1 - Shangas
- Speed Champion
Offline - From: Melbourne, Australia
- Registered: 17-3-2013
- Posts: 298
Why Do You Like/Use/Collect Typewriters?
This forum simply must have a thread on this topic.
My reasons, briefly, are:
Immediacy. Convenience. Portability. Nostalgia. Style. Practicality.
With a typewriter, I don't have to wait for something to turn on. I don't have to wait for the printer to start up. I don't have to wait for anything. Crank it in, clunk it through, crank it out. Done.
Convenience is linked to the above. I don't have to worry about what happens when the power goes out. Or how long my extension-cord is, or how long my batteries will last.
I like being able to carry my portable around the house, to type where-ever I find most comfortable.
I grew up using a typewriter before I had access to a computer. It reminds me of my childhood. Also, I love history and antiques. So it's a link to that, as well.
It's hard to find style in a computer. Pre-war typewriters are chock-full of style that makes people go "oooh" just from seeing them sitting on a desk. When's the last time you saw a turned-off computer on a desk and automatically went: "oooooh!!"?
Perhaps not what everyone might think, but, practicality. They're easy to use. No worries about crashing. Viruses. Bugs. Blackouts. Hackers. It doesn't do much, but it does what it does. And it does it very well. And that's all I need it to do.
"Not Yet Published" - My History Blog
"I just sit at a typewriter and curse a bit" - Sir Pelham Grenville "P.G." Wodehouse
"The biggest obstacle to professional writing is the necessity for changing a typewriter ribbon" - Robert Benchley
- Hemingway
- New Member
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- Registered: 26-3-2013
- Posts: 20
Re: Why Do You Like/Use/Collect Typewriters?
Exactly. When I found my first typer, The Royal Type O I fell in love. It is like new and it is such a joy to work with. My last one is the Royal Appollo 10 which is the closest to te way a computers' keys work. It's electric though but I still like it. At this moment I am planning on buying a desk big enough to hold my laptop one side and a typer slightly behind it. In the middle will be a bankers lamp over a pair of deskpens. On the left side will be my collection of Hemingway books and something to hold all my college books. I'm looking to spend about $2000 on the desk. I don't want that pressboard garbage. I want something nice, possibly Amish made or hand carved even if I have to carve it myself. I will keep everyone posted.
Before you judge someone, walk a mile in their shoes. This way if you're right you will have a headstart and they will be barefoot.
- beak
- Key Master
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- From: Qld Australia
- Registered: 24-3-2013
- Posts: 912
Re: Why Do You Like/Use/Collect Typewriters?
I have always been interested in 'outdated' technology; investigating what it is that we throw away when we accept a new gadget over the existing standard. There is always something! It may be something trivial, but in many examples it is significant.
Using older technology always teaches me something about the past.
There is a silence and stillness unique to handwriting, and to some extent to the use of the typewriter - as Shangas mentions, nothing other than myself and the machine exist - no electricity being used, no pressure to do things more quickly than I may like, which is a feeling I sometimes have when using a computer.
I can take my portable down to the back of the garden and sit there for an hour thinking before I do anything - a computer's battery would be half wasted away by then. Silence, no pressure.
Word-processing throws emphasis on editing rather than rewriting; with the TW, you rewrite! Another great thing for me is that you have a hard copy instantly - no printers on the blink, and no expensive printer ink to buy.
When writing a short article or essay, I tend to take no more than two stabs at it; one double-spaced draft, which I then think about, pen in hand, and then retype as a final copy. With a computer, I tend to fiddle and edit almost endlessly.
I admire the 'built to last for decades' manufacturing ethos - a lap-top that lasts three years is uncommon - specially the way I treat them.
Last edited by beak (07-4-2013 04:27:50)
Sincerely,
beak.
- Shangas
- Speed Champion
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- From: Melbourne, Australia
- Registered: 17-3-2013
- Posts: 298
Re: Why Do You Like/Use/Collect Typewriters?
Do NOT mention printer-ink. That stuff drains your pockets like nothing else. The amount of money...oy. What a disaster.
"Not Yet Published" - My History Blog
"I just sit at a typewriter and curse a bit" - Sir Pelham Grenville "P.G." Wodehouse
"The biggest obstacle to professional writing is the necessity for changing a typewriter ribbon" - Robert Benchley
- •
Thread Starter- Dave71us
- New Member
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- Registered: 08-8-2014
- Posts: 7
Re: Why Do You Like/Use/Collect Typewriters?
I get a kick out of their utter usefulness.
- NDW76
- Platen Punisher
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- From: Bangkok
- Registered: 18-8-2014
- Posts: 86
Re: Why Do You Like/Use/Collect Typewriters?
I like the way it forces you to consider what you are going to write because you can't go back and cut n paste. I also love the idea that this is a purely mechanical device that does what a computer does, and in some ways does it better.
Then there is the aesthetic. Typewriters just look good on a desk.
Pleased to meet you. Call me Nathan.
- NDW76
- Platen Punisher
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- From: Bangkok
- Registered: 18-8-2014
- Posts: 86
Re: Why Do You Like/Use/Collect Typewriters?
beak wrote:
I admire the 'built to last for decades' manufacturing ethos - a lap-top that lasts three years is uncommon - specially the way I treat them.
My wife told me that she thought my typewriter was so old that it could only be a display piece. so old!!! It was made in the late seventies and should be going strong for many years to come.
Pleased to meet you. Call me Nathan.
- guitarmasta12
- Platen Punisher
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- Registered: 14-6-2014
- Posts: 64
Re: Why Do You Like/Use/Collect Typewriters?
Now the convenience mentioned in the original post I can agree on. However, there's one thing to add. The feeling of the time period of when and where that machine was directly involved. To me I always think," So that is what the good ol' days feels like." The decades I love the most is 1900s to the early 50s. I won't collect a typewiter any sooner than that. By the late 50s there isn't any old golden days vibe. It's early modern. This is all in my opinion.
- guitarmasta12
- Platen Punisher
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- Registered: 14-6-2014
- Posts: 64
Re: Why Do You Like/Use/Collect Typewriters?
I admire the 'built to last for decades' manufacturing ethos - a lap-top that lasts three years is uncommon - specially the way I treat them.
My wife told me that she thought my typewriter was so old that it could only be a display piece. so old!!! It was made in the late seventies and should be going strong for many years to come.
I have a Corona 3 from 1920 I'm restoring. It only needs a new mainspring. It's gonna look almost new when i'm finished with it.
- Typo207
- New Member
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- From: Kennebunk, Me
- Registered: 21-8-2014
- Posts: 24
Re: Why Do You Like/Use/Collect Typewriters?
Why use my typewriter??? Because my stupid printer is always off line and its a lot less hassle to insert my page, type the paragraph, and roll the page out of the paper tray. Done.
