The IBM Selectric II: A Typing Revolution Turned Spy Tool - Inside Operation Gunman

[@davidmicheletti6292]

Im a friend of the person who made the discovery of these IBM Selectric machines. Ive seen photos of him tearing these machines apart in his lab. In all he Xrayed ten thousand of these Selectric machines. One clever aspect of powering the soviet spy equipment was a coil that picked up power from the on on/off switch even when the switch was in the off position. Areas of the die cast frame were machined out and spy equipment was then placed inside these cavities. Somehow the metal frames were then put back together seamlessly. Only X-ray would show the location of the spy equipment. This same person was then sent over seas to locate the receivers located just outside the embassies. In all I think there were sixteen machines that were found to have been modified. I have a copy of a book published about five years ago that does a good job detailing these events. Ive been in contact with several other people who were working for the government and explained other details of this case that have been declassified. This wasn't his only discovery but the only one publicly spoken of. My wife used a selectric for years and once in a while I would use it. It was a fantastic piece of manufacturing.

[@KallePihlajasaari]

Please share the name of the book.

[@jbkrab]

Spanking ain't got no friends......😆

[@peters8758]

The Lift-Off correctible carbon ink ribbon was a far greater security vulnerability, from the 1950’s to the early 1990’s. Used ribbons were often tossed in the trash, and everything typed was still visible, so anybody tasked with emptying the trash would have easy access to some pretty wild info. These correctible ribbons were forbidden at many law firms and medical transcription offices, but many others didn’t even know what Due Diligence meant. Trash bins were potential goldmines.

[@skyd8726]

Similar to the credit card "zip-zap" machines used to fill out a card purchase. The multi-copy carbon form which was placed on the top of the credit card, had a portion which was torn out and "binned". These were recovered from the trash and became a first type of credit card fraud, when those details were used to conduct other (fraudulent) purchases.

[@BryanTorok]

This comment should be pinned. I came here to say the same thing. When i read the title, I thought that this was spying technique the video was going to cover. He should have mentioned it.

[@RobertJarecki]

​@skyd8726 That credit card fraud was the reason cashiers started asking "Do you want your carbons?" Edit: @OP There are rumors heard from Naval personnel who worked in offices in Japan and South Korea during that period about all typewriter ribbons being run through large shredders and the shredded bits then being incinerated. Of course, those sources are notoriously unreliable with stories of sensitive directional microphones which could pick up conversations through double paned windows with closed drapes from half a mile away and satellite cameras that could photograph license plates from space including the state and the year on the renewal sticker.

[@The_DuMont_Network]

​@@RobertJareckiOh, you mean NCIS?

[@PDNH]

There was a Columbo TV series episode where he solved the murder mystery by reading the used correctable ribbon. (The ribbon lift/feed mechanism had to be rigged so that the home audience could easily read it as well.)

[@TheBasementChannel]

Wow, that’s an incredibly ingenious spy operation. This is what KZbin is all about, obscure, but interesting stories! Great work RTOD!

[@CatFish107]

Agreed. Here's a comment to boost engagemometrics.

[@electronicengineer]

@@CatFish107 And another comment for the YT algorithm.

[@threegoldmartlets]

I worked at the British Embassy in Moscow from 1985-87. We had lots of Selectrics. If they needed service they were sent to the UK in the Diplomatic Bag ("Bags" could weigh hundreds of kilos). So there was a constant flow of machines to and from the Embassy. Our technical team was responsible for ensuring that the "clean" machines stayed clean. My abiding memory of these beasts is throwing my back out lifting one out of its box.

[@masaukochitsamba7808]

The British intelligence services (MI5 and MI6) was so heavily compromised that chances are the Soviets knew about the movements of those machines to and from the UK and probably managed to modify them and eavesdrop on the communications at the embassy.

[@saltyroe3179]

Dad (an engineering professor) and mom (a clinical psychologis) got a Selectric and then a Sekectric II. It was in heavy use. It was superior in every way. They always used the carbon one use ribbon. The correcting feature was fantastic for me. At university I got permission to use a typewriter on my final exam. I could type faster than I wrote and my handwriting is hard to read. I rented a Selectric II at the student store. Carrying to class tested my strength and stamina. The Professor put me in the empty classroom next door so my typing did not disturb the other students. I finished my exam before anyone else

[@ddegn]

Thanks for the interesting story. Do you mind sharing when this was and what sort of class this final was in? I'm 61 and typewriters weren't used much when I was at university. At least I (and fellow students) didn't use typewriters much. I think they were still used my many of the university staff.

[@saltyroe3179]

@@ddegn I believe it was 1975 at CSUNorthridge. I don't remember the class, but the final was an essay.

[@ddegn]

@@saltyroe3179 Thanks for the reply. I was 12 at the time and I remember seeing a Selectric II typewriter at my father's office. That golf ball sure was fascinating to watch in action. Thanks again for the story.

