Also known as a "golf ball" (probably due to its size), or a typewriter element, the typeball contained all of the characters that a typewriter could type out on paper. It was a revolutionary invention in 1961 by IBM that saved space inside the typewriter (from the individual characters on metal stems that would come up and strike the paper on older typewriters -- as shown in the photo below). It also allowed for the easy changing of the typewriter element so that you could type different fonts by popping out the typeball and setting a new ball in its place. Much of the above information (and some below) comes thanks to the Wikipedia entry on the IBM Selectric typewriter.
The two typeballs in the image at the top of the post (and the handy IBM carrying case) were used in the library by past staff members. They are for the Prestige Elite and Delegate fonts, and, from a bit of research, appear to be from either Selectric I or Selectric II typewriters. The Selectric II arrived on the scene in 1971. Both of those typewriters had 88 characters on the typeball, which appears to be true for these balls. When the Selectric III came out in 1980, its typeballs started allowing for 96 characters.
In my library career, I feel like I keep arriving in libraries at the tail end of various technologies. I did use a typewriter as a student assistant to type "See Also" reference cards for the Michigan State University Library's card catalog (where I also shelved catalog cards from my freshman to junior years). "TYPEWRITER see also WORD PROCESSOR", and so forth. I helped move the card catalog into storage during my senior year.
Here at Gardner-Harvey, my arrival in 2002 came at around the time the staff decided to move our single public typewriter (which bothered some as too noisy for a quiet space like a library) onto the lower floor of the library (then, as now, a study area. It sat there for a few years, mostly unused, until we decided that our lone staff typewriter was not really needed anymore, and that the public one might as well go, too. Of course, we did have two different people come looking for a typewriter to use the week after it was removed (that is sadly part of the ragged end of one technology and the transition to another -- ask me about fax machines some time).
If you'd like to see our typeballs (but sadly not a full typewriter) stop by the library. More throwback technology is coming at you next week!
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