Continuous ink jet printing apparatus with improved drop placement
AssigneeEastman Kodak Company
InventorDavid L. Jeanmaire
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for printing an image is provided. In this apparatus, each nozzle is operable to selectively create a stream of ink droplets having a plurality of volumes. The apparatus also includes a droplet deflector having a gas source. The gas source is positioned at an angle with respect to the stream of ink droplets and is operable to interact with the stream of ink droplets thereby separating ink droplets into printing and non-printing paths. Additionally, the apparatus includes a means for improving drop placement on the receiver media. This allows for multiple printing drops per image pixel without loss of image sharpness.
Claims10
A print head for printing an image, said print head comprising:
- one or more nozzles from which a stream of ink droplets is emitted, the droplets having adjustable volumes of ink;
- and
- a mechanism, associated with each nozzle, adapted to independently adjust the volume of the ink droplets emitted by the associated nozzle, said mechanism having:
- a first state wherein the volumes of the droplets emitted from the nozzles are within a first range of volumes, said first state being further defined by a substantially monotonically increasing or decreasing series of drop volumes within a grouping of two or more droplets, and
- a second state wherein the volumes of the droplets emitted from the nozzles are within a second range of volumes, wherein volumes within said second range are larger than volumes within said first range.
An apparatus for printing an image comprising:
- a print head having:
- one or more nozzles from which a stream of ink droplets is emitted, the droplets having adjustable volumes of ink;
- and
- a mechanism, associated with each nozzle, adapted to independently adjust the volume of the ink droplets emitted by the associated nozzle, said mechanism having:
- a first state wherein the volumes of the droplets emitted from the nozzles are within a first range of volumes, said first state being further defined by a substantially monotonically increasing or decreasing series of drop volumes within a grouping of two or more droplets, and
- a second state wherein the volumes of the droplets emitted from the nozzles are within a second range of volumes, volumes said second range being larger than volumes within said first range;
- and
- a droplet deflector adapted to produce a force on the emitted droplets, said force being applied to the droplets at an angle with respect to said stream of ink droplets to cause:
- ink droplets within said first range of volumes to move along a first set of paths, and
- ink droplets within said second range of volumes to move along a second set of paths distinct from said first set of paths.
A process for printing an image, said process comprising:
- emitting a stream of ink droplets from one or more nozzles of a print head such that the droplets have adjustable volumes;
- and
- independently adjusting the volume of the ink droplets such that a first set of droplets are emitted with a first range of volumes that substantially monotonically increase or decrease in volumes within a grouping of two or more droplets, and
- a second set of droplets are emitted with a second range of volumes that are larger than said first range of volumes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.