Design: Keyboard Revolution

The most radically redesigned typewriter since the introduction of the first practical electric model 40 years ago was put on sale last week by International Business Machines. The product of ten years’ work by IBM’s engineering staff and Industrial Designer Eliot Noyes, the new machine types faster and is far simpler to handle than conventional models, which IBM hopefully predicts will soon be as obsolete as quill pens.

The “Selectric,” as it is called, is shaped like an ordinary typewriter, but its carriage does not move, nor do the keys extend into levers that make the impression on paper. Instead, the Selectric has mounted inside its case a spherical-shaped, pingpong-ball-sized metal typing element bearing all the familiar 88 alphabetical characters, numerals and punctuation symbols. When the typist strikes the keyboard, the typewriter’s motor rapidly tilts and rotates the element on its axis as it moves across the paper, bringing the proper character into position for printing. The element is then rocked against ribbon and paper to print the character. This is essentially the same principle used by the Dow-Jones business-news ticker and the old Hammond typewriter.

On the Selectric, only .0655 of a second elapses from the striking of a key to the printing of a letter. On existing machines, the typist often types such familiar letter combinations as t-h-e faster than the machine can record them, thus causing skipped letters. To prevent this, the Selectric has a “storage” system that holds the second letter in common combinations for a fraction of a second until it can be printed.

Unlike other typewriters, the Selectric is not stuck with one permanent type face. Typists can change type styles in a matter of seconds by opening the machine’s cover and replacing one typing element with another bearing one of the six different type faces supplied by IBM. Typing ribbons come in plastic cartridges that snap into place and do not have to be threaded on reels by the typist. Paper is inserted by being placed against the roller, which automatically feeds it into the machine with the pressing of a button. The Selectric comes in two sizes, an 11-in. model and a 15½-in. model. Prices: $395 and $445. Present IBM machines currently sell for $440.