[@saltyroe3179]

@@ddegn I remember that my dad used Orator ball which produced large type for speeches

[@dieseldragon6756]

I wonder what the KGB thought of your work in that final exam? ⌨📶🕵🙃

[@googleantispy3850]

Truly an amazing machine, especially from the inside. While at college bought a rebuilt model in 1974 then, later in 1978, as an earlier adopter of an early S100-based PC, bought a kit to turn the Selectric into a printer! (Internal mount points for solenoid blocks were already in place for IBM to build Selectrics as console terminals for mainframes.) Lots of tinkering but it made for the best combination of word-processing on the dinosaur PC that then delivered near printed book-quality output. (Wrote custom software for the printer driver to put in pauses for font changes.) The local IBM tech at the college took pity and taught me basic service and adjustment procedures, and how to buy official IBM Selectric tools and lubricants. Ran the machine for more than 10 years in that configuration.

[@envisionCamusa]

That was very cool story showing how young people should be allowed to experiment without fear from their peers.

[@larrywashburn9435]

I loved the way IBM supported the repair and documentation how to repair and align the Heads,,, and the metal strands used for R1 and T1 had to be replaced,,, wow that was DIFFICULT!

[@HSkraekelig]

I remember that big frame of solenoids positioned over the keys to convert it to a printer. Clunky from the current point of view, but it made for a very nice hard copy output at the time. I worked on building an S100 system based on the Ithica Audio Z80 board, but never got it finished before family responsibilities and time (and the TRS80) caused me to abandon the project. Fun times!

[@larrywashburn9435]

@@HSkraekelig Reminds me I bought an Altair S100 at Trenton Computer fest For $100 (Original PS no cards) So I upgraded the PS and Caps and also got an Ithica Audio Z80 board and multiple other cards and started working to put it together,,, standard ?? you say S100 was a standard? What about Pin 69? frustration to the max, The Apple II got me since I saw the Clock signal on the Trash 80 at a seminar,,, nobody could believe how the Trash 80 even ran with that Noisy clock signal. I regret selling the Altair S100 as it is now a collectors item... Also alll my Apple IIs e etc gone. Fun Days every day we knew we were on the brink of a new technology!

[@zaxxon4]

We did the same kind of thing to the Soviet embassy to the US. We targeted the Xerox copier. Xerox leased the machine to them, and the custom model provided to them had a camera built into it. The film was in the toner cartridge, and the technician who replaced it was CIA. If they made a copy of a document we later got a copy as well.

[@TheGrantourismo]

Soviet embassies never used foreign equipment to print or copy sensitive documents, it was strictly forbidden. So copies of documents smuggled by CIA contained no vital data.

[@rnascak]

From 1983 - 1990, I worked in a SCIF in West Berlin, where East bloc signals were intercepted and analyzed for intelligence. Transcripts were typed in their original language. Thus, we used Cyrillic, German, and Polish typeface elements in addition to standard English. When not in use, these elements and the used ribbon cartridges were stored in safes. NSA had the TEMPEST program that was aimed at eliminating spurious electromagnetic signals emanating from secure facilities. Every device was tested in a lab to determine it's control zone, the distance at which its electromagnetic signal could be detected. This was published in the TPDL (TEMPEST Products Data List). Any device whose control zone exceeded the facility secure perimeter was not allowed in the facility. I remember the worst offender was the short-lived Apple LISA computer, with a control zone of over 5 miles!

[@dieseldragon6756]

Five *miles?!?!* How the heck did the Lisa get FCC certification with EMF like _that?!_ 😳 On the bright side, you could *now* use an Apple Lisa in one of those places. Ever since Brexit the mile (It's a British unit; We invented it! 😋) has lost a *lot* of its value and is now worth only 75m compared to the 1,600m it used to be. Accordingly, five mile EMF now only requires a secure zone of 375m, readily achievable at most larger sites. 👍 (Also: Did they never think of just covering the walls in grounded steel plates or aluminium foil? 😇)

[@ВасилийКоровин-г9э]

@@dieseldragon6756 They could just made a foil cap for Lisa.

[@dieseldragon6756]

@@ВасилийКоровин-г9э * _Doffs tinfoil hat at that comment..._ * 👍

[@jamesturnbaugh177]

When I worked in the typing pool for a health insurance company, after the carbon ribbons were used up, we sent them to the microfilm vault for shredding. There was a concern about the carbon ribbons back then. Our IBM printers also used daisy wheels and much larger carbon ribbons as well.

[@peters8758]

The IBM Selectric would self-destruct unless the cams and slip-spring cycle clutches (triggered by those interposers) were re-lubricated every few months with the correct grease. I did dozens of those each month, and next-level techs replaced the cams and clutches about every 5 to 7 years. We never saw such bug devices but we saw other 3rd party add-ons that could record or retype form letters. * A prototype Selectric which was exhibited at the Seattle World Fair was bought by a customer of mine afterward - that Selectric was still in daily use when it was over 20 years old. It was my job to re-lube it every few months in the 1980's and it still worked as good as a new one!

