Exxon Research and Engineering Company

Arthur M Lewis

Aldo Scudo

Morris W Leen

A block of solid state ink is sequentially melted on demand as it is advanced against a heater plate. Sequentially melted ink flows into a continuously heated reservoir which supplies one or more ink jets.

Ink jet apparatus and method of operating ink jet apparatus employing

Ink jet apparatus for utilizing hot melt ink is provided, comprising a printing head and a reservoir for holding a supply of hot melt ink, the reservoir having a normally open port or fill tube with an end face residing within the volume of the reservoir, the end face being located at about the volumetric center of the reservoir. The reservoir is maintained with an ink volume of no more than about half of the reservoir volume, so that ink can not spill through the normally open port when the apparatus is tilted.

Hot melt ink jet having non-spill reservoir

Cleaning card for ink jet print head or similar article

Apparatus for cleaning contaminants from the face and orifice(s) of the print head of an ink jet printer includes a cleaning card having a foam strip secured across the front face of the card near its bottom edge, the upper portion of the card forming step-like protrusions from each lateral or side edge of the narrower lower portion of the card, the foam strip being saturated with a cleaning solvent, the lower portion of the card being adapted for insertion between a card guide and the face of said print head, causing squeezing of the foam strip for release of the solvent upon and wiping of the face of the print head and orifice(s) as the foam strip is moved thereagainst.

Cleaning system and method for ink jet printer

An ink jet array comprises a plurality of ink jet chambers having inlets coupled to a reservoir. In order to promote priming, the reservoir is concave with the inlets to the chamber coupled into the reservoir in an area of reduced cross-sectional area.

Ink jet apparatus and reservoir

A device for forming and expelling a controlled quantity of liquid upon demand, such as an ink drop generating device, having a transducer deforming element for controlled deforming in response to an electrical signal, an orifice housing containing an orifice chamber which has an orifice opening at its front side and a relatively larger opening at its back side, the larger chamber opening being in direct communication with a liquid reservoir, the transducer deforming element and the orifice housing being closely positioned to provide direct interaction between the deforming element and the orifice chamber upon receipt of an electrical signal, the interaction causing generation of a liquid drop or other controlled quantity of liquid. Preferably the geometry of the orifice chamber and the deforming element are matched and the deforming element is oriented such that it may make contact with the orifice chamber when it deforms, which contact contributes to the generation of the controlled liquid quantity, or drop which is expelled from the orifice.

Demand drop forming device with interacting transducer and orifice

A glass tube having a substantially planar wall with an orifice formed at one end of the tube which forms the chamber for an ink jet from which droplets of ink are ejected. A transducer is coupled to the substantially planar wall. The ratio of the modulus of elasticity of the tube and the modulus of elasticity of the transducer are substantially equal.

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Ridgefield, CT, United States of America

Arthur M Lewis