An obsolete type of serial impact printer formerly widely used on word-processor systems for producing letters and documents. The font was formed on the end of spring fingers extending radially from a central hub. The print head and paper position could generally be incremented bidirectionally by control commands, making possible proportional spacing, justification, subscript and superscript characters, etc.
The daisywheel printer was introduced by Diablo Systems Inc. in 1972 and represented a considerable improvement in speed and reduction in mechanical complexity compared to other typewriters then used as low-speed printers. By 1990, however, daisywheel printers had been superseded by faster, more flexible, and quieter dot matrix printers and page printers.