Brother Industries, Ltd. (ブラザー工業株式会社, Burazā Kōgyō Kabushiki-gaisha^?) (TYO: 6448 ) is a diversified Japanese company that produces a wide variety of products including sewing machines, large machine tools, label makers, and fax machines, printers, typewriters, and other computer-related electronics. Brother distributes their products both under their own name and under OEM agreements with other companies. The Tokyo Stock Exchange ), or TSE, is one of the largest stock exchange markets in the world by monetary volume located in Tokyo, Japan, second only to the New York Stock Exchange. ... A modern machine (Singer Symphonie 300) A sewing machine is a mechanical (or electromechanical) device that joins fabric using thread. ... A machine tool is a powered mechanical device, typically used to fabricate metal components of machines by the selective removal of metal. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... Mechanical desktop typewriters, such as this Underwood Five, were long time standards of government agencies, newsrooms, and sales offices. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Brother's history began in 1908 when the Yasui Sewing Machine Co. was established in Nagoya, Japan. In 1954, Brother International Corporation (U.S.A.) was established as their first overseas sales affiliate. The corporate name was finally changed to Brother Industries, Ltd. in 1962. Brother entered the printer market during its long association with Centronics. Nagoya Castle Nagoya (名古屋市; -shi) is the fourth largest (third largest metropolitan region) and the third most prosperous city in Japan. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... Centronics logo 23 June 1986 Centronics logo 1971 Centronics Data Computer Corporation was a pioneering American manufacturer of computer printers, now remembered only for the parallel interface that bears their name. ...

As of 2004, Brother's annual turnover is in excess of 420 billion yen. 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Japanese 10 yen coin (obverse) showing Phoenix Hall of Byodoin Yen is the currency used in Japan. ...

Machine Activity Designed into Firmware

A problem for home office users of Brother ink jet fax machines is their periodic (weekly) "clean print heads" cycle. This activity actually uses up ink so that, if a fax machine is left for several months without ever receiving a fax or printing a document, it will eventually run out of ink and become non-functional. When one of the ink cartridges is spent, the machines will not operate until they have been replaced. On some commonly available machines, it is not possible to disable this cycle. This means that even inactive machines have to be regularly resupplied with ink at a substantial cost. Brother's competitors, such as Hewlett-Packard for example, do not seem to need this cleaning cycle and can be left idle without loss of machine functionality. This functionality, and the end-users inability to disable it, are prominently featured on Brother's on-line support web site.

External link

• Brother Global site