Daisy wheel - Definition and Overview

A daisy wheel printer is a type of computer printer that produces high-quality type, and is often referred to as a letter quality printer (this in contrast to high-quality dot-matrix printers, capable of near-letter-quality, or NLQ, output). There were also, and still are, daisy wheel typewriters, based on the same principle.

The system used a small wheel with each letter printed on it in raised metal or plastic. The printer turns the wheel to line up the proper letter under a single pawl which then strikes the back of the letter and drives it into the paper. In many respects the daisy wheel is similar to a standard typewriter in the way it forms its letters on the page, differing only in the details of the mechanism (daisy wheel vs typebar or IBM 'typeball').

Daisy wheel printers were fairly common in the 1980s, but were always less popular than ballistic wire printers due to the latter's ability to print graphics and different fonts. With the introduction of high quality laser printers and ink jet printers in the later 1980s daisy wheel systems quickly disappeared but for the small remaining typewriter market.

See also

• Diablo 630