【NEC】 NM-5020 Japanese Language Serial Printer

In February 1987, NEC announced the NM-5020 Japanese language dot serial printer as a personal computer peripheral. This printer was equipped with a piezoelectric printing head.
The NM-5020 was the first printer in the world to achieve practical use of a piezo head—a new type of head with superior high-speed characteristics to replace the previous electromagnetic printing heads. The printing section was made lighter by expanding the microvibration amplitude of the laminated piezoelectric actuator element and directly driving printing wires. This made it possible to achieve a speed of 110char/s (Japanese)—the highest speed for printers in this class.
The piezoelectric actuator element had high energy conversion efficiency, and thus there was little heat-up of the printing head, and power consumption was low.

Specifications of NM-5020 Japanese Language Serial Printer
Printing system Dot impact
Character types Alphanumeric/kana,Kanji (Chinese characters) JIS Level 1 and 2
Printing head 24-pin(24×2 zig-zag alignment)
Dot pitch 1/180inch, both vertical and horizontal
Line spacing 1/6 and 1/8 inch. Variable in 1/120 and 1/180 inch units
Copy capability 3sheets including original
Printing speed(char/s)
  • 390 (for alphanumeric/kana)
  • 110 (for kanji (Chinese characters))
Paper width 4.5–15.5inch
With cut paper 110-364mm(B4)
External dimensions(mm) 585(W)×375(D)×163(H)
Weight(kg) 18

  
NM-5020 Piezoelectric Dot/Serial Printer