IBM 3800

The IBM 3800 is a discontinued continuous forms laser printer designed and manufactured by IBM. It is significant as a product because it was both the first laser printer manufactured by IBM,[1] and the first commercially available continuous forms laser printer.

IBM 3800 Printer
Date invented1975
ManufacturerIBM
Introduced1976
Discontinued1999

The IBM 3800 was developed and manufactured in San Jose, California.[2] Production was transferred to Tucson, Arizona[3] in 1980. It was also manufactured in Järfälla, Sweden.[4]

The 3800 was initially positioned as a line printer replacement with additional features. Besides the much greater speed, enhancements over the line printer included:[5]

  • Forms overlay – the ability to print a predefined form along with the data, eliminating the need for preprinted forms.
  • Thirteen different character sets. The standard 3800 could use only one per print data set; a special feature allowed four to be used at a time.
  • Multiple copies printed on single-ply paper, rather than using multiple-ply paper, data could be changed or suppressed between copies.
  • User-defined graphic characters could be used along with standard character sets.

Later the 3800 family supported Advanced Function Presentation (AFP), a page description language with features similar to Xerox Corporation's Interpress or Adobe Systems' PostScript.

The 3800 attached to a mainframe system via a parallel (Bus and Tag) channel. Support for two channels was available as an option.

Over 8,000 of these printers were sold.[6]

It was replaced by the IBM 3900, announced in 1990, and discontinued in 1999.[7]

Development

Development began in 1969 using a project code name of Jubilee. Later, the code name was changed to Argonaut. IBM did not, however, have a xerographic printer to base the Jubilee on (all IBM printers up to this point were mechanical printers, e.g., chain, print bar, train). This meant prototyping used an IBM Copier I which was not capable of anywhere near the product goal of 1 million pages per month. Therefore, dramatic developments were required in areas such as: paper path handling, lasers and optics, toner fusion and control electronics.[2]

First Continuous Forms laser printer

There is some dispute whether the IBM 3800 was the first commercially available laser printer or whether this distinction should be held by the Xerox 1200. IBM announced the 3800 in 1975 and first shipped in 1976 while Xerox announced the 1200 in 1973 and first shipped it in late 1974[8]. Another distinction between the two products is that the Xerox 1200 was an off-line cut-sheet laser printer, while the IBM 3800 could be used both on and offline and used continuous forms.

Models

There were several models of the IBM 3800 Laser Printer.[9]

3800 Model 001

The model 001 was announced on April 15, 1975, and first shipped July 1976. It had a print resolution of 144 pels per inch (or dots per inch, pels are print elements) vertically and 180 pels per inch horizontally. It could print at 10,020 to 20,040 lines per minute depending on line density (which could range from 6 to 12 lines per inch).[10]

The model 001 was the only model that supported the tape to print feature (Feature Code 7810), where an IBM 3411/3410 or IBM 3803/3420 reel to reel tape drive could be attached to the 3800 allowing the printer to operate in an offline mode.

3800 Model 002

The model 002 was announced in 1979. It was a model 001 printer that had been modified to allow it to print kanji characters.

3800 Model 003

The model 003 was announced November 1, 1982,[11] and, at a speed of 215 impressions per minute, it was the fastest printer of its time.[12] It was the first AFP printer in the 3800 line.[12] The three main goals of the model 003 were:[13]

  • Improved print resolution. The model 3 had a print resolution of 240 x 240 pels versus the Model 001 and 002, which had a resolution of 180 x 144 pels.
  • Improved graphics printing capability.
  • Reduced service costs over the model 001.

To improve the resolution a new photoconductor material had to be used in combination with a specially designed digital voltmeter and a significant redesign of the laser print head. The helium-neon laser developed for the model 001 was retained, but lenses were used to generate two printing beams that reflected off a slightly slower rotating mirror (the mirror in model 001 rotated at 15,300 RPM versus the model 003, which rotated at 12,700 RPM).[13]

3800 Model 006

The model 006 was announced on January 26, 1987, and shipped later that year. It was functionally identical to the model 003 but only ran at 134 pages per minute.[14] It could be upgraded to a model 003.

