
Dot matrix printing,
sometimes called impact matrix printing, is a
computer printing process in which ink is applied to a surface using a relatively low-resolution
dot matrix
A dot matrix is a 2-dimensional patterned Array data structure, array, used to represent characters, symbols and images. Most types of modern technology use dot matrices for display of information, including mobile phones, televisions, and pri ...
for layout. Dot matrix printers are a type of
impact printer
A printer is a peripheral machine which makes a durable representation of graphics or text, usually on paper. While most output is human-readable, bar code printers are an example of an expanded use for printers. Different types of printer ...
that prints using a fixed number of pins or wires
and typically use 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. They were also known as serial dot matrix printers.
Unlike
typewriter
A typewriter is a Machine, mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of Button (control), keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an i ...
s or
line printer
A line printer Printer (computing), prints one entire line of text before advancing to another line. Most early line printers were
printer (computing)#Impact printers, impact printers.
Line printers are mostly associated with unit record eq ...
s that use a similar print mechanism, a dot matrix printer can print arbitrary patterns and not just specific characters.
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
inkjet
Inkjet printing is a type of printer (computing), computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper or plastic substrates. Inkjet printers were the most commonly used type of printer in 2008, and range f ...
,
thermal
A thermal column (or thermal) is a rising mass of buoyant air, a convective current in the atmosphere, that transfers heat energy vertically. Thermals are created by the uneven heating of Earth's surface from solar radiation, and are an example ...
, or
laser printing
Laser printing is an electrostatic digital printing process. It produces high-quality text and graphics (and moderate-quality photographs) by repeatedly passing a laser beam back and forth over a Electric charge, negatively charged cylinder call ...
, which also use a
bitmap
In computing, a bitmap (also called raster) graphic is an image formed from rows of different colored pixels. A GIF is an example of a graphics image file that uses a bitmap.
As a noun, the term "bitmap" is very often used to refer to a partic ...
to represent the printed work. These other technologies can support higher dot resolutions and print more quickly, with less noise. Unlike other technologies, impact printers can print on
multi-part forms, allowing multiple copies to be made simultaneously, often on paper of different colors. They can also employ endless printing using
continuous paper that is fanfolded and perforated so that pages can be easily torn from each other.
History
In 1925,
Rudolf Hell
Rudolf Hell (19 December 1901 – 11 March 2002) was a German inventor and engineer.
Career
Hell was born in Eggmühl. From 1919 to 1923, he studied electrical engineering in Munich. He worked there from 1923 to 1929 as assistant of Prof. M ...
invented the
Hellschreiber
The Hellschreiber, Feldhellschreiber or Typenbildfeldfernschreiber (also Hell-Schreiber named after its inventor Rudolf Hell) is a fax, facsimile-based teleprinter invented by Rudolf Hell. Compared to contemporary teleprinters that were based ...
, an early
facsimile
A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of r ...
-like
dot matrix
A dot matrix is a 2-dimensional patterned Array data structure, array, used to represent characters, symbols and images. Most types of modern technology use dot matrices for display of information, including mobile phones, televisions, and pri ...
based
teletypewriter
A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is an electromechanical device that can be used to send and receive typed messages through various communications channels, in both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint configurations.
Init ...
device,
patented in 1929.
Between 1952 and 1954
Fritz Karl Preikschat filed five patent applications
for his so-called "PKT printer",
a dot matrix teletypewriter built between 1954 and 1956 in Germany. Like the earlier Hellschreiber, it still used electromechanical means of coding and decoding, but it used a start-stop method (
asynchronous transmission
Data communication, including data transmission and data reception, is the transfer of data, transmitted and received over a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint communication channel. Examples of such channels are copper wires, optical ...
) rather than
synchronous transmission
Synchronous serial communication describes a serial communication protocol , "In synchronous transmission, groups of bits are combined into frames,and frames are sent continuously with or without data to be transmitted."
Synchronous communication ...
for communication.
In 1956, while he was employed at
Telefonbau und Normalzeit GmbH
Tenovis (formerly Deutsche Privat Telephon Gesellschaft, Telefonbau und Normalzeit, T&N, Telenorma and Bosch Telecom) was a large German telecommunications company first set up in 1899, who were acquired by Avaya in October 2004. The business has ...
(
TuN, later called
Tenovis
Tenovis (formerly Deutsche Privat Telephon Gesellschaft, Telefonbau und Normalzeit, T&N, Telenorma and Bosch Telecom) was a large German telecommunications company first set up in 1899, who were acquired by Avaya in October 2004. The business has ...
