Centronics
Encyclopedia
Centronics Data Computer Corporation was a pioneering American manufacturer of computer printers, now remembered primarily for the parallel interface
that bears its name.
Centronics began as a division of Wang Laboratories
. Founded and initially operated by Robert Howard (president) and Samuel Lang (vice president and owner of the well known K & L Color Photo Service Lab in New York City), the group produced remote terminals and systems for the casino industry. Printers were developed to print receipts and transaction reports. Wang spun off the business in 1971 and Centronics was formed as a corporation in Hudson, New Hampshire
with Howard as president and chairman.
The Centronics Model 101 was introduced at the 1970 National Computer Conference. The print head used an innovative seven-wire solenoid impact system. Based on this design, Centronics later made the claim to have developed the first dot matrix impact printer
.
Howard developed a personal relationship with his neighbor, Max Hugel, the founder and president of Brother International, the US arm of Brother Industries, a manufacturer of sewing machines and typewriters. A business relationship developed when Centronics needed reliable manufacturing of the printer mechanisms—a relationship that would help propel Brother into the printer industry. Hugel would later become executive vice president of Centronics. Print heads and electronics were built in Centronics plants in New Hampshire
and Ireland, mechanisms were built in Japan by Brother and the printers were assembled in New Hampshire.
In the 1970s, Centronics formed a relationship with Canon
to develop non-impact printers. No products were ever produced, but Canon continued to work on laser printers, eventually developing a highly successful series of engines.
In 1977, Centronics sued competitor Mannesmann AG
in a patent dispute regarding the return spring used in the print actuator.
In 1975, Centronics formed an OEM
agreement with Tandy
and produced DMP and LP series printers for several years. The 6000 series band printers were introduced in 1978. By 1979 company revenues were over $100 million.
In 1980, the Mini-Printer Model 770 was introduced—a small, low-cost desktop serial matrix printer. This was the first printer built completely in-house, and there were problems. Flaws in the microprocessor
led to a recall and a stoppage of manufacturing for a year. During this period, Epson, Brother and others began to gain market share and Centronics never recovered. 1980 also saw the introduction of the E Series 900 and 1200 LPM band printers.
, into Centronics and at the same time invested $25 million in the company, effectively taking control from Howard. Control Data controlled the company until 1986 when CDC's interest was acquired by a group of investors affiliated with Drexel Burnham Lambert
. The Drexel interest was acquired by Centronics in 1987.
The LineWriter 400 band printer was introduced in 1983 closely followed by the faster LineWriter 800 band printer in 1984. The LineWriter series would continue through 1995. The GLP (Great Little Printer) was a series of low-end serial matrix printers introduced in 1984.
The relationship with Brother continued with several of the PrintStation models being produced from rebadged Brother products. Exclusive rights to market Trilog color matrix printers was acquired in 1984, and Trilog was purchased outright in 1985. Advanced Terminals (a manufacturer of sheet feeders) and BDS Computer Australia Pty Ltd were purchased in 1986.
The PrintStation 350 series serial matrix printer was highly successful in the OEM
market, sold with the logos of Data General
, ITT Courier, NCR
, CDC
, Decision Data and ISI. Most profitable was the agreement to build the IBM
4214 based on a modified PS350. In 1985, company revenues were $126 million with $65 million from IBM 4214 production. In 1986 the IBM 4214 production ended and revenue dropped.
On June 23, 1986, Centronics announced the new corporate logo. The new logo never gained recognition before the sale to GENICOM, and GENICOM used the old logo in continued sales of printers and supplies.
The only Centronics laser
product was released in July 1986: the PagePrinter 8. The PP8 used a Sharp
engine identical to an existing Sharp copier, using a 6800
based controller jointly developed by Sharp and Centronics. At $2,495, the PP8 was $500 less than the HP
LaserJet
. A faster version was announced, but never materialized.
. Centronics Data Computer Corporation continued as a New York Stock Exchange
company and soon changed its name to Centronics Corporation in 1987. After using the proceeds of the sale to purchase Ekco Housewares in 1988, Centronics changed their name to EKCO Group
.
