PURPOSE: To maintain an average life of dot pin by constituting a dot pin in such manner that the said dot pin for linear printing is selected through sequential switching in accordance with the progress of linear printing, at a dot-type printer equipped with a plural number of dot pins.

CONSTITUTION: At a dot-type printer having a dot head 1 equipped with a plural number of dot pins 1aW1g, a dot pin drive circuit consisting of an output control circuit 9, a gate control circuit 10 and AND gates 8aW8g, is provided. When for instance, a pattern is printed based on a combination of lines, first the dot pin drive circuit is used to drive a dot pin 1a so that for instance, a dot print worth one side of a pattern is made. Next, every time a dot print worth one side of a pattern is made, dot pins 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e, 1f are sequentialy switched to prevent the lop- sided serious wear of only one dot.