Dot matrix printing
Dot matrix printing,
The perceived quality of dot matrix printers depends on the vertical and horizontal resolution and the ability of the printer to overlap adjacent dots. 9-pin and 24-pin are common; this specifies the number of pins in a specific vertically aligned space. With 24-pin printers, the horizontal movement can slightly overlap dots, producing visually superior output (near letter quality or NLQ), usually at the cost of speed.
Dot matrix printing is typically distinguished from non-impact methods, such as
History
Part of a series on the |
History of printing |
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In 1925,
Between 1952 and 1954
In 1968, the Japanese manufacturer
In 1970
DEC was a major vendor, albeit with a focus on use with their PDP minicomputer line.
In the 1970s and 1980s, dot matrix impact printers were generally considered the best combination of cost and versatility, and until the 1990s were by far the most common form of printer used with personal and home computers.[23]
Increased pincount of the printhead from 7, 8, 9 or 12 pins to 18, 24, 27, or 36 permitted superior print quality, which was necessary for success in Asian markets to print legible
By the dawn of the 1990s, inkjet printers became more common as PC printers.[25][26]
Design
Dot matrix printing uses a print head that moves back-and-forth, or in an up-and-down motion, on the page and prints by impact, striking an ink-soaked cloth ribbon against the paper, much like the print mechanism on a
Each dot is produced by a tiny metal rod, also called a "wire" or "pin", which is driven forward by the power of a tiny electromagnet or solenoid, either directly or through small levers (pawls).[27] Facing the ribbon and the paper is a small guide plate named ribbon mask holder or protector, sometimes also called butterfly for its typical shape. It is pierced with holes to serve as guides for the pins. The plate may be made of hard plastic or an artificial jewel such as sapphire or ruby.
The portion of the printer that contains the pin is called the print head. When running the printer, it generally prints one line of text at a time. The printer head is attached to a metal bar that ensures correct alignment, but horizontal positioning is controlled by a band that attaches to sprockets on two wheels at each side which is then driven with an electric motor.[28] This band may be made of stainless steel, phosphor bronze or beryllium copper alloys, nylon or various synthetic materials with a twisted nylon core to prevent stretching. Actual position can be found out either by dead count using a stepper motor, rotary encoder attached to one wheel or a transparent plastic band with markings that is read by an optical sensor on the printer head (common on inkjets).
Because the printing involves mechanical pressure, dot matrix printers can create carbon copies and carbonless copies.[29]
Although nearly all
Dot matrix printers have one of the lowest printing costs per page.[citation needed]
They are able to use fanfold
Dot matrix printers create noise when the pins or typeface strike the ribbon to the paper,[30] and sound-damping enclosures may have to be used in quiet environments.
They can only print lower-resolution graphics, with limited color performance, limited quality, and lower speeds compared to non-impact printers.[31][32][33]
Variations
The common serial dot matrix printers use a horizontally moving print head.
In a considerably different configuration, so called line dot matrix printers[38] use a fixed print head almost as wide as the paper path utilizing a horizontal line of thousands of pins for printing. Sometimes two horizontally slightly displaced rows are used to improve the effective dot density through interleaving. While still line-oriented, these printers for the professional heavy-duty market effectively print a whole line at once while the paper moves forward below the print head. Line matrix printers are capable of printing much more than 1000 cps, resulting in a throughput of up to 800 pages per hour.
A variation on the dot matrix printer was the cross hammer dot printer, patented by Seikosha in 1982.[39] The smooth cylindrical roller of a conventional printer was replaced by a spinning, fluted cylinder. The print head was a simple hammer, with a vertical projecting edge, operated by an electromagnet. Where the vertical edge of the hammer intersected the horizontal flute of the cylinder, compressing the paper and ribbon between them, a single dot was marked on the paper. Characters were built up of multiple dots.
Manufacturers and models
This section may be too long and excessively detailed. (May 2023) |
DEC
Unlike the
- LA36 (1974): supported upper and lower case, with up to 132 columns of text (also 30 CPS)
- LA34: a lower-cost alternative to the LA36
- LA38: an LA34 with more features
- LA180: 180 CPS
- LS120: 120 CPS
- LA120: 180 CPS (and some advanced features)
- LA12: a portable terminal – the DECwriter Correspondent[40]
LA30
The DECwriter LA30 was a 30 character per second dot matrix
It printed 80 columns of uppercase-only 7 × 5
LA36
The LA30 was followed in 1974 by the LA36,
Digital technology later broadened the basic LA36 line into a wide variety of dot matrix printers.
LA50
The DEC LA50 was designed to be a "compact, dot matrix"[21] printer. When in graphic mode (as opposed to text mode), the printhead can generate graphic images. When in (bitmap) graphics mode, the LA50 can receive and print Sixel[b] graphics format.
