deskthority

Some really old keyboards are starting to pop up. What is the oldest one in your collection?

The Fujitsu tactile magnetic reed N860 from 1979 .

Micro Switch Magnetic Reed 1970.

photos-videos-f64/honeywell-micro-switc ... o%20switch

Chyros wrote: The Fujitsu tactile magnetic reed N860 from 1979 .

Pictures please

1975.
photos-f62/texas-instruments-914-termin ... 11114.html

I had some older stuff but sold it. Now the oldest in my lineup would go to my '88 SSK that is now over 25 creeping up on 30 years old

A Model M from 1993.

But once that is gone, my oldest keyboard will be a Filco Majestouch-2 from last year (though it might have been manufactured in 2014, I'm not sure).

zslane wrote: A Model M from 1993.

But once that is gone, my oldest keyboard will be a Filco Majestouch-2 from last year (though it might have been manufactured in 2014, I'm not sure).

Not into vintage keyboards?

My 1980 IBM Beamspring is the only keyboard older than me. Finished it on my 35th birthday

I had a 1978 Heath Stackpole but I sold it to hwood34 a year or 2 ago.

Wodan wrote: My 1980 IBM Beamspring is the only keyboard older than me. Finished it on my 35th birthday

I am afraid they did not make keyboards older than I am!

I'm sure they did. you just have to do a little smash'n'grab in a museum to get one

I'd say my keyboards don't go beyond the early-mid 80s.

My IBM 3277 model 2 beam spring keyboard, I think from the early to mid-1970s.

Actually, I'm not sure what the exact date of manufacture is, I'll have to take another look at it. It does have a label printed on the bottom of the keyboard that is similar in format to the labels on the backside of Model M/F plates:
Versus...
But the shop date doesn't make any sense.

elecplus wrote:
I am afraid they did not make keyboards older than I am!

Don't be silly:

Right fohat, and these are even older:

photos-f62/typewriters-galore-t14437.ht ... ypewriters

seebart wrote:
Right fohat, and these are even older:

I was choosing my own birth year. I think that Cindy is maybe somewhat younger than me.

Well, I was referring to computer keyboards, specifically Although I believe 2 computers were built before I was born, so maybe I am mistaken. ENIAC used punched cards for input though, not a keyboard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC No fohat, I don't think I am younger than you are.

elecplus wrote:

zslane wrote: A Model M from 1993.

But once that is gone, my oldest keyboard will be a Filco Majestouch-2 from last year (though it might have been manufactured in 2014, I'm not sure).

Not into vintage keyboards?

I love looking at them. I have no desire to collect/own them. That's why I love the photo threads around here.

However, if I were to have a collection, it would consist of a single keyboard: an authentic Tom Knight Space Cadet.

elecplus wrote:

Chyros wrote: The Fujitsu tactile magnetic reed N860 from 1979 .

Pictures please

I'll do even better .

I don't know what year my Correcting Selectric II was made but it *might* be older. I'll see if I can find out...

My typewriter repair guy believes it to be a 1978 model, and notes that the correction feature debuted in 1976.

Is there a standard way to determine the year of manufacture of a Selectric?

Chyros wrote: The Fujitsu tactile magnetic reed N860 from 1979 .

Are your Honeywell and your weird Soviet keyboard from the 80's? 'cos they look reeeeeeeeally old.

My oldest keyboard is from 1985:

About a year and a half older than I am (±5 days). Interestingly about the same vintage as the first keyboard I ever used, which was also made in 1985. Bummer my parents threw it away.

I've got a Selectric as well, but that's neither a computer keyboard, nor do I know when it's from

zslane wrote: Is there a standard way to determine the year of manufacture of a Selectric?

Sure. Find a retired IBM guy who fixes Selectrics, pay him a bunch of money and wait a long time for him to fix your Selectric (twice, if FedEx drops your insured package along the way), and then just ask.

(To be fair, he did an excellent job. That's for another post.)

It might be possible to get this from the serial number stamped just under the platen roller but I don't know how to translate this.

My oldest is my 3101, early May (18th week) of 1982 and almost 6 months older than me!
And I somehow managed to misplace that label after I removed it carefully to preserve it...

My oldest computer keyboard dates from Jun. 15th 1984, which is an IBM 3101 keyboard. The Wiki suggests that Model F variants of the 3101 keyboard appeared circa 1983, but at least the case of my beam spring was manufactured a year after the Model Fs were supposed to have replaced them. Perhaps they had some overlap?



The oldest keyboard in my collection is on an IBM Selectric, the case dating from Sept. 1970. I also know that it was made about 30 minutes by car away from my apartment, and installed in the Toronto Stock Exchange on Nov. 26th 1970. It received its last recorded maintenance in 1971, so I don't know what happened there. Perhaps they bought it and forgot about it?

The typewriter technician said it was probably regularly maintained, only lazy Toronto technicians omitted filling out the record sticker under the case.

elecplus wrote: Well, I was referring to computer keyboards, specifically Although I believe 2 computers were built before I was born, so maybe I am mistaken. ENIAC used punched cards for input though, not a keyboard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC No fohat, I don't think I am younger than you are.

Before the advent of electric computers, there were mechanical computers.

elecplus wrote:
Although I believe 2 computers were built before I was born, so maybe I am mistaken. ENIAC used punched cards for input though, not a keyboard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC No fohat, I don't think I am younger than you are.

Apparently there were a number of electronic computers built in the 1930s and 1940s, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer but ENIAC was the first in the US. Great book, too: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/720730.Eniac

But there were no punch cards. Programming literally meant plugging and unplugging literally hundreds (thousands?) of patch cables for each new computing run.

I was born in mid-1952.

In my case, probably whatever it is in my Dragon 32 from 1982: "whatever it is" I suspect being Alps switches with nice doubleshots, but I've never actually verified what they actually are. The oldest thing I can actually practically use with my desktop computer is an SSK.