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1962 IBM Model C Serial # 1551803 1962 IBM Model C typewriter, Serial # 1551803 Jer Wal's 1962 IBM Model C typewriter. 2015-02-24 From the Virtual Typewriter Collection of Jer Wal: 1962 IBM Model C Serial # 1551803 I got this one from the Re-Store and took it home and tried it out for a month before returning it and swapping it for a second model "B". The biggest reason for returning it was the type font it uses is ugly and hard to read.
I think the font is called "Manifold" and I think it is patented by IBM. It is a 10 cpi font but the letters are too small for that spacing so it makes a very loose looking line of type. On top of that the line spacing is non-standard 5.25 lines per inch (not the standard 6 lpi). The total effect of this is a page of text that looks like an acrostic puzzle or a very open matrix of random letters. Your eye can go up and down columns as easily as it can go across the line. The words don't group themselves together like a well-designed font should.
This machine also had a problem with the ribbon reverse mechanism. I played with it for a month and never did figure out why it wasn't working; it would go "forward" from the supply reel to the take-up reel, but it wouldn't switch. I figured out a fix with a bulldog clip, but it was strictly a manual work-around and I had to open the cover at the end of every ribbon length and put-on or remove the bulldog clip.
Other than that the machine worked like a dream. They made some good advances over the "B" models in the "banging against the stops" nature of the carriage return and the tabs. I would have been happy to use it if the font hadn't been so ugly.
Also note that I'm calling this a 1962 model C now, not the 1959 noted in the typing sample. That was the year when the "C" line began.

1962 IBM Model C #1551803

Status: Sightings
Hunter: Jer Wal (treefaller)
Created: 02-24-2015 at 11:27AM
Last Edit: 02-24-2015 at 12:54PM

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Description:

I got this one from the Re-Store and took it home and tried it out for a month before returning it and swapping it for a second model "B". The biggest reason for returning it was the type font it uses is ugly and hard to read.
I think the font is called "Manifold" and I think it is patented by IBM. It is a 10 cpi font but the letters are too small for that spacing so it makes a very loose looking line of type. On top of that the line spacing is non-standard 5.25 lines per inch (not the standard 6 lpi). The total effect of this is a page of text that looks like an acrostic puzzle or a very open matrix of random letters. Your eye can go up and down columns as easily as it can go across the line. The words don't group themselves together like a well-designed font should.
This machine also had a problem with the ribbon reverse mechanism. I played with it for a month and never did figure out why it wasn't working; it would go "forward" from the supply reel to the take-up reel, but it wouldn't switch. I figured out a fix with a bulldog clip, but it was strictly a manual work-around and I had to open the cover at the end of every ribbon length and put-on or remove the bulldog clip.
Other than that the machine worked like a dream. They made some good advances over the "B" models in the "banging against the stops" nature of the carriage return and the tabs. I would have been happy to use it if the font hadn't been so ugly.
Also note that I'm calling this a 1962 model C now, not the 1959 noted in the typing sample. That was the year when the "C" line began.

Typeface Specimen:

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Photos:


Note the bulldog clip on the left is just clipped to a ribbon tensioner to keep it handy when needed. It is not part of the typer mechanism.
Note the bulldog clip on the left is just clipped to a ribbon tensioner to keep it handy when needed. It is not part of the typer mechanism.

Hunter: Jer Wal (treefaller)

Jer Wal's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]

Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 452

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