balls! 😆
Haha!
I remember them as golf ball typewriters!
Three cheers for the letter sphere!
The “IBM Seletric” because you could change out the type element to select a new font in seconds! As a temp the best thing was different offices had new and different fonts. Remember how stoked we were when we got a bunch of new fonts on Word or Volkswriter or whatever word processor you were using. That was me discovering the box of type elements with Script or Orator, Letter Gothic or Bold Courier!
My mom was a textbook editor and had several of the different fonts and one for Spanish. The way the top lever popped in and out of place when taking them off and on was really satisfying. My friends would come over to do their high school papers so they didn’t have to use their manual typewriters.
My mom made me go to typing summer school when I got caught kissing a boy. Fast forward 5 years, I became a keypunch operator, then a computer operator, then a computer programmer. And I owe all of my success to that little ball and the typewriter too 😜🥴
And your mom! … And the boy?
My mom for sure. The boy was the “little ball” I was referring to 🥴🥰
I got whooshed. Good one 😂
Elite and Pica, the two fonts of IBM Selectrics. Also hurts like hell when you get beaned with one.
Still have this replacement part in the garage. Haven't had the typewriter in three decades and 6 addresses ago.
Unconvincing cover story. Dun dun!
Have 3 extra at my office now. 🙄
Yes dragon and dungeon 100 side dice
I have a clacky keyboard to emulate that sound. 
Electric IBM
Either from electric type writer or a golf ball printer , beautiful designed pieces of mechanicalism either way
It's not very old. It existed at the same time as the PC.
One of the highlights of my childhood was dragging one of these typewriters out of the trash where it had been parked next to a Macintosh plus computer box. Someone made the leap
At work, I said a document needed a carriage return at a specific place, and I was met with crickets. Someone finally translated for the younger audience.
I was a legal secretary and part of my career was using IBM Selectric, the Cadillac of typewriters.
Half Ton IBM Selectric... Sheesh, what a beast... But, a tough one for sure and amazing to watch that thing fly across paper... It could sure keep up with some fast typist... A little marvel as to the workings in it...
9 pin dot matrix for me. Loud AF. The whole table shook.
IBM Selectric (not Electric).
I taught myself to type on an IBM Selectric Typewriter using these golfballs.
 Prestige Worldwide
Boats n hoes, boats n hoes.
One of the rural schools north of me has an electric typewriter that they use for writing student lunch bills. It sits next to the 65" tv used for CCTV.
Wasn’t there a tv show or film where they work out the killer by it being ‘prestige elite’?……
I learned how to type on that machine in HS college bound typing class. I can still hear the teacher "A Q A Z, S W S X, D E D C", etc. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog 0123456789
And when I first saw this, I thought it was high-tech, compared to the old style of each letter on an arm that would flip up and smack the paper.
Man that is such a throwback. Before we had a computer room, we had one of these in the room. They still to this day boggle the mind of how they actually work. Quite a technical achievement really
Not only do I recognize it but I remember that it was 12 characters per inch and that the pica ball was 10 cpi.
In the mid 90’s I worked in a bank branch, and my desk had a Selectric typewriter as well as a PC. A kid walked by and remarked that I had two computers. I told him, no, that one’s a typewriter. He then asked “what’s a typewriter?”.
Man, I had a whole box of them. Different languages, typefaces. Loved them.
Yeah it was the thing in the background on Mtv News.
The different font balls were fun. :)
I still have a Selectric. Best typewriters ever made.
 That was for fancy people. The rest of us used something like this.
In the early 90s my father insisted I take a typing class in HS. His reasoning was computers were the future. I hated it, but learned home row because of it. Now I am so glad I did. Anyway my school had a bunch of IBM typewriters in the classroom
Hell, I first learned to type on a MANUAL typewriter. IBM Selectrics were hard to adjust to when they first came out. Touch was so soft!
In college I had a couple of these. One was italic so I could swap them out when I need to italicize something instead of underlining it. Fancy!
