did people ever bring portable typewriters on planes?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2018
Programs: UA, LH, BA
Posts: 294
did people ever bring portable typewriters on planes?
I'm old.. but probably not old enough. I started flying in the 1970s. I cannot recall ever seeing anybody bringing portable typewriters on planes. Did people ever do that?
The reason I'm wondering is that I found a really old portable 5-pound typewriter in my basement. I last used it when Reagan was still in office.
It sat in a box in the basement after college. It still works fine and I dind't even need adapters or batteries for it. ![Smilie](https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif)
Surprisingly, it's not that much bigger than the gaming laptop that I bought last year... Not to mention that my 2017 gaming laptop(7 pounds) actually weighs more than my 1970s portable travel typewriter(5 pounds).
Thanks!
The reason I'm wondering is that I found a really old portable 5-pound typewriter in my basement. I last used it when Reagan was still in office.
![Smilie](https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif)
![Smilie](https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif)
Surprisingly, it's not that much bigger than the gaming laptop that I bought last year... Not to mention that my 2017 gaming laptop(7 pounds) actually weighs more than my 1970s portable travel typewriter(5 pounds).
Thanks!
Last edited by geometry; Mar 3, 2018 at 2:14 pm
#2
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: DAY/CMH
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Posts: 2,474
People who wrote for a living and used a typewriter took small portable models with them everywhere. Considering their value and fragility, many would have carried them on rather than checking them—though the larger and heavier models came in sturdy, well-engineered cases.
I don't think anyone would have dreamed of using one in flight though. Although I fell asleep almost every night of my childhood to the clackety-clack of touch typing, I think most passengers would have found it inexcusably intrusive.
I don't think anyone would have dreamed of using one in flight though. Although I fell asleep almost every night of my childhood to the clackety-clack of touch typing, I think most passengers would have found it inexcusably intrusive.
#3
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: BNA (Nashville)
Programs: HH Diamond
Posts: 6,366
I took a portable typewriter on a plane exactly once. August 18, 1979. Ozark Airlines from MIA to BNA. It was as Smith Corona 'Coronet XL' Cartridge portable typewriter in a case. I remember so vividly because it was one of two things I left home with to go to a university I had never visited in a city I had not really heard of. I was 17. I left and never looked back. Hauled that damned typewriter around for 5 years. I was so happy when computers and word processors became available. I came to loathe that infernal machine.
Thanks for the flashback!
Thanks for the flashback!
#6
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ontario, Canada
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I lugged an IBM Selectric to college, however it was so heavy it certainly wouldn't be something I take with me when flying. Fortunately I had a car and it fit in the trunk with all my other stuff. I think I still have it somewhere in my basement!! Built like a tank!
#7
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 969
Yes, my parents! This was back in the 1950-60s. Parents were professors and travelled overseas for work, sometimes to give lectures and the like, sometimes in the field (botanists). Can't remember the brand. It was black I think, with gold letters on the keys, and had a cover/case. Can remember watching my mother change the fiddly ribbons. Back then the overhead compartments were much smaller but people didn't carry everything as a carry-on. My father would wrap it in his coat and tuck it away very carefully, watching it like a hawk at any turbulence. We had a full-sized one at home that weighed a ton, so it was rarely moved. I really wanted the portable one as a toy, which eight-year-old me figured was fair as they had the big one. LOL
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2018
Programs: UA, LH, BA
Posts: 294
Yes, my parents! This was back in the 1950-60s. Parents were professors and travelled overseas for work, sometimes to give lectures and the like, sometimes in the field (botanists). Can't remember the brand. It was black I think, with gold letters on the keys, and had a cover/case. Can remember watching my mother change the fiddly ribbons. Back then the overhead compartments were much smaller but people didn't carry everything as a carry-on. My father would wrap it in his coat and tuck it away very carefully, watching it like a hawk at any turbulence. We had a full-sized one at home that weighed a ton, so it was rarely moved. I really wanted the portable one as a toy, which eight-year-old me figured was fair as they had the big one. LOL
As for people using typewriters making noise on planes back then, it couldn't be that bad, considering planes 30 years ago were much noisier?
![Smilie](https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif)
Last edited by geometry; Mar 5, 2018 at 10:46 am
#9
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: DAY/CMH
Programs: UA MileagePlus
Posts: 2,474
He was writing But what about the CHILDREN!!!???
#10
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: PDX (wish I was in HNL)
Programs: Platinum
Posts: 1,688
I took a portable typewriter on a plane exactly once. August 18, 1979. Ozark Airlines from MIA to BNA. It was as Smith Corona 'Coronet XL' Cartridge portable typewriter in a case. I remember so vividly because it was one of two things I left home with to go to a university I had never visited in a city I had not really heard of. I was 17. I left and never looked back. Hauled that damned typewriter around for 5 years. I was so happy when computers and word processors became available. I came to loathe that infernal machine.
Thanks for the flashback!
Thanks for the flashback!
![Smilie](https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif)
I hated editing on those things! Swapping out the corrections cartridge for every error! Got an Apple //e my sophomore year, and never looked back.
#11
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Palm Beach/ New England
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I don't know if I was more surprised that my father still types from time to time (personal checks and unpublishable screeds to the editor of the local broadsheet; he is not "online") or that there is still a full-service typewriter repairman in Kansas City. He told me he is among the last IBM-authorized repairmen in the nation and will be retiring soon. He still fixes two or three Selectrics per week,
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Many old movies showing journalists typing away on planes, particularly Air Force One. But one needs to remember that, in the days of typewriters, most business execs had secretaries to do the typing, so it was just as likely that they'd take the secretary (
) as take a typewriter.
I found my Olivetti Lettera 32 in storage the other day - I really liked that machine.
![Wink](https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/images/smilies/wink.gif)
I found my Olivetti Lettera 32 in storage the other day - I really liked that machine.
#13
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: NorCal
Posts: 658
Did those old portable ones need to be plugged in?
I still use an old electric typewriter (probably vintage 70s or 80s) because to me, it's easier and faster to use it to type out the address on an envelope than to figure it out in Word. Sucker isn't portable though. I have one newer one with a LCD screen that's sort of like a really basic word processor built in, but I never use that at all.
I still use an old electric typewriter (probably vintage 70s or 80s) because to me, it's easier and faster to use it to type out the address on an envelope than to figure it out in Word. Sucker isn't portable though. I have one newer one with a LCD screen that's sort of like a really basic word processor built in, but I never use that at all.
#14
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Houston, TX, USA
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BTW, I knew someone (US citizen) that was denied entry to Canada for possession of a portable typewriter. He was on vacation, and in a time before laptops were in common use, happened to have a typewriter in his car. They didn't believe that anyone would bring such a thing on vacation, and refused him entry for failing to truthfully state the purpose of his visit.
#15
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Detroit; Formerly Dubai
Posts: 3,655
When I took the Bar many moons ago we could type our essay sections with a dumb typewriter. We went to the main exam room, checked in, and then were escorted to a typing room. Obviously people taking the bar were nervous enough as it was. The guy sitting next to me and I were both typist and knew each other enough to play off each other for a joke. When everyone started looking at our typewriters Mike and I started pretending to set up our typewriter in the main area. You could watch a wave of panic rush over a few people. It probably wasn't a nice joke.