The methods that revolve around inkjet printing originate from an older form of dot-matrix printers, in which several dozen needles are used to transfer ink onto paper and create letters and numbers using a series of dots.

Modern inkjets differ than the traditional dot printing in that rather than utilizing needles, hundreds of small guns are incorporated into the inkjet printer to shoot out dots of ink rather than pricking with needles. Unlike with dot-matrix printers, the dots of inkjet printers are so minuscule they cannot be easily noticed and blend seamlessly to the naked

eye. Depending on the type of printer, the ink is fired using various methods. With a Canon printer, the ink is heated to a temperature that causes the ink to fire in the shape of bubbles that adhere to the paper as opposed to the Epson printer, which uses electronic circuits. Electric currents inside the printer make tiny nearly microscopic crystals fire out ink by moving side to side. Although these both sound like fairly slow processes, shooting out millions of ink dots takes more than a few seconds at a time, which is why printers are known for shelling out our printed papers at a reasonably fast rate.

How does a printer know how to create the shapes of the letters and numbers you need?

Your own computer is the brain behind how your papers get printed out – which is why if you disconnect your computer from your printer, it will immediately stop working.

Your computer sends signals to your printer telling it which specific shapes it needs to print out, and the printer subsequently moves its nozzles in a position that will allow it to create the necessary shapes. An inkjet printer is comprised of hundreds of thousands of nozzles with roughly one hundred being needed to create a single letter, number ect. Once the printer receives command from the computer, it activates the tiny nozzles which are being heated up by the printer resistor, which warms up the ink to a boil – the boiled ink is the key to creating both text and images with an inkjet printer; as the ink boils it bubbles and undergoes multiple mini explosions which then transfers the required ink to a specific dot on your printer paper. This entire process occurs at an astronomically fast rate as the ink cartridge, guided by the computer scans back and forth between the sheet of paper depositing ink as it goes.

Filed under: Computer 101, Educational, office, Printer Ink Toner 101 Tagged: ink cartridges, inkjet, inkjet printer