3 ms·
> the authors haven't used a typewriter The authors are the famous Kernighan and Brailsford (!). They spent their life on stuff like this, and know him persona
by pyentropy 4y ago
> the authors haven't used a typewriter
The authors are the famous Kernighan and Brailsford (!). They spent their life on stuff like this, and know him personally very well. They are talking about spacing much finer than half-character.
- userbinator 4y agoThey are talking about spacing much finer than half-character. Where? 1/24" is all they mention, which is half the normal 1/12" character spacing.
- kps 4y agoThere's vertical spacing of 1/24″ in some places, which is twice the usual Selectric precision (6lpi with half-line motion). To me the most likely explanation is a Selectric variation with twice the detents, or even a third-party add-on, made specifically for technical reports.
- kps 4y agoIt is too late for me to edit my other comment, but IBM offered ratchet wheels with double the normal number of teeth (54 rather than 27), providing quarter-line motion, for the Selectric. p11 https://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/typewriter/selectric/PCE-008-1_Parts_Catalog_Selectric_Model_71x_72x_Aug70.pdf https://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/typewriter/selectric/PCE-008-1...
- jsmith45 4y agoOk that certainly seems to explain the vertical spacing. Was there something that would allow for the the fancier horizontal resolution tricks?
- kps 4y agoSome other comments¹ have said that some Selectrics had a half-space control, so that would provide 1/24″ horizontally. I think that's the finest in the paper, unless I've missed a case. ¹ e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35177786 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35177786