The arduous—and sometimes humorous—seven-year development process of the Selectric is captured in these recollections of the IBMers who were involved.
“We were in the old Kenyon House in Poughkeepsie. [Thomas Watson Sr.] came in and asked me what I was doing. I said, ‘I’ve got something I’d like to show you.’ We went down into the bowels of that old mansion, to the little room where John Hickerson was tinkering with the mushroom [type head]. … John turned it on, and it started to bob and wobble around. Mr. Watson sat there mesmerized. Then he broke out laughing and said, ‘Bud, you must have been drunk when you designed that thing!’ ”
Horace “Bud” Beattie
ELECTRIC TYPEWRITER DIVISION ENGINEERING MANAGER AT IBM IN 1954, WHEN SELECTRIC DEVELOPMENT BEGAN
THINK magazine
March/April 1982“In developing [the Selectric], we threw away everything but the alphabet.”
H. Wisner Miller
IBM VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER OF THE ELECTRIC TYPEWRITER DIVISION DURING THE SELECTRIC ERA
Business Education World
1961“There wasn’t anything easy about [the development of the Selectric]. … Every time I went to a staff meeting in New York, they’d ask me how it was coming. I’d give them the good news and then start in on the bad. They’d tell me to go home and solve the problems.”
Bud Beattie
ELECTRIC TYPEWRITER DIVISION ENGINEERING MANAGER AT IBM IN 1954, WHEN SELECTRIC DEVELOPMENT BEGAN
“Landmark Typewriter Turns 25,” USA Today
July 31, 1986“Wis told us to get a prototype [of the Selectric type head] together, no matter how crude, and call him when we were ready. He would hop a plane and fly up from New York to Poughkeepsie …. But when the day came, his wife was about to give birth, and he couldn’t leave. Wis sent his assistant, Henry Reis, Jr., and told him to stay on the phone, with the machine in front of him, and give a running report. We started it up, and Henry yelled into the phone at the top of his voice, ‘Wis, it works, it works!’ ”
John Hickerson
IBM ENGINEER WHO WORKED ON THE SELECTRIC TYPE HEAD
“Landmark Typewriter Turns 25,” USA Today
July 31, 1986“Earlier machines had drumlike cylinders, but we decided we’d go for the round ball because it looked more difficult. You’d have thought the shape or size of that element would have changed a thousand times during development, but it got changed only once.”
Bud Beattie
ELECTRIC TYPEWRITER DIVISION ENGINEERING MANAGER AT IBM IN 1954, WHEN SELECTRIC DEVELOPMENT BEGAN
THINK magazine
March/April 1982“[Leon] Palmer got the idea for the character-selection system from the swinging wooden bar connecting a plow or wagon to the traces of a horse’s harness. Known as a whiffletree, this arrangement of latches and pivoted bars provided fixed units of motion that could be controlled by mathematical ratios. These tilt and rotate ratios were specified in unique code, dubbed the ‘Kentucky Hillbilly Code,’ which differed markedly from more commonly used computer codes.”
THINK magazine,
March/April 1982The Selectric was released on July 31, 1961. Despite the years of research and experimentation that went into its creation, few people expected it to meet with such enormous—and instantaneous—success. Even Bud Beattie, who led the engineering process on the Selectric, expressed surprise, telling a USA Today reporter in 1986, “I always thought it would be a viable product, but I never thought that it would be as successful as it turned out to be.” The comments below reflect just how much the Selectric amazed—and captivated—the world.
“It was fantastic! You couldn’t get around to places fast enough to show people the equipment. We would open our cases in the lobby of a large building. Within minutes, word would get around that the ‘bouncing ball typewriter’ or the ‘flying walnut machine’ was down the hall. People would stream in and place orders right on the spot.”
Lou Fowler
IBM ACCOUNT MANAGER IN COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, IN 1961, WHEN THE FIRST SELECTRIC WAS RELEASED
THINK magazine
March/April 1982“We figured in our branch office that we’d sell 50 or 60 and sold 500 to 600.”
John Vinlove
IBM TYPEWRITER SALESMAN
“Landmark Typewriter Turns 25,” USA Today
July 31, 1986“IBM couldn’t make Selectrics fast enough. There were waiting lists.”
“Strokes of Genius,”
The Washington Post Magazine August 19, 2001“IBM controlled nearly the entire market in the 1960s. …. Typewriters hadn’t changed much since the first Sholes-Remington was introduced in 1874. They had keyboards and moving carriages, and they shared the same problems. Among them: clashing keys, rattling carriages and messy, ink ribbons. The Selectric was a radical change: It had 2,800 parts, all new designs for the original machines.”
“Landmark Typewriter Turns 25,”
USA Today July 31, 1986“At first, all the secretaries were saying, ‘I can’t type on this thing.’ Now if you tried to pry it away from them, you’d probably have a revolution.”
Bertha Stronach
IBM SECRETARY DURING THE 1960S WHO WORKED FOR IBM FOR 25 YEARS
“Landmark Typewriter Turns 25,” USA Today
July 31, 1986“Bill Landeaux, 36, a secretary for Home Perfection, an industrial janitorial service in San Jose, Calif., boosted his typing speed to 90 words a minute from 50 when the Selectric hit his desk. ‘I thought I was in pigs’ heaven,’ he says.”
“Landmark Typewriter Turns 25,”
USA Today July 31, 1986