Origins
Tabulators built by the U.S. Census Bureau for the 1910 census could print their results. Prior to that, tabulator operators had to write down totals from counter wheels onto tally sheets. IBM developed a series of printing accounting machines, beginning in 1920. The 285 Numeric Printing Tabulator could read 150 cards per minute. The 405, introduced in 1934, could print at 80 lines per minute. It had 88 type bars, one for each print position, with 43 alphanumeric bars on the left, followed by 45 numeric-only bars. The IBM 402 series, introduced after World War II, had a similar print arrangement and was used by IBM in early computing devices, including the IBM Card-Programmed Electronic Calculator.
An early drum printer was the "Potter Flying Typewriter", in 1952. "Instead of working laboriously, one character at a time, it prints whole lines at once, 300 lines per minute, on a paper band. ... Heart of the machine is a continuously spinning disk with the necessary letters and numbers on its rim. ... As the disk revolves, 80 electrically operated hammers tap the back of the paper against an inked ribbon in contact with the disk, thus printing the proper characters in the proper places on the line."
Read more about this topic: Line Printer
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