Robert E. De Barth - Ribbons Explained

The Story of Typewriter Ribbons

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Short History of the Typewriter Ribbon

In 1873, the first typewriter ribbons were cotton and used on the Christopher Sholes typewriter invented by the same name. Typewriter ribbons were made of cotton and used up until World War II however, silk typewriter ribbons were used for a short time before World War II. Nylon typewriter ribbons were introduced when defense needs for cotton and silk increased during World War II. Nylon typewriter ribbons do not hold as much ink as silk or cotton ribbons and are not as durable as silk. Nylon typewriter ribbons did not yield as many characters as silk or cotton typewriter ribbons. Later, many materials like rayon and other synthetic fabrics were used to produce typewriter ribbons at a lower cost. Most of these other fabrics used for typewriter ribbons were stiff, and did not have the the properties to perform like silk or cotton. The varied availability of many fabrics and ink saturations made it impossible for the user to make a good selection. Now, after the typewriter industry has settled down and the demand is not as great, many of the manufacturers who were making ribbons no longer exist. Today, the best choice is a silk typewriter ribbon due to the superior qualities of the material. The thread count and weave of the silk fabric holds more ink, is stronger for a longer life, and is more flexible to reproduce some of the fine details associated with a fabric ribbon printing machine. When we talk about the life of a typewriter ribbon we think of how many characters it will print with acceptable darkness. If the darkness of print were not considered a silk typewriter ribbon would last beyond visible results. We have seen machines come in for repair with silk typewriter ribbons on them that are 10 years or older and still have the ability to print, although very lightly.

Robert E. De Barth

The Typewriter Ribbon Explained

Typewriters had basically two methods of imaging, One way of transferring the character's image to the paper was to place a film of ink on the typeface with an ink roller before the typeface struck the paper and the other way was to suspend a fabric band in front of the paper to transfer the image of the typeface to the paper during the striking of the type bar.

Cotton, silk, nylon, rayon, and others all have been used for typewriter ribbons. Naturally, some fabrics perform better than others. Early on, before about the 1930s, cotton was generally the only fabric available for typewriter ribbons. Typewriter ribbons made from cotton displayed a printed character boldly and with loss of some definition. An example of this reproduction with cotton fabric as a typewriter ribbon can be seen here. Notice how the inside of the closed loops of the lower case letters seem to be shaded and undefined.

Before World War II, silk was introduced for use as typewriter ribbons and was the best fabric for typing the printed word on paper with fabric printing machines. Silk held more ink for the thread count than cotton at the time and was more resilient to fracturing during typing. Fracturing of the typewriter ribbon occurs when the typeface, which is made of hard steel, strikes the fabric and causes the fibers of the material to "break" during the printing sequence. Some typestyles had greater tendencies than others to cause fractures of the ribbon material. Very sharp typestyles like some elites were particularly damaging to the typewriter ribbon.

When nylon was introduced just before World War II, it was the fabric of choice over cotton due to its closely related specifications to the silk material. However nylon did not hold as much ink, was not nearly as flexible, and fractured more easily than silk. Although nylon typewriter ribbons were not as good as silk, the war dictated the use of nylon exclusively until after the war on September 2, 1945.

Throughout the next two or three decades, typewriter ribbons were made of various materials like rayon and polyester. Rayon for example was a stiff and unyielding fabric and could not hold as much ink as nylon or silk. Due to the inflexibility of some fabrics like rayon, some of the fine details of the smaller characters were lost or appeared blurry. These stiff fabrics, compared to silk, often produced printed characters similar to the cotton ribbon.

Earl, technical writer

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Robert E. De Barth - Ribbons Explained

The Story of Typewriter Ribbons

This site best viewed at 800X600

UnderConstruction

Send mail to imanager@covad.net with questions or comments about this web site. Copyright © 2001 CompanyLongName Page last modified: February 06, 2009

Send mail to imanager@covad.net with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2001 CompanyLongName
Page last modified: February 06, 2009