Daisy wheel printing is an impact printing technology invented in 1969 by David S. Lee at Diablo Data Systems. It uses interchangeable pre-formed type elements, each with typically 96 glyphs, to generate high-quality output comparable to premium typewriters such as the IBM Selectric, but two to three times faster. Daisy wheel printing was used in electronic typewriters, word processors and computers from 1972. According to Webster's, the daisy wheel is so named because of its resemblance to the daisy flower.
By 1980 daisy wheel printers had become the dominant technology for high-quality print. Dot-matrix impact or thermal printers were used where higher speed was required and poor print quality was acceptable. Both technologies were rapidly superseded for most purposes when dot-based printers—in particular laser printers—that could print any characters or graphics rather than being restricted to a limited character set became able to produce output of comparable quality. Daisy wheel technology is now found only in some electronic typewriters.
Read more about Daisy Wheel Printing: History, Design, Variants
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