What Is a Band Printer?

A band printer is a type of impact printer with a printing mechanism that uses a metal loop or band to produce typed characters. The loop or band has a set of characters permanently embossed on it and this set of characters cannot be changed unless the band is replaced. The band itself spins or revolves around hammers that push the paper against the ribbon, allowing the desired character to be produced on the paper.

Types

The band printer is a type of impact printer. Impact printers were designed in many different forms. Some of them include the golf ball printer, the daisy wheel printer and the dot matrix printer. The dot matrix printer printed characters using a printing element made up of a group of wires that made small impressions or dots to form the letters that needed to be printed. The daisy wheel printer utilized a disk that contained the embossed characters needed to print. The disk rotated and a hammer would strike the disk, pressing it against the ribbon. The big difference in this type of printer is that the disk on the daisy wheel printer could be changed in order to allow different fonts to be printed.

Disadvantages

Because the band printer utilizes a printing element or print wheel that is embossed with the characters, it is impossible to change the style of letters or to increase or decrease their size. These types of computers also cannot be used for any graphics printing as the characters are predetermined and cannot be changed unless the band or element is changed.

Benefits

The greatest benefit of a band printer is its speed. This type of printer is able to print text and characters at very high speeds. Printing speeds of 2000 lines per minute are possible with this type of printer, which makes these perfect for high volume printing. Business, schools and other organizations that need high volume printing, but are not especially worried about the type of characters or look of the printing, can greatly benefit from using band printers. The types of computers used with band printers are normally attached to mainframes and used for industrial printing.

Misconceptions

Band printers are often confused with band printing. Band printing is the process of sending output to a printer and is not at all associated with this type of printer. Band printing allows printers with very limited memory to print full pages of characters, text and graphics. This type of printing is done in rectangular sections instead of printing an entire page at a time.

History

While it is unclear when the first band printer was invented, impact printers have been around since the 1970s. These types of printers were largely used during the 70s and 80s for "mainframe attached" printing, but some are still in use today. Band printers became mostly obsolete with the invention of laser printers. While the laser printer might not have been able to print as fast, it could produce characters that the impact printers could not.