【Fujitsu】 FACOM 6982A Japanese Language Line Printer

This was a wire dot impact type Japanese language line printer (line printer for Japanese language processing) completed by Fujitsu in 1981. It was equipped with multiple printing heads to achieve high-speed printing at 150 lines per minute.

At the time, type-based impact printers were widely used in OA (Office Automation) systems as line printers capable of high-speed printing of multiple copies at once. In the 1980s, there was a growing need for impact line printers capable of printing kanji (Chinese characters) due to the dissemination of Japanese language processing. On the other hand, 24-dot serial printers capable of freely expressing kanji were also coming into wider use. The FACOM 6982A Japanese language line printer was developed for Fujitsu's FACOM V Series of small computers, and was equipped with 4 printing heads, which origin were the 24-dot serial printers mentioned above, to enable printing at 150 lines per minute. Noise of this printer was reduced by using a sealed structure.

In 1983, Fujitsu developed the FACOM 6907A, which increased printing speed to 200 lines per minute by using 5 heads. And in 1987, Fujitsu developed the FACOM 6908A which achieved both high-speed printing at 300 lines per minute and reduced noise by using a moving coil printing head and a linear motor based shuttle unit.

Specifications of FACOM 6982A/6907A/6908A Line Printers
  FACOM 6982A FACOM 6907A FACOM 6908A
Completion date 1981 1983 1987
Printing system Multi-head, wire dot impact
Number of heads 4 5 14
Printing speed Kanji (Chinese
characters)
printing
/alphanumeric
-kana printing: 150 line/min
Kanji (Chinese
characters)
printing
/alphanumeric
-kana printing: 200 line/min
  • Ordinary kanji
    (Chinese characters) printing: 300 line/min
  • High-speed kanji
    (Chinese characters) printing
    /alphanumeric
    -kana printing: 360 line/min
Line spacing 1/6,1/8 inch 1/6,1/8,1/12 inch
Number of copies Original+5
Character composition Kanji (Chinese characters) 24×24 dot
Alphanumeric
/kana
12×24 dot
Number of characters printed per line Kanji (Chinese characters) 90 char/line
Alphanumeric
/kana
136 char/line
Diagram/image printing Not possible Possible (160 dot/inch)
Main applications FACOM V Series of small computers FACOM K Series of office computers

 
FACOM 6982A Japanese Language Line PrinterFACOM 6908A Japanese Language Line Printer