Print history: matrix, inkjet, laser and LED technology (Part 2)
Last time we looked at the history of printing from ancient times to the invention of the first printer. She was full of secrets and very ambiguous that you, dear Habrelochek men, kindly noted in your comments. Today we are talking about the history of personal printing, the development of which began in the middle of the twentieth century.
Part 1. The history of the press: the evolution of ideas and technologies
Part 2. Printing history: matrix, inkjet, laser and LED technologies
The first real printers
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The development of the first printers in the 40-50s was associated with the evolution of the typewriter. In the USSR and the USA, numerous attempts were made to automate the process of typing characters, printing certain characters on paper through an ink-saturated ribbon. So, in our country, such developments were called ADCs (automated digital printers), and in America they were simply called Printer - which means “printing”. Later, drum and flap printers appeared, which used the ideas of Charles Babbage, which we talked about in the last article, and could apply different symbols through the same ribbon.
The print of that time cannot be compared in quality and speed with modern. One of the first such "machines" was created for the computer Univac in 1953 in the depths of the corporation Remington-Rand, it was the world's first high-speed printer. However, high-speed, he was, of course, in the understanding of that time - a printing device could print 600 lines of 120 characters each in a minute.
Dot matrix printers
For the first time the idea of ​​matrix printing was implemented in 1964 by Seiko Epson Corporation. Engineers of the company designed a unique mechanism for those times, which constantly imprinted the exact time - worked as a clock. In contrast to the petal and drum printers, the image was formed from dots, which were applied to the paper with needles through a black or colored ribbon. The evolution of this development led to the emergence of real dot-matrix printers.
The main structural elements of the matrix printer are the print head (carriage), which moves along the line and strikes the needles with needles through an ink-saturated ribbon. Hence the name "matrix printer". After all, all possible symbols were made up of the resolution of the matrix formed by the location of the needles, which at first were very few - for example, 9, 24, 35, and so on. Impact movement of the needle was started by an electromagnet located in the drum. We examined the mechanism in more detail in an article directly devoted to matrix technology .
One of the first serial dot-matrix printers was the LA30 from DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation). This device was able to print only 5 to 7 dots at a speed of 30 characters per second on special-sized paper. The print head of this printer was driven by a stepper motor, and the paper was pulled by a ratchet drive — not very reliable and noisy. Curiously, the LA30 had both a serial and a parallel interface.
However, it was the DEC LA36 printer that actually became a symbol of the printing technology, having won public recognition in its time. The developers corrected the main errors and flaws, and also increased the length of the string to 132 characters of a different register. As a result, standard perforated paper was suitable for printing. The carriage was driven by a more powerful servo with an electric motor, an optical position sensor and a tachometer. All this made the printer more convenient and reliable.
Another interesting technical feature of LA36 - without taking more than 30 characters per second from a computer, it printed twice as fast. The fact is that when you return the carriage, the next pack of characters fell into the buffer. Therefore, when printing a new line, the printer made up for lost time at 60 characters per second. LA36 set the “fashion” to the multi-tone print sounds - in fast and normal mode. After all, his head moved in one direction with one speed, and in the other with twice as much, creating a distinctively office noise background.
But the most popular and purchased model until the 90s was the Epson MX-80, which combines the relative availability and good performance parameters for that time. The technology of matrix printing for a long time dominated the market, but in recent years, thanks to the development of such areas as inkjet and laser printing, as well as their varieties, they have given way to the main niche and have gone into the shadow of specialized solutions.
Inkjet printing
If we start from the very beginning, then it is possible to consider the birth of inkjet printing in 1833, when Felix Savart discovered and stated the uniformity of the formation of drops of liquid discharged through a narrow opening. The mathematical description of this phenomenon was carried out in 1878 by Lord Reilly (who later received the Nobel Prize). But it was only in 1951 that Siemens patented a working device capable of dividing the jet into single-type drops. This invention led to the creation of a minograf, one of the first commercial recorders used to record voltage values.
Speaking of inkjet printing, one should not forget about such an approach as drop-on-demand. Today, not many people remember this, but the first inkjet printers had a serious problem with removing drops that should not have been on paper. The essence of the drop-on-demand method is that the device releases ink drops only when necessary.
The first developments in this area were used in the Siemens PT-80 serial character printing device in 1977, as well as in the Silonics printer, which appeared a year later. These printers used the prototype of the piezoelectric printing, when the ink drops came out under the action of a pressure wave created by the mechanical movement of the piezoceramic element.
In 1979, Canon's specialists invented a drop-on-demand printing method, in which droplets were discharged on the surface of a small heater located near the nozzle and controlled by condensation of misty dye accumulations. At Canon, this technology was called "bubble seal."
