teleprinter, any of various telegraphic instruments that transmit and receive printed messages and data via telephone cables or radio relay systems. Teleprinters became the most common telegraphic instruments shortly after entering commercial use in the 1920s. They were used by operators in local telegraph offices and switching centres, by press associations and other private networks, and by subscribers to international telegraphic message services such as telex (q.v.) Since the advent of low-cost, high-speed data transmission in the 1980s, teleprinters have steadily given way to computer terminals and facsimile (fax) machines.
Printing telegraphs of various types were designed from the beginning of electric telegraphy in the mid-19th century. The few successful designs all required an elaborate set-up procedure as well as skilled operators who knew the telegraphic codes employed. Teleprinters opened telegraphy to broader use essentially by adapting it to the typewriter, which was then becoming a standard business machine and which could be operated by less-skilled personnel. Early teletypewriters were developed around the turn of the 20th century by Donald Murray in Britain, by the Morkrum Company in the United States, and by Siemens & Halske AG in Germany. In 1924 the Teletype Corporation introduced a series of teletypewriters which were so popular that the name Teletype became synonymous with teleprinters in the United States.
The teleprinter consists of a typewriter-like keyboard and a printer, powered by an electric motor. The two devices are coupled to the motor by clutches that are brought into operation automatically when required. A message is sent by typing on the keyboard. Each key stroke generates a sequence of coded electrical pulses, which are then routed by electronic switching through an appropriate transmission system to the destination. There a receiving teleprinter decodes the incoming pulses and prints the message on paper. To this basic electromechanical design, some modern teleprinters have added such electronic devices as magnetic memory and video display.
Two different coding schemes have been used for teleprinters. The first to be used (beginning in the 1920s) was a variation of the Baudot Code, in which letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and keyboard functions were represented by 32 combinations of 5 “on” and “off” pulses. With the advent of digital computers in the 1960s, a new coding scheme, the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), was developed and came to be widely used by teleprinters. ASCII employed 7 code pulses and was thus able to provide 128 combinations, giving a much more extensive range of symbols that could be transmitted. Teleprinters utilizing the ASCII code could transmit messages at speeds up to 150 words per minute, compared to 75 words per minute for machines using the Baudot Code.