Thermal Printer
Thermal printers print more quietly and usually faster than impact dot matrix printers. They are also smaller, lighter and consume less power, making them ideal for portable and retail applications. Roll-based printers can be rapidly refilled. Commercial applications of thermal printers include filling station pumps, information kiosks, kitchen order ticket system, voucher printers in slot machines, print on demand labels for shipping and products, and for recording live rhythm strips on hospital cardiac monitors. Thermal transfer printing is a digital printing process in which material is applied to paper (or some other material) by melting a coating of ribbon so that it stays glued to the material on which the print is applied. It contrasts with direct thermal printing where no ribbon is present in the process. It was invented by SATO Corporation around the late 1940s.