The Crocodile Cage

• Plotter Paper
• HP Plotter Paper
• HP Design Jet Paper
• Wide Format Paper
• OCE Paper

There are many different kinds of computer printers in use. From simple thermal printers used by such devices as automated gas pumps to home color printers, one can hardly escape them. They run from simple to complex and are often specialized for specific applications.

One of the most complex of the modern printers is the engineering plotter printer. These printers are used for large format printing. The plotter printer paper is often wound about a roll and is fed through the printer and then cut off as needed for each piece that is printed. Plotter printers are often used for engineering drawings. Engineering drawings are often very complex and detailed. Reproducing them in a smaller size might result in a cluttered appearance that makes it hard to discern the fine details of the work.

Color laser printers and color ink-jet printers are often used in the home and office. These could be used for anything from reproducing typed reports to printing out full color photographs from a digital camera. Most of these printers can accept photo quality papers and can print out photographs of nearly the same quality as a professional photo developer can with film negatives. Home printers see a wide range of uses from printing out internet coupons to arts and crafts projects. The ink cartridges are replaced either as individual cartridges for each color, or as a single multi-colored cartridge with several inks inside. Printer paper for these printers is generally very similar to ordinary typing paper, although specialty papers such as photo paper may be used for some applications. Home and office printers are often combined with a scanning bed that enables them to take previously printed pages and convert them back into digital files. Those with a scanning bed are also able to function as copy machines making additional paper copies of existing prints in full color.

Many different Point of Sale (POS) devices use thermal printers. Thermal printers are usually made from fewer moving parts and have a lower initial cost as well as a lower operating cost than traditional ink-based printers. The lower mechanical complexity of thermal printers makes them more reliable and generally gives them a much longer lifespan than other types of printers. Furthermore, there are no ink cartridges to replace since the printer itself has no ink. Instead the ink is contained inside the special thermal paper that these POS printers use. Like engineering plotter printer paper, thermal printer paper usually comes packaged on long rolls to minimize the number of times that paper has to be changed and to reduce the probability of the paper jamming and taking the printer out of operation.

To the naked eye, paper looks very orderly, smooth and uniform. In fact, it is the very disorderliness of paper’s structure is what holds it together. Paper is made up of cellulose fibers without any sort of glue or base to hold them together.

You can see these fibers if you roughly tear a piece of paper. The edges of the tear will reveal individual fiber strands that have been torn free from the rest of the sheet although you may need a magnifying glass to see them clearly. These fibers are the paper and they are also what holds the paper together in a single sheet.

Paper is basically made by collecting cellulose or wood fiber in a liquid solution. In this solution, these fibers float freely. They are aligned in all different directions and tangled amongst themselves. This slurry of cellulose fibers is then drained of the supporting liquid leaving only the fibers behind. As the fiber mixture dries, it may be compressed and pressed flat by powerful rollers or presses. This compression helps to push the liquid out and to push the fibers even closer together. Heat may also be applied to help dry out the fibers.

Finally, all that’s left is the cellulose fibers. They are tangled amongst each other and so intertwined that they form a single sheet of paper. Think of each fiber as a Lego block or a thread. When they are woven together or interlocked all the small pieces make a larger whole. The interlocking fibers, all randomly tangled together, form smooth and cohesive paper.

Paper is created in mills in great long sheets. These raw sheets may be wound up and used for continuous Thermal Paper Rolls products in machines like cash registers, or they may be cut to specific sizes and use as typing paper or the pages of a book. Although modern machinery and electric dryers are used these days, the basic process of reducing plant fibers in a chemical slurry and then drying them out to form paper hasn’t really changed in hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years.

One thing that has changed is the invention of specialty papers. Some papers undergo another process to transform them into a specialized product. These papers may get an additional coating applied to the surface or may have chemicals mixed into the fiber matrix. These chemicals might make the paper photo sensitive as in the case of blue print paper, or heat sensitive as in the case of Thermal Paper.

The coarseness, color and strength of the paper is determined by the length of the cellulose fibers used in its construction, the chemicals added to separate and process the fibers, and any surface treatments. Some glossy paper has a very thin surface coating of fine clay or other material to give it an extra smooth feel and a glossy appearance, for example.