Typebar
Definition
A pivoting lever carrying a metal type slug that strikes the ribbon and paper when a key is depressed on a mechanical or electric typebar typewriter.
- Mechanism type
- Mechanical or electric typebar typewriter
- Component
- Pivoting lever with metal type slug
- Action
- Strikes ribbon and paper on keystroke
Common questions
How do individual defects on a typebar aid document examination?+
Wear, misalignment, and damage accumulate uniquely on each typebar's type slug over the machine's working life, producing consistent letterform defects across a document that can be matched back to a specific machine, distinct from class-level typeface features shared by every unit of that model.
Why did typebar mechanisms become less useful for individualisation over time?+
Later electric and electronic typewriters replaced the typebar with a single-element mechanism such as a golfball or daisy wheel, and eventually with dot-matrix or laser printing, so typebar-specific wear evidence applies only to the older mechanical and early electric machines.
Related terms
- Carbon-Film Ribbon
- A single-strike typewriter ribbon with a carbon coating that transfers completely to paper on impact, enabling high-quality impressions; the used ribbon retains...
- Class Characteristic
- A feature shared by an entire group of objects (every shoe of one model has the same sole tread; every tire of...
- Daisy Wheel
- A circular print element with flexible plastic spokes each bearing a character, used in electronic daisy-wheel typewriters and printers from the late...
- Filled Counter
- An enclosed space within a letter (the interior of 'e', 'o', 'p') that has become partially or fully occluded by accumulated ink...
- Golf Ball (Type Element)
- The spherical interchangeable type element on IBM Selectric typewriters, carrying 88 characters and replaceable to change typeface without changing the machine.
- Individual Characteristic
- A characteristic unique to a specific typewriter unit arising from manufacturing variation or service wear; used to identify or eliminate a specific...
- Out-of-Alignment Character
- A typewritten character consistently displaced vertically, horizontally, or rotationally from its expected baseline position, resulting from a bent typebar, worn guide slot,...
- Pitch
- The number of characters per horizontal inch in typewritten text; standard values are 10 (Pica), 12 (Elite), and proportional (IBM Executive, Varityper).
- SWGDOC
- The Scientific Working Group for Forensic Document Examination (US), which publishes standards for typewriter examination, handwriting comparison, ink analysis, and related forensic...