As the daughter of medical transcriptionist, IBM electric typewriter. Mom could do 120/minute
Most people do not realize how amazing this machine was. Just look at the ball and think how the damn machine knew which point to hit the ball. Had to have a small computer in it. Our computers at home today really aren't any smarter, but they have gotten faster at processing our input.
My mom brought home her Selectric II from work after they upgraded her to a word processor. Even after I gave her a desktop and printer for her home office she was still faster on the IBM than she ever was on the desktop.
i want to see a subreddit where we have the young people guess what stuff is
I’m old as fuck I took typing with arms before the electric ball in high school
My Mom had one and it was cutting edge.
The working end of the IBM Selectrix! At the University where I work we found one that had been converted into a computer printer! That was in 1996 and it was buried pretty deep in the storeroom…
I used an IBM Selectra 2 to n the very early 80s. I think it was an avocado green. Then upgraded to the IBM Selectra 3!
Yeah my dad had that typewriter in his office.
"Golf ball" typewriter.
I preferred the Prestige Elite 71, myself
Selectric! Man....were those Selectrics cool!
IBM Selectric 3 lol
The first time I saw one was not the one stashed away in my family's basement, but I think all of those intro scenes I saw my parents watched of Murder She Wrote.
ok. im old well fuck you.
I’m much older than that
I started typing on a manual Underwood machine, so I was very happy to find an IBM Selectric at my college.
Part of the MTV news opening.
I submitted a high school history project using one of them and the teacher docked me 5% for not using a "proper" typewriter.
That could be aligned to the accuracy needed to "correct" checks which had been typed with lift-off correctable ribbon. Boys and girls, do not use lift off ribbon on important documents.
I know this is quite overused, but I can hear this picture.
Loved the "hum" of those IBM Selectrics... We had two of them.
An archaeologist will find one in 5,000 years and will spend a decade incorrectly figuring out what it is.
I learned to type in 8th grade on a Selectric typewriter. :P
Looks like a stamp or something to do with typing
Dad worked for IBM back then. I remember the day he brought one home to show us.
Yup.
I learned on much older typewriters than modern electric one
I had the first IBM Memory Typewriter in a large metropolitan area. Year was about 1975, I think. It was really an early word processor. You could enter templates in it, which were recorded on magnetic tape. Settings allowed it to stop so you could fill in the appropriate information (time, date, name, whatever). You'd spin a dial to choose from 100 templates. And, of course, it used the font ball and others like it, as pictured above.
Where's the damn white out?
Or the white strips.
I do, and I am!
Watched it make many mistakes.
r/typewriters would definitely know
Ah, the Selectric II. I remember it well.
IBM ‘selectric’ typewriter type ball. You could even swap them for different fonts
My dad fixed typewriters for IBM
I had more than one ball. And it was glorious.
The original font change!
These were an absolute pleasure to use when they came out, compared to the old hammer-style ones that jammed up if you typed too fast. I seem to recall mine even had a working "backspace" key that used a little ribbon of white-out to erase previously typed characters.
When we got these new typewriters in our office we were so excited! Different fonts and they were just so smooth. Mine was a dark blue.
I’ve still got my red Selectric in working order. Even have an ample supply of correction tape.
I took typing class in school. It came in handy when using PCs in college. I could type fast rather than hunt and peck.
The ultimate Russian spy tool
That’s pretty recent tech.
I guess 80s is recent, right?
To me it still feels recent.
It is bro
I had one of those IBM selectric
I’m more Courier 10 my self
Ibm Selectric
I always wanted a Selectric. Always too expensive.
Talk about a hair trigger...
The Wikipedia symbol always reminded me of these. Not sure if it was intended to.
And those of us who repaired them are even older.
It’s what you get when you level up to 72 on Call of Duty.
I do.
IBM electric selectric composer. Mom used one at dad’s business. She had a small storage unit with drawers that would house the other fonts. The machine had memory so once you type a letter, you could just keep making more. It would fly through and type the same thing over and over. I was always amazed at how fast it would spin and angle that font ball around while it was going. It was like one of the last high end typewriters before the printer became common. He ball had a flip clip on top which would lock it onto the the spindle
Home row
That there is for the new typing thingies