3800 Model 008

The model 008 was physically similar to a model 003 but supported double-byte character sets, which allowed kanji characters to be printed (effectively making it a replacement for the model 002). In comparison to the model 002, it could print three times more kanji characters (22,500) with significantly better print resolution.[13]

Technological Innovations in the IBM 3800

Being the first Laser Printer produced by IBM and with no similar existing products to use as models, the IBM 3800 contained many new technological features. This is a short list of some of them:

Long Life Cleaning Brush

The cleaning brush used to clean toner from the photoconductor would wear out after one month of operation. Through a variety of improvements this was extended to four months.[15]

Long Life Helium Neon Laser.

By using low helium diffusion glass IBM increased the life of the laser to 20,000 operation hours, an improvement of 10x over off-the-shelf products available at that time.[15]

Long Life Hot Roll

The hot roll that fuses the toner to the page needed to operate without silicon oil (to avoid contamination) and to have an extended life, so a new elastomer material was developed as well as a multi-zone preheat platen to warm the paper to 104 °C (219 °F) prior to fusion.[15]

Long Life Xenon Flash Lamp

A flash lamp was used as part of the form overlay system that optionally allowed you to print a fixed form onto each page. This system used a lamp that had to pulse for only 125 μs. Initial life span of the lamp was only one month, but through a variety of design changes this was extended to 60 months.[15]

To ensure print contrast remained consistent over time, a special control mark was printed on every page. An LED sensor would monitor this mark and this was used to control how much toner was routinely fed into the developer mix. It could also detect if the printer was producing blank pages unexpectedly.

TNF based photoconductor

The original photoconductor used by the IBM 3800 (and also by the IBM Copier, IBM Copier II and IBM 3896) was a high-sensitivity organic photoconductor for electrophotography developed by IBM. IBM developed this to avoid patent infringement wth Xerox (who used a photoconductor based on selenium).[16] The IBM developed organic photoreceptor (OPC) used a chemical known as 2, 4, 7-trinitro-9-fluorenone, commonly referred to as TNF.[17] The photoconductor was mainly composed of a TNF and polyvinyl carbazole resin coating on an aluminized mylar sheet and was manufactured by IBM in Lexington Kentucky.[18] Over the course of the 1970s, health and safety concerns were raised about TNF being a cancer causing carcinogen. The US Federal Department of Health and Human Services contracted the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to investigate these concerns but their report did not identify any issues.[18] Despite this, in 1980 IBM changed its advice and required it's employees to always handle it with gloves.[19] IBM then withdrew TNF based photoconductors in late 1981 for the IBM 3800 and IBM Copier II, replacing it with a photoconductor based on chlorotiane blue and diethylaminobenzal- denyde-dithenylhydrazone (sometimes called blue coral).[20] This material was already being used in the IBM Series III Copier and the IBM 6670 and was manufactured by IBM in Boulder Colorado.[20]

Replacement product

IBM partnered with Hitachi to OEM a Hitachi-developed printer, released as the IBM 3900. It was announced October 1990 and shipped in late 1991.[21]

Other 38xx printers

There were other non-impact printers in the 38xx series from IBM.

IBM 3812

The IBM 3812 was one of the first office laser printers produced by IBM.[22]

The 3812 (of which there were two models, 3812-001 and 3812-002) was described as a tabletop Pageprinter.[23][24]

It was announced in March 1986 and operated at 12 pages per minute maximum. It was not technically a laser printer as it used a LED printhead.[25]

It was withdrawn from marketing October 1991.[26]

IBM 3816

The IBM 3816 was described as an "electrostatic page printer".[27]

It was announced in March 1989 and operated at 24 impressions per minute maximum. The 3816-01S was simplex while the 3816-01D was duplex. [28]

IBM 3820

The IBM 3820, announced in February 1985, was IBM's first AFP cut-sheet printer.[12][24] The 3820 could be attached to a host mainframe system via Systems Network Architecture SNA/SDLC, or to a PC using the IBM Personal Computer Network (PCLAN) or Corvus Omninet. An entry-level 3820 sold for $29,900 (equivalent to $71,077 in 2019).[29] The 3820 was an AFP printer. It operated at 20 pages per minute.

