Impact Printers

Impact Printers

Impact printers are a type of printer that uses a mechanical mechanism to physically strike an inked ribbon against paper or other printing material. This creates a visible impression on the paper, resulting in the printed text or image. Impact printers were widely used in the past and are still used in some industries today, especially in situations where carbon copies or multipart forms are required. There are several types of impact printers, including dot matrix printers, daisy wheel printers, and line printers. Dot matrix printers use a matrix of pins that strike an inked ribbon to create dots that form characters and images. Daisy wheel printers use a wheel with spokes that have characters on the end of each spoke. The wheel rotates to position the correct character in front of the ribbon, and then a hammer strikes the character against the paper. Line printers use a chain or drum with characters on it that rotate to print an entire line of text at once. While impact printers are generally slower and noisier than non-impact printers, they have several advantages. They can print on multipart forms, which is important in industries such as banking and healthcare. They also produce carbon copies, which can be useful for record-keeping. Additionally, impact printers are often more durable than non-impact printers and can handle rougher printing environments. In recent years, the use of impact printers has declined as non-impact printers such as laser and inkjet printers have become more affordable and versatile. However, impact printers remain an important part of certain industries and continue to be used in specialized applications.

dot matrix printers, daisy wheel printers, line printers, multipart forms, carbon copies

— Joseph Edwards