The one in the picture is exactly like one my father had... and I used it to write my high school final essay on.

The Selectric was an electric typewriter. Did the one you used have a golf ball hammer on it?

My father later bought one of those too.

But look closer at the picture again. I've drawn a red square around one part of the picture. Do you know what that lever is for?

FWIW

Is that a caps key? Yes, it had a ball on it containing the letters. 

Nope... The shift keys are at the bottom left and bottom right. (Note: The bottom right shift key has the actual button missing.)

That lever has a red and a black button on it. That was to choose the ribbon color to use. The ribbon cartridge itself would move up or down depending on which color button you pressed on it. It's exactly like the one my father had.

Not all typewriters had that feature. Many of them only supported single color ribbon so if you wanted to change colors, you would have to change the ribbon.

And for those ribbons, they actually had a ribbon re-inker so that when the ribbon color started to get thin, you could re-ink the same ribbon and re-use it over and over and over again. But with the two-color ribbon, they didn't make a re-inker.

FWIW

I don’t remember a 2 color ribbon on any typewriter.

My Dad had one. And that picture I showed you was the type of ribbon in his typewriter.

I won't go as far as saying you're growing senile... (* ROFLMAO *) but perhaps you've just never seen one.

And that's what that red/black lever was for... to raise or lower the ink ribbon to print in red or black.

FWIW

As I said I never had a manual typewriter and my family did not have any type when I was a child. They never needed one.

Then you're safe... you're not senile... (* LOL *)

Like I said... you probably never even seen one.

But that's what that lever was for and I actually used it a couple of times for emphasis in red.

Note: It was OK to use red back then. (* GRIN *)

FWIW

Yes, red was a proper color. Now it’s a triggering color. Although I would like to know percentages of how many children and teenagers were traumatized by red ink.

Showtalk said...

Although I would like to know percentages of how many children and teenagers were traumatized by red ink.

Probably only a small minority, but as it's been publicized in the news, many who aren't traumatized would probably lie and said they were!

FWIW

Edited to add: [Over 50 years and nobody triggered... then all of a sudden... in the midst of the offended over everything crowd... it suddenly becomes triggering or offending?]

It’s all tied up in the culture.  It started out as a good idea about the time we took a stand against bullying.  But it morphed into being offended by just about anything.  There are legitimate complaints and there are ridiculous ones.