【Fujitsu】 FACOM 655 Line Printer

This was a compact, low-speed line printer developed for use with Fujitsu's FACOM V Series of small computers. It was completed in September 1977.

In the latter half of the 1970s, there was a need for printers with greater compactness and lower price due to the dissemination of small computer systems. So Fujitsu developed the FACOM 655 which employed the type belt system (also called the steel belt system or simply the band system)—an approach different from the previous type drum. This printer achieved superior printing quality, while reducing the size and weight, by using a newly developed type belt and printing magnet as the printing mechanism, and a small but powerful pulse motor for the paper feed mechanism.

In March 1980, Fujitsu developed the FACOM 6733A/B, a printer with outstanding cost performance which used a replaceable type belt. It was widely used with a variety of machines, including Fujitsu's FACOM V Series of small computers (V-830/850 etc.), their mid-size mainframes (FACOM M-310/320/340 etc.) and the PANAFACOM U-1000 Series of minicomputers. Two types of standard type belts were available for this printer, and the operator could replace easily the type belt to suit the printed content.

In 1985, Fujitsu completed the FACOM 6731D with a printing speed of 1,300 lines per minute—the fastest of Fujitsu's printers using the type belt system. The FACOM 6731D became the last line printer to use the type systems, due to the subsequent development of dot matrix line printers which achieved even higher speed.