I'm So Old That I Remember...

[Linda0818]

When I worked for a shipping company back in the early 1970s in Copenhagen, I typed on an old, heavy mechanical typewriter. You know the kind that don't have the digit 1, you used a lower case L instead. I remember typing bills of lading in seven copies, using carbon paper between the sheets. You had to really hit those keys hard for the letters to show up on the bottom of the stack copies. And I used a hand cranked calculator. It looked something like these

View attachment 68801View attachment 68802

That looks brutal

 

[dcSaute]

I found an Oliver in an attic - got it "working" - but it was quite impractical.
the neat thing: the platen / carriage shifted in and out - i.e. three positions for each key - lower case, upper case, 'figures'

 

[dragnlaw]

I learned on this type in school
And during a power failure had to type a jet engine contract/proposal at work on this one

My fingers were bleeding by the the time I finished. Those ridges around the keys... moan...

 

[Linda0818]

I found an Oliver in an attic - got it "working" - but it was quite impractical.
the neat thing: the platen / carriage shifted in and out - i.e. three positions for each key - lower case, upper case, 'figures'
View attachment 68803

That's probably worth some money.

 

[dcSaute]

That's probably worth some money.

actually, not really. I kept it for many years thinking it had value - took it in to a repair shop for an overhaul - the guy advised me it would cost 2x it's value to "restore"

in really good condition ~$350 - eBay has bunches....

 

[dragnlaw]

Yeah, I agree dc. They post them at high prices but I seriously doubt thay will get anything.

 

[Linda0818]

actually, not really. I kept it for many years thinking it had value - took it in to a repair shop for an overhaul - the guy advised me it would cost 2x it's value to "restore"

in really good condition ~$350 - eBay has bunches....

Oh, okay. I thought maybe it would be worth something.

 

[taxlady]

That looks brutal

I thought they were really nifty. They do take some learning to use. Addition was swing the handle one way and subtraction was the other way. For multiplication, you counted how many swings for the for the first digit (or maybe it started with the last digit) and then used a button that shifted the thing so you were multiplying the next digit over and counted swings again. It's really hard to explain, mostly because I don't remember exactly how it worked. I could probably figure it out in a half hour or less, if I had one to play with. They even used those at the banks. I understood the principles of how it worked. I know, I'm weird. I have almost always liked playing with numbers.