It was withdrawn from marketing November 1993.[30]

IBM 3825

The IBM 3825 was announced in 1989. It was a cut sheet, duplex, non-impact,all-points-addressable AFP page printer that operated at 58 impressions per minute[31] It was withdrawn from marketing in 1995.[32]

IBM 3827

The IBM 3827 was announced in 1988. It was a cut sheet, duplex, non-impact,all-points-addressable AFP page printer that operated at 92 impressions per minute. While the control unit was developed by IBM, the print engine was a Kodak 1392. It was withdrawn from marketing in 1995.[32]

IBM 3828

The IBM 3828 was a MICR version of the 3827. It was announced October 1990.[33]

It was withdrawn from marketing in October 1999.[34]

IBM 3829

The IBM 3829 was announced in 1993. It was a cut sheet, duplex, non-impact,all-points-addressable AFP page printer that operated at 92 impressions per minute. While the control unit was developed by IBM, the print engine was a Kodak 1392. It was withdrawn from marketing in 1997.[32]

IBM 3835

The IBM 3835 was announced in 1988 and was an intermediate speed fanfold AFP page printer that operated at 88 impressions per minute.[35]

IBM 3935

The IBM 3935 was announced in November 1993 and was an intermediate speed duplex capable cut sheet AFP page printer that operated at 35 impressions per minute.[36]

End of IBM's printer business

In 2007 IBM formed a joint venture, InfoPrint Solutions Company, with Ricoh. The new company, headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, took over all of IBM Printing Systems Division products, including the successors to the 3800 line.[37] In 2010 IBM divested its share and the new company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Ricoh.[38] All of its products are currently maintained by Ricoh and no longer by IBM.

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See also

References
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  3. "IBM Tucson products". IBM.
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  6. Kasdorf, William E (2003). The Columbia Guide to Digital Publishing. Columbia University Press. pp. 364, 383. ISBN 978-0-231-12499-7.
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  10. Elzinga, C; Hallmark, T.M; Mattern, R.H.; Woodward, J.M. (September 1981). "Laser Electrophotographic Printing Technology". IBM Journal of Research and Development. 25 (5). doi:10.1147/rd.255.0767.
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  14. "IBM 3800 PRINTING SUBSYSTEM MODEL 6". IBM.
  15. Elzinga, C. D.; Hallmark, T. M.; Mattern, R. H.; Woodward, J. M. (1981). "Laser Electrophotographic Printing Technology". IBM Journal of Research and Development. 25 (5): 767–776. doi:10.1147/rd.255.0767. ISSN 0018-8646.
  16. Weiss, David S.; Abkowitz, Martin (2017), Kasap, Safa; Capper, Peter (eds.), "Organic Photoconductors", Springer Handbook of Electronic and Photonic Materials, Springer Handbooks, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 1–1, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-48933-9_37, ISBN 978-3-319-48933-9, retrieved 2020-07-03
  17. Schaffert, R. M. (January 1971). "A New High-sensitivity Organic Photoconductor for Electrophotography". IBM Journal of Research and Development. 15 (1): 75–89. doi:10.1147/rd.151.0075. ISSN 0018-8646.
  18. "Health hazard evaluation report: HETA-81-125-1029, DHHS, Washington, D.C., No. HETA-81-352-1029, IBM, Lexington, Kentucky, Gaithersburg, Maryland" (PDF). 1981-12-01. doi:10.26616/nioshheta811253521029. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  19. Environment, United States Congress House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health and the (1981). Health and the Environment Miscellaneous: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Health and the Environment of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, Ninety-seventh Congress ... U.S. Government Printing Office.
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  23. "IBM RT PERSONAL COMPUTER". January 21, 1986. IBM 3812 Pageprinter
  24. "IBM tabletop publishing". Computerworld. August 17, 1987. the documents can be printed by IBM 3812 and 3820
  25. "IBM 3812 PAGEPRINTER LOW-PRICED, MULTIFUNCTION, NONIMPACT @ TABLETOP PRINTER ANNOUNCED". www-01.ibm.com. 1986-03-18. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  26. "IBM 3812 PAGEPRINTER WITHDRAWAL FROM MARKETING". www-01.ibm.com. 1991-10-22. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  27. "US - IBM GDDM V2.3". February 7, 2007. 3816 electrostatic page printer, in simplex and duplex modes; 6185 plotter: 8 pen ..... ANS X3.124-1985, for the American National Standard ...... IBM 3812 and 3816 printers are only supported when connected via the 3270 ...
  28. "IBM 3816 PAGE PRINTER MODEL 01D". www-01.ibm.com. 1989-11-07. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
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  34. "HARDWARE WITHDRAWAL: IBM 3828 MICR, 3900-120, 3900-600, 3900-900, AND INFOPRINT 4000 FEATURES --". www-01.ibm.com. 1999-10-05. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  35. "IBM 3835 PAGE PRINTER". www-01.ibm.com. 1988-02-02. Retrieved 2020-07-03.
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