History Of The Ink Cartridge
Ever since prehistoric times man has communicated using a type of print
. What started as simple pictures or images scratched into a cave wall using a sharp rock or burnt stick has turned into a multibillion pound industry. These days life wouldnt be the same without the ability to print, everything from bank notes to a bus ticket involves printing of some sort.
It is unlikely that the first cave man ever to scratch a picture could see the importance of printing; he could never envisage that thousands of years later man would develop the printing technology and the total reliance we have on this technology today. The earliest forms of mass repetitive print were the printing press, the oldest press known dates back to 1452, invented by a man called Guttenburg. The stand alone printer we recognise today followed much later.
It has been a long journey from cave drawings to the high quality photographs and documents we can now print ourselves, the ability to be able to print such things at home and in the office is mainly down to recent advances in inkjet printer and laser printer technology, back in 1938 when Chester Carleson invented the first dry printing process called electro photography (commonly called Xerox) things started to change dramatically, Xerox Engineer, Gary Starkweather adapted the existing Xerox printer by adding a laser beam to the reprographics which set the mark for the future of laser printers.
At the time other companies were investing time and effort into developing other versions of the laser printer technology. Hewlett Packard and IBM were amongst the front runners in the race to be the most innovative imaging company; it was IBM that first brought high speed to the laser printer process with the IBM 3800 Printing System which boasts a printing speed in excess of 100 impressions per minute (impressive for the dot matrix era).
In 1984 Hewlett Packard announced their arrival into the laser printing top spot with the release of their HP Laserjet series of printers which quickly became the worlds most popular personal desktop laser printer. HP developed the first laser printer to have a print resolution of 600 x 600 dpi (dots per inch), the HP Laserjet 4 became very popular worldwide and although Hewlett Packard have not manufactured one for years there are still many of them around and the printer cartridges are still in circulation, which is a testament to the quality of build by Hewlett Packard.
The arrival of laser printers with the dry print technology didnt spell the end for wet ink printing, although the laser printer was good, colour laser printing was not yet developed and there was a void in the industry that Hewlett Packard was about to fill. In 1976 the Inkjet Printer was invented, but it wasnt until 1978 that it became a home user item with the release of the HP Deskjet printer series which sold for a massive $1000 each.
The development of the inkjet printer had not all been plain sailing, again more than one company worked hard to perfect the new technology. There were problems with ink delivery control and with ink drying times amongst many others. Once again there were front runners and Hewlett Packard along with Canon led the way in developing not only a completely new ink delivery system that held wet ink inside but also a removable printer cartridge which was a purpose built cartridge to deliver ink to the paper. HP have gone on to develop this technology over the years, the HP Deskjet, HP Photosmart, HP PSC, HP Officejet, to name just a few of the HP range all owe their heritage to this early inkjet technology.
No article on print or printers would be complete without a closer look at the printer cartridge. It wasnt just the invention of inkjet and laser printers alone that changed the way we print. Lots of effort and probably blood and sweat went into the development of the printer cartridge. Almost every modern printer has a cartridge at the heart of it; without the printer cartridge the printer is useless and vice versa. When HP released their first printer it was the fact that the HP printer cartridges can be easily replaced that played a strong part in its success as a consumer product.
The printer cartridges of today can be split into two main categories, Laser cartridges and Ink cartridges. The difference between the two is great; they are totally different types of technology. The laser printer cartridge uses a dry powder ink sometimes known as toner and the Ink cartridge uses a wet ink.
The manufacture of printing technology has spread and to date there are a few different companies who each have their own type of printers and printer cartridges. Hewlett Packard is amongst the biggest companies so too are Lexmark, Canon, Epson and Xerox.
There are also many printer cartridge recycling companies, most printer cartridges can be recycled or refilled at least once. Refilled or remanufactured printer cartridges are usually a low cost alternative; many people choose refilled cartridges as they are considered to be a more Eco minded way of printing.
Who knows what the printers of the future will be like, will we still be reliant on the humble ink cartridge, the use of e mail and internet research will have undoubtedly had some effect on the levels of printing but for the foreseeable future there will always be a need for a hard physical copy print of some sort, or at least until the next great innovation of printers and printing technology takes place, well just have to wait and see.........
by: Michael Harrison
Modernity Meets Ancient History Know More About Ebooks History Of The Snicker Candy Bar What Are The Benefits Of Article Distribution? How To Come Up With Exciting Topics For Your Ezine The History Of Www And Html The Faster Way For Free Ebooks Downloads Pdf The Story Behind the Crystal Prince Fujitsu Lifebook T2020 Green Bay Packer History Memorable Asheville, Nc: History, Nature And Fun The City Has It All Archiving Your Ezines And Newsletters Online To Improve Sales History Of Ink