International Business Machines Corporation

Joseph W Mitchell

Carlos Juan Sambucetti

George J Fan

Arthur Harry Kendall

Merrill W Shafer

Robert F Bush

David Chan-Wai Lo

The present invention provides a process for electrolytic printing using an improved electrode. The electrode has a region which is an oxide of a metal from the group of ruthenium, iridium, platinum or an alloy thereof. The oxide region is at the extremity of the electrode which during the printing is in close proximity to the printing medium. This oxide region provides an increase in wear resistance of about two orders of magnitude over non-oxidized electrodes. Method for fabricating the described electrode is also set forth.

Electrolytic printing process with wear resistant electrode

An electrochromic printhead and a method of construction thereof in which the printhead is fabricated from an array of spaced, precisely positioned, small glass tubes. The array of glass tubes defines an array of cylindrical apertures extending through the printhead to form a printing pattern at a printing surface. Each cylindrical aperture has a conductor therein as an active electrode, which defines one dot of an array or matrix of dots possibly formed by the electrochromic printer. An additional conductor is provided as a reference electrode, such that a voltage may be applied between selected active electrodes and the reference electrode to define a particular printing pattern. Electrode wear is substantially eliminated by applying a coating of rutenium oxide crystals on each active electrode at the printing surface. In one disclosed embodiment, each active electrode is formed by a conductive coating applied along the interior surface of each cylindrical aperture. In a further disclosed embodiment, each active electrode comprises a cylindrical wire positioned within each cylindrical aperture. In yet another embodiment, each active electrode is formed by a conductive filler placed within each cylindrical aperture.

Electrochemical printhead

By employing evaporation techniques, small particles, of the order of 100 A, of Fe.sub.3 O.sub.4 or FeO having relatively high magnetic moments can be fabricated.

Process for producing magnetic particles by vacuum evaporation of iron

A vector magnetic ink jet printer is arranged so that the ink droplets in the initial jet stream are alternately selected (i.e., magnetized) and unselected (unmagnetized). The interposition of unselected droplets between selected droplets prevents undesired magnetic interactions between selected droplets and gives them optimum spacing before they are deposited upon the recording surface, while at the same time keeping all of the droplets in sufficiently close proximity to give the stream aerodynamic stability. The gutter or catcher for unselected droplets is located between the second axial deflector (X deflector) and the recording surface. The magnetic field of the second deflector is specially shaped so that it can effectively control the trajectories of all selected droplets that have passed through the field of the first axial deflector (Y deflector), but without affecting the trajectories of unselected droplets aimed at the gutter. The selected and unselected droplets form separate substreams which have sufficient angular divergence in the X direction for enabling the unselected droplets to be guttered without excessively spreading their individual trajectories along that axis, since they are not affected by the X deflecting field, but the divergence is not great enough to disrupt the aerodynamic stabilizing action of each substream upon the other.

Vector magnetic ink jet printer with stabilized jet stream

Improvements in water based magnetic inks of the type containing non-ionic, cationic and/or anionic surfactants by the inclusion of glycerol, non-volatile solvent such as mono-lower alkyl ethers of ethylene glycol and low molecular weight polyethylene diols.

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Montrose, NY, United States of America

Joseph W Mitchell