The Invention of the Ink Jet Printer

Invention

• The inventor of the first inkjet printer remains a mystery, although stories suggest an IBM technician named Steven Sears made the first model. The first models were introduced in 1978. Early inkjet printers sprayed ink on the paper. They often sprayed ink when it was not needed to print a document.
  
  

Only Black and White at First

• The first inkjet models printed their pages quickly. Early models produced low-quality printouts and could only print black and white documents.
  
  

The Cartridge Revolution

• Hewlett Packard and Canon introduced the first injket cartridges. The cartridge allowed the cost of the inkjet printers to come down and solved the ink spraying problem early inkjet models suffered from.
  
  

Hewlett Packard Deskjet

• Hewlett Packard released its first Deskjet model for personal computers in 1988. HP offered the printer for $100.
  
  

Cost Goes Down

• The price of inkjet printers has dropped from the early $1,000 Deskjet to around $50 for most inkjet printers. Sometimes it is cheaper for a person to buy a new printer than it is to replace a cartridge.