A History of Thermal Inkjet Printers

And the Benefits Thermal Inkjet Printers Provide

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Starting with Johannes Gutenberg in 1440, we have been searching for the best way to share printed information. Many people have at least one printer in their home or access to a printer at work or a local store, but we often take these genius little machines for granted. Even fewer are aware of how the most common printing technology, thermal inkjet, works. A quick overview of the technology can create an appreciation for the beauty of this everyday machine and help you make the best out of your printing needs.

How Thermal Inkjet Printers Work

While the printing press used by Gutenberg relied on applying pressure to transfer ink from an inked surface to paper, thermal inkjet printers use heat to print. It can be easier to visualize how thermal inkjet printers by beginning with another (and, in our humble opinion, infinitely cooler) name for the technology: Bubble Jet. The printing apparatus for thermal inkjet printers are made of ink cartridges—those “Black”, “Cyan”, “Magenta” and “Yellow” things that feel like you are constantly replacing—and tiny nozzles. Depending on the printer, there can be anywhere between 300-600 individual nozzles. These nozzles heat the ink inside the cartridge, forming it into a bubble. The ink from the bubble is pushed through the nozzle onto the printing material. When the bubble collapses, the ink is applied and the nozzle sucks in more ink; ready to create another bubble.

Where Thermal Inkjet Printers Came From

Thermal inkjet printers are the result of centuries of technology and there were many steps between Gutenberg’s workshop in Germany to thermal inkjet printers lining the walls of packaging factories and sitting comfortably in your home office. Inventions like the typewriter (patented in 1868) and the dot matrix printer (first commercially available in 1957) have paved the way. All through this time, business owners and regular people were looking for affordable printing options.

With the advent of the computer in the 1950s, there was a need to reproduce digital images on a physical medium. This included books, magazines, bar codes, billboards, packaging, and more. It is hard to pinpoint the exact inventor of the thermal inkjet printer because there were many teams at several companies (including Canon, HP, and Epson) developing the technology at the same time. What we do know is in 1984, HP introduced the “ThinkJet” after several years of product development. They were quickly followed by Canon’s BJ-80 less than a year later.

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The Benefits of Thermal Inkjet Printers

As with every type of printing technology, there are benefits and disadvantages for thermal inkjet printers. Fortunately, the pros of thermal inkjet printing vastly outweigh the cons. For many consumers, and a majority of business owners, thermal inkjet printers are a great solution. These benefits include high quality at a high cost, efficiency, and compact size. Even better, almost everyone can operate an inkjet printer with little to no training.

Drawbacks for thermal inkjet printers arise when printing in large quantities. Thermal inkjet printers are typically quite precise, but they can smudge if the ink comes into contact with water or moisture before fully drying. One final issue is they can require maintenance and on rare occasions, the nozzles can be blocked with dried ink. The solution for blockages can be as simple as applying rubbing alcohol but can require a dedicated professional to properly clean the machine.

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The First Thermal Label Printer

Printing those barcodes onto labels would take another seven years.  Through trial and error, SATO developed the world’s first thermal transfer (TT) barcode printer, the M-2311 in 1981, giving retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers the ability to print quality, durable barcode labels. Thermal printing is the process of electronically heating up diodes (or dots) on the print head, that contact a roll of carbon ribbon melting warm black resin-wax onto a substrate, or label roll, by maintaining pressure on all three. The fundamentals have not changed to this day, but the speed and technology most certainly have.

Thermal Printer Manufacturers

Today Sato is one of several manufacturers that produce desktop, industrial and mobile printers that print direct thermal labels without using a ribbon or more permanent labels by using Thermal transfer ribbons.  These manufacturers include; Sato, Zebra, Honeywell, (Honeywell includes Datamax & Intermec), TSC, Citizen Systems, Toshiba TEC, Epson, Star Micronics, Evolis, Printronix, and Primera.

Digital Technology

The advent of computer technology in the 1980’s and 90’s lead to improvements in barcode quality, print-speed accuracy and the ability to receive many different substrates, such as tags, wristbands, and even plastic pot stakes. Other printing technologies also evolved, such as Inkjet Printers, Laser Printers, Dot-Matrix Printers and now Digital Color Printing. This potential growth of the AutoID industry is what lead Paragon Print Systems, in 1994 to expand their label printing services into Barcode Factory, which has become one of the leading suppliers of barcode printers, mobile computers, scanners, RFID installations and other versions of label printers.

Barcode Printers Today

Produce, manufactured goods, shipping boxes, chemical samples, and even people can be identified using some type of label or tag. Thermal printing is by far the most common because of the cost, speed and reliability. Specialty Printers have been designed to find a place in many niche markets.

Other Specialty printers include:

• Full color digital inkjet Printers:  Color product labels, lab samples and GHS Warning labels.

• Dot Matrix: Food industry and other, ribbon free uses.

• Horticultural Printers: Tree wrap and hang tags, and pot stakes.

• Ticket Printers: High speed black and white printers

• RFID Printers: Capable of encoding RFID Inlays inside of labels.

• Line-Feed Printers: Pin-fed form printers with unequaled durability.

• Kiosk Printers: Mounted inside counters, these large capacity receipt printers are perfect for the POS environment.

• I.D. Card Printers: Identification Cards printed in color with mag stripes and safety features for personnel.

• Direct Parts Marking (DPM) etches a barcode directly into a metal substrate or tool.

Planning for the Future

Some time has passed since 1981 but printing technology continues to improve. Choosing or improving your labeling process is closely connected to your entire Auto ID and data collection process. Consider a discussion with one of BarcodeFactory trained specialist’s to help you plan for the future, save money and grow.

Contact us to discuss your requirements of label printers typically use thermal technology.. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.