There are some Selectric balls at the office. Name of font?

[Gold Metal Flake]

Was the font called Times New Roman by MS Word given the same name by IBM, or did they use a different name? I ask because some folks may be familiar that fonts are sometimes copied and given a different name for copyright reasons. Copies of Copperplate come to mind.

So, If I have a ball, I'll type that bitch.

We have a Selectric II, which may or may not be suitable for the test.

Suggestions?

[lilymidnite]

1. Prestige elite - 12 pitch

I'm pretty sure that's what IBM called it.

There's a bunch for sale on eBay

[maine_raptor]

2. Times New Roman by MS Word

is the same as Times for that model. Afterwards IBM got into lawsuit with Linotype over property right and changed the name.

There was a post on this on one of the thousand and one threads on the "forgeries" issue (one of the big ones, I think)

[Gold Metal Flake]

4. Caaaa-RAP! We have no times.

Got like 9 balls, but no Times. I'm sure someone does, but the evidence is mounting against the forgery claim anyway.

Unfortunately, it is easier for newswhores to shout "forgery" than to shout "IBM Selectrics had proportional spacing as far back as the 1950s".

Lies are easier to tell than truths.

[On the Road]

3. Times New Roman is What Everyone is Saying It Is

I can't verify independently.

Personally, what I'm particularly interested in at the moment is the "th" superscript. Showing the smaller superscript on an IBM typrewriter would really nail the issue IMO.

[Gold Metal Flake]

5. What do you want to bet this pushes up prices of Selectric balls on Ebay?

Hmhp.

[lilymidnite]

6. Whatever - I typed in this font for several years

back in college, when I worked in a library. The font on the ball was Prestige Elite 12-pitch.

I liked it because it was easier to fit longer lines on the catalog cards.

[yellowcanine]

7. I think you can relax about the th superscriprt. There was another TANG

document (non disputed) that had a superscript th on it. Sorry I don't have the link - there are too many threads to keep track of...

[LTR]

8. "Times Roman" is the font that ABC claims

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Politics/Vote2004/bush_documents_040909-2.html

Some of the 'evidence' ABC cites from an expert:

-- The memos were written using a proportional typeface, where letters take up variable space according to their size, rather than fixed-pitch typeface used on typewriters, where each letter is allotted the same space. Proportional typefaces are available only on computers or on very high-end typewriters that were unlikely to be used by the National Guard.

-- The memos include superscript, i.e. the "th" in "187th" appears above the line in a smaller font. Superscript was not available on typewriters.

-- The memos included "curly" apostrophes rather than straight apostrophes found on typewriters.

-- The font used in the memos is Times Roman, which was in use for printing but not in typewriters. The Haas Atlas — the bible of fonts — does not list Times Roman as an available font for typewriters.

-- The vertical spacing used in the memos, measured at 13 points, was not available in typewriters, and only became possible with the advent of computers.

Note that there is no author credited to the ABC article.