), the device was offered to the
Deutsche Bundespost
The (, ) was a German state-run postal service and telecommunications business founded in 1947. It was initially the second largest federal employer during its time. After staff reductions in the 1980s, the staff was reduced to roughly 543,20 ...
(German Post Office), which did not show interest.
When Preikschat emigrated to the US in 1957 he sold the rights to utilize the applications in any country (except the USA) to TuN. The prototype was also shown to
General Mills
General Mills, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded ultra-processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in ...
in 1957. An improved
transistorized
A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electrical signals and power. It is one of the basic building blocks of modern electronics. It is composed of semiconductor material, usually with at least three terminals f ...
design
became the basis for a portable dot matrix facsimile machine, which was prototyped and evaluated for military use by
Boeing
The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...
around 1966–1967.

In 1968, the Japanese manufacturer
OKI introduced its first serial impact dot matrix printer (SIDM), the OKI Wiredot. The printer supported a
character generator
A character generator, often abbreviated as CG, is a device or software that produces static or animated text (such as news crawls and credits rolls) for keying into a video stream. Modern character generators are computer-based, and they can ...
for 128 characters with a print matrix of 7 × 5. It was aimed at governmental, financial, scientific and educational markets. For this achievement, OKI received an award from the
Information Processing Society of Japan
The is a Japanese learned society for computing. Founded in 1960, it is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. IPSJ publishes a magazine and several professional journals mainly in Japanese, and sponsors conferences and workshops, also mainly conducted ...
(IPSJ) in 2013.
In 1970
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC ), using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was co-founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president until ...
(DEC) introduced an impact
dot matrix printer
Dot matrix printing, sometimes called impact matrix printing, is a computer printing process in which ink is applied to a surface using a relatively low-resolution dot matrix for layout. Dot matrix printers are a type of impact printer that p ...
, the
LA30, as did
Centronics
Centronics Data Computer Corporation was an American manufacturer of computer printers, now remembered primarily for the parallel interface that bears its name, the Centronics connector.
History
Foundations
Centronics began as a divisio ...
(then of
Hudson
Hudson may refer to:
People
* Hudson (given name)
* Hudson (surname)
* Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back
* Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudson Rodrigues dos Santos, Brazilian f ...
,
New Hampshire
New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
): the Centronics 101.
The search for a reliable printer mechanism led it to develop a relationship with
Brother Industries, Ltd of
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, and the sale of Centronics-badged Brother printer mechanisms equipped with a Centronics print head and Centronics electronics. Unlike Digital, Centronics concentrated on the low-end
line printer
A line printer Printer (computing), prints one entire line of text before advancing to another line. Most early line printers were
printer (computing)#Impact printers, impact printers.
Line printers are mostly associated with unit record eq ...
marketplace with their distinctive units. In the process, they designed the
parallel electrical interface that was to become standard on most printers until it began to be replaced by the
Universal Serial Bus
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...
(
USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...
) in the late 1990s.
DEC was a major vendor, albeit with a focus on use with their PDP minicomputer line.
Their LA30 30 character/second (CPS) dot matrix printer, the first of many, was introduced in 1970. In the mid-1980s, dot-matrix printers were dropping in price,
and began to outsell
daisywheel printers, due to their higher speed and versatility.
The Apple
ImageWriter
The ImageWriter is a product line of dot matrix printers formerly manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc., and designed then to be compatible with their entire line of computers. There were three different models introduced over time, which wer ...
was a popular consumer dot matrix printer in the 1980s until the mid-1990s.
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
Personal may refer to:
Aspects of persons' respective individualities
* Privacy
* Personality
* Personal, personal advertisement, variety of classified advertisement used to find romance or friendship
Companies
* Personal, Inc., a Washington, ...
and
home computer
Home computers were a class of microcomputers that entered the market in 1977 and became common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a s ...
s.
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
CJKV characters.
Epson's 24-pin LQ-series rose to become the new de facto standard, at 24/180 inch (per pass – 7.5 lpi). Not only could a 24-pin printer lay down a denser dot-pattern in a single pass, it could simultaneously cover a larger area and print more quickly. Although the text quality of a 24-pin was still visibly inferior to a true
letter-quality printer such as a daisy wheel or laser printer, print quality was greatly superior to a 9-pin printer. As manufacturing costs declined, 24-pin printers gradually replaced 9-pin printers.
