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David Scheidt

Gogarty wrote:
:In article ,
:says...
:
:The Selectric came out in 1961 and had no chip. In fact it had no
:electronics, other than the motor. The entire works were mechanical,
:including the "stroke storage" that allowed a second key to come in
:somewhat faster than the nominal 65 millisecond cycle time.
:
:At 14.8 characters/second, this is 3 words/second or 180 words per
:minute. This is faster than any typist can sustain, but is perhaps
:possible in a burst.

:One thing I like about the Internet is that the truth eventually will out no
:matter how silly the original assertion.

The Selectric has a complicated mechanical mechanism that allows it
queue a key stroke. The cycle time is long enough that there are all
sorts of combinations that even a not terribly good typist can
produce at greater than 14.8 cps. Think about "th" for instance. I
don't doubt that there are three key combintations that someone who
can type at 120 or 140 wpm that the selectric would lose.