1 - OliverNo.9
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Getting used to a typewriter
I just recently watched the Davis Brothers video on YouTube about typing technique and it made me wonder if everyone has had one, or a few, of those typewriters that you wanted to like, but no matter what, you just could not get used to?
For me, I cannot get used to the Smith-Corona portables of the 1960s. I have had two Sterlings, one from 1965 and the other from the late '60s early '70s. I wanted to like them both, but the action on them, to me, is too different. It is difficult to explain exactly. Everyone seems to like them, and they do work well, but I cannot get used to them.
Most machines that I own I have, initially found them 'odd' or different, but I get used to them.
Has anyone had a similar experience with ANY typewriter?
Thanks in advance.
OliverNo.9
- Uwe
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Re: Getting used to a typewriter
The only models that come immediately to mind are those that have a parallelogram key lever system. They feel sufficiently different enough that it takes me a good page of typing before I'm used to the feel, but I can't think of any machine that I can't get used to after a sufficient amount of time.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- OliverNo.9
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Re: Getting used to a typewriter
Uwe wrote:
The only models that come immediately to mind are those that have a parallelogram key lever system. They feel sufficiently different enough that it takes me a good page of typing before I'm used to the feel, but I can't think of any machine that I can't get used to after a sufficient amount of time.
Uwe,
I know what you are talking about. The Smith Corona Portables have that system! Strangely, the '36 Corona Standard portable I have and the '35 Erika modell S are not so bad... strange.... I wonder what changed in the 30 years? Is is just the age of the machine, I wonder?
OliverNo.9
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Thread Starter- schyllerwade
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Re: Getting used to a typewriter
Yes, for me it has been olivettis. I've only had 2 Lettera models (32) and they look cool I really wanted to like them. But no.
Same could be said for hermes 3000. Just didn't do it for me...
- SoucekFan
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Re: Getting used to a typewriter
The only models that come immediately to mind are those that have a parallelogram key lever system.
What is a parallelogram key lever system?
- skywatcher
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Re: Getting used to a typewriter
Hi Soucek
If I understand correctly, the parallelogram system refers to the pantograph mechanism that keeps the key top perfectly horizontal through it's stroke and causes the key to curve back towards the typist following the natural arc of the fingertip. Royals and other similar machines have a single pivot key arm where the pivot point is as far back on the frame as possible to minimize the amount of change in key top angle as the key is pressed down. Hope this helps,
Sky
We humans go through many computers in our lives, but in their lives, typewriters go through many of us.
In that way, they’re like violins, like ancestral swords. So I use mine with honor and treat them with respect.
I try to leave them in better condition than I met them. I am not their first user, nor will I be their last.
Frederic S. Durbin. (Typewriter mania and the modern writer)
- Uwe
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Re: Getting used to a typewriter
The Smith Corona Portables have that system!
Just to be clear, not all of them did. And the arc of the key travel can be different between brands, and therefore the feel can be quite different too. I have no issue with using a 6-Series Smith-Corona - in fact I quite like their action - but the parallelogram system that Erika used, for example, doesn't move the key forward until later in the stroke, which is something that I have to get used to every time I use one.
Conversely, I'm sure that if I used Erika typewriters more often than Smith-Corona models, it would be the Smith-Corona models that I'd have to get used to instead. More often than not, I think the notion of getting used to a machine (or not being able to) is a by-product of already being used to one specific make/model that you type with the most.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- Uwe
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Re: Getting used to a typewriter
... the key top perfectly horizontal through it's stroke and causes the key to curve back towards the typist ...
I'd have to start checking more machines, but the two that immediately come to mind move the key away from the typist. It is a very subtle deflection, but one that can be observed when looking down on the keyboard and noting the key's final position in the stroke.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- Javi
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Re: Getting used to a typewriter
but I can't think of any machine that I can't get used to after a sufficient amount of time.
I agree with that. Every model has its unique features, and you wont type "properly" with it unless you spend a bit of time with it. I mean you won´t get the character of any typewriter just by typing a couple of pages with it, and that´s something that I find absolutely engrossing. The more you write with a machine the better you know it, and eventually you´ll get a good grip of it. You´ll know the strong and weak points, the rhythm (which varies wildly from machine to machine), the "feel"... And there are no shortcuts. But once you´ve invested that time, you get the returns, and I´d say this works with every typewriter. From my experience, I´ve always found hard typing with AZERTY layouts, but I´m getting the hang of it.
Being one with the typewriter... that´s a different story. Not every typewriter is going to be your typewriter of choice (As the Linea 98 is for me 
), but any typewriter will perform up to its maximum (and some reach it really fast, i.e.the bad ones) after some practice.
As a spin-off, I want to add how typewriters have changed over time. It´s not the same typing on a pre-WWII machine or in a 70´s beast. It´s amazing how fast a Rheinmetall 9 can be, but it´ll never be the same as a SG3 from the 70´s. Which one suits you better, that´s up to you 
TaktaktataktaktakcluccluctaktaktaktaktakDINGtaktaktaktakCREEEEEEEEECtaktaktak...
(Olivetti Linea 98)
- missy20201
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Re: Getting used to a typewriter
I'm still perfecting my typewriter typing technique (it's... very different from a computer. Goodbye, 80 wpm!). But I will say, my '39 KMM and '51 SC Silent are very forgiving with me, but my '53 QDL is just brutal. I start typing too quickly with imperfect strokes and suddenly letters are squashed and there are random spaces in my words... Gah. It's got the smoothest carriage and is fun to use, but it's a real picky thing! 
