View source for EP-101

{{Short description|Electronic miniprinter}}
[[File:EP-101 (5207073092).jpg|thumb|The world's first electronic miniprinter: the ''EP-101'']]
The '''EP-101''' was the first ever electronic miniprinter for printing figures and symbols and was launched by [[Shinshu Seiki Co.]], a subsidiary of [[Seikosha|Suwa Seikosha Co., Ltd]], in September 1968. The [[Line printer#Drum printer|drum printer]] wasn't very big, being only 164 millimetres in width, 102 millimetres in height, 135 millimetres in depth and weighed 2.5 kilograms. It was created out of development work that Shinshu Seiki did for the [[Seiko Group]] when they became the official time-keepers for the [[1964 Summer Olympics|1964 Tokyo Olympic games]] and needed a machine that could print out times they gathered from their time-pieces.

In 1975, Shinshu Seiki began branding printers as EPSON. The brand name comes from the next generation version of this printer – ''son'' of ''EP'', or EP-son. Shinshu Seiki renamed Epson Corporation in 1982 and was merged with Suwa Seikosha to form [[Seiko Epson|Seiko Epson Corporation]] in 1985.

Certified to [[Mechanical Engineering Heritage (Japan)]] No. 131, in 2025.

== External links ==
* [https://corporate.epson/en/about/history/milestone-products/1968-9-ep-101.html The world's first smallest digital printer – and progenitor of Epson] 

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[[Category:Computer printers]]
[[Category:Epson]]