[@scottcates]

B est typewriter ever made.

[@jum5238]

Read The Spy in Moscow station. I believe the bugging went much further than described here.

[@JimS-m1e]

The Seattle Worlds Fair was my first encounter with a Selectric. I was blown away.

[@josephkanowitz6875]

ב''ה, and you could afford a house just doing that

[@rexmyers991]

I was working for the FAA as a Designated Examiner - testing applicants for Aircraft Mechanics certification. I was required to use an IBM Selectric for creating the (sucessful) applicant’s certificate. This was as late as 2018. Great machine.

[@AnthonyHigham6414001080]

Fascinating piece. Clever Soviets. At home in the 1970's we had an IBM Selectric Composer, a truly amazing bit of technology. It was used for phototypesetting by my mother's company. "This highly-modified (and much more-expensive) Selectric produced camera-ready justified copy using proportional fonts in a variety of font styles ranging from eight points to fourteen points." In today's money it cost more than $30,000. For my sins and without permission I used it to produce the copy for a renegade school magazine. Nobody could understand how I produced something with such insane quality, it matched the professionally produced school publications.

[@joedebosco3047]

Very interesting video. I was an IBM "customer service engineer" from 1970 - 1996. Selectrics were my specialty. We never used the term wiffle tree. The part you referred to was called a latch bail guide. There were 5 latches that were used using fulcrum logistics to tilt and rotate the positive element (ball). One other seperate latch controlled the negative characters. I am curious to knew where that term wiffle tree came from. Very educational video.

[@RetroTechorDie]

It's interesting, when I was doing research I saw both wiffle tree and latch bail used. It appeared more recent documentation used wiffle tree while original documentation used latch bail.

[@joedebosco3047]

I see where someone copied the repair manual into KZbin. Go to KZbin and input "IBM Selectric repair manual. Then to the section on rotate & tilt. In the 1960's- 90's it was call a latch bail - never a wiffle tree. Although discontinued by IBM on the 80's, they were still being sold as NEW by licensed dealers into the 90's. Someone made that term up probably when the Selectric started to reimerge in the 2000's as collectables. Very interesting article. I enjoyed it --wiffle tree or not.

[@rickpinelli1586]

I used to worked on IBM selectrics... Still have my tools!

[@beryllium1932]

Those Selectrics are so cool. My uncle's secretary had one in the 1970s. They're massive. Really closer to 90 lbs than 40. There is no perceptible jiggle at all. The key feel is amazing. When you touch a key, it yields progressively, then crisply resets. Alot like the trigger of a gun. The character is struck perfectly, every time. It moves so fast--the gun analogy really is apt--the experience is magic.

[@jovetj]

My high school had a room full of them and it's what I learned to type on in the 90s.

[@beryllium1932]

@@jovetj I'm envious.

[@xaenon]

@@jovetj Ilearned to type on a Selectric in 1983-1984. I'm told the original IBM PC-1 personal computer's keyboard was based on the Selectric keyboard. Little wonder, then, that they were so rugged you could bludgeon someone with them and not miss a single keystroke.

[@scottcates]

I did some time on the Selectric II in the early 80's. Great typewriters. This description of the key feel is spot on.

[@MontegaB]

The Selectric is a pretty weird and amazing machine. It's almost shocking how complex of a device it is, to do what is essentially a very simple task. It's an example of the absolute pinnacle of a particular design; almost reaching to the level of technology that would replace it.

[@davidgrisez]

I am 73 years old and I remember the IBM Selectric Typewriter. The very first time I saw one of these typewriters was in the later 1960s. My father worked for NBC Studios in Burbank. My father took me to work and showed me one of these IBM Selectric Typewriters that was being used as a computer terminal for the computer equipment that was at NBC Studios at that time. Since I was young I found this typewriter to be amazing. Over the years I started to see these typewriters being used in the offices of Grace Community Church during the 1970s. The IBM Selectric Typewriter was one amazing piece of technology for its time.

[@PetesGuide]

My first job ever as a kid (other than newspaper delivery) was working for an award shop, helping with the assembly of trophies etc. And I spent an awful lot of time on their Selectric typing up labels or whatnot. Soooo much nicer than the manual typewriters I was learning on in junior high!

[@danieldeary9344]

I read somewhere that East Germans and Soviets continued to use manual typewriters for fear the electrics could be compromised. As good as the Selectrics were, they did require routine maintenance by trained technicians to keep them working...many current used Selectrics have issues. They are quite complex and a real challenge for an average collector to repair.

[@theodorekorehonen]

There is some in depth videos on KZbin though! There's one guy in particular I'm thinking of who used to be a repair tech and goes through basically the whole dang machine. Made me really appreciate how well built it is, except for the power switch lol

[@danieldeary9344]

@@theodorekorehonen Even so, there is a level of expertise that is necessary to tackle these beasts. I had one Selectric II that had a nylon gear disintegrate in it's innards and the amount of mechanical parts that needed removal to even get to it, was a bit overwhelming. Plus the cost of the replacement gear was very high as well. I gave the unit away as it was too much to tackle.

