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On Tuesday, April 3, 2018 at 3:27:39 PM UTC-6, han...@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
> Here's an ad for a Royal typewriter that includes an optional paper
> tape punch/reader to allow for word processing.

> https://books.google.com/books?id=yEgEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA74&dq=life%20%22electric%20typewriter%22&pg=PA74#v=onepage&q&f=false

That is interesting.

I knew about the Flexowriter and the Justowriter, but I didn't think the IBM 
MT/ST had any other competition.

Note that the unit is by Royal McBee, not just Royal. So we are talking about a 
company with some acquaintance with computers... i.e. the LGP-30.

John Savard

On Tuesday, April 3, 2018 at 9:07:35 PM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
> On Tuesday, April 3, 2018 at 3:27:39 PM UTC-6, han...@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
> > Here's an ad for a Royal typewriter that includes an optional paper
> > tape punch/reader to allow for word processing.
> 
> > https://books.google.com/books?id=yEgEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA74&dq=life%20%22electric%20typewriter%22&pg=PA74#v=onepage&q&f=false
> 
> That is interesting.
> 
> I knew about the Flexowriter and the Justowriter, but I didn't think the IBM 
> MT/ST had any other competition.

I don't know how common a Royal tape unit was.  That was the
only ad and reference I could find.  I suspect Flexowriters and
the MT/ST were a lot more common.

I'm actually surprised it took IBM until 1964 to introduce
word processing, and did not offer a paper tape attachment to its
electric typewriters earlier.  It may not have been cost-effective--
charging hundreds of dollars for a machine to save $1/hour labor
may not have been worth it.


I knew of people in an insurance company who used them and said
they were a great machine.  In later years, you could attached
various accessories to it (see bitsavers materials).


> Note that the unit is by Royal McBee, not just Royal. So we are talking about a 
> company with some acquaintance with computers... i.e. the LGP-30.

McBee was the maker of "Keysort", the edge-punched cards used at
many places.  With a needle, it was relatively easy to sort a 
deck of cards.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_McBee

We had a mod on our 029 keypunch which read edge punched cards
and punched out IBM cards.

McBee, Royal Typewriter, and other companies eventually became
part of Litton Industries.  Later ads by Royal Typewriter
note Litton's ownership (in fine print)

https://books.google.com/books?id=mlUEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA23&dq=life%20litton%20industries&pg=PA23#v=onepage&q=life%20litton%20industries&f=false

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Typewriter_Company

They are still around:
http://www.royalsupplies.com/



By the way, around that time (1969) there were personal adding
machines offered.  Here is an ad by Victor:
https://books.google.com/books?id=mFAEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA29-IA4&dq=life%20litton%20industries&pg=PA85#v=onepage&q&f=false

On 04/04/2018 22:47, hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
> On Tuesday, April 3, 2018 at 9:07:35 PM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
>> On Tuesday, April 3, 2018 at 3:27:39 PM UTC-6, han...@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
>>> Here's an ad for a Royal typewriter that includes an optional paper
>>> tape punch/reader to allow for word processing.
>>
>>> https://books.google.com/books?id=yEgEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA74&dq=life%20%22electric%20typewriter%22&pg=PA74#v=onepage&q&f=false
>>
>> That is interesting.
>>
>> I knew about the Flexowriter and the Justowriter, but I didn't think the IBM
>> MT/ST had any other competition.
> 
> I don't know how common a Royal tape unit was.  That was the
> only ad and reference I could find.  I suspect Flexowriters and
> the MT/ST were a lot more common.
> 
> I'm actually surprised it took IBM until 1964 to introduce
> word processing, and did not offer a paper tape attachment to its
> electric typewriters earlier.  It may not have been cost-effective--
> charging hundreds of dollars for a machine to save $1/hour labor
> may not have been worth it.
> 
> 
> I knew of people in an insurance company who used them and said
> they were a great machine.  In later years, you could attached
> various accessories to it (see bitsavers materials).
> 

I worked at Refuge Assurance in Manchester between 1976 and 1981. We had 
few electric typewriters, because the manuals worked and never wore out, 
but we did have a room full of Fridden Flexowriters with paper tape 
equipment attached. They were used for printing life policy documents 
which were deemed too important to be printed in upper case only on the 
drum printer on the Honeywell H3200.

There were paper tapes which contained to policy terms and conditions 
and which were fed into the machines to print the policies. They had 
coded characters which stopped the tape at certain points and allowed 
the operators to type the variable information onto the policy.

There were also two tape punches, again controlled by codes on the tape.
One was used as input to the mainframe. It was fed into a converted 
Honeywell Key to Tape machine. The other was used to print the elaborate 
protective cover into which the policy was inserted.

> 
>> Note that the unit is by Royal McBee, not just Royal. So we are talking about a
>> company with some acquaintance with computers... i.e. the LGP-30.
> 
> McBee was the maker of "Keysort", the edge-punched cards used at
> many places.  With a needle, it was relatively easy to sort a
> deck of cards.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_McBee
> 
> We had a mod on our 029 keypunch which read edge punched cards
> and punched out IBM cards.
> 
> McBee, Royal Typewriter, and other companies eventually became
> part of Litton Industries.  Later ads by Royal Typewriter
> note Litton's ownership (in fine print)
> 
> https://books.google.com/books?id=mlUEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA23&dq=life%20litton%20industries&pg=PA23#v=onepage&q=life%20litton%20industries&f=false
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Typewriter_Company
> 
> They are still around:
> http://www.royalsupplies.com/
> 
> 
> 
> By the way, around that time (1969) there were personal adding
> machines offered.  Here is an ad by Victor:
> https://books.google.com/books?id=mFAEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA29-IA4&dq=life%20litton%20industries&pg=PA85#v=onepage&q&f=false
> 

Dave
G4UGM