1 of 1- Nicole
- Novice Typer
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- Registered: 01-4-2016
- Posts: 33
How to tell the type pitch of a standard machine
Previously you clever folk enlightened me about how you can look at the paper bail bar on a portable and see instantly if it's a Pica or an Elite machine since the markings will go up to 100 on a machine with Elite type, and only up to 80 on a machine with Pica type.
Since this is all down to the width of the carriage, how can you tell the difference on Standards? Are the carriage widths standard or do they vary? (Aside from there being normal width and those super-wide carriages that I have seen.)
I'm only interested in machines with Elite type, so it will be helpful if I can identify this in photographs before I travel any distance to inspect or buy machines.
Thanks in advance!
- M. Höhne
- Key Master
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- From: Maine
- Registered: 14-3-2013
- Posts: 637
Re: How to tell the type pitch of a standard machine
Nicole, pica is ten characters per inch and elite is 12 characters per inch, so if you can find out or guess the length of the carriage you can easily calculate whether you are looking at pica or elite. (That "up to 100 or 80" is meaningless without knowing the length of the platen.) If you are in a position to measure or ask the seller to measure, you can simply count the number of tick marks in one inch. Now, some typewriters, notably Olympias in my experience, have 11 cpi or sometimes other pitches. If you must have elite, it's 12 cpi.
- Nicole
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Re: How to tell the type pitch of a standard machine
M. Höhne wrote:
Nicole, pica is ten characters per inch and elite is 12 characters per inch, so if you can find out or guess the length of the carriage you can easily calculate whether you are looking at pica or elite. (That "up to 100 or 80" is meaningless without knowing the length of the platen.) If you are in a position to measure or ask the seller to measure, you can simply count the number of tick marks in one inch. Now, some typewriters, notably Olympias in my experience, have 11 cpi or sometimes other pitches. If you must have elite, it's 12 cpi.
Thanks M.! I do understand the concept of CPI, and I have heard that apparently all portable platens are 10" wide, so that is why you can quickly check the highest number on the paper bail and instantly have your answer on type size. I guess I could better have posed my question by asking if Standard typewriters always have the same platen length as well, or if they vary from model to model.
In light of your answer, I'm now wondering — are the larger paper bail markings always split into 1" segments? Can you just count the number of smaller markings in each segment to get your cpi? Or is it always necessary to get a proper measurement of the platen?
Thanks!
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Thread Starter- Nicole
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Re: How to tell the type pitch of a standard machine
Oh no, my calculations are all wrong actually, upon reflection none of them make sense. I don't know what the width of portable platens is supposed to be, but I have been told that it's pretty much uniform across all makes and models.
Please do go back to assuming I have no idea what I'm talking about — I obviously don't! 
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Thread Starter- M. Höhne
- Key Master
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- From: Maine
- Registered: 14-3-2013
- Posts: 637
Re: How to tell the type pitch of a standard machine
Thanks M.! I do understand the concept of CPI, and I have heard that apparently all portable platens are 10" wide, so that is why you can quickly check the highest number on the paper bail and instantly have your answer on type size. I guess I could better have posed my question by asking if Standard typewriters always have the same platen length as well, or if they vary from model to model.
In light of your answer, I'm now wondering — are the larger paper bail markings always split into 1" segments? Can you just count the number of smaller markings in each segment to get your cpi? Or is it always necessary to get a proper measurement of the platen?
Thanks!
No, platen lengths can vary a lot and not only from model to model but also within a model. There are many portable models with 12 inch platens to take a US letter-size paper "sideways" and there are budget models that just barely fit the paper in portrait orientation, about 9 inches. With experience, you will get a feel for judging that from pics; meanwhile, try to measure it.
But if you're measuring anyway, just count the number of tick marks in one inch. No, the numbered segments on the paper bail are not in one-inch increments. Every typewriter I have seen has them in ten-character increments and so on a pica machine the numbered marks will be one inch apart and on an elite one they will be about 0.83 inches apart. On a 6 cpi machine, they will be about 1.66 inches apart. Measuring the exact platen length is problematic anyway because you usually cannot type right up to the exact edges so that will be misleading.
You might see some recommendations to type out a bunch of capital "I"s and then measure how many of them fit in one inch. Well, if you can do that, you already have the typewriter and a ruler in front of you and it's more straightforward to measure tick marks on the bail.
HTH
- Nicole
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- Posts: 33
Re: How to tell the type pitch of a standard machine
A-ha! Thank you so much for explaining all of that, that is hugely helpful. I was quite confused about the markings and what to look at. So I guess I really will need to measure things if I want to be sure of the type pitch — or at least ask sellers to measure them for me. Thanks again so much — I really appreciate it!
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Thread Starter