This is really interesting and a part of history. Really appreciate the candid insights.
My grandfather is a long retired design engineer and has told me about designing a keyboard like this because the typists didn’t like their first few iterations because they didn’t feel “like a typewriter”. I should send this over to him and see what he thinks about it. I’m curious if this is the keyboard he designed (he’s in his 80s now). He’s very spry intellectually despite his advanced age, I bet he’d be willing to answer any questions about the original design, he loves talking about the glory days.
Yes that would be fascinating! There were so many iconic designs back in the day, even of everyday household products like electric clocks and rotary telephones (two of my other collection/restoration hobbies).
The inventor of the IBM buckling spring actually had a chat session on another forum several years ago: https://deskthority.net/viewtopic.php?t=25847