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Evolution of Printers

The document traces the evolution of printers from the 15th century printing press invented by Johann Gutenberg, to modern wireless and 3D printing technologies. It highlights several major innovations including the movable type press, rotary press, xerography, laser printing, inkjet printing, 3D printing, and wireless printing. The evolution has led to printers that can perform multiple functions like copying, scanning, faxing, and printing from a variety of connected devices.

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110 views7 pages

Evolution of Printers

The document traces the evolution of printers from the 15th century printing press invented by Johann Gutenberg, to modern wireless and 3D printing technologies. It highlights several major innovations including the movable type press, rotary press, xerography, laser printing, inkjet printing, 3D printing, and wireless printing. The evolution has led to printers that can perform multiple functions like copying, scanning, faxing, and printing from a variety of connected devices.

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EVOLUTION OF PRINTERS

The Printing Press (1439- Johann Gutenberg)

This technology was first invented in China in the year 200AD. It was later in the 15 th
century that this technology reached Europe and a German blacksmith by the name
Johann Gutenberg devised a machine that would apply pressure to an inked surface that
was resting on a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thus transferring the ink. He also
added a hand mold to the press, which made it possible to generate precise and quick
movable types in large quantities.
This machine was the first Printing Press;
The Movable Type Press (1450 - Johann Gutenberg)

Later in the 15th century, Gutenberg invented the movable type where now the letters
could be moved around to create new words.
With this invention Gutenberg was able to mass produce his own book; ‘The Gutenberg
Bible'.

The Rotary Press (1843 - Richard March Hoe)

Later on, in the 19th century an inventor by the name Richard Hoe invented the Rotary
drum printing press in which the impressions i.e., what is to be printed, were curved
around a cylinder so that the printing can be done on long continuous roll of paper.
Xerograph Printing/ Electrophotography (22nd October 1938 - Chester Carlson)
Much later in the 20th century, the first picture was printed. This was made possible by
the discovery of Xerograph printing by an American Physicist by the name Chester
Carlson. This technique works on the basis of electrostatic charges: during the process,
an electrically charged photoconductor-coated metal plate flashes out light and causes
the dry ink (toner) to stick to a light-sensitive drum. As the drum rolls over the paper,
both ink and copied image are left behind.
Laser Printing (1969 - Gary Starkweather)
Later on, in the 1960s a project development engineer at Xerox research lab, by the
name Gary Starkweather came up with the idea of employing a laser beam to “draw” a
picture of what was to be duplicated directly onto the copier drum and thus invented
the laser printer.
This process works almost the same way as the xerography printing, with one main
difference being that there is no original page to copy. The laser has to write it out from
scratch using static electricity.

Inkjet Printing (1976)


The concept of inkjet printing was first developed in the early 1950s and by the late
1970s inkjet printers could reproduce digital images generated by computer. There was
no single inventor; the charge was led by numerous companies including Epson, HP, and
Canon.
Inkjet printers each feature a print head containing thousands of tiny holes. These tiny
openings drop microscopic droplets of ink onto the paper in the printer at a speed.
Inkjet machines use a liquid ink produced either by either a colored dye or a liquid that
contains solid pigments in suspension. As the print head moves horizontally in the
machine, the paper passes through perpendicular to it. As the page passes through, the
individual holes in the print head are activated (usually by heat electrical current
depending on the manufacturer) and a small drop of ink is pushed out onto the page. 
This process if performed at high speed with thousands of droplets that form together
to recreate the digital text or image that is being transferred onto the media. To the
naked eye, the overall image looks to be solid because the dots are so tiny.

3D Printing (1984 – Charles Hull)


In 1984 an American inventor, Charles Hull discovered stereolithography, and through
this new technology, making 3-dimensional solid objectives from a digital file using
additive processes was now possible.
This gave birth to 3D printing, where an item is created by adding layers of a selected
material one on top of the other.

Wireless Printing (1993 – Andrew Clams)


This was a technology developed for modern printers by a developer; Andrew Clams.
He was now able to connect the printer to a computer, phone, or tablet by Bluetooth or
Wi-Fi, allowing anyone to print directly from their device without being plugged into the
printer.
All In One Printers/MFPs
All-in-one printers, also known as multi-function printers (MFPs), include copying,
scanning, printing, and fax capabilities all in the same printing device. These printers are
one of the most popular ones on the market, as they provide convenience by
eliminating the need for a separate machine for each feature.

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