Types of Printers: Impact & Non-Impact Printers
How many types of printers are used in a computer?
Printers can be of different types and sizes with different functionalities and characteristics. However, all printers can be broadly classified into the following two types:
1. Impact
Printers
2. Non-Impact
Printers
1. Impact Printer
Featuring the first category is an impact printer. It consists of one or more than one printing head, just like typewriters. In an impact printer, texts and graphics are produced on paper with the help of an ink ribbon hitting mechanism on paper.
Examples of this type of printer are Dot-matrix printers, daisy-wheel printers, and line printers.
2. Non-Impact Printer
Non-impact printers work differently than impact printers. It produces texts and graphics on paper without an ink ribbon hitting mechanism on paper. Examples of this type of printer are inkjet printer and laser printer.
Let’s understand the fundamental difference between these printers in brief.
|
Impact Printer |
Non-Impact Printer |
|
Texts and graphics are printed on paper by striking |
The non-impact printer prints text and graphics on paper without striking. |
|
Impact printer uses electro-mechanical devices for printing. |
The non-impact printer does not use it for printing. |
|
It makes a lot of noise. |
They are silent and make less noise as compared to impact printers. |
|
Faster printing speed. 250 words/second |
Slower printing speed as compared to other printers. 1 page/30 seconds |
1. Impact
Printer
Impact printers are mainly categorized into the following two types:
i) Character
Printers
ii) Line
Printers
i) Character
Printers
This printer can print one character at a time, just like a traditional typewriter. It is also known as serial printers, which are slower than line and page printers. Examples of this type of printer are daisy wheel and dot matrix printers.
ii) Line
Printers
Line printers can print the whole line at one time and approximately 3000 lines/minute. However, this type of printer cannot print graphics. Its printing is relatively low, and this printer makes a lot of noise. Examples of these printers are chains, drums, and bands.
i)
Character Printers
A) Dot
matrix printers
Dot matrix printers, also known as pin printers, are the most popular type of impact printer. These printers have a matrix of pins on their print heads to create characters or graphics.
When the print head reaches the correct position, the pins strike individually on the ribbon, which then produces a print on the paper. In dot matrix printers, the print mechanism moves both directions (left to right and right to left) throughout the print line. To make a color print, ribbon soaked in Black ink can be replaced with colored stripes. Dot-matrix printers are cheap and usually print 100-600 characters per second.
B) Daisy wheel printers
Daisy wheel printers are impact printers used primarily to achieve the quality found with typewriters. Because these printers have a mechanism that looks like a daisy (a flower), they are named daisy wheel printers. More specifically, these printers have a wheel/disc that includes print heads and the ends of these print heads have a molded metal character. The overall arrangement looks like daisy petals.
When the print command is given, the printer rotates the disk with all its associated characters. As soon as the desired character arrives at the correct print location, the hammer hits the disc and the corresponding character hits the ink ribbon to produce a character on a paper. Besides, daisy wheel printers are not compatible with printing images or graphics. These printers typically have a speed of about 25-55 characters per second.
ii) Line
Printers
A) Drum
printer
The drum printer consists of a rotating cylindrical drum with a circular band of characters on its surface. In particular, the surface is divided into tracks equal to the size of the supported printing paper. Tracks have characters set on them. Additionally, the drum printer has a separate hammer for each set of characters.
When the print command is given, the drum rotates and when the desired character reaches under the hammer, the hammer quickly strikes the ink ribbon against the paper to print the corresponding character. The paper is placed in such a way that it lies between the hammer and the ribbon of ink. The
Character is embossed on paper due to the hammer pressure.
As soon as the line is printed, the paper is moved upwards to print the next line. Each rotation of the drum prints only one line. Drum printers are not compatible with printing graphics. Although their printing speed is quite fast (i.e., 300 - 2,000 lines per minute), they make a lot of noise.