[@allangibson8494]

And then you discover you can hack a manual typewriter… (each key makes a unique sound).

[@tedecker3792]

I repaired these in the early 70s while working for Big Blue. Recently a friend gave me a selectric 2 for my birthday. It’s amazing how much I remembered of all the adjustments after 50 years.

[@dieseldragon6756]

I was also using a typewriter at home for private documents for much the same reasons up until 5-6 years ago, when I learned of an airgap hack and realised that the privacy I got from a mechanical typewriter was now non-existent when I had my big-brand smartphone sat just by it on the desk! ⌨🔈📲🔓

[@BariumCobaltNitrog3n]

I have a green one with 7 font balls, courier, delegate in regular, light and italic and 2 symbol fonts-one is still in the original package. My mother used it in the 60's typing papers for college students in Berkeley to raise 2 sons. She typed 80 words a minute sight reading and I would proofread, getting a nickel per error. I don't remember ever getting paid. It still works.

[@woodstover]

Loved using selectrics. The feel of the keys were perfect!

[@MrJMaq]

Sir, you speak very well. You use proper inflection for commas and periods and speak at an understandable rate and tempo. So many youtubers - young and old - speak faster than most people can think; they turn commas into questions and ignore periods. They all get thumbs down from me. You should teach a speaking class. Plus this is very interesting subject. Keep up the good work.

[@garyowen9044]

We were not allowed to use the IBM Selectric for classified material. We had a couple old, Underwood finger bangers for the secret stuff.

[@dieseldragon6756]

What was the position on writing classified documents by hand? 😇

[@highpath4776]

I think the friendly country was the UK, the wall mounted antenna has been covered by other channels

[@xaenon]

The tech of espionage and the nuts and bolts of the cold war has always fascinated me.

[@williamogilvie6909]

Great video. I had a selectric in 1984, and used it mostly for updating my resume and to write job application letters. I also used one in 1981 to type my bachelor's thesis. It's amazing how creative and innovative the Soviet spies were. If they could harness those skills in a free, competitive society, instead of trying to undo the good that other countries do, their standard of living would be so much better.

[@KallePihlajasaari]

Yeah, In politics there are no good guys. Someone above commented that the USA bugged the Soviet Xerox machines. All parties have bugged everyone they could. The 5Eyes have bugged each other and their allies as well as 'enemy' phone calls. The FBI has used ANOM and other means to bug 'criminals' but the same techniques are used against governments wherever possible.

[@emdxemdx]

Smith-Corona-Marchant had a simpler trick when they introduced their first electronic daisywheel typewriter. They had already the tooling to make mechanical keyboards so they had a very clever trick: each key had a bar that was a fixed distance between each side of the keyboard, so all they needed to do was to put a microphone at each end of a strike plate, and the delay the sound of each bar took to reach each end made it possible to calculate which key was pressed, with only two microphones and a bit of computing…

[@peters8758]

@@emdxemdx Being factory trained on SCM’s first-gen A-series daisy wheel typewriter repair (I think I still have one in the basement), I think spying via the microphone delay calculations would fail big-time because the wheel only returned to position zero after a delay of about a second. Typing faster would spin/step the daisy left or right, whichever path is shorter to next character. Also the keyboard had a buffer memory so microphones capturing the time relationship between key tap and wheel spin time would be inaccurate except first character of each word or phrase. Thus I call fiction or abandoned spy effort. The next-gen SCM E-series daisy might emit clock and command signals worth intercepting because they had a non-metallic outer case, but the clock crystal used a common standard frequency, subject to overlapping RF noise from many other digital products of the 1980’s using the same frequency, and important departments would be typing on a “better” maker’s machine (c’mon guys, these little SCM’s had high reliability). At that time, Olivetti had made huge market gains with great daisy wheel typewriters, but again a plastic case might allow enough electrical signal leakage to make a spy team smile.

[@Joe_VanCleave]

@@peters8758 I still have several SCM type-bar electrics. Great machines and easy to work on.

[@scottcates]

The Selectric II was superior in every way. I learned to type on them and regularly input 120 WPM.

[@RacerX-]

What a fascinating story. Those old IBM typewriters were work horses still being used today. We still have an IBM typewriter in our office today that gets used for labels and forms. haha. It is one of the newer Wheelwriters but still a beast.

[@chiron14pl]

I never owned an IBM Selectric, but used one several times and found them to be excellent machines. Interesting video

[@alandouglas8939]

Great video. It brings back memories as I used to work for IBM New Zealand's help desk back in the 80's. The IBM Wheelwriter had just been released to replace the Selectric typewriters. I got a phone call from the NZ security services who wanted to know if there was an anti spying device for the Wheelwriter. After doing some investigation, I found that there was an 'Engineering Change' available for the Selectrics. It was just a flywheel to attach to the motor. It appears that electronic devices could be installed in the wall mains power outlet that the Selectric was plugged into. The Selectric drew a different amount of current depending on the character typed and this electronic spy device could transmit that information back to the baddies. The flywheel evened out the power consumption so no power fluctuations could be measured. And No, there was no anti spying device for the new fangled daisy wheel Wheelwriter typewriters.

