Younger readers may not be familiar with this wonderful piece of old technology. Many electronic typewriters produced at the end of the typewriter era used daisy wheels to type letters on paper. Some home-office printers used daisy wheels too.
How did it work? Depending on which key you pressed on the keyboard, the typewriter would swiftly spin the wheel and a print head (driven by an electromagnet, I think) would strike the backside of a single "petal," press an "inked" ribbon against paper, and print a very sharp character.
Daisy wheels were easily removed and replaced, allowing one typewriter to produce different fonts and typefaces (a really cool feature during the days of Sony Walkmans, Polaroid cameras, and MTV).
I was very excited when a stranger sold me my first daisy wheel typewriter, complete with three additional wheels and typefaces, all for just $15!
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