Nozzleless ink jet printer having plate-shaped propagation element
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorsMasaru Hoshino, Masanori Tanizaki, Tsutomu Nishiwaki
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Abstract
In a nozzleless ink jet printer, a plate-shaped propagation element for propagating a surface acoustic wave is fixedly mounted on a substrate which is arranged along the platen and has an ink pooling groove, and the ink led to the edge of the propagation element from the ink pooling groove by surface tension is caused to jet in the form of ink mist by surface acoustic waves generated by excitation of comb-shaped interleaved electrodes so as to record images such as characters and patterns on a recording sheet.
Claims23
A nozzleless ink jet ejecting apparatus for a nozzleless ink jet printer, said nozzleless ink jet ejecting apparatus comprising:
- a non-immersed propagation element having an edge to which ink is supplied and a propagating surface for leading a surface acoustic wave to said edge;
- and
- surface acoustic wave generating means for generating a surface acoustic wave in said propagating surface.
A nozzleless ink jet ejecting apparatus for a nozzleless ink jet printer, said nozzleless ink jet ejecting apparatus comprising:
- a non-immersed propagation element having a propagating surface for leading a surface acoustic wave to an edge thereof and an end face for leading ink to said edge by surface tension;
- and
- surface acoustic wave generating means which is separate from said propagation element, said surface acoustic wave generating means being coupled to said propagation element.
A nozzleless ink jet printer for jetting ink particles onto a recording medium, said nozzleless ink jet printer comprising a nozzleless ink jet ejecting apparatus and a platen for positioning the recording medium proximate to said ejecting apparatus, wherein said nozzleless ink jet ejecting apparatus comprises:
- a non-immersed propagation element having an edge to which ink is supplied and a propagating surface for leading a surface acoustic wave to said edge;
- and
- surface acoustic wave generating means for generating a surface acoustic wave in said propagating surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.