Domino Printing Sciences Plc

Richard J Marsden

Jerzy Marcin Zaba

William G Erskine

A print head for a continuous ink jet printer has a nozzle through which ink is emitted and broken up into droplets under the action of a piezoelectric oscillator. A charge electrode applies charge to selected droplets and a deflection electrode deflects the path of the charged droplets to cause printing on a substrate. A gutter collects droplets which are not required for printing. A charge electrode, together with one of the deflection electrodes is movable in a direction transverse to the path of the droplets selectively under the action of pressurized ink fed from an ink supply. Similarly, the gutter is movable in the same way by another actuator.

Continuous ink jet printer print head

A print head for a continuous ink jet printer has a nozzle 5 through which ink is emitted and broken up into droplets under the action of a piezoelectric oscillator. A charge electrode 3 applies charge to selected droplets and a deflection electrode 4 deflects the path 20 of the charged droplets to cause printing on a substrate. A gutter 6 collects droplets which are not required for printing. A charge electrode 3, together with one of the deflection electrodes 4 is movable in a direction transverse to the path of the droplets selectively under the action of pressurised ink fed from an ink supply 14. Similarly, the gutter 6 is movable in the same way.

In a continuous ink jet printing system a viscosity determining means (12) has a measuring tank (29). An inlet (32) to the tank is connected to the system ink circuit to receive ink under pressure and the inlet has a flow restriction. A vent/return pipe (34) vents the tank and enables ink to be returned to the reservoir. An outlet (33) drains ink from the tank and returns it to the pump, the outlet including a valve (13) to open and close the outlet. A level detector (30,31) in the tank is connected to a timer (38) to determine the time taken for the tank to fill from a first level to a second level detected by the level detector and hence to provide a representation of viscosity of the ink.

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Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom

Richard J Marsden