In 1980, Hewlett-Packard independently developed a similar technology, called thermal inkjet printing, and in 1984 the ThinkJet solution, the first commercially successful and relatively inexpensive inkjet printer providing good print quality and resolution, appeared on the market.
Inkjet technology is developing today, providing multi-color printing, printing on large formats, they allow the use of both soluble and pigment dyes (when minimal particles of paint penetrate through nozzles and settle on paper). Modern inkjet printers, one might say, are in a state of progress and are actively fighting for their place under the sun. Improved printing speed and dye resistance to the effects of time, moisture and friction, as well as reducing the cost of printing made them a serious competitor for laser and LED printers.
Laser printers
The first place in the production of laser printers belongs to the company XEROX. Its employees in 1969 realized that the technology of copiers can be applied in printers. Thus, the photodrum is charged negatively, and the laser beam removes a certain part of the charge, passing through the photodrum, exactly where the pixels should be printed. A laser printer toner can be made from a variety of materials: metal shavings, tar, coal dust, etc. In any case, it is also negatively charged and therefore sticks precisely in the place where the laser passes will give a positive potential to the drum. The drum transfers the electronic image to paper to which toner particles will be attracted. Eventually, the paper enters the stove, and the toner under the influence of the heating roll melts, fixing itself on the paper. In more detail we have already talked about technology in previous articles .
Back in 1971, the first prototype of a laser printer appeared, but it was not until 1977 that XEROX released the Xerox 9700 Electronic Printing System. In 1981, Xerox continues its development and releases the computer STAR 8010. Together with it are sold graphic and text editors, as well as a program for combining texts and graphics, and, of course, a laser printer. The cost of such equipment was at that time $ 17,000.
The next important stage in the history of laser printers falls on 1984. Then, Hewlett-Packard began to produce a series of affordable LaserJet printers that provided the perfect 300 dpi resolution at that time. In 1992, HP released its LaserJet 4 printer, priced at just under $ 1,000 and with a resolution of 600 dpi. It can be said that this moment became a turning point and laser printers began to gain popularity and conquer the office printing market.
LED printers
LED printers are considered to be more technologically advanced than laser printers. Instead of a laser, they use a long line with LEDs that selectively flash to create an electronic pattern on the drum. Thus, this technology is more economical and allows you to achieve a higher print speed, all other things being equal (the design of the printing mechanism, the interface speed, the used CPU, etc.). The first LED printer was released by OKI only in 1987, and 10 years later, in 1998, the company also developed the first color LED printer.
In our country, LED printers appeared in 1996 with the opening of the regional representative office of OKI. In 1999, LED printers in Russia began to supply Panasonic and Kyocera.
The history of LED printers in Russia is closely connected with the budget and home model OkiPage 4W, which was positioned in our country as the base model for the office. OkiPage 4W is much cheaper than its laser counterparts, and its sales in the business segment start very vigorously. However, designed for home print volumes (2500 pages per month), quickly fail, both because of excess load, and because of poor-quality filling materials. It is believed that because of this situation, LED printing is still not so popular in Russia.
However, at present, LED printers continue to actively develop, offering a worthy alternative to the classic laser models. The range of manufacturers includes both standard color and black-and-white and widescreen LED printers.
Sublimation printing
At the request of workers, we will say a few words about technologies such as thermal sublimation printing and Micro Dry. They appeared relatively later than laser and inkjet printing, and, perhaps, this is why they have not yet occupied a significant place on the market.
The pioneer of sublimation technology is considered the Frenchman Noel de Plassé. In 1957, Noel de Plasse discovered that some dyes are able to sublimate, that is, go from a solid to a gaseous state, bypassing the liquid. However, in the 60s his discovery did not affect the printing, although after 20 years with the spread of personal computers and the development of technology, his ideas became relevant again. In 1985, they began to apply thermal sublimation printing to practice, actively using Kodak photo printers for direct printing from cameras, as well as Mitsubishi Electric. However, the scope of application of this technology is very limited, since special thermal paper is required for printing, and the transfer speed of the pattern is quite low, because the dye of each color is applied to the paper in turn.
In 1996, Micro Dry printing technology was developed, which is mainly used in Citizen printers. Its essence is to apply a solid dye directly to the carrier. This provides the ability to print with the same quality on any paper, including metallic dyes. Printers can print with a resolution of up to 600x600 in color, but the cost of printing is still quite high.
Conclusion
Here we briefly talked about the history of the development of the press, but do not forget that today new technologies continue to be developed. For example, recently we talked about an interesting UV-LED printer with solid ink. Innovations make it possible to actively develop wide format printers printing on canvas, polyethylene or other materials. Also, for more than 10 years, there have been 3D printers that allow you to print various objects from polymers or, for example, chocolate. They certainly deserve a separate discussion.
