Editing Typewriter (section)

==== IBM Selectric ====
{{Main|IBM Selectric}}
[[File:Selectric II.jpg|thumb|IBM Selectric II (dual Latin/Hebrew typeball and keyboard)]]
IBM introduced the [[IBM Selectric]] typewriter in 1961, which replaced the typebars with a spherical element (or '''typeball''') slightly smaller than a [[golf ball]], with reverse-image letters molded into its surface. The Selectric used a system of latches, metal tapes, and pulleys driven by an electric motor to rotate the ball into the correct position and then strike it against the ribbon and platen. The typeball moved laterally in front of the paper, instead of the previous designs using a platen-carrying carriage moving the paper across a stationary print position.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-01-20 |title=A different type of dance move |url=https://www.ibm.com/blogs/industries/selectric-typewriter-dancers/ |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=Industrious |language=en-US}}</ref>

Due to the physical similarity, the typeball was sometimes referred to as a "golfball".<ref name="ibm100">{{Cite web |last=IBM |date=7 March 2012 |title=The Selectric Typewriter |url=https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/selectric/ |access-date=20 January 2020 |website=Icons of Progress}}</ref> The typeball design had many advantages, especially the elimination of "jams" (when more than one key was struck at once and the typebars became entangled) and in the ability to change the typeball, allowing multiple typefaces to be used in a single document.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-03-07 |title=The Selectric Typewriter |url=http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/selectric/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403015050/http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/selectric/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 April 2012 |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=IBM100}}</ref>

The IBM Selectric became a commercial success, dominating the office typewriter market for at least two decades.<ref name="ibm100" /> IBM also gained an advantage by marketing more heavily to schools than did Remington, with the idea that students who learned to type on a Selectric would later choose IBM typewriters over the competition in the workplace as businesses replaced their old manual models.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jackson |first=Nicholas |date=2011-07-27 |title=IBM Reinvented the Typewriter With the Selectric 50 Years Ago |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/07/ibm-reinvented-the-typewriter-with-the-selectric-50-years-ago/242624/ |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=The Atlantic |language=en-US}}</ref>

Later models of IBM Executives and Selectrics replaced inked fabric ribbons with "carbon film" ribbons that had a dry black or colored powder on a clear plastic tape. These could be used only once, but later models used a cartridge that was simple to replace. A side effect of this technology was that the text typed on the machine could be easily read from the used ribbon, raising issues where the machines were used for preparing classified documents (ribbons had to be accounted for to ensure that typists did not carry them from the facility).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ellen |first=David |title=Scientific Examination of Documents |publisher=CRC Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-8493-3925-7 |pages=106–107}}</ref>

{{anchor|Correcting typewriters}}
A variation known as "Correcting Selectrics" introduced a correction feature, later imitated by competing machines, where a sticky tape in front of the carbon film ribbon could remove the black-powdered image of a typed character, eliminating the need for little bottles of white dab-on correction fluid and for hard erasers that could tear the paper. These machines also introduced selectable "pitch" so that the typewriter could be switched between [[Pica (typography)|pica]] type (10 characters per inch) and elite type (12 per inch), even within one document. Even so, all Selectrics were [[Proportional fonts|monospaced]]—each character and letterspace was allotted the same width on the page, from a capital "W" to a period. IBM did produce a successful typebar-based machine with five levels of proportional spacing, called the [[IBM Executive series typewriter|IBM Executive]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wershler-Henry |first=Darren |url=https://archive.org/details/ironwhim00wers/page/254 |title=The Iron Whim: A Fragmented History of Typewriting |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-8014-4586-6 |location=Ithaca and London |page=[https://archive.org/details/ironwhim00wers/page/254 254] |url-access=registration}}</ref>

The only fully electromechanical Selectric Typewriter with fully proportional spacing and which used a Selectric type element was the expensive [[IBM Selectric Composer|Selectric Composer]], which was capable of right-margin justification (typing each line twice was required, once to calculate and again to print) and was considered a [[Typesetter|typesetting machine]] rather than a typewriter. Composer typeballs physically resembled those of the Selectric typewriter but were not interchangeable.<ref name="IBM Archives-2003">{{Cite web |date=2003-01-23 |title=IBM Office Products Division highlights |page= 2 |url=https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/modelb/modelb_office2.html |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=IBM Archives |language=en-US}}</ref> 
[[File:Sample of IBM Magnetic Card Composer Output.png|thumb|upright=2|Composer output showing [[Roman type|Roman]], [[Emphasis (typography)|Bold]], and [[Italic type]]faces were available by changing the type ball.]]
In addition to its electronic successors, the [[IBM Selectric typewriter#Selectric-based machines with data storage|Magnetic Tape Selectric Composer]] (MT/SC), the Mag Card Selectric Composer, and the Electronic Selectric Composer, IBM also made electronic typewriters with proportional spacing using the Selectric element that were considered typewriters or [[word processor]]s instead of typesetting machines.<ref name="IBM Archives-2003" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-07-19 |title=IBM MT/ST (1964 – late 1970s) |url=https://obsoletemedia.org/ibm-mtst/ |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=Museum of Obsolete Media}}</ref>

The first of these was the relatively obscure Mag Card Executive, which used 88-character elements. Later, some of the same typestyles used for it were used on the 96-character elements used on the IBM Electronic Typewriter 50 and the later models 65 and 85.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2003-01-23 |title=IBM typewriter milestones |url=https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/modelb/modelb_milestone2.html |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=IBM Archives |page=2}}</ref>

By 1970, as [[offset printing]] began to replace [[letterpress printing]], the Composer would be adapted as the output unit for a [[phototypesetting]] system. The system included a computer-driven input station to capture the key strokes on magnetic tape and insert the operator's format commands, and a Composer unit to read the tape and produce the formatted text for photo reproduction.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-01-18 |title=Quickprint closes after 72 years, presses roll elsewhere |url=https://www.superiortelegram.com/news/quickprint-closes-after-72-years-presses-roll-elsewhere |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=Superior Telegram}}</ref>

The [[IBM 2741]] terminal was a popular example of a Selectric-based computer terminal, and similar mechanisms were employed as the console devices for many [[IBM System/360]] computers. These mechanisms used "ruggedized" designs compared to those in standard office typewriters.<ref>{{Cite web |title=IBM Selectric Typewriter Resource Page |url=http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/selectric/ |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=www.covingtoninnovations.com}}</ref>