Method and apparatus for controlling the position of printed ink droplets

An ink jet printer including:

• means to produce ink droplets spaced substantially uniform distances from each other;
• a recording surface;
• first means to cause relative movement between said producing means and said recording surface along a first axis;
• and second means to cause relative movement between said producing means and said recording surface in a second direction substantially orthogonal to the first axis;
• the improvement comprising:
• means to dispose each printed ink droplet on said recording surface at any granular position in the second direction substantially orthogonal to the first axis and along the first axis in accordance with a reference position;
• said droplet disposing means including:
• charging means to selectively charge to a selected magnitude each of the droplets to be printed on said recording surface;
• deflection means to deflect each of the droplets to be printed in the second direction in accordance with the magnitude of the charge thereon;
• storage means to store information concerning each character to be printed on said recording surface, the information including the magnitude of the voltage to said charging means for each printed droplet forming part of the character and the spacing of each printed droplet along the first axis from a reference position;
• and voltage applying means to apply a selected voltage to said charging means for each of the droplets to be printed in accordance with the information in said storage means to enable each of the droplets to be printed to have the selected magnitude thereon for deflection by said deflection means in the second direction to the desired position on said recording surface;
• and means to compensate for induction produced between adjacent droplets by selectively applying a voltage to said charging means only when a droplet is not to be printed and the non-printed droplet has a predetermined spacing from the last printed droplet in the path of the droplets from said producing means.

An ink jet printer including:

• means to produce ink droplets spaced substantially uniform distances from each other;
• a recording surface;
• first means to cause relative movement between said producing means and said recording surface along a first axis;
• and second means to cause relative movement between said producing means and said recording surface in a second direction substantially orthogonal to the first axis;
• the improvement comprising:
• means to dispose each printed ink droplet on said recording surface at any granular position in the second direction substantially orthogonal to the first axis and along the first axis in accordance with a reference position;
• said droplet disposing means including:
• storage means to store information concerning each character to be printed on said recording surface, the information including the position of each printed droplet forming part of the character relative to a single predetermined position in the second direction and the spacing of each printed droplet along the first axis from a reference position;
• and deflection means to deflect each of the droplets to be printed in the second direction at the desired location along the first axis in accordance with the stored information in said storage means;
• and means to synchronize the relative movement between said producing means and said recording surface along the first axis with respect to the spacing of one of the droplets to be printed from a reference position along the first axis at selected time intervals solely in accordance with when there is a predetermined spacing between adjacent printed droplets.

A method of controlling the position on a recording surface of each ink droplet of an ink stream to be printed thereon to form a character or desired figure or shape in which ink droplets of the stream are produced with substantially uniform distances therebetween and there is relative movement between the ink stream of droplets and the recording surface along a first axis and in a second direction substantially orthogonal to the first axis, the method including:

• disposing each printed ink droplet on the recording surface at any granular position in the second direction substantially orthogonal to the first axis and along the first axis in accordance with a reference position;
• selectively charging each of the droplets to be printed on the recording surface to a selected magnitude for the position of the droplets on the recording surface in the second direction;
• deflecting each of the droplets to be printed in the second direction in accordance with the magnitude of the charge thereon;
• storing information concerning each character to be printed on the recording surface with the information including the magnitude of the voltage for selectively charging each printed droplet forming part of the character to the selected magnitude and the spacing of each printed droplet along the first axis from a reference position;
• and synchronizing the relative movement between the ink stream of droplets and the recording surface along the first axis with respect to the spacing of one of the droplets to be printed from a reference position along the first axis at selected time intervals solely in accordance with when there is a predetermined spacing between adjacent printed droplets.

A method of controlling the position on a recording surface of each ink droplet of an ink stream to be printed thereon to form a character or desired figure or shape in which ink droplets of the stream are produced with substantially uniform distances therebetween and there is relative movement between the ink stream of droplets and the recording surface along a first axis and in a second direction substantially orthogonal to the first axis, the method including:

• disposing each printed ink droplet on the recording surface at any granular position in the second direction substantially orthongonal to the first axis and along the first axis in accordance with a reference position;
• selectively charging each of the droplets to be printed on the recording surface to a selected magnitude for the position of the droplets on the recording surface in the second direction;
• deflecting each of the droplets to be printed in the second direction in accordance with the magnitude of the charge thereon;
• storing information concerning each character to be printed on the recording surface with the information including the magnitude of the voltage for selectively charging each printed droplet forming part of the character to the selected magnitude and the spacing of each printed droplet along the first axis from a reference position;
• and compensating for induction produced between adjacent droplets by applying an electrostatic field of a selected magnitude to a droplet only when the droplet is not to be printed and the non-printed droplet has a predetermined spacing from the last printed droplet in the path of the droplets.

A method of controlling the position on a recording surface of each ink droplet of an ink stream to be printed thereon to form a character or desired figure or shape in which ink droplets of the stream are produced with substantially uniform distances therebetween and there is relative movement between the ink stream of droplets and the recording surface along a first axis and in a second direction substantially orthogonal to the first axis, the method including:

• disposong each printed ink droplet on the recording surface at any granular position in the second direction substantially orthogonal to the first axis and along the first axis in accordance with a reference position;
• storing information concerning each character to be printed on the recording surface with the information including the position of each printed droplet forming part of the character relative to a single predetermined position in the second direction and the spacing of each printed droplet from a reference position along the first axis;
• deflecting each of the droplets to be printed in the second direction at the desired location along the first axis in accordance with the stored information;
• and synchronizing the relative movement between the ink stream of droplets and the recording surface along the first axis with respect to the spacing of one of the droplets to be printed from a reference position along the first axis at selected time intervals solely in accordance with when there is a predetermined spacing between adjacent printed droplets.

An ink jet printer including:

• means to produce ink droplets spaced substantially uniform distances from each other;
• a recording surface;
• first means to cause relative movement between said producing means and said recording surface along a first axis;
• and second means to cause relative movement between said producing means and said recording surface in a second direction substantially orthogonal to the first axis;
• the improvement comprising:
• means to dispose each printed ink droplet on said recording surface at any granular position in the second direction substantially orthogonal to the first axis and along the first axis in accordance with a reference position;
• said droplet disposing means including:
• charging means to selectively charge to a selected magnitude each of the droplets to be printed on said recording surface;
• deflection means to deflect each of the droplets to be printed in the second direction in accordance with the magnitude of the charge thereon;
• and storage means to store information concerning each character to be printed on said recording surface, the information including the magnitude of the voltage to said charging means for each printed droplet forming part of the character and the spacing of each printed droplet along the first axis from a reference position;
• counting means to receive a count from storage means in accordance with the spacing of the droplet to be printed along the first axis from a reference position, said counting means being counted down by a count of one at the rate of frequency of production of the droplets by said producing means;
• and means responsive to said counting means reaching a count to zero to allow said charging means to charge the droplet to be printed on said recording surface to the selected magnitude.