| Inkjet printers were born in the 1980s, replacing | | | | several key components found in all inkjet printers |
| the popular dot matrix printer. Inkjet printers drop | | | | that make them tick. The most important and |
| droplets of ink onto printer paper to produce text | | | | fragile piece of any printer is the print head. It |
| and images. The drops of ink are actually smaller | | | | contains the ink-emitting nozzles. The ink |
| than the width of a strand of hair, so don't | | | | cartridges hold the actual ink that is fed into the |
| expect to actually see individual droplets on your | | | | head. The stepper motor powers the print head, |
| printouts. It's not like the older dot matrix, which | | | | propelling it back and forth across the paper. A |
| produced much larger drops of ink. | | | | stabilizer bar ensures that that the movements of |
| There are several major printer technologies- the | | | | the print head are controlled and precise. |
| two largest categories being impact and | | | | Paper is fed into the printer via a feeder. The |
| non-impact. As you probably guessed, impact | | | | paper is pulled inside the printer by several rollers. |
| printers work by actually touching the paper to | | | | Of course, none of these components would |
| produce text and images. Dot matrix printers fall | | | | function without power. Most printers use |
| in this category. Non impact printers never actually | | | | standard power supply. Your computer talks to |
| touch the paper. Both inkjet and laser printers fall | | | | the printer through interface ports, most |
| into this category. | | | | commonly, the USB port. |
| So what makes an inkjet printer work? There are | | | | |