[@peterjones7935]

When I did service calls at the US Embassy in Wellington all the Selectrics had that flywheel installed. And the easy way around the carbon film ribbon problem was to use T-III ribbon, but it wasn't popular as it could not be corrected as cleanly as carbon - requiring use of cover-up tape

[@BryanTorok]

As of at least 2020, the Cleveland Ohio Police Department was still using IBM Selectric typewriters and other electric typewriters and even some manual typewriters. They have forms with blank spaces to filled in. Even though they could be hand printed, the preference was to do them on a typewriter for legibility.

[@michaelrundle5279]

Fascinating. Great video. I loved typing on the Selectric. What a machine it was!

[@EIGYRO]

Your description of the typewriter operation was really very good. And I spent 5 years fixing them, so I know.

[@mainesail3097]

THIS GUY IS REALLY GOOD--just came across channel--I am totally impressed

[@hoilst265]

This is beautiful. I've got two gorgeous old German Olympias, but the IBM Selectrics are something else. My default typeface in Google Docs is IBM Plex - which was based off the stock typeface that came with the Selectrics. A lot of people might recognise Selectric I from the show Mad Men - they used them right from the beginning, which it actually a bit of an anachronism, as the show starts in 1960 but Selectrics weren't sold until 1961. But the production team just loved the look of them - they're pieces of classic mid-century design - and had to have them from the start, even if it wasn't accurate.

[@michaellandry2227]

As you push the Selectric keys in the video it brings back a lot of memories. Great machine. As a journalist I could type 80 words per minute on a Selectric. Early in the personal computer era, someone came up with a PC keyboard that mimicked the Selectric in terms of feel. I never tried one of those; it would be nice to have a keyboard like that today, but we have several generations that never experienced the smoothness and speed of a Selectric, so there would be a minimal market.

[@Joffboff-do1nn]

loved that machine. My mom brought one home from her work. The way the head moved was mind boggling.

[@SwampDog-w8i]

My Mother was a secretary for many years , and she used an IBM Selectric typewriter for many of those years . The machine in her office was a "wide-carriage" machine , because of the accounting work she was doing . She liked it so much that eventually she bought a "standard carriage" one for her personal use at home , and handed off her "old" Royal portable to me when I was in High School .

[@Franklin-pc3xd]

Fascinating content. I had never heard of this, but it makes total sense. Kudos to this fellow for a great lesson. The Selectric was a great machine. I had a "mini", aka Selectric I for college and everybody begged me to let them borrow it.

[@dsbennett]

The US government hired Russian contractor to build an embassy. Sometime later, officials were surprised to learn those dastardly Soviets had bugged the entire building. Shocking!

[@dieseldragon6756]

Knowing how _different_ Soviet electrical standards were compared to British ones of the time, _shocking_ was probably the operative word... ⚡😉

[@threegoldmartlets]

The new US embassy building in Moscow in the 1980s (under construction during my time at the British Embassy) was in effect a giant transmitter, thanks to the way the Soviets wired the metal framework. It was never used to the best of my knwledge.

[@TheGrantourismo]

US and UK did the same, no wonder.

[@patrickcannell2258]

NEVER trust a communist. All this trouble to control. This innovation NEVER benefitted their people. Evil system.

[@peterwexler5737]

Definitely, my favorite. Instant feedback with every keystroke.

[@BryanTorok]

I'm amazed that the balls were chrome plated plastic. I would have sworn that they were metal. Even with chrome plating, I am amazed that plastic would be durable enough.

[@Joe_VanCleave]

There’s a guy in Texas called Selectric Rescue who’s 3D resin printing new type ball elements in new fonts, like Vogue and Comic Sans.

[@hattree]

Those selectrics were great! My Dad's business had 5 or 6 of them. They were beasts, but they were very durable and could be repaired easily. It's too bad IBM didn't keep with that philosophy of design.

[@choppergirlfpv]

Unbelievable how complicated that machine is

[@iiidiy]

Really enjoyed this one! I don't know anything about typewriters, and wouldn't normally seek this out, but because it's RToD I gave it a watch... glad I did! You found a great story and made a super interesting video with it! Thanks :)

[@RetroTechorDie]

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@sparty94]

when i took typing in high school way back in the day, this was the typewriter we used. great machine.

[@lefturn99]

I remember when my mom got one. It was a game changer. She did a lot of forms, and it was excellent for that. She was getting older when they came out but she still tested close to 100 wpm.

[@davidgold5961]

During my active duty in the U.S. Marines, we used IBM Selectric II typewriters in the offices extensively. This was from 1980 to 1985.

