What is an impact printer

An impact printer is a type of printer that creates printed output by physically striking an ink ribbon or a toner ribbon with a print head onto the printing medium, such as paper. The print head contains a series of pins or hammers that strike the ribbon, transferring ink or toner onto the paper to create the desired characters or images.

Impact printers are known for their reliability and ability to create multiple copies of a document simultaneously using carbon paper or carbonless forms. They are commonly used in situations that require the printing of receipts, invoices, tickets, and other forms that need to be duplicated.

There are different types of impact printers, including dot matrix printers and line printers. Dot matrix printers use a grid of pins to form characters by striking an ink-soaked ribbon. Line printers, on the other hand, print an entire line of text at once using a row of hammers.

Although impact printers are generally slower and noisier compared to modern non-impact printers like inkjet and laser printers, they are still used in certain industries that require robust printing capabilities and the ability to produce carbon copies.