, Robert Howard and Prentice Robinson developed the Centronics parallel interface
at Wang Laboratories. Wang had a surplus stock of 20,000 Amphenol
36-pin micro ribbon
connectors that were originally used for one of their early calculators. The connector has become so closely associated with Centronics that it is now popularly known as the “Centronics connector”. The Centronics parallel interface quickly became an industry de facto
standard. Manufacturers of the time tended to use various connectors on the system side, so a variety of cables were required. When IBM
implemented the parallel interface on the IBM PC
, they used the DB25F
connector at the PC-end of the interface, creating the now familiar parallel cable with a DB25M at one end and a 36 pin micro ribbon connector at the other. HP
adopted Centronics parallel on their printer models and introduced a bidirectional version known as Bitronics on the LaserJet 4
in 1992. The Bitronics and Centronics interfaces were superseded by the IEEE 1284
standard in 1994.
Centronics parallel is generally compliant with IEEE 1284
compatibility mode. The original Centronics implementation called for the busy lead to toggle with each received line of data (busy by line), whereas IEEE 1284 calls for busy to toggle with each received character (busy by character). Some host systems or print servers may use a strobe signal with a relatively low voltage output or a fast toggle. Any of these issues might cause no or intermittent printing, missing or repeated characters or garbage printing. Some printer models may have a switch or setting to set busy by character; others may require a handshake adapter.
IEEE 1284
IEEE 1284 is a standard that defines bi-directional parallel communications between computers and other devices.-History:In the 1970s, Centronics developed the now-familiar printer parallel port that soon became a de facto standard...
that bears its name.
The beginning
Wang Laboratories
Wang Laboratories was a computer company founded in 1951 by Dr. An Wang and Dr. G. Y. Chu. The company was successively headquartered in Cambridge , Tewksbury , and finally in Lowell, Massachusetts . At its peak in the 1980s, Wang Laboratories had annual revenues of $3 billion and employed over...
. Founded and initially operated by Robert Howard (president) and Samuel Lang (vice president and owner of the well known K & L Color Photo Service Lab in New York City), the group produced remote terminals and systems for the casino industry. Printers were developed to print receipts and transaction reports. Wang spun off the business in 1971 and Centronics was formed as a corporation in Hudson, New Hampshire
Hudson, New Hampshire
Hudson is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 24,467 at the 2010 census.The primary settlement in town, where 7,336 people resided at the 2010 census, is defined as the Hudson census-designated place and is located at the junctions of New Hampshire...
with Howard as president and chairman.
The Centronics Model 101 was introduced at the 1970 National Computer Conference. The print head used an innovative seven-wire solenoid impact system. Based on this design, Centronics later made the claim to have developed the first dot matrix impact printer
Dot matrix printer
A dot matrix printer or impact matrix printer is a type of computer printer with a print head that runs back and forth, or in an up and down motion, on the page and prints by impact, striking an ink-soaked cloth ribbon against the paper, much like the print mechanism on a typewriter...
.
Howard developed a personal relationship with his neighbor, Max Hugel, the founder and president of Brother International, the US arm of Brother Industries, a manufacturer of sewing machines and typewriters. A business relationship developed when Centronics needed reliable manufacturing of the printer mechanisms—a relationship that would help propel Brother into the printer industry. Hugel would later become executive vice president of Centronics. Print heads and electronics were built in Centronics plants in New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
and Ireland, mechanisms were built in Japan by Brother and the printers were assembled in New Hampshire.
In the 1970s, Centronics formed a relationship with Canon
Canon Inc.
is a Japanese multinational corporation that specialises in the manufacture of imaging and optical products, including cameras, camcorders, photocopiers, steppers and computer printers. Its headquarters are located in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan.-Origins:...
to develop non-impact printers. No products were ever produced, but Canon continued to work on laser printers, eventually developing a highly successful series of engines.
In 1977, Centronics sued competitor Mannesmann AG
Tally Ltd
Tally was a leading American manufacturer of printers.Founded in 1949 in Kent, Washington, United States, the company was a leading manufacturer of punch tape readers...
in a patent dispute regarding the return spring used in the print actuator.
In 1975, Centronics formed an OEM
Original Equipment Manufacturer
An original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, manufactures products or components that are purchased by a company and retailed under that purchasing company's brand name. OEM refers to the company that originally manufactured the product. When referring to automotive parts, OEM designates a...
agreement with Tandy
Tandy Corporation
Tandy Corporation was a family-owned leather goods company based in Fort Worth, Texas. Tandy was founded in 1919 as a leather supply store, and acquired RadioShack in 1963. The Tandy name was dropped in May 2000, when RadioShack Corporation was made the official name.-History:Tandy began in 1919...
and produced DMP and LP series printers for several years. The 6000 series band printers were introduced in 1978. By 1979 company revenues were over $100 million.
