Nec Corporation

Nippon Electric Co., Ltd.

Mitsuo Tsuzuki

Michihisa Suga

Kazuaki Utsumi

Sadayuki Takahashi

Hideo Takamizawa

Kikukazu Sakurai

Tsutomu Itano

A thermal ink-jet type printhead is disclosed which comprises a strip-like thin metallic layer formed on a substrate. The layer is configured so as to define a narrow portion which is positioned between broad portions. The narrow portion defines a heating element which is integral with the broad portions which act as electrodes. Electrical heating pulses are supplied to the narrow heater portion via the electrodes. The heater arrangement is durable to thermal stresses generated by a superheating and, accordingly is well suited for spontaneous or homogeneous nucleation.

Thermal ink-jet printhead method for generating homogeneous nucleation

An on-demand type ink-jet print head requires only a small amount of energy for the droplet formation. A pressure chamber is filled with ink and a transducer or electromechanical conversion element applies a pressure on the ink pressure chamber. A fluid rectifier element (here, a check valve) is provided between the ink supply inlet and the pressure chamber so that a forwardly directed resistance is applied to ink flowing from the ink supply inlet to the pressure chamber and a reversely directed resistance is applied to ink flowing from the pressure chamber to the ink supply inlet. A fluid resistance element (here, a plate with many pinholes) is provided between the pressure chamber and the nozzle. The resistance of the fluid resistance element is greater than the forwardly directed resistance of the rectifier element.

On demand type ink-jet print head having fluid control means

A photoresist and etch method is used to manufacture valve elements of an ink jet printer. The method involves the building of successive layers upon a substrate, with the layers including conductive spacer layers which may be dissolved and plated layers that resist the dissolving. The resulting structure is a very small structure manufactured to extreme accuracy.

Method of manufacturing valve element for use in an ink-jet printer head

A method of manufacturing a ceramic electronic device includes the steps of: forming a pattern of a predetermined shape made of a photosensitive resin; forming an electrical circuit element on a ceramic green sheet; stacking and pressing the pattern, the ceramic green sheet having the electrical circuit element thereon, and at least one ceramic green sheet to prepare a laminated body; and sintering the laminated body. A ceramic electronic device integrally including a cavity and the electrical circuit element therein is manufactured by this method.

Method of manufacturing ceramic electronic device

An on-demand type ink-jet printer with a thin cylindrical tip end coaxially projecting into a cylindrical passageway. Ink droplet formation is controlled by a piezoelectric transducer. A stream of air is forced through an annular space formed between the tip end and passageway. The air pressures acting on a meniscus at the tip end is controlled by the position of the tip end within the passageway. A solvent for the ink saturates a porous member surrounding the end of the passageway to control drying of the ink.

On-demand type ink-jet print head having an air flow path

A valve for an ink jet printer is made by vacuum depositing, sputtering, and plating various layers of metal on a glass substrate. A photoresist and etch technique is used to form a window area in one of the layers and a fine slit for forming a tongue in another of the layers within the window area. When the window area is formed, an elongated projection remains in the window area to prevent the tongue from bending in one direction while enabling it to bend in an opposite direction. This way ink pressure on one side opens the valve and pressure on the opposite side choses the valve.

Valve element for use in an ink-jet printer head

An ink-jet recording apparatus applies a pressure, which is higher than atmospheric pressure, to an ink supply. A recording head includes a nozzle for jetting ink droplets. A valve is disposed between the pressurized ink supply and the nozzle in order to control the ink flow to the nozzle. The valve is opened in response to a recording signal only when ink droplets are to be jetted from said nozzle.

Ink-jet recording apparatus

An ink jet printer is able to print half-tones with greater fidelity. The printer prints an image in half-tones by creating dots having diameters which vary in correspondence to the density of the half-tone at the corresponding point in an image. The diameter of the dot is controlled by controlling the energy content of a driving pulse which creates the dot (e.g. by varying a driving pulse width). When an image point is too light to be realistically printed by the smallest diameter dot that can be made by the printer, no dot is printed. Instead, the signal representing the unprinted dot is stored and added to the signal of a subsequent image point. This way, the dot at the subsequent point is made a little darker to compensate for the non-printing of the preceding dot.

Ink-jet recording system capable of recording a half-tone

A printer head, for an ink-on-demand type ink-jet printer, squirts ink droplets onto a printing medium. The printer head includes a nozzle for delivering the ink droplets and a passage for supplying ink from an ink tank. The ink is pressurized in accordance with an electric signal which commands the delivery of the ink droplets. Fluid control valves are deformed under the action of the ink pressure.

Printer head for an ink-on-demand type ink-jet printer

An ink-jet printer for recording information by jetting ink droplets on a recording medium has a plurality of ink-jet nozzles arranged so that ink droplets projected therefrom combine in flight at a space between the nozzles and the recording medium. The amplitude and the pulse width of driving signals used to deflect piezoelectric elements which contract to expel the ink droplets from the nozzles are appropriately varied to vary the momentum of the individual ink droplets projected from each nozzle so that the combined ink droplets will have a velocity and direction representative of the information to be recorded.

On-demand type ink-jet printer

A print head for an on-demand type ink-jet printer for jetting ink droplets from a nozzle has a plurality of pressure chambers interconnected with a single nozzle via a plurality of rectifying elements. The rectifying elements have a fluid resistance which is dependent on the direction of the fluid flow therethrough so that the pressure chambers can operate independent of one another to jet ink droplets at an increased frequency from the nozzle.

Print head for an on-demand type ink-jet printer

A demand ink-jet printer uses droplets of conductive ink for recording on a recording medium. In greater detail, an ink chamber, filled with conductive ink, has a nozzle in one wall and a piezoelectric member attached to another wall. Droplets of ink are driven out the nozzle in response to a driving pulse applied to the piezoelectric member. The energy content of the driving pulses controls both the size of the droplets and the potential of a charging voltage applied to the droplets. This way, the combined charge and size may be held constant so that large or small drops may be generated to produce half-tone pictures and the droplets may be electrostatically deflected accurately, despite the variance in droplet size.

Ink-on-demand type ink-jet printer

An ink-jet printer uses droplets of conductive ink to print on a recording medium. The ink is in a chamber having a nozzle and a piezoelectric member attached to one wall of the chamber. The droplets are driven out of the nozzle in response to a driving pulse which is applied to the piezoelectric member. The size of the droplets is determined by the energy content of the driving pulse. The charges formed upon the droplets leaving the nozzle are generated responsive to the driving pulse and have a level which depends upon the driving pulse.

Ink-on-demand type ink-jet printer with coordinated variable size drops

The invention contemplates electrostatic recording apparatus in which a toner image consisting of toner particles of at least two different kinds and of different polarities is efficiently and reliably transferred to a recording medium, such as an ordinary sheet of paper. The toner particles having different polarities are all converted into those having one polarity, and after such conversion the toner image (with its two kinds of particles) is electrostatically transferred to the recording medium, the transfer involving both kinds of particles at the same time. Various embodiments are described.

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Tokyo, Japan

Mitsuo Tsuzuki