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:
Aug. 25, 1998
Filed:
Feb. 28, 1996
Akihiro Okada, Agoura, CA (US);
Joseph A Lahut, Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
David O Ward, Westlake Village, CA (US);
Dataproducts Corporation, Simi Valley, CA (US);
Abstract
A gas assisted liquid jet apparatus, suitable for use in ink jet printers, includes a transducer housing having a plurality of ink passages and is designed to be used with solid or hot melt ink. The apparatus operates with a compressed air source to provide a laminar air flow through an orifice from where ink is ejected. As a result, ink ligaments and droplets uniformly accelerate toward the printing medium, and the high speed laminar flow reduces friction at the orifice, thus reducing the formation of ink ligaments or satellite droplets. The apparatus may be made by attaching different layered members together. This improves the efficiency and ease of fabrication of multiple array liquid jet apparatus. Because of the layered structure, ink passages and air chambers each may be placed in a selected layered member or in more than one layered member. The location of the ink passages in the same layer or structure, such as the transducer housing, as a heater provides improved heating capabilities. The location of the ink passages in the transducer housing also minimizes the overall width of the apparatus.