Part 1. The history of the press: the evolution of ideas and technologies
Part 2. Printing history: matrix, inkjet, laser and LED technologies
The first real printers
')
The development of the first printers in the 40-50s was associated with the evolution of the typewriter. In the USSR and the USA, numerous attempts were made to automate the process of typing characters, printing certain characters on paper through an ink-saturated ribbon. So, in our country, such developments were called ADCs (automated digital printers), and in America they were simply called Printer - which means “printing”. Later, drum and flap printers appeared, which used the ideas of Charles Babbage, which we talked about in the last article, and could apply different symbols through the same ribbon.
The print of that time cannot be compared in quality and speed with modern. One of the first such "machines" was created for the computer Univac in 1953 in the depths of the corporation Remington-Rand, it was the world's first high-speed printer. However, high-speed, he was, of course, in the understanding of that time - a printing device could print 600 lines of 120 characters each in a minute.
Dot matrix printers
For the first time the idea of ​​matrix printing was implemented in 1964 by Seiko Epson Corporation. Engineers of the company designed a unique mechanism for those times, which constantly imprinted the exact time - worked as a clock. In contrast to the petal and drum printers, the image was formed from dots, which were applied to the paper with needles through a black or colored ribbon. The evolution of this development led to the emergence of real dot-matrix printers.
The main structural elements of the matrix printer are the print head (carriage), which moves along the line and strikes the needles with needles through an ink-saturated ribbon. Hence the name "matrix printer". After all, all possible symbols were made up of the resolution of the matrix formed by the location of the needles, which at first were very few - for example, 9, 24, 35, and so on. Impact movement of the needle was started by an electromagnet located in the drum. We examined the mechanism in more detail in an article directly devoted to matrix technology .
One of the first serial dot-matrix printers was the LA30 from DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation). This device was able to print only 5 to 7 dots at a speed of 30 characters per second on special-sized paper. The print head of this printer was driven by a stepper motor, and the paper was pulled by a ratchet drive — not very reliable and noisy. Curiously, the LA30 had both a serial and a parallel interface.
However, it was the DEC LA36 printer that actually became a symbol of the printing technology, having won public recognition in its time. The developers corrected the main errors and flaws, and also increased the length of the string to 132 characters of a different register. As a result, standard perforated paper was suitable for printing. The carriage was driven by a more powerful servo with an electric motor, an optical position sensor and a tachometer. All this made the printer more convenient and reliable.
Another interesting technical feature of LA36 - without taking more than 30 characters per second from a computer, it printed twice as fast. The fact is that when you return the carriage, the next pack of characters fell into the buffer. Therefore, when printing a new line, the printer made up for lost time at 60 characters per second. LA36 set the “fashion” to the multi-tone print sounds - in fast and normal mode. After all, his head moved in one direction with one speed, and in the other with twice as much, creating a distinctively office noise background.
But the most popular and purchased model until the 90s was the Epson MX-80, which combines the relative availability and good performance parameters for that time. The technology of matrix printing for a long time dominated the market, but in recent years, thanks to the development of such areas as inkjet and laser printing, as well as their varieties, they have given way to the main niche and have gone into the shadow of specialized solutions.
Inkjet printing
If we start from the very beginning, then it is possible to consider the birth of inkjet printing in 1833, when Felix Savart discovered and stated the uniformity of the formation of drops of liquid discharged through a narrow opening. The mathematical description of this phenomenon was carried out in 1878 by Lord Reilly (who later received the Nobel Prize). But it was only in 1951 that Siemens patented a working device capable of dividing the jet into single-type drops. This invention led to the creation of a minograf, one of the first commercial recorders used to record voltage values.
Speaking of inkjet printing, one should not forget about such an approach as drop-on-demand. Today, not many people remember this, but the first inkjet printers had a serious problem with removing drops that should not have been on paper. The essence of the drop-on-demand method is that the device releases ink drops only when necessary.
The first developments in this area were used in the Siemens PT-80 serial character printing device in 1977, as well as in the Silonics printer, which appeared a year later. These printers used the prototype of the piezoelectric printing, when the ink drops came out under the action of a pressure wave created by the mechanical movement of the piezoceramic element.
In 1979, Canon's specialists invented a drop-on-demand printing method, in which droplets were discharged on the surface of a small heater located near the nozzle and controlled by condensation of misty dye accumulations. At Canon, this technology was called "bubble seal."
In 1980, Hewlett-Packard independently developed a similar technology, called thermal inkjet printing, and in 1984 the ThinkJet solution, the first commercially successful and relatively inexpensive inkjet printer providing good print quality and resolution, appeared on the market.
