Character Printers

Overview

One of the first types of printer for a computer is a character printer which prints one character at a time instead of one line at a time. These are basically electronic typewriters without a keyboard. Two popular types are golf ball and daisywheel printers. Both use an ink coated ribbon between the print head and the paper. In a daisywheel printer, the characters are arranged as spokes on a wheel. The wheel rotates to the character to be printed and a hammer impacts the letter. The golf ball head is a small ball with multiple rows of characters arranged around it. It rotates and moves up and down to position the correct character and then the entire ball moves to impact the paper with that character. Since the golf ball head is more compact, it can move much faster than the daisywheel and is less prone to breaking.

[Tonh] Daisywheel

[Tonh] Golf ball

The IBM Selectric typewriter was first released in 1961. It featured a golfball head and coult print 14.8 characters per second. [Selectric] Earlier IBM electric typewriters were released as early as the IBM Model 01 in 1930.Later models became word processors and later on the technology moved into a computer printer. For example, the IBM 5215 printer from 1980. [Batchelor]

[Selectric] IBM Selectric I

[Batchelor] IBM 5215 Printer

Another early system was the teletypewriter which replaced a telegraph. Using the 5-bit Baudot code, they could automate the process of transmitting and receiving telegrams. A global network called Telex was establised in the 1920's to relay messages. [Teleprinter] Eventually it used teletypewriters and the network is still in use today by some third-world bureaucracies due to its low cost. [Telegraphy]