What is impact printer? Discuss different types of impact printers. An impact printer works like a typewriter. It prints characters or images by striking a print hammer or wheel against an inked ribbon.
Types of impact printers
Different types of impact printers are as follows:
Dot matrix printer
Daisy wheel printer
Line printer
1. Dot Matrix Printer
A dot matrix printer is an impact printer. It produces printed images when tiny pins on a print head strike an inked ribbon. When the ribbon presses against the paper, it creates dots that from characters and graphics. The print head on a dot matrix printer can contain 9 or 24 pins. This number of pins depends on the manufacture and the printer model. A higher number of pins print more dots that produce higher quality.
The speed of dot matrix printer is measured by the number characters printed in one second. The speed of most dot matrix printers ranges from 350 to 1100 characters per second (cps). Dot matrix printer do not provide high quality output. They produce a lot of noise while printing. The printing cost of these printers is very cheap.
2. Daisy wheel printer
Daisy wheel printer is similar to a typewriter. It uses a print wheel. The print wheel is called daisy wheel. Each petal of daisy wheel contains character. A motor rotates the wheel. A hammer strikes a petal against the ribbon when the desired character reaches the position on the paper. This prints the character on the paper. Daisy wheel printer is slower than dot matrix printer but better in quality.
3. Line printer
Line printer is a fast impact printer. It prints an entire line at a time. Its speed is measured in lines per minute (lpm). Many line printers can print 3000 lines per minute. Two types of line printers are band printer and chain printer. It is normally used by mainframe and microcomputers.