In 1980, the Mini-Printer Model 770 was introduced—a small, low-cost desktop serial matrix printer. This was the first printer built completely in-house, and there were problems. Flaws in the microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
led to a recall and a stoppage of manufacturing for a year. During this period, Epson, Brother and others began to gain market share and Centronics never recovered. 1980 also saw the introduction of the E Series 900 and 1200 LPM band printers.
A change of hands
In 1982, Control Data Corporation merged their current printer business unit, CPIComputer Peripherals Inc
Computer Peripherals, Inc. was an American manufacturer of computer printers, based in Rochester, Michigan.CPI's precursor, Holley Computer Products, was formed as a joint venture between Control Data Corporation and the Holley Carburetor Company in April 1962. Holley developed and produced a...
, into Centronics and at the same time invested $25 million in the company, effectively taking control from Howard. Control Data controlled the company until 1986 when CDC's interest was acquired by a group of investors affiliated with Drexel Burnham Lambert
Drexel Burnham Lambert
Drexel Burnham Lambert was a major Wall Street investment banking firm, which first rose to prominence and then was forced into bankruptcy in February 1990 by its involvement in illegal activities in the junk bond market, driven by Drexel employee Michael Milken. At its height, it was the...
. The Drexel interest was acquired by Centronics in 1987.
The LineWriter 400 band printer was introduced in 1983 closely followed by the faster LineWriter 800 band printer in 1984. The LineWriter series would continue through 1995. The GLP (Great Little Printer) was a series of low-end serial matrix printers introduced in 1984.
The relationship with Brother continued with several of the PrintStation models being produced from rebadged Brother products. Exclusive rights to market Trilog color matrix printers was acquired in 1984, and Trilog was purchased outright in 1985. Advanced Terminals (a manufacturer of sheet feeders) and BDS Computer Australia Pty Ltd were purchased in 1986.
The PrintStation 350 series serial matrix printer was highly successful in the OEM
Original Equipment Manufacturer
An original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, manufactures products or components that are purchased by a company and retailed under that purchasing company's brand name. OEM refers to the company that originally manufactured the product. When referring to automotive parts, OEM designates a...
market, sold with the logos of Data General
Data General
Data General was one of the first minicomputer firms from the late 1960s. Three of the four founders were former employees of Digital Equipment Corporation. Their first product, the Data General Nova, was a 16-bit minicomputer...
, ITT Courier, NCR
NCR Corporation
NCR Corporation is an American technology company specializing in kiosk products for the retail, financial, travel, healthcare, food service, entertainment, gaming and public sector industries. Its main products are self-service kiosks, point-of-sale terminals, automated teller machines, check...
, CDC
Control Data Corporation
Control Data Corporation was a supercomputer firm. For most of the 1960s, it built the fastest computers in the world by far, only losing that crown in the 1970s after Seymour Cray left the company to found Cray Research, Inc....
, Decision Data and ISI. Most profitable was the agreement to build the IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
4214 based on a modified PS350. In 1985, company revenues were $126 million with $65 million from IBM 4214 production. In 1986 the IBM 4214 production ended and revenue dropped.
On June 23, 1986, Centronics announced the new corporate logo. The new logo never gained recognition before the sale to GENICOM, and GENICOM used the old logo in continued sales of printers and supplies.
The only Centronics laser
Laser printer
A laser printer is a common type of computer printer that rapidly produces high quality text and graphics on plain paper. As with digital photocopiers and multifunction printers , laser printers employ a xerographic printing process, but differ from analog photocopiers in that the image is produced...
product was released in July 1986: the PagePrinter 8. The PP8 used a Sharp
Sharp Corporation
is a Japanese multinational corporation that designs and manufactures electronic products. Headquartered in Abeno-ku, Osaka, Japan, Sharp employs more than 55,580 people worldwide as of June 2011. The company was founded in September 1912 and takes its name from one of its founder's first...
engine identical to an existing Sharp copier, using a 6800
Motorola 6800
The 6800 was an 8-bit microprocessor designed and first manufactured by Motorola in 1974. The MC6800 microprocessor was part of the M6800 Microcomputer System that also included serial and parallel interface ICs, RAM, ROM and other support chips...
based controller jointly developed by Sharp and Centronics. At $2,495, the PP8 was $500 less than the HP
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
LaserJet
LaserJet
LaserJet as a brand name identifies the line of dry electrophotographic laser printers marketed by the American computer-company Hewlett-Packard . The HP LaserJet was the world's first desktop laser printer.-Technology:...