By the dawn of the 1990s, inkjet printers became more common as PC printers.
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
typewriter
A typewriter is a Machine, mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of Button (control), keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an i ...
. However, unlike a typewriter or
daisy wheel printer, letters are drawn out of a dot matrix, and thus, varied fonts and arbitrary graphics can be produced.
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
An electromagnet is a type of magnet in which the magnetic field is produced by an electric current. Electromagnets usually consist of wire (likely copper) wound into a electromagnetic coil, coil. A current through the wire creates a magnetic ...
or
solenoid
upright=1.20, An illustration of a solenoid
upright=1.20, Magnetic field created by a seven-loop solenoid (cross-sectional view) described using field lines
A solenoid () is a type of electromagnet formed by a helix, helical coil of wire whos ...
, either directly or through small levers (pawls).
[ 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
Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, cobalt, lead, chromium, vanadium, magnesium, boron, and silicon. The name ''sapphire ...
or ruby
Ruby is a pinkish-red-to-blood-red-colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapph ...
.
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 sprocket
A sprocket, sprocket-wheel or chainwheel is a profiled wheel
A wheel is a rotating component (typically circular in shape) that is intended to turn on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the whe ...
s on two wheels at each side which is then driven with an electric motor. 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
A stepper motor, also known as step motor or stepping motor,Clarence W. de Silva. Mechatronics: An Integrated Approach (2005). CRC Press. p. 675. "The terms ''stepper motor'', ''stepping motor'', and ''step motor'' are synonymous and are often u ...
, rotary encoder
A rotary encoder, also called a shaft encoder, is an electro-mechanical device that converts the angle, angular position or motion of a shaft or axle to Analog signal, analog or Digital signal, digital output signals.
There are two main types of ...
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.
Although nearly all inkjet
Inkjet printing is a type of printer (computing), computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper or plastic substrates. Inkjet printers were the most commonly used type of printer in 2008, and range f ...
, thermal
A thermal column (or thermal) is a rising mass of buoyant air, a convective current in the atmosphere, that transfers heat energy vertically. Thermals are created by the uneven heating of Earth's surface from solar radiation, and are an example ...
, and laser printer
Laser printing is an electrostatic digital printing process. It produces high-quality text and graphics (and moderate-quality photographs) by repeatedly passing a laser beam back and forth over a Electric charge, negatively charged cylinder call ...
s also print closely spaced dots rather than continuous lines or characters, it is not customary to call them dot matrix printers.
Dot matrix printers have one of the lowest printing costs per page.
They are able to use fanfold continuous paper with tractor holes.
Dot matrix printers create noise when the pins or typeface strike the ribbon to the paper, 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.
Variations
The common serial dot matrix printers use a horizontally moving print head. The print head can be thought of featuring a single vertical column of seven or more pins approximately the height of a character box. In reality, the pins are arranged in up to four vertically or/and horizontally slightly displaced columns in order to increase the dot density and print speed through interleaving without causing the pins to jam. Thereby, up to 48 pins can be used to form the characters of a line while the print head moves horizontally. The printing speed of serial dot matrix printers with moving heads varies from 30 to 1550 characters per second (cps).
In a considerably different configuration, so called line dot matrix printers or line matrix printer
A line matrix printer is a computer printer that is a compromise between a line printer and a dot matrix printer. A line matrix printer prints page-wide lines of dots at a time, building up a line of text by printing lines of dots.
Applicatio ...
s 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. 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
DEC
Unlike the LA30's 80-column, uppercase-only 5 x 7 dot matrix, DEC's product line grew. New models included:
* 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
LA30
The DECwriter LA30 was a 30 character per second dot matrix printing terminal introduced in 1970 by Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC ), using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was co-founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president until ...
(DEC) of Maynard, Massachusetts
It printed 80 columns of uppercase-only 7 × 5 dot matrix
A dot matrix is a 2-dimensional patterned Array data structure, array, used to represent characters, symbols and images. Most types of modern technology use dot matrices for display of information, including mobile phones, televisions, and pri ...
characters across a unique-sized paper. The printhead was driven by a stepper motor
A stepper motor, also known as step motor or stepping motor,Clarence W. de Silva. Mechatronics: An Integrated Approach (2005). CRC Press. p. 675. "The terms ''stepper motor'', ''stepping motor'', and ''step motor'' are synonymous and are often u ...
and the paper was advanced by a noisy solenoid
upright=1.20, An illustration of a solenoid
upright=1.20, Magnetic field created by a seven-loop solenoid (cross-sectional view) described using field lines
A solenoid () is a type of electromagnet formed by a helix, helical coil of wire whos ...
ratchet
Ratchet may refer to:
Devices
* Ratchet (device), a mechanical device that allows movement in only one direction
* Ratchet effect in sociology and economics
* Ratchet, metonymic name for a socket wrench incorporating a ratcheting device
* Ratc ...
drive. The LA30 was available with both a parallel interface
In computing, a parallel port is a type of interface found on early computers (personal and otherwise) for connecting peripherals. The name refers to the way the data is sent; parallel ports send multiple bits of data at once (parallel ...
