Principles Of Operation - Printronix P7000 Series Maintenance Manual

7
Line Matrix Printing
A line matrix printer creates characters and graphics by printing patterns of
ink dots an entire line at a time.
Every text character is stored in printer memory as a pattern of dots on a
logical grid called the dot matrix. (Figure 58.) The ink dots that appear on the
paper are made by a row of hammer springs mounted on a shuttle that
sweeps rapidly back and forth. Logic circuits on the controller board divide
every line of incoming print data into horizontal dot rows. The hammers put
dots at the required positions for the entire line by driving an inked ribbon onto
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.
0.10 inch
Figure 58. A Dot Matrix
12
First row and column
of next character column
(at 10 cpi)
Lowest descender dot line
369