B) Chain Printers
The chain printer consists of a revolving chain with characters set on its surface. These printers typically have a character set of 48, 64, or 96 characters. The chain is connected using gears in such a way that it can rotate horizontally. Like drum printers, chain printers also have several hammers; the total number of hammers is exactly equal to the number of print positions.
C) Band Printers
Band printers, also known as belt printers, are almost identical to chain printers. But instead of using a chain, band printers use a steel band with a relatively small number of hammers. Fonts, such as characters and time marks, are etched on the surface of a steel band. The hammers are located on a pump, which travel to the precisely correct positions around the page while printing. When these hammers reach the correct position, they strike the ribbon, which is then rolled onto the band. As a result, the characters on the band are printed on paper that is placed between the ink ribbon and the band.
The font styles/ sizes can be changed in these printers by changing the band. Band printers are considered superior to drum printers in terms of price and performance.
2. Non-Impact Printer
i) Inkjet
Printers
It is widely used by home and business computer users that print characters by spraying the ink using magnetic plates on the paper. It contains a paper feed assembly, ink cartridge, print head, stabilizer bar, and belt.
It stores the ink in cartridges, and uses separate cartridge to print several types of color documents. These colors are a combination of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black color. These types of printers have the ability to create high-quality pictures with the help of vivid colors. Furthermore, the inkjet printers are more affordable and easier to use as compared to other printers.
Advantages
of Inkjet Printers:
- · The Inkjet printers have the ability to produce high-quality output.
- · These printers are reasonably fast and easy to use.
- · Additionally, these types of printers do not take warm up time.
Disadvantages
of Inkjet Printer:
- · It may take more time to print.
- · Its running cost is high.
- · It does not allow the highlighter marker.
· Sometimes, it can produce a wrong warning of an empty cartridge.
ii) Laser
printers
The laser printer is one of the common personal computer printers. It was introduced in 1971, and after that it was developed at Xerox PARC by Gary Starkweather. It uses the laser or non-impact photocopier technology to print the text and images on the paper. Whenever it gets input to print any document, a laser beam draws the document on the selenium-coated drum with the help of electric charges.
When the drum is charged, it is rolled in toner (dry ink powder). The ink follows the image, which has charged on the drum. The ink is combined with the paper, including heat and pressure, then transferred on a chunk (piece) of paper.
When the document is printed, the excess toner is collected, and an electric charge is removed from the drum. Most of the laser printers are capable of printing only in monochrome. The monochrome laser printer is around ten times cheaper than a color laser printer.
There are many differences between a laser printer and inkjet printer, such as:
The laser printer contains dry ink, while an inkjet contains wet ink.
An inkjet printer is approximately ten times more expensive than the laser printer as it requires replacing the ink very frequently.
If a paper is wet, the inkjet printer will print the document with blur, but the laser printer will print clear. The inkjet printer is suitable for printing fewer documents, while the laser printer has the ability to print more documents.
Advantages
of a Laser printer:
- · These types of printers have a higher paper capacity.
- · It is less expensive than the inkjet printer.
- · It has the ability to print documents speedily.
- · Furthermore, it is able to increase productivity.
Disadvantages
of a Laser printer:
- · Laser printers may need warm up time.
- · Laser printers are bulky as they required the laser technology and imaging drum.
- · It requires high voltage leads to small carbon emissions.
iii) Thermal
Printers
Thermal printers use a specific heat-sensitive paper and they produce prints by pushing electrically heated pins onto the paper. The paper used in these printers has a special heat-sensitive coating. It starts getting dark as it gets hot. Therefore, when the hot pins are pushed onto paper, the area concerned becomes darker.
In a thermal printer, the heating element is heated using an electric current. Besides, each character is printed by joining a matrix of dots formed by hot pins. To print characters, the print head is moved to the starting position of the first character. After that, the heat elements of that particular character are turned on, which further help to create a print of the character.
Once the first character is printed, the print head moves to the starting position of the second character and repeats the same process again. The heating elements are switched off in a very short period of time when they are not in use. Thermal printers are also known as electro thermal printers, thermal transfer printers, thermal wax-transfer printers.