(LA30-P) and a serial interface (LA30-S); however, the serial LA30 required the use of fill characters during the carriage-return. In 1972, a receive-only variation named LA30A became available.
LA36
The LA30 was followed in 1974 by the LA36, which achieved far greater commercial success, becoming for a time the standard dot matrix computer terminal. The LA36 used the same print head as the LA30 but could print on forms of any width up to 132 columns of mixed-case output on standard green bar fanfold paper. The carriage was moved by a much-more-capable servo drive
A servo drive is an electronic amplifier
An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a Signal (information theory), signal (a time-varying voltage or Electric current, cu ...
using a DC electric motor and an optical encoder / tachometer
A tachometer (revolution-counter, tach, rev-counter, RPM gauge) is an instrument measuring the rotation speed of a axle, shaft or disk, as in a motor or other machine. The device usually displays the revolutions per minute (RPM) on a calibrat ...
. The paper was moved by a stepper motor. The LA36 was only available with a serial interface but unlike the earlier LA30, no fill characters were required. This was possible because, while the printer never communicated at faster than 30 characters per second, the mechanism was actually capable of printing at 60 characters per second. During the carriage return period, characters were ''buffered'' for subsequent printing at full speed during a catch-up period. The two-tone buzz produced by 60-character-per-second catch-up printing followed by 30-character-per-second ordinary printing was a distinctive feature of the LA36, quickly copied by many other manufacturers well into the 1990s. Most efficient dot matrix printers used this buffering technique.
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" printer. When in graphic mode (as opposed to text mode), the printhead can generate graphic images. When in (bitmap
In computing, a bitmap (also called raster) graphic is an image formed from rows of different colored pixels. A GIF is an example of a graphics image file that uses a bitmap.
As a noun, the term "bitmap" is very often used to refer to a partic ...
) graphics mode, the LA50 can receive and print Sixel graphics format.
Centronics 101
The Centronics 101 (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 was the only IBM printer that could be attached to the IBM 5100
The IBM 5100 Portable Computer is one of the first portable computers, introduced in September 1975, six years before the IBM Personal Computer, and eight before the first successful IBM compatible portable computer, the Compaq Portable. It wa ...
, 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: 80 and 120 characters per second.
Near Letter Quality (NLQ)
''Near Letter Quality'' mode—informally specified as almost good enough to be used in a business letter—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" 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". At the time, IBM sold Epson
Seiko Epson Corporation, commonly known as Epson, is a Japanese multinational electronics company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of printers and information- and imaging-related equipment. Headquartered in Suwa, Nagano, Japan, t ...
's MX-80 as their IBM 5152.
Another technology, inkjet printing
Inkjet printing is a type of computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper or plastic substrates. Inkjet printers were the most commonly used type of printer in 2008, and range from small inexpensi ...
, which uses the razor and blades business model
The razor and blades business model is a business model in which one item is sold at a low price (or given away) in order to increase sales of a complementary good, such as consumables, consumable supplies. It is different from loss leader, loss l ...
(give away the razor handle, make money on the razor blade) has reduced the value of the low cost for the printer: "a price per milliliter on par with liquid gold" for the ink/toner.
Personal computers
In June 1978, the Epson
Seiko Epson Corporation, commonly known as Epson, is a Japanese multinational electronics company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of printers and information- and imaging-related equipment. Headquartered in Suwa, Nagano, Japan, t ...
TX-80/TP-80, an 8-pin dot-matrix printer mainly used for the Commodore PET
The Commodore PET is a line of personal computers produced starting in 1977 by Commodore International. A single all-in-one case combines a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor, Commodore BASIC in read-only memory, keyboard, monochrome monitor ...
computer, was released. This and its successor, the 9-pin MX-80/MP-80 (introduced in 1979–1980), sparked the popularity of impact printers in the personal computer market. 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'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
A photocopier (also called copier or copy machine, and formerly Xerox machine, the generic trademark) is a machine that makes copies of documents and other visual images onto paper or plastic film quickly and cheaply. Most modern photocopiers ...
