[orbital-decay]

Wasn't this used decades before Selectric? The Blickensderfer typewriter, for example. I wonder why single-element designs vanished for a long time.

[drzaiusx11]

I wouldn't claim that the Bliensderfer's "barrel" design is the same as the "golf ball" of IBMs, but as with all things nothing is created in a vacuum; the IBM Selectric is an incremental improvement. It's like saying an Palm Pilot is the same as an iPhone.