Abstract:
Printing is effected with a hot melt type ink comprised of coloring material and a vehicle therefor and having a resistivity within the range of about 106 to about 1011 ohm-centimeters and a viscosity in a range with an upper limit of about 50 centipoises when in a liquid phase. To that end, a stream of ink drops are drawn across and deflected in a span between an ink supply and a carrier for impingement thereon. The vehicle of the ink is comprised of at least one compound which is solid at room temperature, and has the general formula: IN WHICH EACH R and R'' is an alkyl group containing from one to 12 carbon atoms.
Abstract:
An electrostatic printer has a nozzle from which the ink is issued with an accelerating electrode and an intermediate electrode placed between the nozzle and the platen or target. A high voltage potential difference is established between the nozzle and the target with an intermediate potential being applied to the accelerating and intermediate electrodes. A sufficient potential difference exists between the nozzle and the accelerating electrode to draw the ink from the nozzle into a fine stream, and a sinusoidally varying field is superimposed on the field between the nozzle and the accelerating electrode to establish a high frequency vibration in the electrostatically charged ink stream. Droplet formation then takes place in synchronism with the sinusoidally varying field in a region of a weak field between the accelerating and intermediate electrodes which are at the same or only slightly different potentials, with the size and spacing of the droplets being controlled by the frequency of the sinusoidally varying field. As a result, droplets of substantially uniform size, substantially uniformly spaced apart, are formed.
Abstract:
An ink jet printing device wherein conductive ink, under pressure is emitted from a nozzle and breaks into droplets in the vicinity of a charging electrode such that the charge on each droplet is determined by the voltage on the charging electrode at the instant that the droplet separates from the solid stream of ink issuing from the nozzle. A mask or drain catcher is provided for blocking and catching uncharged droplets of ink, and an electrostatic field is provided for deflecting charged droplets out of a path impinging on the drain catcher and into a path impinging on a record medium for printing thereon. A vibratory transducer is connected to the nozzle structure and imparts undulations at a fixed, droplet-forming frequency to the ink issuing from the nozzle so as to induce the stream of ink to break into droplets of uniform size and spacing, at the applied droplet-forming frequency. A data signal source is connected to the charging electrode, and the phasing between the data signal and the droplet-forming signal is randomly varied to obviate distortions due to frequent, regular, or periodic formation or separation of droplets during transitions of the voltage of the charging signals.