(All images enlarge to full size when clicked)
One of the technical marvels of the 1960s, all of the 1970s and most of the 1980s was the IBM Selectric typewriter, with its innovative "golfball" font element which travelled across the paper, instead of the traditional method of all typewriters up to that point, where the paper travelled past the point struck by the type levers.
The office out of which I worked in Sydney between 1977 and 1984 was equipped with these machines; every typist had one on her desk and the chatter of typewriters was part of the normal background ambient noise of our office, and zillions of others worldwide.
Quite recently I became injected with a dose of nostalgia whilst watching several episodes of "Mad Men", in which IBM Selectric's are quite conspicuous in the office scenes.
So after several attempts I managed to find someone in Australia who is an ex-IBM typewriter technician and who very kindly offered to refurbish one in his collection and sell it to me.
The opening photo (above) is the machine - an IBM Selectric II circa 1976 - as it appeared just a few days ago, prior to its disassembly.
(This machine was assembled right here in Australia, at the IBM plant that was established in 1976 at Wangaratta, Victoria).
I never realised just how complex these things are, never having seen one in this state before today.
The amount of mechanical componentry is remarkable, as can be gauged from the photo below showing various bits 'n' pieces in the dishes and boxes on the workbench.
I am really looking forward to being handed the keys to this amazing machine and can't wait to hear the hum of the motor and the chatter of the typeball when I fire it up for the first time here at home.
That event should be sometime in July, when she makes it to Canberra from Perth.
Here is a short (2 minutes) video - done for a friend of mine - of this marvellous machine in action:-
