The dot matrix printer uses one or two columns of dot hammers that are moved across the paper. The hammers rapidly press the ribbon into the paper, which causes the ink to be deposited.

There was much whooping and hollering, as there often is when a dot matrix printer screams into life ... as the excess WD40 was absorbed by the paper after a few prints. Digging out an old blue ...

Dot matrix printers are the dinosaurs that won’t go extinct. They are not unlike a typewriter with the type bars behind the ink ribbon replaced by a row of metal pins controlled by solenoids ...