International Business Machines Corporation

Alvin L Wittwer

Rex D Fathergill

Paul D Jachimiak

Ronald E Gaitten

James A Machmer

Disclosed is an ink jet printer head employing an ink droplet aspirator which includes a housing having a tunnel therein spaced from an ink jet nozzle which emits a stream of ink droplets which pass through the tunnel. A gas stream is also directed through the tunnel at substantially the same velocity as the ink stream. While the upper and lower walls of the aspirator tunnel are formed of sintered metal thereby forming the deflection electrodes, the sidewalls of the tunnel are formed of a dielectric material and are made movable, for example by collapsing toward and away from the tunnel top and bottom walls (deflection electrodes) so as to inhibit sidewall contamination during start up and shut down of the ink stream.

Aspirated ink jet printer head

In a continuous type ink jet printer having a conventional charging electrode for charging ink drops in accordance with a signal to be recorded on a record receiving medium, at least one, and preferably both of the deflection electrodes is mounted so that the deflection electrodes may be positioned in a first position by an actuator to allow for printing in a first direction. The actuator tilts the electric field to compensate for character inclination during carrier movement, and at the opposite end of the print line rotates the deflection electrodes to a second position to incline the electric field to compensate, during carrier movement in that opposite direction, for character inclination due to carrier movement in the second direction.

Image inclination control for bi-directional ink jet printers

An improved backup roll for use in the heated fuser system of electrostatic copy machines wherein the fuser system employs a fuser roll couple comprised of a heated fuser roll in pressure contact with the backup roll. In construction, the backup roll includes an aluminum core member with a coating of polyurethane reinforced flourinated ethylene propylene on its surface. The coating has heat transfer characteristics similar to the copy sheets fed through the couple so as to withdraw heat from the heated fuser roll, along each zone where it may make direct contact with it, at substantially the same rate as the copy sheets withdraw heat. The coating also has a thickness whereby the heat transferred to each zone during contact with the fuser roll is quickly transferred to the aluminum core before that zone again contacts the fuser roll.

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Paris, KY, United States of America

Alvin L Wittwer