Photo: Etan J. Tal, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
One example. Colors, sub-models, and production years vary; the machine you find may differ.
IBM Selectric I / II
Worth knowing
- Introduced in 1961, it swapped the basket of swinging typebars for a single tilting, rotating element — the “golf ball” — so the carriage stayed still and the type element moved. Wikipedia ↗
- By the mid-1980s the Selectric line had sold well over ten million units, and for years it set the sound and feel people expected from an office machine. Wikipedia ↗
Used by
Hunter S. Thompson
used a Selectric briefly during the Rolling Stone years (1970s)
David Foster Wallace
documented as one of his drafting machines (1990s)
Hunter S. Thompson
Rolling Stone years (1970s)
See & hear it for yourself
All sources
External, in their original form. The people who know these machines best — click through to read and watch.
Specifications
- Manufacturer
- IBM
- Origin
- United States
- Years
- 1961–1986
- Form
- Electric
- Mass
- 15 kg
- Shift
- type-element