Laser Printers
The laser printer first came onto the market around 1968. Since then it has been modified into the great product that we see today. It was first created by Xerox and was patterned after the xerographic copier. This product later made Xerox a multi-million dollar industry. When the laser printer was first put on the market it was designed for high quantity jobs rather than high quality. It wasn’t until 1981 that Xerox created a laser printer that was designed for personal use with a home computer. There was a noticeable difference in the quality of the printing that was being produced.
The laser printer differs from other printers in that it uses a cartridge that contains toner rather than a small container of ink. The toner is used in printers that are used for large amounts of printing and those that are also used for photocopying. Changing the toner is relatively easy but it can be quite expensive if it is required frequently. Colour last printers are the most expensive of all colour printers.
There are several safety hazards, health risks and precautions that should be kept in mind when thinking about buying a laser printer. When changing the toner in a laser printer it is very important that an excess toner that may fall on the floor or table could not be vacuumed up. Static discharge from the toner can ignite duck in the vacuum bag and it may even cause a small explosion. It is important that the toner be kept cold and damp during the cleaning process.
A study that was conducted in Australia found that small particles emitted from the printer’s toner cartridge can actually cause users to develop respiratory problems. The same study also found that Hewlett-Packard has the highest emissions of toner out of all the printers evaluated. These are things that should be kept in mind when purchasing a laser printer.