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From: rrw@naucse.cse.nau.edu (Robert Wier)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: How do mechanical car-radio preset pushbuttons work??
Message-ID: <3751@naucse.cse.nau.edu>
Date: 19 May 91 22:07:16 GMT
References: <9105151026.aa18960@PARIS.ICS.UCI.EDU> <9534@sail.LABS.TEK.COM>
Organization: Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff AZ
Lines: 27

In article <9534@sail.LABS.TEK.COM>, johno@sail.LABS.TEK.COM (John Ollis) writes:
> One of the things that fascinated me is the Selectric typewriter.  The keyboard
> mechanically produced a 6-bit binary code which is then interpreted by the
> type ball positioning mechanism (4 bits to control the roll of the ball and
> 2 for the tilt).  The only place electricity was used in those things was to
> make the motor go around.
> 

 I still have a Selectric II - don't know if that got any more 
 "electrical" than the Selectric I or not.

 Back in the REALLY early days of small computers (about 1975)
 there were actually encoder kits which you could buy to read the
 codes generated by a Selectric keyboard.  Making one into a printe
 r was a bigger problem.  I remember one company came out with a 
 ROBO TYPER which has a bunch of solenoids arranged in a keyboard
 pattern which you laid on top of the Selectric keyboard.  It maybe
 ran at 10 CPS?  I never knew anybody who actually bought one.


 - Bob Wier

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