IBM Selectric

Uncommon card · No. 171761

The IBM Selectric (a portmanteau of "selective" and "electric") was a highly successful line of electric typewriters introduced by IBM on 31 July 1961. Instead of the "basket" of individual typebars that swung up to strike the ribbon and page in a typical typewriter of the period, the Selectric had a chrome-plated plastic "element" (frequently called a "typeball", or less formally, and in twentieth century computer terminology, a "golf ball") that rotated and tilted to the correct position before striking the paper. The element could be easily interchanged to use different fonts within the same document typed on the same typewriter, resurrecting a capability which had been pioneered by typewriters such as the Hammond and Blickensderfer in the late 19th century. The Selectric also replaced the traditional typewriter's horizontally moving carriage with a roller (platen) that turned to advance the paper vertically while the typeball and ribbon mechanism moved horizontally across the paper...

Read on Wikipedia · Image steve lodefink, CC BY 2.0