I'd forgotten about those on standard typewriters. I had to take typing to get out of Junior High - my handwriting was too poor to pass Penmanship, and the deal was made that if I took typing I could move on.

I was the only male in the class, and we pounded away on these typewriters day after day. We couldn't get credit for the class until we could type 60 5 letter words per minute, with one word deducted for each mistake. Maybe it was 5 words deducted. Whatever it was, it didn't pay to make mistakes. And some of those girls got very good. I made it to 65 WPM regularly at the end, never over.

Those carriage returns slamming around were a sound to hear. You got pretty good at whacking it over and getting your hand back on the keyboard. Coupled with the clackety-clack of the keys and it was a pretty noisy place.

Got a used IBM Selectric Model B as soon as I could, and haven't had a carriage return, the real thing, since.

Heh, heh. And while we're at it, carbon paper. Had to use that sometimes, before paper which made it's own carbon came out.

Learning to type at that age was a real blessing. Some of the best things have happened to me as the result of what seemed like real disasters at the time.

Arf