Mechanical typewriter mechanisms are beautiful If you ever get a chance to take one apart*, go for it.

* - not a valuable one, because failure to reassemble it is a very real possibility.

I wish I had a photo of the parts layout from the Selectric I took apart in my teens. It was a work of art. I didn't count them, but it had to have had a thousand parts in it. It covered the entire floor of my room, and I even had to flip the bed up against the wall for more space.

Even better, it worked when I was done. The problem was a broken spring on the E key, and I stole a part from the ~ to fix it.