Ink printing apparatus using ink surfactants

Abstract

A liquid ink, drop-on-demand pagewidth printhead including a semiconductor substrate, a plurality of drop-emitter nozzles fabricated on the substrate; an ink supply manifold coupled to the nozzles; pressure element for subjecting ink in the manifold to a pressure above ambient pressure; a drop selection device for selectively addressing predetermined nozzles, and drop separation device to transfer ink selected drops from selected nozzles to a print region. A surface tension reducing agent for each nozzle is provided from a supply separate from the ink and integrated into the printhead. An increase in ink drop protrusion from the nozzle surface differentiates selected drops from non-selected drops.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.