What generation is my type ball?
1st Generation
Has a half style cover and “rabbit ear” style retaining clip. The most reliable but rare to find.
2nd Generation
Plastic lever molded to a chrome pin. Very prone to breakage, stay away from.
3rd Generation
Plastic lever molded to plastic cover. The most reliable and the best kind to look for.
When was my type ball manufactured?
If you’re curious when your type ball was manufactured you can determine what date it was manufactured using the diagram to the left.
Note: This method only works for type balls manufactured after 1970.
If you look under your type ball you’ll see a numeral and a circle filled with dots.
The number of dots corresponds to the month. If you see four dots you know it was manufactured in April.
The numeral signifies the last digit of the year. An eight means it was manufactured in 1978.
Can you help me identify this mystery type ball?
Sometimes you’ll come across an element where the paint has worn off and you aren’t sure which type style it is. Lucky for you that all elements also have a number stamped under the lever that we can use to identify it.
Enter the part number in the form to the right. Our system will give you the style name followed by either a white or yellow triangle. The white triangle means it’s an 88 character element while yellow means it’s a 96.