Centronics 101
The Centronics 101[44] (introduced 1970) was highly innovative and affordable at its inception. Some selected specifications:
- Print speed: 165 characters per second
- Weight: 155 pounds (70.3 kg)
- Size: 27 ½" W x 11 ¼" H x 19 ¼ D (approx. 70 cm x 29 cm x 49 cm)
- Shipping: 200 pounds (approx. 91 kg), wooden crate, unpacked by removal of 36 screws
- Characters: 62, 10 numeric, 26 upper case and 26 special characters (no lower case)
- Character size: 10 characters per inch (10 "pitch")
- Line spacing: 6 lines per inch (6 LPI)
- Vertical control: punched tape reader for top of form and vertical tab
- Forms thickness: original plus four copies
- Interfaces: Centronics parallel, optional RS-232 serial
IBM 5103
The IBM 5103[45] was the only IBM printer that could be attached to the IBM 5100, an early day portable computer. Printing was 8 DPI, 10 pitch, 6 LPI, and capable of printing bidirectionally from a 128 character set. Two models were offered:[46] 80 and 120 characters per second.[47]
Near Letter Quality (NLQ)
Near Letter Quality mode—informally specified as almost good enough to be used in a business letter[48]—endowed dot-matrix printers with a simulated typewriter-like quality. By using multiple passes of the carriage, and higher dot density, the printer could increase the effective resolution. In 1985, The New York Times described the use of "near letter-quality, or NLQ" as "just a neat little bit of hype"[3] but acknowledged that they "really show their stuff in the area of fonts, print enhancements and graphics."
NLQ printers could generally be set to print in "draft mode", in which case a single pass of the print head per line would be used. This produced lower quality print at much higher output speed.
PC usage
In 1985, PC Magazine wrote "for the average personal computer user dot matrix remains the most workable choice".[11] At the time, IBM sold Epson's MX-80 as their IBM 5152.[49]
Another technology, inkjet printing, which uses the razor and blades business model (give away the razor handle, make money on the razor blade)[50] has reduced the value of the low cost for the printer: "a price per milliliter on par with liquid gold" for the ink/toner.[51]
Personal computers
In June 1978, the Epson TX-80/TP-80,[52] an 8-pin dot-matrix printer mainly used for the Commodore PET computer, was released. This and its successor, the 9-pin MX-80/MP-80 (introduced in 1979–1980),[53] sparked the popularity of impact printers in the personal computer market.[54] The MX-80 combined affordability with good-quality text output (for its time). Early impact printers (including the MX) were notoriously loud during operation, a result of the hammer-like mechanism in the print head. The MX-80 even inspired the name of a noise rock band.[55] The MX-80's low dot density (60 dpi horizontal, 72 dpi vertical) produced printouts of a distinctive "computerized" quality. When compared to the crisp typewriter quality of a daisy-wheel printer, the dot-matrix printer's legibility appeared especially bad. In office applications, output quality was a serious issue, as the dot-matrix text's readability would rapidly degrade with each photocopy generation.
PC software
Initially, third-party printer enhancement software offered a quick fix to the quality issue. General strategies were:
- doublestrike (print each line twice), and
- double-density mode (slow the print head to allow denser and more precise dot placement).
Some newer dot-matrix impact printers could reproduce bitmap images via "dot-addressable" capability. In 1981, Epson offered a retrofit
As carriage speed increased and dot density increased (from 60 dpi up to 240 dpi), with some adding color printing, additional typefaces allowed the user to vary the text appearance of printouts. Proportional-spaced fonts allowed the printer to imitate the non-uniform character widths of a typesetter, and also darker printouts. 'User-downloadable fonts' gave until the printer was powered off or soft-reset. The user could embed up to two
Contemporary use
The desktop impact printer was gradually replaced by the
As of 2021[update], dot matrix impact technology remains in use in devices and applications such as:[citation needed]
- Cash registers,
- ATMs,
- Banking, passbook and cashier's checks,
- Time cards and parking stubs,
- Multi-layer contracts for signature,
- Fire alarm systems,
- Point-of-sale terminals,
- British and Irish fire stations for turnout sheets,
- Applications requiring continuous output on fan-fold paper.
Notes
See also
- Daisy wheel printing
- ESC/P
- Dye-sublimation printer
- IBM Proprinter
- Typeball printer
References
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Dot matrix and inkjet printers share one key characteristic — both make images out of small dots. With a dot matrix printer, a pin presses through a ribbon to make an impact on the page. Inkjet printers have an electrical signal that causes a microscopic quantity of ink to squirt onto the page.
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Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) designs and manufacturers many of the peripheral devices offered with PDP-11's. As a designer and manufacturer of peripherals, DEC can offer extremely reliable equipment... The LA30 DECwriter, a totally DEC-designed and built teleprinter, can serve as an alternative to the Teletype.
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DEC brought the LA36 to market in 1974
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The LA36 DECwriter II was the companys first commercially successful ... The printer mechanism uses a dot-matrix technique to print 132 columns of text across standard 14 inch computer forms
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External links
- Tomash, Erwin. "The U.S. Computer Printer Industry". jacques-andre.fr. Retrieved 2023-11-21.