Royal Typewriter

As the name suggests, these machines were used for producing uniform, print-like characters by means of keyboard and key levers. Users pressed a letter key and small letterform supported by a thin metal arm moved to strike an automatically advancing ribbon to transfer carbon based ink impressions onto the paper. This model utilized the 26 letters of the English alphabet, ten numerical symbols and number of common punctuation and mathematic signifiers. A shift button allowed for changing the case of the letter from upper to lower. By the end of the 1980s, word processors and personal computers had largely displaced typewriters, leaving the once ubiquitous machines to be salvaged by insufferable luddites and mixed media craft aficionados.