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
In computing, a bitmap (also called raster) graphic is an image formed from rows of different colored pixels. A GIF is an example of a graphics image file that uses a bitmap.
As a noun, the term "bitmap" is very often used to refer to a partic ...
images via "dot-addressable" capability. In 1981, Epson offered a retrofit EPROM
An EPROM (rarely EROM), or erasable programmable read-only memory, is a type of programmable read-only memory (PROM) integrated circuit, chip that retains its data when its power supply is switched off. Computer memory that can retrieve stored d ...
kit called Graftrax to add this to many early MX series printers. Banners and signs produced with software that used this ability, such as Broderbund
Broderbund Software, Inc. (stylized as Brøderbund) was an American maker of video games, educational software, and productivity tools. Broderbund is best known for the 8-bit video game hits '' Choplifter'', '' Lode Runner'', '' Karateka'', and ...
's Print Shop, became ubiquitous in offices and schools throughout the 1980s.
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 NLQ custom typefaces in addition to the printer's built-in (ROM) typefaces.
Contemporary use
The desktop impact printer was gradually replaced by the inkjet printer
Inkjet printing is a type of printer (computing), computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper or plastic substrates. Inkjet printers were the most commonly used type of printer in 2008, and range f ...
. When Hewlett-Packard
The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...
's expired on steam-propelled photolithographically produced ink-jet heads in 2004, the inkjet mechanism became available to the printer industry. For applications that did not require impact (e.g. carbon-copy printing), the inkjet was superior in nearly all respects: comparatively quiet operation, faster print speed, and output quality almost as good as a laser printer. By 1995, inkjet technology Inkjet technology originally was invented for depositing aqueous inks on paper in 'selective' positions based on the ink properties only. Inkjet nozzles and inks were designed together and the inkjet performance was based on a design. It was used as ...
had surpassed dot matrix impact technology in the mainstream market and relegated dot matrix to niche applications.
, dot matrix impact technology remains in use in devices and applications such as:
* Cash register
A cash register, sometimes called a till or automated money handling system, is a mechanical or electronic device for registering and calculating transactions at a point of sale. It is usually attached to a Cash register#Cash drawer, drawer fo ...
s,
* ATMs,
* Banking, passbook and cashier's checks,
* Time cards and parking stubs,
* Multi-layer contracts for signature,
* Fire alarm system
A fire alarm system is a building system designed to detect, alert occupants, and alert emergency forces of the presence of fire, smoke, carbon monoxide, or other fire-related emergencies. Fire alarm systems are required in most commercial buil ...
s,
* Point-of-sale terminals,
* British and Irish fire stations for turnout sheets,
* Applications requiring continuous output on fan-fold paper.
Thermal printing
Thermal printing (or direct thermal printing) is a digital printing process which produces a printed image by passing paper with a Thermochromism, thermochromic coating, commonly known as thermal paper, over a print head consisting of tiny el ...
is gradually supplanting them in some of these applications, but full-size dot-matrix impact printers are still used to print multi-part stationery. For example, dot matrix impact printers are still used at bank tellers and auto repair shops, and other applications where use of tractor feed paper is desirable such as data logging
A data logger (also datalogger or data recorder) is an electronic device that records data over time or about location either with a built-in instrument or sensor or via external instruments and sensors. Increasingly, but not entirely, they a ...
and aviation
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...
. Most of these printers now come with USB interfaces as a standard feature to facilitate connections to modern computers without legacy ports.
Notes
See also
* Daisy wheel printing
Daisy wheel printing is an impact printing technology invented in 1970 by Andrew Gabor at Diablo Data Systems. It uses interchangeable pre-formed type elements, each with typically 96 glyphs, to generate high-quality output comparable to pre ...
* ESC/P
* Dye-sublimation printer
* IBM Proprinter
* Typeball printer
References
External links
* {{cite web , last=Tomash , first=Erwin , title=The U.S. Computer Printer Industry , website=jacques-andre.fr , url=https://jacques-andre.fr/chi/chi90/tomash.html , access-date=2023-11-21
Dot matrix printers
American inventions
20th-century inventions
Computer-related introductions in 1970
Printing technology
fr:Imprimante#Imprimante à aiguilles ou imprimante matricielle