. A faster version was announced, but never materialized.
Printer division sale
In 1987 the Centronics printer business was sold to GENICOMGENICOM
From 1982 to 2003, GENICOM was a leading American manufacturer of computer printers, based in Chantilly, Virginia.-The GE years:In 1954, General Electric decided to decentralize the company into separate business units...
. Centronics Data Computer Corporation continued as a New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
company and soon changed its name to Centronics Corporation in 1987. After using the proceeds of the sale to purchase Ekco Housewares in 1988, Centronics changed their name to EKCO Group
World Kitchen
World Kitchen, LLC is a kitchenware products maker and distributor based in Rosemont, Illinois. The company began as the Corning Consumer Products division of glassmaker Corning.-History:The division was spun off from Corning in 1998 and purchased by Borden...
.
Model 101
The 101 was highly innovative and affordable at its inception. Some selected specifications:- Print speed: 165 characters per second
- Weight: 155 pounds
- Size: 27 ½ " W x 11 ¼ " H x 19 ¼ D
- Shipping: 200 pounds, wooden crate, unpacked by removal of 36 screws
- Characters: 62, 10 numeric, 26 upper case and 26 special characters (no lower case)
- Character size: 10 characters per inch
- Line spacing: 6 lines per inch
- Vertical control: punched tape reader for top of form and vertical tab
- Forms thickness: original plus four copies
- Interfaces: Centronics parallel, optional RS-232 serial
The interface
Dr. An WangAn Wang
Dr. An Wang was a Chinese American computer engineer and inventor, and co-founder of computer company Wang Laboratories.-Early life and career:...
, Robert Howard and Prentice Robinson developed the Centronics parallel interface
Parallel port
A parallel port is a type of interface found on computers for connecting various peripherals. In computing, a parallel port is a parallel communication physical interface. It is also known as a printer port or Centronics port...
at Wang Laboratories. Wang had a surplus stock of 20,000 Amphenol
Amphenol
Amphenol Corporation is a major producer of electronic and fiber optic connectors, cable and interconnect systems such as Coaxial cables. Amphenol is a portmanteau from the corporation's original name, American Phenolic Corp....
36-pin micro ribbon
Micro ribbon
The micro ribbon or miniature ribbon connector is a common type of electrical connector used particularly in computer and telecommunications applications. Popularly referred to as a Centronics connector due to the widely used Centronics parallel interface, it is also known as a Telco, Amphenol,...
connectors that were originally used for one of their early calculators. The connector has become so closely associated with Centronics that it is now popularly known as the “Centronics connector”. The Centronics parallel interface quickly became an industry de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
standard. Manufacturers of the time tended to use various connectors on the system side, so a variety of cables were required. When IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
implemented the parallel interface on the IBM PC
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
, they used the DB25F
D-subminiature
The D-subminiature or D-sub is a common type of electrical connector. They are named for their characteristic D-shaped metal shield. When they were introduced, D-subs were among the smaller connectors used on computer systems....
connector at the PC-end of the interface, creating the now familiar parallel cable with a DB25M at one end and a 36 pin micro ribbon connector at the other. HP
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
adopted Centronics parallel on their printer models and introduced a bidirectional version known as Bitronics on the LaserJet 4
HP LaserJet 4
The HP LaserJet 4 is a group of monochrome laser printers produced in the early to mid-1990s as part of the LaserJet series by Hewlett Packard . The 4 series has various models, including the standard LaserJet 4 for business use, the 4L for personal use and the 4P for small businesses...
in 1992. The Bitronics and Centronics interfaces were superseded by the IEEE 1284
IEEE 1284
IEEE 1284 is a standard that defines bi-directional parallel communications between computers and other devices.-History:In the 1970s, Centronics developed the now-familiar printer parallel port that soon became a de facto standard...
standard in 1994.
Centronics parallel is generally compliant with IEEE 1284
IEEE 1284
IEEE 1284 is a standard that defines bi-directional parallel communications between computers and other devices.-History:In the 1970s, Centronics developed the now-familiar printer parallel port that soon became a de facto standard...
compatibility mode. The original Centronics implementation called for the busy lead to toggle with each received line of data (busy by line), whereas IEEE 1284 calls for busy to toggle with each received character (busy by character). Some host systems or print servers may use a strobe signal with a relatively low voltage output or a fast toggle. Any of these issues might cause no or intermittent printing, missing or repeated characters or garbage printing. Some printer models may have a switch or setting to set busy by character; others may require a handshake adapter.