impact printer

computer hardware

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Last updated

June 29, 2026

Quick Summary

An impact printer is a type of computer hardware that creates an image by physically striking a printing element against an inked ribbon, which then transfers ink to the paper. This method is similar to how a typewriter works.1

Impact printers are one of the two main classifications of printers, the other being non-impact printers. Most impact printers are dot-matrix printers. These printers use a print head with pins that emerge to form characters. The first known use of the term "impact printer" was in 1968.21

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information processing
Printers
…they produce images on paper: impact and nonimpact. In the first type, images are formed by the print mechanism making contact with the paper through an ink-coated ribbon. The mechanism consists either of print hammers shaped like characters or of a print head containing a row of pins that produce…
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…they produce images on paper: impact and nonimpact. In the first type, images are formed by the print mechanism making contact with the paper through an ink-coated ribbon. The mechanism consists either of print hammers shaped like characters or of a print head containing a row of pins that produce…
Read More

computer
Output devices
…used a process known as impact printing, in which a small number of pins were driven into a desired pattern by an electromagnetic printhead. As each pin was driven forward, it struck an inked ribbon and transferred a single dot the size of the pinhead to the paper. Multiple dots…
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…used a process known as impact printing, in which a small number of pins were driven into a desired pattern by an electromagnetic printhead. As each pin was driven forward, it struck an inked ribbon and transferred a single dot the size of the pinhead to the paper. Multiple dots…
Read More