IBM Selectrics have a special place in our hearts here at Philly Typewriter. Bryan Kravitz, our Head Mechanic, got his original training on Selectrics in San Francisco, CA in the early 1970's, and he continues to pass on his knowledge today. With 2500 parts (as opposed the the average typewriter's 200-300) and employing a dizzying array of motors, clutches, shafts, cables, cams and belts, these magnificent machines represented the ultimate evolution of typewriter technology and were ubiquitous in the American workplace for 25 years, before being dethroned by word processors and computers in the mid-1980's. Their power (125 words per minute was not uncommon) and flexibility (typists could change the font, the font pitch, and even correct mistakes on the keyboard) continue to make them both desirable and fascinating today. As Bryan says, they are "poetry in design".
Here at the shop we have a wide inventory of these machines, include the Selectric I (released in 1961), the Selectric II (released in 1972, the first to include the Correction Key), and the Selectric III (with 6 extra specialized keys). We have them in a variety of sizes, from the standard 13" and 15" carriages down to the Selectric "Baby", a narrow 11" wide machine designed for home use. As for colors, we have Selectrics in case colors ranging from ivory to black, with royal blue, tomato red, and olive green in between. We even have Selectrics that we've had custom powder-coat painted in sports-car cherry red!
As robust as they were designed to be, Selectrics are precision machines with very exacting tolerances, and after 30-plus years of sitting idle, they need regular and professional maintenance. Our services range all the way from a light "COA" (clean, oil, & adjust) for a well-kept machine, all the way up to a full rebuild, in which we remove and recondition the operations and cycle hubs, realign the print shaft, replace all clutches, pinion gears, and bushings. And in between these, we replace sound insulation, swap out aging motors, "re-home" type elements, adjust cable tensions, and in many other ways bring these beautiful machines back to peak performance.
Here at the shop we have a wide inventory of these machines, include the Selectric I (released in 1961), the Selectric II (released in 1972, the first to include the Correction Key), and the Selectric III (with 6 extra specialized keys). We have them in a variety of sizes, from the standard 13" and 15" carriages down to the Selectric "Baby", a narrow 11" wide machine designed for home use. As for colors, we have Selectrics in case colors ranging from ivory to black, with royal blue, tomato red, and olive green in between. We even have Selectrics that we've had custom powder-coat painted in sports-car cherry red!
As robust as they were designed to be, Selectrics are precision machines with very exacting tolerances, and after 30-plus years of sitting idle, they need regular and professional maintenance. Our services range all the way from a light "COA" (clean, oil, & adjust) for a well-kept machine, all the way up to a full rebuild, in which we remove and recondition the operations and cycle hubs, realign the print shaft, replace all clutches, pinion gears, and bushings. And in between these, we replace sound insulation, swap out aging motors, "re-home" type elements, adjust cable tensions, and in many other ways bring these beautiful machines back to peak performance.
