Introduction

Dr. Ron Street was an interesting man.  He was my Principal Professor in graduate school at the University of Kentucky.  To be frank, Dr. Street was so intelligent that the majority of his teaching went straight over my head.  His greatest gift to me was not teaching, but providing the opportunity to push myself intellectually, think for myself, and not spoon feeding me.  It was the hardest that I have ever worked in my life, and it set the precedent for my career.  Thanks, Doc!

Dr. Street had this broken Christmas coffee cup that he used all year around.  The inside of the cup was practically black from the coffee stain.  In a pinch, he could have probably scrapped the inside wall of the cup into a filter and make a new cup of coffee.  One day I asked, “Dr.  Street, why do you use that old coffee cup?”  He replied, “Brian, I feel sorry for the man that steals this cup,” and he just walked away.  I think he said something very similar as to why he kept broken scissors on his desk.

What is the point?

I honestly didn’t have one when the first two paragraphs were written.  I was bored on a plane, and love to write.  Since the text had absolutely no purpose, I required a tie-in to be used on SSP’s blog site.  I subsequently did an internet search on “coffee stain GIS”.  I came up on a blog post written by Bill Meehan, who has contributed to SSP’s blog posts in the past.  Bill’s post discusses the replacement of paper maps via digital display means (i.e., tablet, mobile phone, etc).  He also mentioned coffee stains on paper maps, which I guess is why his post was acquired in the search.

I got to thinking about some of the printers that I have seen in my life/career.  NOW I HAVE A POST!  – ArcGIS Online Killed the Printing Star – A Chronological History of Printing according to Me.

I have seen several types of printers in my life.  The term printer doesn’t necessarily mean a paper using machine connected to a computer.  It could also be considered a past monk coping books by hand or someone drawing a quick map on the back of an envelope for a friend to find his or her way.  It terms of this post, a printer is defined as a device that produces text or drawings on multiple sheet of paper.

Mimeograph Machine (1970s)

When I was in elementary school, I ran for class president.  My father offered to take me to his office and print fliers on a mimeograph machine (Figure 1) announcing my platform (i.e. longer recess, improved playground equipment, etc.).  I wrote my platform on stencil, placed the stencil on the rotating drum, hit a switch, and fifty printed sheets were completed in a few minutes.  Use of this technology didn’t help me much, because I don’t remember winning.

Daisy Wheel (Early 1980s)

I have already written about my Radio Shack daisy wheel printer (Figure 2) in a previous blog post.  This loud, heavy printer had a small wheel with the letters on the outside.  The wheel would spin until the desired letter was lined up, and a “hammer” would push the letter through the carbon ribbon to the paper.  It is absolutely amazing how much this printer cost.

Dot Matrix (Late 1980s)

The Dot Matrix (Figure 3) was the first type of printer (that I remember) where one could print graphics.  I never owned one, but used them in school.  As written about previously in the comments of a previous blog post, I had to write a billing system that utilized this type of printer.

Ink Jet (Early 1990s)

Extremely cheap printer that first became affordable (that I remember) at box retailers in the early 90s.  Only problem with these printers is/was the cost of the ink cartridges (approx. $20-$30).  Small businesses quickly appeared supplying a cheaper refilling service.  I have never had any luck with refilled cartridges.  Although cheaper, the quality of the print was subpar and not worth the savings.

Laser Printer (Mid 1990s)

I have never personally owned a Laser Printer, but (of course) used at work.  The quality and speed of this printer was incredible.  The toner cartridges that went into these printers were five times more expensive than ink jets, but the quantity of paper per cartridge made this printing more economical.  To this day, I can still hear my name yelled by employees to come unjam the printer.

Blue Line Machine (Mid 1990s)

After formal graduate school, I took a geology internship for a coal mining company in West Virginia.  There was a machine (Figure 4) that was the foulest smelling thing in the office.  When copying large maps, the ammonia smell would give everyone in the facility a splitting head ache.

The machine would work by first inserting a large sheet of blank paper.  Second, the poor soul would insert the map to be copied.  Assuming that the leading end of the map didn’t wrap around and proceed into the inserting point (thus jamming it), the device worked fairly well (assuming you survived the endeavor).

HP DesignJet 750c (Late 1990s)

The gold metal goes to this large format plotter capable of printing color maps up to 36 inches wide.  I use to just stand a watch maps be printed out (and I have made thousands over the years).  The printer used four cartridges (Black, Magenta, Cyan, and Yellow).  I suspect every GIS shop had this printer at one time.  I absolutely loved this printer, and it didn’t kill me with ammonia.

Conclusion

What?  No new printers after 2000?  Of course there are, but I am getting bored with the subject and (in my opinion) the modern printers aren’t “Legends”.  I would also suspect that my past 10-15 years have been spent enabling others to print their own maps (versus doing it myself) through deployed Esri-based applications.

Fact is….with digital mobility, our need for printing is diminishing daily.  When was the last time you looked at a phone book?  ArcGIS Online is falling right in with these times.  So I guess one could say that my past year or so has been spent enabling others to not have to print their own maps.

For those that weren’t around in 1981 when MTV first launched, their first music video played was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles.