Actually, it was /most/ typewriters. Having a numeral one (1) key on a keyboard was something brought about by computer input keyboards (where there did, indeed, need to be a distinct numeral one separate from lower case-ell (l)).
But for most typewriters, the ell (l) key also served as the numeral one key.
not really, in the sense that it would be a really old typewriter, there aren't any new typewriters. I'm not super old, and typewriters I used in high school did not have a one. Nobody had an IBM Selectric at home.
BTW on the same subject of fonts, you want to be able to distinguish between 1, l, and I which are not always distinguishable.
Yeah it's annoying in several fonts, not just that one. So I simply modify the font I'm using: one thing I do is I remove the lower left horizontal bar from lowercase 'l', that way it cannot be mistaken from a '1'.
Basically changing what's on the left to what's on the right:
*** ***
* *
* *
* *
***** ***
It's a little trick I've been using since so long I don't even remember since when I'm doing that.