1 of 1- Uwe
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Investing Dimes - Rental Typewriters
Much like today's internet cafes that provide rental computers, there was a time when typewriters were also available on a pay-per-use basis. I've always been curious about the subject, but there seems to be little information on these machines, and other than a couple of typewriters that I've seen that had built in 'counters', I've never seen any examples of the original equipment that would have been used to regulate the use of a rental typewriter.
Given the dearth of details surrounding rental typewriters and their use, I found it fascinating to read a passage in the 60th anniversary edition of Fahrenheit 451 in which its author, Ray Bradbury, discusses the use of rental machines. For fun I reproduced an excerpt of that text using a Remington Letter-Riter that I purchased a couple of days ago, and I hope that this thread can be used for any other information on the subject that other Typewriter Talk members might come across.
[img](excerpt)_Ray_Bradbury.jpg[/img]
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- KatLondon
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Re: Investing Dimes - Rental Typewriters
Thanks, Uwe! Fascinating. And a brilliantly evocative description.
- TypewriterKing
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Re: Investing Dimes - Rental Typewriters
Well, that's a new one on me!!! I'd never heard of "add-on equipment that regulates rental machines like built-in counters." It would be interesting to see a keystroke counter of that sort, but as yet, having owned just about every typewriter that came through my hometown in Texas, I'd never seen anything like that. I did, however, at the age of 15 years, rent out a 1957 IBM electric typewriter to a lady for about $5.00 a week. I was also renting out a 1955 Royal electric for the same amount. I had thought I would have a whole fleet of typewriters, but it never materialized. Oh well, at least I did have the experience for collecting a fast fiver every week for awhile.
Underwood--Speeds the World's Bidness
- Uwe
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Re: Investing Dimes - Rental Typewriters
I have seen, not owned, machines with built in counters. Perhaps some rental arrangements, not unlike photocopiers, were charged by actual usage rather than elapsed time. I think most typists would prefer such an arrangement to the conditions that Bradbury worked under. I also suspect that the average typewriter renter in the UCLA scenario would have been using the machine to transcribe a final draft of a handwritten work.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
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