North York Central Library Blog

Continental Typewriter (image courtesy of Dr. Shordzi on a creative commons licence)

June 23rd is National Typewriter Day.  Those who worked in office settings or used them at home prior to the 1990s will remember these machines well.  Whether they are manual (see above), electric, or electronic, typewriters played a major role in processing information.

The main goal of the typewriter was to enable users to fashion ideas, thoughts, and information into type print.  The process began from the tapping of fingertips on typewriter keys in short staccato strokes. The keys attached in a basket arrangement of thin metal arms (typelevers) that ended in lettered hammers (typebars).  These typebars striked against an inked ribbon to stamp marks onto a sheet of paper clipped to a moving carriage.  Each keystroke spurred the carriage merrily along until a bell chimed to indicate the end of that line.  This "ding" sound informed the typist to push the carriage lever to the right which also propelled the paper up to a new line.  

The process is similar for electric and electronic typewriters.  Electric typewriters requires electricity to operate to reduce finger pressure on the type keys.  Electronic typewriters contain a computerized circuit board to enable the machine to perform added functions such as automatic underline, erase, superscript, subscript, and italic lettering. The most notable improvement on the basic typewriter design for the electric/electronic typewriter was the addition of the "Enter" key that we see on today's computer keyboards.  This new key replaced the manual typewriter carriage and push lever system.  

Here is a video to visualize how the manual typewriter operates:

Video courtesy of Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum on a creative commons license.

These machines assisted in the creation of documents, reports, essays, and manuscripts at a quicker pace over handwriting.  Employed typists achieved speeds ranging from 50 to 80 words per minute.  At this pace, it would be difficult to transcribe in longhand while still appearing legible.

Most typewriters shared the same Courier font.  Howard Kettler, as noted in Typedia, developed this font in 1955.  He did not patent his design which was, therefore, quickly shared and adopted by all typewriter makers for its clean and crisp print.

For more information on the history of typewriters, the people who use them, and the cultural influence of these machines, here are some interesting titles to glance over:

While electronic typewriters came on the market during the mid-1980s, their popularity quickly evaporated.  Through extensive software development, computers became new and undefeatable rivals. By offering word processing features to enable users to easily type, edit, duplicate and store information in digital form and then transmit this information from one user to another leaving virtually no paper trail, computers pushed aside the typewriters on the market.  Even with this swift change, computers adopted the alphanumeric keyboard from their predecessor.

For more information related to technological and social changes over time, have a look at the following titles:

Computer Classes, Digital Innovation Hubs, eBooks, eVideos, and eMagazines

The Toronto Public Library offers computers, Internet access and digital services. 

To keep up with the changing times, the Toronto Public Library offers classes for development of computer and library searching skills.  

This image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

For those who would like to try their skills and learn how to self publish books or create an object on a 3D printer, the Digital Innovation Hubs offer training and hands on experience.

(3D printing at Fort York Branch, photo Toronto Public Library)

How about learning how to download an eBook, eAudiobook, eMagazine, eVideo, or look up a business or computer textbook online? Classes are available. 

Even with so many technological innovations that have occurred over the past 20 years, the typewriter still bestows an adorable quaintness worth appreciating and celebrating.