Xerox Corporation

Eugene Behun

Joel W Grover

Edward C Mutschler, Jr

Larry W Lin

Gilbert M Elchinger

A traveling wave droplet generator for a continuous stream ink jet printer comprising an ink filled tube connected in the vicinity of one end to an ink reservoir. A piezoelectric driver assembly is mounted at the fill end of the tube. The tube has openings connecting to orifices of an aperture plate bonded thereto. The tube has a terminator at the end opposite to the piezoelectric driver to suppress reflection and standing wave formation. The ink streams emitted through the nozzles of the aperture plate are stimulated by the traveling wave causing the streams to break up at predetermined distances from the nozzles.

Traveling wave droplet generator for an ink jet printer

An improved gutter assembly for a continuous multiple stream, pagewidth ink jet printer. The gutter assembly comprises a plurality of lineal segments mounted end-to-end to provide pagewidth guttering capability. Each segment is one integral structure. The gutter assembly is mounted adjacent the stitch sensors which are located a predetermined distance from the moving recording medium. Each integral gutter segment has a generally open concave shape. The integral gutter segment has a flat surface portion roughly parallel with the trajectories of the ink droplets and a flat sloping portion with an interconnecting arcuate portion. The flat surface portion of the gutter segment is below the droplet trajectories and approximately coplanar with the stitch sensors. A plurality of relatively narrow, droplet collecting entrances are formed in the flat surface portion of the gutter segment and project upwardly therefrom above the droplet flight paths. Each projecting gutter entrance is essentially perpendicular to the flight direction of the droplets and receives the droplets from two adjacent nozzles that are not to be printed. The gutter entrance has a sloping back wall which melds into the flat surface portion. The back wall at the entrance is wider than the opposite end portion that melds into the flat surface portion at the interface between the flat surface portion and the arcuate portion of the gutter segment. The sloping back wall of the gutter entrance is narrower at a location intermediate the droplet receiving opening of the gutter entrance and the opposite end portion thereof, so that in the plane view it appears as an hour glass shape. This hour glass shape prevents interference with the droplets from separate adjacent nozzles that are directed to the stitch point pixels on the recording medium.

Gutter for an ink jet printer

A multicolor ink jet printhead for use in a continuous stream ink jet printing system is disclosed. Each ink emitting nozzle is supplied from a separate ink reservoir under a predetermined pressure to an associated inlet in a common droplet generator. A means of passage is provided from the inlet of the droplet generator to a respective nozzle through a medium in the droplet generator resonance cavity. The passage means maintaining the separation of the various colored inks from the cavity medium, the passage means being relatively impedance matched when the cavity medium is liquid or a solid. Therefore, a single acoustic driver and droplet generator may be used for perturbating the different colored inks emitted from the nozzles thereof. In one embodiment, each of the multicolored streams of ink droplets emitted from the nozzles are fanned in a direction perpendicular to the translation direction of the printhead, so that a swath of information is printed on a stationary but steppable recording medium. A translation of the printhead enables superimposed printing to effect composite colors or halftone shaded patterns. In another embodiment, the recording medium is in the form of cut sheets and mounted on a rotatable drum so that groups of nozzles emitting the same colored ink may be used with the ink droplets fanned in a direction parallel with the printhead translation, resulting in wider bands of information being produced in a 'barber pole' fashion on the recording medium.

Multicolor ink jet printhead

Stripper pad

Stripping apparatus for stripping copy sheets from oil wetted fuser roll surface. Apparatus including stripping finger supported on oil film through dynamic generation of pressure under bottom pad surface of stripping finger in contact with fuser roll by rotational motion of fuser roll.

Tilting pad stripper finger

Stripping apparatus for stripping copy sheets from oil wetted fuser roll surface. Apparatus including stripping finger supported on oil film through dynamic generation of pressure under bottom pad surface of stripping finger in contact with fuser roll by rotational motion of fuser roll. The pad surface is formed with a tapered channel on the undersurface thereof with the maximum depth at the rear thereof. The channel is connected with a comb-like arrangement of channels on the front surface of the stripping finger. At least one notch extends transversely to the stripping direction to inter-connect the comb-like channels.

Growing community of inventors

Rochester, NY, United States of America

Eugene Behun