IBM Electric Typewriter

IBM Electric Typewriter

The IBM Electric typewriters were a series of electric typewriters that IBM manufactured, starting in the mid-1930s. They used the conventional moving carriage and typebar mechanism, as opposed to the fixed carriage and type ball used in the IBM Selectric, introduced in 1961. After 1944, each model came in both Standard and Executive versions, the latter featuring proportional spacing.

IBM typewriters had one feature lacking in many mechanical typewriters:The top row bore the digits 1234567890; other typewriters generally omitted the 1 and 0. The IBM design obviated substitutions taught by many typing instructors: o or O for 0; l for 1. These substitutions were easily identified when compared to an adjacent line typed with the digit keys and encouraged typists to confuse letters and numbers, even in speech.