Spark Printing - Variants

Variants

A different spark printer implementation propelled dry toner from a tiny hole in the end of a glass rod, using a high-voltage spark between the platen and print head. The glass toner rod held a solid mass of toner, pushed toward the ejection tip by a spring. This had the advantage of printing onto plain paper, but the disadvantage of the toner not being cured to the paper, and thus easily smudged. Unlike the Sinclair printer, this printer had only one stylus (the toner rod), since the entire platen behind the paper served as the other spark electrode. The printer could only print one line of pixels at a time.