The Definition Impact Printers
An impact printer uses a mechanism called a "head" to strike an ink ribbon that places a character on a piece or paper. Impact printers are typically noisy because the printer head is always striking the paper and the head is moving from side to side. Impact printers come in many types, including dot-matrix, daisy-wheel and line printers.
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Dot-Matrix
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The dot-matrix printer is the most common type of impact printer that was used with the personal computer. A dot-matrix printer uses a drum that is struck by a print head that contains pins that place dots on the paper. These dots are formed in the shape of a letter, number or character that was typed into a document. The quality of a dot-matrix printer was only 240 dpi (dots per inch).
Daisy-Wheel
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A daisy-wheel printer is similar to how a manual or automatic typewriter functions. There is a metal or plastic wheel that has separate spokes in the form of a number, letter or character marked on them. When a page is being printed, a spoke is striking the printer ribbon and making an impression on the paper. A daisy-wheel printer cannot print graphics and is not capable of different font types without changes to the printer wheel.
Line Printers
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A line printer is similar to a daisy-wheel printer except it uses a print drum or a print chain. The drum or chain is rotated or spun over the paper's surface. The paper and ribbon are pushed into the drum or chain, which then marks the paper. This allowed multiple letters or numbers to be printed on the same line, resulting in faster speeds than a daisy-wheel printer.
Paper
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Impact printers typically use continuous-feed paper that is perforated so it can be easily separated when a page has been printed. Printer paper for an impact printer is fed and pulled through the printer by sprocket wheels. This is known as tractor-fed paper that had perforated edges, with holes placed every half inch to be fed through the printer.
Costs
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Impact printers are generally cheap to use because the only items that need to be regularly purchased are ink ribbons and paper. Typically, impact printers used tractor-fed paper that cost more than other types of paper. Some dot-matrix printers had a draft mode that didn't require a lot of ink and made the ink ribbon last longer.
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