Pitch
Definition
The number of characters per horizontal inch in typewritten text; standard values are 10 (Pica), 12 (Elite), and proportional (IBM Executive, Varityper).
- Definition
- Characters per horizontal inch in typewritten text
- Pica
- 10 characters per inch
- Elite
- 12 characters per inch
- Proportional spacing
- IBM Executive and Varityper machines
Common questions
Why is pitch useful for narrowing down the machine used to type a document?+
Measuring characters per inch on a questioned document quickly separates it into broad machine families before individual letterform comparison, since a document typed at Elite pitch could not have come from a machine set only to Pica.
How does proportional spacing complicate a pitch measurement?+
On machines like the IBM Executive, each character occupies a width matched to its shape rather than a fixed unit, so a simple characters-per-inch count does not apply and examiners instead compare individual character widths and spacing patterns.
Related terms
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