Does the pull-out section extend enough that you can actually use it for a typewriter? You'd have to be able to get your legs under it, be able to turn your chair so it doesn't hit the main desk, and it would (should) have to manage the footprint of a large standard.

I don't agree that the main criteria of a typewriter desk is that it should be lower. I use a regular height office desk for my typing needs, and in my experience what is most important is to have a chair that is height adjustable. With an adjustable chair I can get myself in the correct ergonomic position for any type of machine, or my computer's relatively flat keyboard.

Roginald wrote:

You don't say what you think the main criteria for a typewriter desk is?  

The main criteria for a typewriter desk is a really good chair.

Roginald wrote:

If you can solve the height thing with an adjustable height chair, then that doesn't address the table's qualities. I'm not an historian but when starting to look at typewriter tables, it seems that, historically, height was the main differentiating factor - the idea being that you could have your hands at the 'correct' height while having a seat height that is comfortable for legs & feet.

There is no desk - be it an antique typewriter-specific desk or a brand new one* - that can provide the correct ergonomic position for every typist. This is why a height adjustable chair is important as it allows you to adjust to the typing surface as opposed to trying to size a desk for some nonadjustable chair. I have a small collection of desks that include vintage metal office desks and small ones made specifically for typewriters and they are not all the same height. 

I can type almost anywhere, on almost anything. I sometimes use my patio table in the backyard, even my lap, and for short sessions it's not an issue. If I'm going to be typing for hours on end I use my modern U-shape office desk and adjust my chair so that my forearms are in the correct position. Even the typewriter model I'm using comes into play and might require a height adjustment.

[*The exception might be those new motorized standing desks that you might allow you to change the desk height instead of the chair.]

Here's a good use of the desk. As I say the fact that one of the 'bits' was lower than the other and that it could be temporarily pulled out, used to annoy me and I couldn't see the point. But here we can see why someone might want to push it out of the way to get into bed!:



It's starting to make more sense to me now, as I also don't necessarily want a typewriter next to my computer all the time, but sometimes it would be very nice to have both to hand. You can see in this pic that there is plenty of space for a big typewriter on the smaller bit.

I think it's a nice coincidence that it needs to be lower by design, but it accidentally makes it great for putting a typewriter and a computer accessible from the same seating position.

For now though, I stumbled across one of these for £5 in a charity shop yesterday, and while there's exactly the wobble you might imagine from looking at it, it's actually not too bad at all using my SM3 on it.



So that will be getting positioned next to my current computer table in much the arrangement of the Ikea table, so I can switch between the two easily.

I hope you won't mind a heathen sticking a curious nose in .

Working in complete ignorance of ergonomics, I have always used my typewriter on a folding-topped writing-desk, rather like this:

http://www.antiqueforsale.co.uk/assets/product-library/images/1378021845.jpg

Paper of various sizes and weights (from cheap paper for academic notes and rough drafts of essays through to writing-paper**), envelopes, stamps, ink-bottles (I took up dip-pens instead of fountain pens, less fiddling about with inky parts) can all be stowed into the various drawers and compartments.

I use an ordinary wheel-backed chair with arms and a little chintz cushion that ties onto the seat.

It's extremely cramped, but I've always found it adequate. However, my mother informs me my books and papers are an appalling mess. 

That aside, I imagine you all remember the days of universal typewriter use (my aunt used hers on an ordinary wooden desk, but she was retired by the time I was born and never an office typist -- only a volunteer secretary of a local committee for the Liberal Party and an author).

Were there books of ergonomics? Guides for offices and that sort of thing We seem to have ignored them [in good company, Professor Tolkien apparently typed on his bed!], and I dare say are paying for it in stoops and crooked backs, but this is a whole new world for me.

Many thanks. The world is always wider than we think,  and I realise, just because I have not had any office typists in my family I have overlooked a huge role of the typewriter that shaped many lives. I suppose I simply never thought of it. Humans are very bad for thinking their own experience is the entirety of the world!

I don’t suppose anyone wrote any reminiscences about a large office in the old days? I'd be very interested to read about it. Memories, perhaps from members?

Perhaps my inquiry belongs elsewhere.