Computer printer history
Updated: 12/16/2018 by Computer Hope
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1837 | Charles Babbage designed the first mechanical printer in the 1800's, for use with the Difference Engine that he also developed in 1822. |
| 1868 | The typewriter, which can be considered a precursor to printers and keyboards, was invented by Christopher Sholes in 1868. |
| 1953 | The first high-speed printer was developed by Remington-Rand in 1953. It was designed to be used with the UNIVAC computer. |
| 1957 | IBM developed and marketed the first dot matrix printer in 1957. |
| 1968 | Shinshu Seiki Co., which later became Epson, developed the first electronic mini-printer in 1968. |
| 1970 | The first dot matrix impact printer was developed by Centronics in 1970. |
| 1971 | Gary Starkweather, while working at Xerox, developed the first laser printer by modifying a Xerox model 7000 copier. Development on the laser printer was completed in 1971. |
| 1972 | The first thermal printers became available on the market around 1972, designed for use with portable machines and in retail stores. |
| 1976 | The first inkjet printer was developed by Hewlett-Packard in 1976. However, inkjet printers do not gain popularity until the mid-1980's. |
| 1976 | IBM introduced the IBM 3800 Printing System, the first high-speed laser printer, in 1976. |
| 1977 | Siemens developed the first DOD (drop-on-demand) inkjet printer in 1977. The DOD printer sprays ink where it is needed on the piece of paper. |
| 1979 | Canon introduces the LBP-10, the first semiconductor laser beam printer and their first printer unit. |
| 1984 | Hewlett-Packard introduced their first laser printer, the HP LaserJet, in 1984. The same year, Hewlett-Packard introduced the first thermal inkjet printer, the HP ThinkJet. |
| 1988 | The HP DeskJet inkjet printer was introduced by Hewlett-Packard in 1988 and sold for $1000. It is considered the first mass-marketed inkjet printer and became a very popular and widely used series of printers. |
| 1988 | Many modern 3D printers use a technology called FDM (fused deposition modeling), which was developed and patented by Scott Crump in 1988. |
| 1992 | Stratasys, Inc. made available their first 3D printer in 1992, which is based on FDM (fused deposition modeling) technology, developed and patented by company co-founder S. Scott Crump. |
| 2009 | S. Scott Crump's patent on FDM (fused deposition modeling) expired in 2009, opening the door for an open-source development community, called RepRap, to use the FDM technology. RepRap, along with other commercial companies, use FDM to develop new 3D printers. |