I remember with black and red ribbons, you can partially read some of the black letters on the red part of the ribbon.  More often than not, though, on a fabric ribbon, the letters would get all run together because the particular mechanism that advances it doesn't advance enough for full letters to be side by side.  It doesn't need to, unlike a carbon ribbon mechanism.  Now thereby hang several tales I could tell.  I've read plenty of those carbon ribbons now.  I've even called former owners of these machines who were surprised to find that I now have their typewriters, including an insurance salesman, a janitorial supply house manager, and a former sports caster.  I couldn't reach the preacher of one typewriter because he was deceased.

Hi Ecvia

Here's a similar story along the same lines. The place I used to work was quite fussy about getting rid of any sensitive documents and had the portable shredder truck come round once a month. The fax machine was the carbon film cartridge type and I'd see a used cartridge in the garbage dumpster every couple of months. Just for the fun of it, I pulled one out and unrolled it.

With the sensitive information that was on that cartridge I could have caused a whole lot of trouble for the company, but I needed my job so I kept quiet. As it was, few years after I had quit, the branch manager and service manager were escorted off the property and charged with fraud. It was reading those fax films that persuaded me to get out of there before the brown stuff hit the whirly thing. All the best,

​Sky

Ha! 

Very interesting story Sky!  :-) 

A testament to how little people are aware (or care) about protecting proprietary/sensitive information! 

Thanks for sharing and nice to meet you.

Eric