Way back in April i began lesson 2 of my touch typing course, and somehow i am still on it! For various reasons including holidays, other things to do and typewriter issues (the Royal 200 proved to be unsuitable so i had to switch to the Smith-Corona GT) i got behind but i think i am ready to complete this lesson and finally move onto the next!
Along the bottom of a cheque is printed a number of funky space age looking numbers representing the account number, sort code and cheque number. In fact this is an early method of computer character recognition (dating back to the 1950s) which banks used to automatically sort cheques. The numbers are printed using ink loaded with iron oxide. When the cheque is passed through the reading machine, these numbers are magnetised. The numbers are then passed under a small electric coil, a voltage signal is induced by the magnetised characters [1]. The computer is programmed to recognise these signals and therefore can read the numbers and perform any relevant operations such as sorting cheques by sort code or account number. This process is known as Magnetic ink character recognition or MICR.
Obviously you need a special font for this, so that each magnetised character returns a different and unique signal. These fonts are known as MICR fonts and two are in general use worldwide. In the UK and US the font used (those space age numbers) is E13B. This font only includes the ten numerals and a few special characters, it does not have any alphanumeric characters. The other common MICR font CMC7 does include a full alphabet though is not read in quite the same way as E13B.
The full character set for E13B is shown below.
[1] Barry Wilkinson & David Horrocks, Computer Peripherals (2nd Edition) (Edward Arnold, 1987) p. 216
The twenty sixth typewriter has joined the collection! From the 1960s we have an Atlas (Nippo) Portable which seems to be working though we haven't had chance to properly look at the machine yet. It is one of the older machines in the collection.
Boots is a major British retailer who sell toiletries, cosmetics and the like. They also once sold items such as records (i got my first LPs from them!) More importantly they sold Boots branded typewriters throughout the 1960s to 1980s as well. The typewriters were built by established typewriter manufacturers and given a Boots badge. There are two Boots typewriters in the collection, one is an Erika made Model 42 from the late 1960s and the later Seiko built PT800.
This is a standard Seiko typewriter of the late 1970s. Externally the typewriter is in very good condition, it is nice and clean and has had a new ribbon fitted recently though there are some problems with operation. At times it can be very stiff and the carriage hardly moves, at other times it moves all too quickly and fast! These problems may be can be ironed out with a bit of typing hopefully.
Having visited a Boots store recently i can sadly report that they no longer sell typewriters which is a shame.
A new arrival, but its not a typewriter! I actually collected calculators for a few years in the early 2000s before stopping when it became trendy and thus the prices on eBay went a bit silly. I thought i'd buy my first vintage calculation machine for a while then, and it is this mains powered Litton Imperial 1260. A sticker underneath it says July 1976 so perhaps this is when it was procured originally.
Despite the age, and the fact the power switch seems broken, it does power up! It can display numbers though does not seem to be able to perform any calculations anymore which is a shame.
