History
Robert A. Kleist and business partner Gordon Barrus created the line matrix printer in 1974, and founded Printronix Inc. They envisioned a new type of printer that would be faster, more reliable and less costly than the cumbersome character printers on the market at the time. The line matrix printing incorporated a unique shuttle-based technology that laid down a matrix of dots and print bar codes and graphics as well as the usual characters. Working out of a garage in Playa Del Ray, Calif., the Printronix team developed a revolutionary 300-line-per-minute (LPM) prototype line matrix printer in just 90 days. Printronix introduced this line matrix printer, called the P300 series, in 1974.
Speeds increased over the years with products from manufacturers Tally, Genicom who went on to become TallyGenicom, and Printronix, Inc.. In 1978 Printronix doubled line speed with the introduction of the P600. By 1998 Printronix pushed the speed to 1000 LPM. Tally introduced a 1800 LPM printer which used a newly invented dual hammerbank system where odd and even lines were printed by separate hammerbanks. Dual hammerbank machines however suffer from uneven performance and print quality, and the design was abandoned, replaced by a single hammerbank 1800 LPM model, the T6218. Ultimately In 2003, Printronix introduced a single hammerbank 2000 LPM printer which continues to be the fastest available.
In addition to speed enhancements, TallyGenicom was also known for other important innovations, adding unique features to line matrix technology. The 'Stay Black' or 'Smart Ribbon' is one. TallyGenicom was a pioneer of cartridge ribbons, which offer longer life and are easier for users to manage than conventional spool ribbons. By adding a unique ink replenishment system based on a peristaltic pump mechanism, TallyGenicom produced the first impact printers to offer consistent print quality.
The increasing importance of user productivity resulted in innovations such as 'Auto-Gap' where for the first time the print mechanism would measure paper thickness (as with dot matrix printers) and, rather than the user, set the gap. This maximized print quality for multi-part forms, eliminating user error. Improvements in reliability, resulted in the introduction of a shuttle mechanism with no wear parts, with 'Life Time' warranty.
In 2009, Printronix acquired the TallyGenicom brand and their line matrix technology. Printronix now owns the intellectual property and worldwide sales distribution rights for TallyGenicom line matrix and laser technologies, including printers, supplies and consumables. TallyGenicom AG retained all intellectual property and worldwide distribution rights for the TallyGenicom serial matrix, inkjet and thermal technologies, including printers and options, supplies and consumables. DASCOM will continue to resell TallyGenicom-branded line matrix and laser products purchased from Printronix, and Printronix will resell serial matrix products purchased from DASCOM.
Another example of one of these is the IBM 6400 Line Matrix Printer that uses continuous forms.
Read more about this topic: Line Matrix Printer
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of any nation follows an undulatory course. In the trough of the wave we find more or less complete anarchy; but the crest is not more or less complete Utopia, but only, at best, a tolerably humane, partially free and fairly just society that invariably carries within itself the seeds of its own decadence.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe? Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of insight and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, and not the history of theirs?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“When the landscape buckles and jerks around, when a dust column of debris rises from the collapse of a block of buildings on bodies that could have been your own, when the staves of history fall awry and the barrel of time bursts apart, some turn to prayer, some to poetry: words in the memory, a stained book carried close to the body, the notebook scribbled by hand—a center of gravity.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)