I took a typing class in high school (1984) where we started on manual typewriters until we learned the basics. We then graduated to electric typewriters, which were IBM Selectrics. That first day had all of us cheering, laughing, and marveling at this new wonderful toy we were allowed to play with. It was like going from a Model-A Ford to a flying spaceship.

My dad was a CE with IBM for a little over 20 years. I remember having Selectric balls all over the house, and every so often he'd run a complete chassis through the dishwasher. I also remember the smell of IBM's Cleaning Fluid in those big gold cans.

I remember as a kid seeing TV commercials for these when they first came out, showing them operate at full speed. I don't recall the exact year but I think it was the late 1960s. In 1973 I used a terminal in high school that I think the make was HP but I could be wrong, and it had a cylinder instead of a ball.

Funny how flimsy the mechanism looks when slowed down.

Wonderful! We see thw ribbon clearly rise to the three levels. My phone cannot slow down this much. Might it be possible to see the correcting action in slow motion? Daniel