Ink printer and method of printing with capillary control of pressurised ink

Abstract

A system and method for printing by delivering monodisperse ink drops from a capillary array to a paper surface in an electrostatic field. Forces within selected capillaries allow said capillaries to be filled with ink from a supply which enters the capillary through a communication port. A valving and motor action is provided to open and close said ink port in a selective manner, said actions provided by a body of mercury partly filling the capillary under pressure, by developing a magnetic field within the capillary, and by inducing a potential between electrodes in a capillary which causes current flow across the magnetic field which results in a force that moves the body of mercury to open the communicating port. Terminating current flow restores the mercury in partly filled relationship within the capillary to again close off the port. The electrodes are energized to correspond with electrical graphic information which is preferably expressed through a switching assembly wherein a first set of switches are controlled by a signal which provides information for modulating the capillary filling in parallel, by a second set of switches which are operated by a synchronizing signal for sequencing scan, and by a third set of switches which provide current of proper direction in a circuit which shares an electrode with two capillaries. All switches are reset by another synchronizing signal occurring at the beginning of a new line of dots. A programmer automatically controls printing of preselected pages.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.