The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 30, 1984
Filed:
Jul. 30, 1982
William P Kruger, Los Altos Hills, CA (US);
John L Vaught, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus is disclosed for propelling ink droplets from an ink jet nozzle which uses an expanding bubble as a driving mechanism. Unlike other thermal ink jet devices, the ink itself is not used to provide the driving bubble. Rather a two fluid system is disclosed whereby a flexible membrane is used to maintain separation between a working fluid and the ink. A bubble is thermally created in the working fluid which distends the membrane and causes ink on the other side of the membrane to be expelled from an ink jet orifice. The membrane is in direct physical contact with the surface of the bubble-generating resistor and a quantity of the working fluid lies between the resistor and the membrane in pockets created by roughening the surface of the membrane or by roughening the surface of the resistor; alternatively, pockets between the membrane and the resistor may be provided by particulates contained within the working fluid which provide local separations of the membrane and the resistor.