Yep -- valid point. The paper could always be manually be adjusted for
super and sub-script. Of course this does nothing to reduce the font
size when using a fixed font typewriter. 

Proportional spacing capability, while not common, was quite prevalent.
I came across them typically in legal offices where appearance of
written documents was very important. 

The "shadow" behavior you are referring to was actually caused when
paper dust and debris mixed with ink saturated in nylon ribbons would
"fill in" the closed surface areas you refer to. By the late 70's to
early 80's these nylon ribbons gave way to single pass mylar ribbons
(plastic film) that greatly improved the printed quality of typewriters
and eliminated the "shadow" problem.

I'd not compare the shadowing to rifle marks in that the type faces
could easily be cleaned with alchohol thereby eliminating the filled in
letters. There IS however, when talking about type bar typewriters
(versus a Selectric as an example,) an unique fingerprint made as these
type bars tend to get out of alignment as the typewriter is used and
ages. Many old mystery novels have been use of this forensic strategy to
identify letter writers. 

(Lots of people learned to type on old Royals. You couldn't kill them.) 

-----Original Message-----
From: Senn, Bruce [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2004 9:43 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] Subj: OT: Re: [HP3000-L] 60 OT: re 
Minutes Documents on Bush ...


I believe the Selectric and some standard typewriters also had 
half-line spacing for superscripts or subscripts.  If your 
typewriter didn't have half-line, you just rolled the carriage 
down a bit, held it with one hand and typed the super script 
with the other.

I don't recollect that any typewriters of the time did 
proportional spacing, just pica and/or elite.  There was also a 
telltale "shadow" inside letters like e,a,d,b,p,o caused by ink 
inside the letter and the particular strike of the key.  I seem 
to remember the "shadow" being like a fingerprint or rifling 
marks, in that individual typewriters could be identified by 
the letter shadow.

FWIW.

Bruce "learned to type in 1962 on a Royal" Senn.
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  Bruce J. Senn                 Phone:  (518) 388-6664
  Senior System Manager FAX:    (518) 388-6458
  Union College                 E-mail:  [log in to unmask]
  Schenectady, NY 12308 WWW:  http://www1.union.edu/~sennb
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