Inkjet technology is developing today, providing multi-color printing, printing on large formats, they allow the use of both soluble and pigment dyes (when minimal particles of paint penetrate through nozzles and settle on paper). Modern inkjet printers, one might say, are in a state of progress and are actively fighting for their place under the sun. Improved printing speed and dye resistance to the effects of time, moisture and friction, as well as reducing the cost of printing made them a serious competitor for laser and LED printers.
Laser printers
The first place in the production of laser printers belongs to the company XEROX. Its employees in 1969 realized that the technology of copiers can be applied in printers. Thus, the photodrum is charged negatively, and the laser beam removes a certain part of the charge, passing through the photodrum, exactly where the pixels should be printed. A laser printer toner can be made from a variety of materials: metal shavings, tar, coal dust, etc. In any case, it is also negatively charged and therefore sticks precisely in the place where the laser passes will give a positive potential to the drum. The drum transfers the electronic image to paper to which toner particles will be attracted. Eventually, the paper enters the stove, and the toner under the influence of the heating roll melts, fixing itself on the paper. In more detail we have already talked about technology in previous articles .
Back in 1971, the first prototype of a laser printer appeared, but it was not until 1977 that XEROX released the Xerox 9700 Electronic Printing System. In 1981, Xerox continues its development and releases the computer STAR 8010. Together with it are sold graphic and text editors, as well as a program for combining texts and graphics, and, of course, a laser printer. The cost of such equipment was at that time $ 17,000.
The next important stage in the history of laser printers falls on 1984. Then, Hewlett-Packard began to produce a series of affordable LaserJet printers that provided the perfect 300 dpi resolution at that time. In 1992, HP released its LaserJet 4 printer, priced at just under $ 1,000 and with a resolution of 600 dpi. It can be said that this moment became a turning point and laser printers began to gain popularity and conquer the office printing market.
LED printers
LED printers are considered to be more technologically advanced than laser printers. Instead of a laser, they use a long line with LEDs that selectively flash to create an electronic pattern on the drum. Thus, this technology is more economical and allows you to achieve a higher print speed, all other things being equal (the design of the printing mechanism, the interface speed, the used CPU, etc.). The first LED printer was released by OKI only in 1987, and 10 years later, in 1998, the company also developed the first color LED printer.
In our country, LED printers appeared in 1996 with the opening of the regional representative office of OKI. In 1999, LED printers in Russia began to supply Panasonic and Kyocera.
The history of LED printers in Russia is closely connected with the budget and home model OkiPage 4W, which was positioned in our country as the base model for the office. OkiPage 4W is much cheaper than its laser counterparts, and its sales in the business segment start very vigorously. However, designed for home print volumes (2500 pages per month), quickly fail, both because of excess load, and because of poor-quality filling materials. It is believed that because of this situation, LED printing is still not so popular in Russia.
However, at present, LED printers continue to actively develop, offering a worthy alternative to the classic laser models. The range of manufacturers includes both standard color and black-and-white and widescreen LED printers.
Sublimation printing
At the request of workers, we will say a few words about technologies such as thermal sublimation printing and Micro Dry. They appeared relatively later than laser and inkjet printing, and, perhaps, this is why they have not yet occupied a significant place on the market.
The pioneer of sublimation technology is considered the Frenchman Noel de Plassé. In 1957, Noel de Plasse discovered that some dyes are able to sublimate, that is, go from a solid to a gaseous state, bypassing the liquid. However, in the 60s his discovery did not affect the printing, although after 20 years with the spread of personal computers and the development of technology, his ideas became relevant again. In 1985, they began to apply thermal sublimation printing to practice, actively using Kodak photo printers for direct printing from cameras, as well as Mitsubishi Electric. However, the scope of application of this technology is very limited, since special thermal paper is required for printing, and the transfer speed of the pattern is quite low, because the dye of each color is applied to the paper in turn.
In 1996, Micro Dry printing technology was developed, which is mainly used in Citizen printers. Its essence is to apply a solid dye directly to the carrier. This provides the ability to print with the same quality on any paper, including metallic dyes. Printers can print with a resolution of up to 600x600 in color, but the cost of printing is still quite high.
Conclusion
Here we briefly talked about the history of the development of the press, but do not forget that today new technologies continue to be developed. For example, recently we talked about an interesting UV-LED printer with solid ink. Innovations make it possible to actively develop wide format printers printing on canvas, polyethylene or other materials. Also, for more than 10 years, there have been 3D printers that allow you to print various objects from polymers or, for example, chocolate. They certainly deserve a separate discussion.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/184432/
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