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Dot matrix printing
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==Variations== [[File:Epson Wide Carriage 9-pin printer - with legal paper 8.5x14.jpg|thumb|left|An example of a wide-carriage printer, designed for paper 14 inches wide, shown with legal paper loaded (8.5"Γ14")]] [[File:Tally Genicom T2240 print head pins.jpg|thumb|upright|Print head of a 24-pin printer (Tally Genicom T2240)]] [[File:9 nadel druckkopf-star nl10--hinnerk ruemenapf vs01-p50.jpg|thumb|upright|Print head of a 9-pin printer (Star NL10)]] The common serial dot matrix printers use a horizontally moving print head.<ref>{{cite web |title=10 Rules You Should Know To Keep Your Dot Matrix Printer Operational |website=MicomData.com |url=https://www.midcomdata.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/10_Rules_You_Should_Know_To_Keep_Your_Dot_Matrix_Printer_Operational.pdf |access-date=2018-10-17 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181018043509/http://www.midcomdata.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/10_Rules_You_Should_Know_To_Keep_Your_Dot_Matrix_Printer_Operational.pdf |archive-date=2018-10-18}}</ref> The print head can be thought of featuring a single vertical column of seven or more pins approximately the height of a character box. In reality, the pins are arranged in up to four vertically or/and horizontally slightly displaced columns in order to increase the dot density and print speed through interleaving without causing the pins to jam. Thereby, up to 48 pins<ref>{{cite web |title=Dot Matrix printers |website=MindMachine.co.uk |url=https://mindmachine.co.uk/book/print_06_dotmatrix.html |access-date=2018-10-17 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191012060733/https://mindmachine.co.uk/book/print_06_dotmatrix.html |archive-date=2019-10-12}}</ref> can be used to form the characters of a line while the print head moves horizontally. The printing speed of serial dot matrix printers with moving heads varies from 30<ref>DEC LA30</ref> to 1550 [[printing speed|characters per second (cps)]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Epson DFX-9000 |url=https://www.epson.de/products/printers/dot-matrix-printers/epson-dfx-9000#specifications |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505034554/http://www.epson.de/products/printers/dot-matrix-printers/epson-dfx-9000#specifications |archive-date=2016-05-05}}</ref> In a considerably different configuration, so called line dot matrix printers<ref>{{cite web |title=Dot Matrix Printing is defined here as a labelling term |url=https://www.labelplanet.co.uk/glossary-of-label-terms/dot-matrix-printing.php |access-date=2018-10-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181018043357/https://www.labelplanet.co.uk/glossary-of-label-terms/dot-matrix-printing.php |archive-date=2018-10-18}}</ref> or [[line matrix printer]]s use a fixed print head almost as wide as the paper path utilizing a horizontal line of thousands of pins for printing. Sometimes two horizontally slightly displaced rows are used to improve the effective dot density through interleaving. While still line-oriented, these printers for the professional heavy-duty market effectively print a whole line at once while the paper moves forward below the print head. Line matrix printers are capable of printing much more than 1000 cps, resulting in a throughput of up to 800 pages per hour. A variation on the dot matrix printer was the cross hammer dot printer, patented by Seikosha in 1982.<ref>{{cite patent |country=US |number=4462705 |title=Cross hammer dot printer |inventor1-first=Hayashi |inventor1-last=Mikio |inventor2-first=Mizutani |inventor2-last=Seiki |pubdate=1984-07-31}}</ref> The smooth cylindrical roller of a conventional printer was replaced by a spinning, fluted cylinder. The print head was a simple hammer, with a vertical projecting edge, operated by an electromagnet. Where the vertical edge of the hammer intersected the horizontal flute of the cylinder, compressing the paper and ribbon between them, a single dot was marked on the paper. Characters were built up of multiple dots.
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