Principles Of Operation; Line Matrix Printing - IBM 6400 series Maintenance Manual

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Principles of Operation

Line Matrix Printing

The printer creates characters and graphics by printing patterns of ink dots
on paper, an entire line at a time. This technique is called line matrix printing.
Every text character is stored in printer memory as a pattern of dots on a
logical grid called the dot matrix. (See Figure 8.) The ink dots are made by a
row of small hammers mounted on a shuttle that sweeps rapidly back and
forth. Printer logic circuits divide every line of incoming data into horizontal
dot rows. The hammers put dots at the required positions for the entire line
by striking an inked ribbon and the paper.
0.00835 inch
0.01389 inch
First row and column of next
character line (at 6 LPI)
0.02 inch
Principles of Operation
1 Column No. 12
0.10 inch
Figure 8. A Dot Matrix
First row and column
of next character column
(at 10 cpi)
Lowest descender dot line
35