page_title: IBM Selectric typewriter
section_title: Selectric Composer
hierarchical_section_title: IBM Selectric typewriter / History, models, and related machines / Selectric Composer
caption_attribution_description: English: Magnetic card (c. 1980) as used in the IBM MC Selectric typewriter and IBM MC Selectric Composer. Compatible products were available from Memorex and Scotch (3M). The pair of longitudinal wide parallel bars are abrasion from the friction rollers that moved the card relative to the reader, and ejected the card on demand. The number (2564 in this example) is not a product code but a random code so that a specific card could be identified. Image (and ruler) were scanned from a physical card on 2007-12-12. Español: Tarjeta magnética (c. 1980) como la usada en las IBM MC Selectric y IBM MC Selectric Composer. Productos compatibles estaban disponibles de Memorex y Scotch (3M).
context_page_description: The IBM Selectric typewriter was a highly successful line of electric typewriters introduced by IBM on 31 July 1961.
  Instead of the "basket" of individual typebars that swing up to strike the ribbon and page in a typical typewriter of the period, the Selectric had an "element" that rotated and pivoted to the correct position before striking. The element could be easily changed so as to use different fonts in 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 that turned to advance the paper but did not move horizontally, while the typeball and ribbon mechanism did.
  The Selectric mechanism was notable for using internal mechanical binary coding and two mechanical digital-to-analog converters, called whiffletree linkages, to select the character to be typed.
  Selectrics and their descendants eventually captured 75 percent of the United States market for electric typewriters used in business.
context_section_description: In 1966, IBM released the Selectric Composer. This highly modified (and much more expensive) Selectric produced camera-ready justified copy using proportional fonts in a variety of font styles from eight points to fourteen points. Material prepared on a properly adjusted machine by a skillful operator and printed onto baryta (barium sulfate-coated) paper "would take an expert to tell ... [that it] was not the product of a Linotype or Monotype machine".
  Characters were proportionally spaced, three to nine units wide, the size of a unit being selectable as either 1/72", 1/84" or 1/96" to allow for the three sizes of type. (A monospaced "Typewriter Font", in which all characters occupied four units, was available for brief imitations of conventional typed text.) Tab stops could be positioned only at intervals of one-sixth of an inch, or one pica. To support backspacing over previously typed characters, the spacing code for the last forty or so characters typed was mechanically stored by small sliding plates in a carrier wheel.
  Like the Varityper with which it competed, the original machine required that material be typed twice if the output was to be justified. The first time was to measure the length of the line and count the spaces, recording measurements read from a special dial on the right margin. The second time it was typed, the operator set the measurements into the dial to set justification for each line. The process was tedious and slow, but did provide a way to get camera-ready, proportionally spaced, justified copy from a desk-sized, affordable machine.
  The elements for the Selectric Composer would physically fit on a Selectric and vice versa, but were not interchangeable. The characters were arranged and positioned differently around the element. Selectric Composer elements can be distinguished by their colored index arrow (the color indicated which of the three type sizes) and a series of letters and numbers identifying the font, size, and variation, for example "UN-11-B" for Univers 11-point bold (Adrian Frutiger had adapted his Univers font specifically for the Selectric Composer).
  In addition to Univers, a Century, Times Roman, and later an "Aldine" font (Bembo) were available, as was a Symbols font. However, the Composer, with its relatively small market, never had anything like the variety of typefaces available as there were for the Selectric (see below). Each font required separate elements for italic and bold versions, and a separate set of roman/italic/bold balls was required for each font size. Not all typefaces were available in bold and italic in every size for every font. Bold italic, condensed, and light fonts were not available. The need to change elements frequently, sometimes multiple times in the same sentence, slowed work down and was a source of owner dissatisfaction. (In typical use, Selectric elements were changed infrequently.) The small plastic balls were themselves somewhat fragile and not designed to resist frequent handling.
  The following font families were available for the Composer. Italic and bold were available for some but not all families. Up to three sizes existed for each size and variety. In contrast with the Selectric, to change type style usually required purchase of a family of type balls, rather than just one. Just as in the days of metal type no printing shop had every typeface, it was rare for a user firm to possess a complete set, but no user needed to: a publication that could use the somewhat bookish, academic Aldine Roman would probably not have much use for the Classified News or Copperplate Gothic (used most often for formal invitations and business carsa).
  Aldine Roman (similar to Bembo)
  Baskerville
  Bodoni
  Century (similar to Century Schoolbook)
  Classified News (similar to News Gothic)
  Copperplate Gothic
  Journal Roman (similar to Janson)
  Orator (a sans-serif for documents to be read aloud, enlarging letters to the maximum possible on the font element)
  Press Roman (similar to Times Roman); includes Press Roman Symbol (Greek, Mathematical, Technical)
  Pyramid (a sl
caption: IBM Magnetic Card
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