[@Ray_of_Light62]

I had the compact version of the Selectric, made by Olivetti. The machine required continued maintenance, and it was hard to find a qualified technician to keep it in shape. In particular, the clutch mechanism lost alignment with the use, you pressed the key and nothing happened. Because of such quirks, there are few golf ball typewriters still operating. The majority of surviving typewriters are the letter bar types, which had very little that could fail...

[@jaex9617]

Great vid. Amazing tech, including the spy operation. 🤯

[@drdghattierdc]

I was an IBM customer engineer lates 70-82. We were told that machines whose motors had a flywheel were “govt” only. This included type bars. Every office they were in were spotlessly clear of paper work we came in. We as techs. We’re told it was possible to detect letters by the different pulses each letter required. This was already by 1979. Never fully sourced but I suppose plausible.

[@davidhollfelder9940]

In college back in the mid 70s, I used an IBM Selectric based acoustic modem terminal to communicate from Buffalo, NY with an IBM 360/370 mainframe in Binghamton, NY.

[@Mark.Brindle]

I did my engineering thesis on one in the early 80’s. Had to change the golf ball 3-4 times per line because of the math symbols etc. It was a real issue when I found a single error on a line when proofreading. I often had to retype a whole page, leading to more errors.

[@dieseldragon6756]

That's one of the _downsides_ to a Selectric compared to a traditional manual typewriter. I type in several languages (UK English, German, Spanish, French and others) and having to change the ball every time I need to change language (Which can happen multiple times on a page) would really slow me down. Granted that's always going to be a problem when writing a document in both Cyrillic and Latin (Speediest solution: Separate Russian typewriter) but a few simple typographical tricks make typing most Western European languages on a UK English typewriter surprisingly simple! 😇

[@davidford694]

The Selectric was used as a terminal for the APL computer language, which featured a number of Greek characters. This was the language in which the operating system of the IBM 360 was prototyped.

[@jovetj]

That is really impressive. Scary that it seems to easy to accomplish that the Soviets accomplished it. But still impressive.

[@nicholas_scott]

That was fascinating. I think most people think of Rathergate when they think of the selectric, but they really were fabulous machines

[@dake4629]

They were also able to get data from dot matrix printers by just listening to the print head. The combinations of pins each had a different sound. No bug required.

[@twjackson94]

very interesting. great video.

[@Nafregamisrocanob]

Very good video!! The PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE of Soviet spying in our embassy was the wooden great seal sculpture placed in the ambassadors office that went unnoticed for seven years.

[@DustyGamma]

I love how certain types of used ink ribbons could be a security risk, because you should tell what had been typed from it.

[@xaenon]

I'm sure the embassies had the means to dispose of used ribbons. IIRC correctly, it was commonplace for embassies to have an incinerator on the premises.

[@kcgunesq]

Its been a while, but i learned to type on typewriters. IIRC, the ribbons our manual typewriter in the 70's used a cloth ribbon that could be re-inked. I don't think you could get much off of it. But later ribbons were sort of like the whiteout correcting ribbons in that they were plastic and coated with ink on one side. When those were used, they were disposed of. The space between the characters would still have ink, but any place the key struck, the ink would be missing.

[@DustyGamma]

@@kcgunesq Yeah, those plastic ribbons! I actually learned about the espionage part in a video explaining how the correction feature worked.

[@UTubeRangerBob]

While I was with a USAF intel detachment around 1981, AFOSI had a van park near our building and monitor RF emissions. They were able to capture most of what we were printing on our printers. I think they may have been daisy wheels, but don't remember for sure. I believe they were detecting how far the motors were turning to determine which character was struck. After that we had to put our printers in plywood boxes internally lined with grounded wire mesh until we could get commercial faraday boxes for them.

[@LMHPhilly]

The ball cost IBM about $0.60 to manufacture and sold for about $20.00. A friend realized the only patent that IBM had was on the clip which attached the ball to the typewriter. He designed another clip and manufactured other balls for about $2.00 and sold them for $10.00, half of IBM's cost. His first customer was the Social Security Administration. Only in America!!

[@dieseldragon6756]

Two competing businesses bashing each others balls in the marketplace? Surely this is a *British* thing? ⚽🇬🇧😉

[@mikethespike7579]

I used to have one of these. Got it for dirt cheap when a company changed over to dedicated text processing computers. Those were a laugh, they used 5 inch floppies to store texts. One floppy per letter! LOL!

[@mityace]

I remember a device that was sold to turn a Selectric into a computer printer. It was a panel that would fit over the keyboard and contained switches that would physically strike the keys on the keyboard to print the letter! Klunky yet ingeniously simple at the same time.

[@xaenon]

damn, I'd love to get a look at something like that.

[@kcgunesq]

And if anyone is tempted to ask "why", they probably don't recall how bad dot-matrix printing was or how expensive a purpose built type-quality printer was.

