Spark printing
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Spark printing is an obsolete form of
Spark printing was a simple and inexpensive technology. The print quality was relatively poor, but at a time when conventional printers cost hundreds of pounds, spark printers' sub-£100 price was a major selling point. The other major downside is that they can only print onto special metallised paper and such an electrosensitive paper is no longer widely available, but is still sold as of 2020.[3]
Models
By 1979, the Comprint 912[4] was widely advertised as being faster, quieter, and less expensive than competitive matrix printers, with its "special aluminized 'silver paper'" being superior to ordinary paper, and "on those rare occasions when you really do need a plain bond paper copy, just run your Comprint 912 printout through your plain bond copy machine and you've got it."
The
In the early 1980s,
The Hewlett Packard 9120A, which attached to the top of the
Tandy / Radio Shack TRS-80 Screen Printer, Quick Printer, and Quick Printer II all used this same method and special paper.
The
Variants
A different spark printer implementation propelled dry toner from a tiny hole in the end of a glass rod, using a high-voltage spark between the platen and print head. The glass toner rod held a solid mass of toner, pushed toward the ejection tip by a spring. This had the advantage of printing onto plain paper, but the disadvantage of the toner not being cured to the paper, and thus easily smudged. Similar to the Sinclair printer, this printer had only one stylus (the toner rod), since the entire plate behind the paper served as the other spark electrode. The printer could only print one line of pixels at a time.[citation needed]
References
- ^ Grosvenor Hotchkiss, Electrosensitive Recording Paper for Facsimile Telegraph Apparatus and Graphic Chart Instruments, Western Union Technical Review, Vol. 3, No, 1 (January 1949); page 6.
- ^ G. H. Ridings, A Facsimile transceiver for Pickup and Delivery of Telegrams, Western Union Technical Review, Vol. 3, No, 1 (January 1949); page 6.
- ^ Paper Loop Consumables (2020-03-29). "Electrosensitive Paper Roll 60mm wide x 34mm diameter x 12.7mm core".
- ^ "Comprint advertisement". Computerworld. 8 October 1979. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
- ^ "Casio FX-702P". Computer Museum. Retrieved 2006-11-30.