Linx Printing Technologies Ltd

Marc Plummer

Graham Thomas

Terry Potter

A cap, for the print faceof a drop-on-demand ink jet printer moves between a closed position, in which it covers the print nozzles on the print face, and an open position in which the print nozzles are uncovered, without requiring movement of the print face. In the open position, the cap is recessed relative to the front surfaceof the printhead. For at least part of the movement of the cap, it is further forward than the print face, so that it does not slide across and damage the print nozzles. The drop-on-demand ink jet printer may be used to print onto objectsconveyed past it, for example on a packing line. The cap, does not obstruct the path of the objectseven if they pass very close (e.g. 0.5 mm) to the print facebecause its uncapped position is further back than the front surfaceof the printhead.

Ink jet print head and cap

An ink/air separator for an ink jet printer has one or more platesover which an ink/air mixture can spread. Preferably there is more than one plate, and the mixture overflows from one plate to the next. Preferably adjacent plates are spaced so that as the mixture passes between two plates it contacts the surface above it as well as the surface below it. The plates may be separated by a gap of 10 mm or less, e.g. a gap of 2 mm to 5 mm, where they overlap Preferably some or all of the plate surfaces contacted by the mixture are roughened. Interaction between the ink/air mixture and the plate surface tends to slow the flow of very small air bubbles and encourage them to accumulate and/or merge, so that they separate from the ink more quickly than individual small bubbles. The ink/air separator may be connected in the path of unused ink returned from the gutterof a continuous ink jet printer to an ink tank, or may be placed inside the ink tank

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Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom

Marc Plummer