[@georgetillett6549]

The 1053 I/O writer was the official console input output device on many IBM 360 computers. They had electromagnets to trip the bails for output and extra cams and contacts on the drive shaft. The main trick was to keep them well oiled and greased. The writer on the IBM 1130 of the 1960s also had a high speed carriage return to reduce the time between printed lines.The early machines had a self adjusting mechanism for the rotate tape, but this was discontinued as it caused more problems than it solved. Most techs liked to get maintenance done in the minimum time so it is not surprising that the bug was not noticed for a long time.

[@larrywashburn9435]

I almost bought one of those devices but it was cost prohibitive IMO. So I made my own Solonoids and used a 2716 EPROM to translate the EBCIDIC code to ASCII , what a pain in the ASS project it was, but I learned a lot driving it at 12cps required a lot of maintenance.

[@Joe_VanCleave]

I currently have the early version of the Selectric, a model 721, that uses a cloth ribbon cartridge instead of the film type. The advantage is the cartridge can be opened up and the cloth ribbon replaced with standard 1/2 inch manual typewriter ribbon. The cartridge also auto-reverses and runs over and over, and doesn’t leave the telltale evidence of what was typed. The Selectric II and III cartridges are getting harder to find, especially the “bicycle” style SIII style.

[@andrewdunbar828]

the typewriter never suspected a thing

[@doncolbath5616]

Used to work on Selectrics in the 70s and 80s. Still have a manual (comic book), cycle wheel and clutch tool.

[@Subgunman]

What about the IBM Selectric Mag Card typewriter that stored documents on what looked like an IBM punch card except the one side had a magnetic coating similar to audio or video tapes and the storage unit which resembled a tall computer under the desk would take a card in through a slot on the front and write to the card every character that was typed and therefore saved the document on a card that could be "played back" allowing the typewriter to automatically type out a copy of the document stored on the card. Now the fun part is to locate a working pair with cards and do a review of this great machine.

[@dieseldragon6756]

I read about that system - _IBM MagCard_ - Ages ago. Yes, the cards were the same form factor as IBM data cards, but these were _entirely_ ferromagnetic. IIRC the system was capable of storing about 8KB on each card, and it could accept cards in stacks. The „Bin“ type reader was probably the most common type in office environments, but a desktop reader was also available. 😇

[@kevinjbakertribe]

Watch the titles for the 70s UK series UFO - which used a golf ball teletype sped up to look futuristic!

[@analogdesigner-Jay]

Interesting, my late father had many of these Selectric typewriters at his bank. These things were more unreliable than a British sports car. I'm surprised that a repairman didn't notice this much sooner. Thanks for an excellent video!

[@RY-TIOUSRY]

awesome piece!

[@RetroTechorDie]

Thanks for watching!

[@WolfmanDude]

That spy operation was way more sophisticated than I thought! I expected them to just put a big ass circuit board in the bottom of the case.

[@jamesmisener3006]

The selectric was the benchmark typewriter soon after it was available. Others tried like Remington and Hermes but the selectric II was the best. The 3 model had a few issues. We had a few government offices we supplied service to who used fabric ribbons on selectric typewriters so the used ribbons weren't readable. We never knew who made these cartridges that you could crank by hand when the ribbon reached the end to re-type over the fabric ribbon. I do know those fabric ribbons left a mess all over the carrier. Silk fabric. These typewriters would be taken to an empty room where we would perform the repair or service. Cheers 🇨🇦

[@jeffkindrick6049]

I was a service tech for a family owned office equipment company from 1979 through 2004 when arthritis forced retirement. We were Olympia dealers and they also marketed a relabeled version of the Swiss made Hermes single element machine and it was a technical nightmare. By comparison, the Swedish built Facit 1850 was a great machine, reliable and easy to service. As the '80s progressed and the price of electronic machines continued to drop while their reliability increased exponentially, the electro-mechanical typewriters became less and less cost effective. Around 1990 we began to see Nakajima typewriters manufactured in Japan, first marketed as Olympias and within a couple of years as Swintecs. By the mid-nineties we were selling virtually all Swintec labeled Nakajima machines and I handled 90% plus of the service; in honesty one of the biggest problems was a new employee using a sticky Selectric style lift-off tape instead of the dry type used by electronics. In a typical office environment some of those machines never required service from the day they were sold to my retirement. I certainly understand an appreciation for a well designed and finely crafted mechanical apparatus. There is a fine Graflex Speed Graphic view/press camera on a shelf above my home office desk that is likely as old as I am, 73. The last photo I made with it was a portrait of my wife on monochrome Illford film on our 10th Anniversary in 1987, I went digital over twenty years ago. This was a fascinating video!

[@Norah413-b1e]

When you think about it it makes so much sense all you have to know is what that ball is whenever it hits its thing it would seem like it would be very easy to do such a thing

[@jimfesta8981]

I had an acquaintance who worked at the Lockheed Skunk Works many years ago. He told me they took special precautions to protect their typewriters.

