Water-vapor assist for filling aqueous print heads

Abstract

A method of filling a print head includes drawing a vapor into an empty print head to displace any air in the print head and filling the print head with ink. A method of filling a print head includes connecting a print head to a vacuum pump using a first valve, to a liquid supply using a second valve, and to an ink supply using a third valve, opening the first and second valves, applying vacuum to the print head and liquid supply using the vacuum pump, causing the liquid to generate a vapor that moves into the print head, closing the first valve and the second valve, and opening the third valve to move ink into the print head.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.