Zane H. Healy wrote:
>
> >> Were they DOT MATRIX? I'll bet they're not big old noisy line printers
> >>unless
> >> they're sound covered and about 4 feet tall.
> >
> >Yes they were dot matrix. I always equated line printers with dot matrix
> >printers. Is there a difference?
>
> Just slightly :^) The line printers I'm most familiar with were about 6
> feet wide, 3 feet deep, 5 or 6 feet high, in a sound proof enclosure, and
> were impact printers.
>
> IIRC the biggest I worked on was an impact printer with each character a
> single link in a belt that made up a long loop. There were multiple
> instances of the same character in the belt, and it whirled around real
> fast, with a hammer behind it ramming it into the roll of inked fabric
> (messy stuff). It could to single or multipart paper. The paper sat in
> the bottom of the printer, and then the printer pulled it up and shot it
> out the back into a stacker.
>
> I somehow doubt it's possible for a dot matrix to even come close to the
> speed of a good line printer.
>
> Zane
And then there was the 'Talley' line printer.
A whole 132 charactior worth of a 'single dot'/charactor position metal
'comb'. The 'dot position' within the 'charactor cell' was determined by
this 'comb' of 'dots' moving back and forth sideways (With a selenoid
foring at the proper time [one solenoid at each charactor position.)
With the verticle scanning of the charactor area accomplished by the
paper tractor moving the paper one 'dots' worth at a time. This ment 77
impacts per charactor (for a 7x11 dot matrix) But that was also 77
impact times for the whole line, because ALL the dots that were lined up
properly fired at the same time.
Heavy!!! 200+ lbs. for a 132 col (17"?/19"?) 'desk top' printer.
This is all from memory. It got sold before I left Calif. 18 years ago.
Chuck
--
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He, who will not reason, is a bigot; William Drumond,
he, who cannot, is a fool; Scottish writer
and he, who dares not, is a slave. (1585-1649)
While he that does, is a free man! Joseph P. 1955-
-----------------------------------------------------------
Chuck Davis / Sutherlin Industries FAX # (804) 799-0940
1973 Reeves Mill Road E-Mail -- cad_at_gamewood.net
Sutherlin, Virginia 24594 Voice # (804) 799-5803
Received on Sun Apr 26 1998 - 12:35:49 BST