[@robertbrouillette6767]

How did Soviet agents get access to these typewriters? Were they intercepted before they arrived at the embassy?

[@davidc5191]

The Selectric was a brilliant machine - I wrote my college thesis on one.

[@ArifGhostwriter]

🇬🇧 👍🏽 November 2024 Awesome video! I have de-lidded 3.5 hard drives on display around my house - a reminder of the last mechanical marvel of computing technology. Equally - these typewriters were the bastion of leading edge technology of their day - & so strange to have all of that mechanical problem-solving replaced 100% by electronics.

[@RetroTechorDie]

Thank you!!

[@raymondmartin6737]

Yes, I remember them from those days, such an improvement over the old style typewriters which I grew up with. 😅

[@Chu-vg2yu]

The best typwriter, precision, speed and powerful. It can do multiple carbon copies typing.

[@a-fl-man640]

never could type worth a darn but the selectric i used in JC had a wonderful feel to the keys.

[@JustAnOldMan56]

Absolutely unbelievable that this happened in the 1980s! In the late 60s I saw Selectric based systems in secure areas powered through a unit that generated electrical noise. With covers in place, the generated field would light a fluorescent tube held close to the unit. That takes a good bit of power and gives an indication of bandwidth. I see no way for a low-power transmitter to cut through that hash, regardless of the modulation scheme used. It SHOULD NOT have happened.

[@Qsderto]

There was compressed information transmitted in a fraction of a second over a wide range. This device accumulated information for some time.

[@RealSamski]

Awesome video. Thanks for the hard work

[@markbowen3638]

My mum had one of these linked to an early word processor made by a company called Redactron. It used cassette tapes to produce letters for mail merge. State of the art in 1973! 😊

[@fredfarnackle5455]

Ah yes, I remember those. I worked for a bunch called Wang Computer who put out a similar one, I jumped ship from IBM and became Wang's expert fixer because of my Selectric experience, ours had two cassette drives and later they brought out a version with a VDU which was revolutionary at the time. We gave a sample machine to a federal government department for a three month trial to see if we could sell them some. After the trial they gave it back and said 'no thanks, we don't see any future in that technology.' 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@90762709]

Wow, I feel old! I remember watching this espionage news reports as they happened!

[@rudolphguarnacci197]

It's size was beneficial, like the size of large engine bays in 1960s American muscle cars made it easy to work on.

[@matthewday7565]

The first keylogger

[@russellhltn1396]

Up next, when the US "bugged" the Russian embassy's Xerox machine. ;)

[@TheGrantourismo]

It didn't get any useful info, thou.

[@russellhltn1396]

@@TheGrantourismo Perhaps due to the time delay. They had to wait until the next service call to retrieve the film.

[@keithbarron3654]

Back in 90's , you could take laser mic and aim it at office window and the old keyboards emitted frequency spikes for each key, that's why federal guidelines don't allow computers to be in proximity to windows and glass is supposed to contain so much quartz to offset. Monitor are not supposed to allow viewing from outside of windows.

[@johnjacobjinglehimerschmid3555]

I learned to type on one of these. Matter of fact one was blue one was tan. I rushed to the typing class because there were only 2 of these in the classroom and it was first come first served. It says this happened 82-84. I was in HS from 81-85. That some b!tchin information.

[@herbneely2626]

I learned to type on these. I have never seen the inside before.

[@steamfire]

Lol I reflexively closed the tab when the reporter signed off with "this is CBS new, the pentagon"

[@doowi1182]

Great video!

[@CrankyBeach]

I was a medical transcriptionist. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven when I started a job where they had a correcting Selectric II, dual pitch AND the "scrunch button." Ironically, in 1980 they got me an "E-tron," very similar to the Selectric but it had even more nifty tricks. It would "remember" a certain number of keystrokes so when you hit a typo, you just backspace and it takes off the characters you just typed, as many or as few as you wanted gone. It also had the capability of storing 10 frequently-used pieces of text. Ironically, that typewriter wrecked my wrists with tendinitis because with its correction features I hardly ever paused my typing.

[@CatFish107]

Those latch interposers remind me of old telephone exchange gear.

[@LMacNeill]

Learned how to type on a Selectric II back in 1987. I can still hear the sound of that class, with 25 kids typing away. 😂

[@ericwilner1403]

Interesting! The Selectric was indeed a marvelous machine; I did some unofficial maintenance on them, back in the day. and the innards were mind-boggling. I find myself wondering how much information is embedded in the acoustic output of one of those beasts, waiting to be extracted via a microphone and a lot of modern signal processing. (I no longer own a Selectric, so I'm not going to run off and explore this possibility.)

[@comp20B]

I'm going to need to take a close look at the Selectric I have.

[@computersales]

Pretty crazy they could get a bug in so fast. I don't have a selectric terminal but I do have a selectric word processor. I might have to do more research on it sometime.

[@VictoriaAlfredSmythe]

fascinating

[@michaellong6002]

I had one..I remember when 60 Minutes did a show on them.....