【Fujitsu】 FACOM 6700D Japanese Language Line Printer

This was Fujitsu's top-of-the-line Japanese language line printer (line printer for Japanese language processing), completed in February 1983. At the time, there was a growing need for a high-speed, high-functionality Japanese language line printer due progress in Japanese language information systems. To meet that need, Fujitsu developed the FACOM 6700D ultra high-speed Japanese language line printer. This printer used xerography—a technique where output is written using a laser beam. It had the following features. For the main specifications, see "Specifications of Japanese Language Line Printers".

1) High printing quality, high-speed output

The system printed characters with high printing quality and resolution of 240 dots per inch at a high-speed of 10,600 lines per minute (when printing 6 lines per inch).

2) Outstanding ease-of-operation

With the increase in printing speed, the time required for tasks like loading/replenishing paper and handling printed sheets became the key to high-speed printing output. This printer enabled speedy paper handling by using auto loading and splicing mechanisms for easy paper loading, a high-capacity sliding hopper, and a bidirectional sliding stacker for paper removal.

3) A broad range of output functions based on JEF (Japanese processing Extended Feature)

This system could handle diverse types of output by combining kanji (Chinese character) support for a maximum of 14,336 characters, with form overlay, reduced printing, a copy modification function and other features.

In ultra high-speed printing faster than 10,000 lines per minute, ordinary paper (2,000 sheets per box) had to be loaded roughly once every 10-15 minutes. Post-handling of paper after printing was also very labor intensive and needed to be automated. So equipment was developed to automate pre- and post-handling. One example of such equipment was the ultra high-speed, high-capacity, continuous printing subsystem comprised of the FACOM6700D4 high-speed Japanese language line printer, the FACOM 6898A paper feeder, and the FACOM 6898B paper post-handler. This subsystem was developed with the cooperation of customers, operated in 1985. And by using long paper (35,000 sheets), it could continuously perform a series of printing tasks (form printing, collation, cutting, sorting) for 3.7 hours.

In September 1990, Fujitsu completed the F6700E, a printer which realized multi-media printing functions (diagram printing and image printing) and a bar code printing function. High-speed processing of diagram/image data could previously only be achieved by models with a speed less than 2,000 lines per minute due to limitations on processing speed of the control unit. But the F6700E was the first high-speed model capable of printing diagrams and images. This was achieved by improving processing speed by employing a RISC microprocessor.