>>Hmm...you got me thinking, did they use IBM Executives? I’m not sure if kerning is the right word, but perhaps. I don’t know when those typewriters were made....<<
Kerning was proportional spacing — you could get kerned typeballs (oh how I miss the IBM typewriter’s ability to almost anticipate your next keystroke). But the auto-erase (a separate “white-out” ribbon could get it wrong. That is why we kept good old White-out” on hand anyways)...
The Executive had different spacing for different letters. The M took the most space. My memory is faulty tho, I don’t recall the particulars, I’ve been using word processing far too long now.