IBM junk

[Chuck Guzis]

On 22 Oct 2007 at 23:26, Tony Duell wrote:

> Thet idea was not uncommn at the time. DEC made one called the 'LA324' 
> which could take a colour ribbon and mechanically shifted it up and down 
> to change colour. I also rememebr using an Epson printer in the mid 1980s 
> that could take a 'colour kit' which was a motor + mechanical bits to 
> tilt the ribbon. 

Some Diablo Hytype printer models had a ribbon-shift solenoid also on 
the print head.  Typically, just two colors, red and black.  The big 
problem with any of these multicolor ribbon systems is that there is 
ink transfer from the printhead pins to the ribbon that eventually 
causes the lighter colors to get contaminated with the darker ink 
colors.  And the multicolor ribbons were substantially more expensive 
than monochrome ribbons.

But then, many typewriters, including my old Smith-Corona manual, had 
a ribbon-shift levers--so it's not a new idea by any means.

Cheers,
Chuck