Printers have certainly come a long way since the inception of
the character and and dot matrix printers.
These ancient products (ancient in technical terms being as few
as 10-15 years) were what are known as impact printers, simply
because they needed to make a physical connection with the paper
in order to achieve the ink-on-paper result.
Dot matrix printers came equipped with a group of pins that
touched a ribbon which then connected with paper to produce the
finished product. Character printers, which worked on the same
principle as electric typewriters, used a bar or ball whose
surface was embossed with all the characters you now see on any
keyboard. These characters made contact with the ribbon, which
in turn made contact with the paper.
Today we use non-impact printers – those that do not make
physical contact with the paper to create the papered
reproduction. The most prevalent for home or small office use is
the inkjet printer – an economical choice for all but the most
serious graphic arts requirements.
An inkjet printer produces the images and type it delivers from
computer to paper by means of miniscule drops of ink. So
miniscule, in fact, that a human hair would seem big by
comparison. Standard ink drops of an inkjet printer have a
diameter range of 50-60 microns. Arranged very precisely, these
ink drops come in various resolutions (the higher the
resolution, the clearer and more life like the output.) while
800×600 dpi (dots per inch) is a typical SOHO (small office home
office) resolution producing quite adequate print quality, an
inkjet printer can offer resolutions as high as 1440×720 dpi.
Adding color to the mix can produce images nearly as high in
quality as a laser printer product.
There are five basic parts to an inkjet printer: the print head
assembly, the paper feed assembly, circuitry control, power
supply, and printer ports.
The print head assembly is the heart of the printer workings.
It\’s what brings the ink to paper by means of a row of nozzles.
The print head may be part of the inner workings of a printer
cartridge, or they may be separate parts. Cartridges are
responsible for delivering color and shading. Most inkjet
printers made nowadays offer color printing. Some may require as
many as three distinct cartridges, but generally at least two -
one black, one color. The motor is part of the print head
assembly as well. It\’s the part that enables the ink and
cartridges to move across the paper and produce the hard copy.
It also keeps the cartridge stable when not in use.
The paper feed assembly includes the paper tray, which holds the
paper ready for a printing request, and the rollers, which
deliver the paper to the ink when a printing job is requested.
The power supply is simple – it\’s what gets the electricity to
your printer so that it can do its job. Printer circuitry
controls take the message from your keyboard and mouse and
deliver it to the printer so that the requested hard copy can be
produced. Printer ports, also referred to as interface ports,
much like a telephone jack, enable the peripheral (the printer)
to talk to the computer. While in older models parallel ports
were the norm, the newest printer models connect via USB ports,
which require a special USB cord.
About the author:
Alan Jason Smith is the owner of http://www.printerspro.com
which is a great place to find printers links, resources and
articles. For more information go to: http://www.printerspro.com