Peripheral Equipment:Printers

Brief History｜ Exhibits｜

year/month	Timeline
1954/10	Fujitsu completed the Japan's first practical automatic printer for the FACOM 100 relay computer (printed 60 columns simultaneously).
1959/06	Oki Electric exhibited a belt printer utilizing the world’s first flying belt at Automath 59.
1960/08	Fujitsu completed the FACOM 521 high-speed printer, the first commercial printer using a type drum (prints 500 lines/min when using 50-character set).
1961/05	Oki Electric completed the OKITAC-5093 commercial high-speed printer utilizing a flying belt.
1961	Hitachi completed the H-136 line printer for the HITAC103.
1961	Hitachi completed the H-138/139 line printer for the HITAC201.
1963	Hitachi completed the H-333/335 line printer for the HITAC4010/5020.
1964/07	NEC completed the N422 high-speed form printer that prints 900 lines/min.
1965/05	NEC announced the N206A-1, N222-4, and N122A-1 form printers for use with the NEAC Series 2200.
1965	Hitachi announced the 8245/8246 line printers for the HITAC8000 Series.
1966/03	Fujitsu completed the FACOM 642 line printer, which used a type drum and flag bit control to achieve high-speed printing. (1, 500 lines/min when using 16-character set).
1971/11	Fujitsu completed the FACOM 647 high-performance line printer, which used the company’s first “Form Stacker” form post-processing mechanism. (1, 890 lines/min when using 16-character set).
1972/07	Oki Electric completed the OKI ELECTRO PRINTER non-impact ultra high-speed line printer that prints 8, 000 lines/min.
1973	Hitachi completed the A241 line printer for the HITAC 8000 Series.
1974	NTT completed a high-speed line printer that prints 1000 lines/min (with 126-character set)
1975/03	Fujitsu completed the FACOM 651 line printer, the company’s fastest line printer of type drum type (prints 2, 400 lines/min when using 16-character set).
1975/06	NEC announced the NB-3000 serial printer, which has a badminton feather shaped head.
1975	Hitachi announced the 8276 and 8277 line printers for the HITAC M Series.
1976/03	Fujitsu completed the FACOM 650 line printer that used Japan’s first horizontally moving train cartridge to achieve high-speed, high-quality printing (prints 2, 000 lines/min when using 48–character set).
1976	Hitachi completed the H-8141 and H-8142 to create the world’s first 4-model series using the same technology.
1977/07	NEC announced the N7370 laser beam exposure kanji printer and the N7380 high-speed page printer that prints 21, 000 lines/min.
1977/09	Fujitsu completed the FACOM 655 low-speed line printer for small size computers that used a newly developed type belt and a printing magnet (prints 340 lines/min when using 62–character set).
1977/09	Oki Electric completed the DP-100, the company’s first dot line printer.
1977	Hitachi began shipping the H-8191, H-8195, and H-8171, the company’s first laser printers.
1978	NTT completed a high-speed line printer with the world’s fastest speed of 1, 500 lines/min.
1978	Hitachi began shipping the H-8192 and H-8196-20, which used a uniquely developed printer mechanism to achieve a printing speed of 7, 000 lines/min.
1979/02	NEC announced the N7344 and N7345 small line printers that used a type band.
1979	Hitachi announced the HT-5347/5344 dot printer and the HT-5641 page printer for the T-560/20.
1979	NTT completed a high-speed kanji printer that produced world-class performance with a printing speed of 15, 000 lines/min.
1980/03	Fujitsu completed the FACOM 6715D Japanese language line printer employing the company’s first dry electronic photographic method using laser writing (prints 2, 000 lines/min at 6 LPI).
1980/04	NEC completed the KLP60C, Japan’s first impact kanji line printer for use with small systems.
1980/08	NEC announced the N7384 Japanese language page printer for ACOS midsize computers.
1981/05	Oki Electric completed the DP-1000 kanji dot printer using the company’s first multi-head system.
1981	Fujitsu completed the FACOM 6982A wire dot impact printer equipped with multiple heads to achieve a printing speed of 150 lines/min.
1981	Mitsubishi Electric announced the M8310, the company’s first online kanji printer.
1982	Fujitsu completed the FACOM 6657A office printer that uses semiconductor laser writing to achieve high-quality printing.
1983/02	Fujitsu completed the FACOM 6700D ultra high-speed Japanese language line printer employing the dry electronic photographic method using laser writing (prints 10, 600 lines/min at 6 LPI).
1983/07	NEC announced the PC-PR201 small, low-cost printer for personal computers.
1984	Hitachi announced the H-8174 Xerographic paper printer, which includes a uniquely developed mechanism.
1985/09	Mitsubishi Electric announced the M8340 high-speed, multi-function kanji printer that uses an LED array.
1985	Hitachi announced the HT-4373/4374 dot printers for the 2020.
1985	Hitachi announced the HT-4371/4377 dot printers and HT-4555 page printer for the 2050.
1987/01	NEC announced the N7385-21 page printer, the first printer in the world that can simultaneously print two colors.
1987/02	NEC announced the NM-5020 Japanese language dot serial printer, which uses a piezo type printing head.
1987	Hitachi announced the H-6274/6273 kanji printer for the S-820.
1990/03	Fujitsu completed the F6722D Xerographic paper Japanese language line printer employing the dry electronic photographic method using light emitting diode array writing to achieve a high printing speed of a maximum of 125 pages/min.
1990	Hitachi began shipping the H-6286, the world’s fastest double-sided Xerographic paper printer.

Historical Computers in Japan　

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