Printer and it's types.

What is a Printer?

A printer is an electromechanical device which converts the text and graphical documents from electronic form to the physical form. Generally they are the external peripheral devices which are connected with the computers or laptops through a cable or wirelessly to receive input data and print them on the papers. A wide range of printers are available with a variety of features ranging from printing black and white text documents to high quality colored graphic images.

Quality of printers is identified by its features like color quality, speed of printing, resolution etc. Modern printers come with multipurpose functions i.e. they are combination of printer, scanner, photocopier, fax, etc. To serve different needs there are variety of printers available that works on different types of technologies

Types of Printer :

Dot matrix: 

                       A type of impact printer that produces characters and illustrations by striking pins against an ink ribbon to print closely spaced dots in the appropriate shape. Dot-matrix printers are relatively expensive and do not produce high-quality output. However, they can print to multi-page forms (that is, carbon copies), something laser and ink-jet printers cannot do. Dot Matrix Printer Manufacturers include Epson, Okidata and Brother

Dot-matrix printers vary in 3 important characteristics:

Speed:

             Given in characters per second (cps), the speed can vary from about 50 to over 500 cps. Most dot-matrix printers offer different speeds depending on the quality of print desired.

Print quality: Determined by the number of pins (the mechanisms that print the dots), it can vary from 9, 18 or 24 pins. The best dot-matrix printers (24 pins) can produce near letter-quality type, although you can still see a difference if you look closely.

Ink:

         Dot Matrix Printer use ribbon for ink

In addition to these characteristics, you should also consider the noise factor. Compared to laser and ink-jet printers, dot-matrix printers are notorious for making a lot of noise.

Ink-jet:

              A type of printer that works by spraying ionized ink at a sheet of paper. Magnetized plates in the ink's path direct the ink onto the paper in the desired shapes. Ink-jet printers are capable of producing high quality print approaching that produced by laser printers. A typical ink-jet printer provides a resolution of 600 dots per inch, although some newer models offer higher resolutions.

Laser:

            A type of printer that utilizes a laser beam to produce an image on a drum. The light of the laser alters the electrical charge on the drum wherever it hits. The drum is then rolled through a reservoir of toner, which is picked up by the charged portions of the drum. Finally, the toner is transferred to the paper through a combination of heat and pressure. This is also the way copy machines work.

Speed:

             Given in Pages per Minute (PPM) the higher the PPM the more pages they can print. Most ink-jet printers offer different speeds depending on the quality of print desired.

Print quality: Determined by the DPI Dot 

Ink: Laser Printers use Toner Cartridges

Laser Printer Parts

• Toner Cartridge Components
• EP Photosensitive Drum
• Erase Lamp
• Primary Corona Wire
• Toner
• Transfer Corona
• Fuser
• Power Supplies
• Turning Gears
• Motherboard
• Ozone Filter
• Sensors
• Switches

Other Types of Printers

Photo Printer – Is a type of printer use for printing photographs.

Dye-Sublimation Printer – Is a type of printer which employs a printing process that uses heat to transfer dye to a medium such as a plastic card, printer paper or poster paper.

Thermal Printer- Is a type of printer that produces a printed image by selectively heating coated thermo chromic paper, or thermal paper as it is commonly known, when the paper passes over the thermal print head. The coating turns black in the areas where it is heated which then produce an image.

All-in-One Printer - A printer than can also do scanning, fax and make copies

Plotter - A large device use to print large posters and documents