The Evolution of the Computer Printer

The Evolution of the Computer Printer

The Evolution of the Computer Printer

We take the efficiency of the computer printer for granted these days. There was a time when the original printer was slow and of poor quality, not to mention expensive. The printer has come a long way and is still evolving.

Computer printers date all the way back to 1953, but of course these printers were not the kind found every household as you see today. This printer was made by Remington-Rand and used on the Univac computer. IBM later came out with the first dot matrix printer in 1957. While dot matrix printers were primarily used, the invention of a dry printing process called electrophotography was being fine-tuned by Xerox, which would lay the foundation for future laser printers. It would be in 1977 that Xerox released their first laser printer, the Xerox 9700.

IBM was close behind with their printers, releasing their IBM 3800 in 1976. This high-speed' laser printer could make more than 100 impressions per minute. By 1984, Hewlett-Packard joined the pack with the introduction of their LaserJet printer which featured 300 dpi resolution. At this point, printers were only for large businesses or those with a lot of cash to spend as this HP printer cost $3,600.

In 1970 the daisy wheel printer was first introduced. The printer operated by hammer strikes on "petals" arranged in a circle. By rotating the daisy wheel, different characters could be selected for printing. These printers were also referred to as letter-quality printers because the printing quality was clear and crisp and for the day was close to the quality printing presses were putting out. These printers were loud and slow (printing only 30 characters per second), so they didn't last long.

In 1985 Apple launched its first laser printer called the Laser Writer. It wouldn't be until the 1990s that laser printers would grow in quality and cheaper in price.

The inkjet printer appeared on the consumer market in the late 80s. The difficulty was producing an affordable inkjet printer that didn't clog. Canon and HP overcame many of these challenges and the inkjet started to appear more frequently on the market, but still at a high price of nearly $1,000.

IBM designed a continuous inkjet printer but it used a lot of ink so the technology never caught on. The drop-on-demand inkjet printer was created by Siemens in 1977 this printer sprayed ink but was slower than the continuous inkjet.

Then came the toner-based printer which used the xerographic process. Images were produced by direct scanning of a laser beam across the printer's photoreceptor. This spurred the laser printer which was available both in color as well as black and white. This was followed by the toner-based printer with LED instead of a laser.

Toner-based printers employ a xerographic printing process, but differ from analog photocopiers in that the image is produced by the direct scanning of a laser beam across the printer's photoreceptor. The most common toner-based printer is the laser printer, which uses a precision laser to cause adherence. In 1984 the laser printer sold for $3,500 by 2008 the price dropped as low as $75.

Other printers were developed that were made for large formats including the plotter. But larger commercial printers were and still aren't priced for consumer use.

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