EP0126479A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Ink jet printer
Assignee: AT&T Teletype Corp
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Filing: 1984-05-21
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2004-05-21
Abstract
Abstract An ink jet printer utilizing a smooth surfaced transfer drum (1) is shown as an illustrative embodiment of the invention. The transfer drum (1) and a print head assembly (7) are mounted between a pair of side plates [only one of which (22) is shown in the drawing]. The print head assembly (7), which comprises a number of ink jet nozzles (55), is also mounted between the side plates. The print head assembly (7) is spaced apart from the drum (1) and the nozzles (55) thereof are spaced at equal distances along a line which is parallel to the axis of the drum. The print head assembly (7) is movable in fine steps from left to right so that on succesive rotations of the drum (1) each nozzle is directed to a new track of a succession of tracks. After all tracks of the transfer drum (1) have been served by a nozzle assembly, a printing medium, e.g., paper (23) is brought in rolling contact with the drum (1) to transfer the indicia on the drum to the printing medium while the print head assembly (7) is returned to its starting position; and thereafter, if required, the drum is wiped clean (by 13) in preparation for receiving the next page of information.
Inventors
- 👤 David B. Durkee
- 👤 Alan J. Liebman
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 17:53
CPC Classifications
B; B41; B41J; B41J2/00; B41J2/005; B41J11/00; B41J11/02; B41J11/04; B41J2/01; B41J2/135; B41J2/145; B41J2/155; B41J29/00; B41J29/17
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 15
Claim 1
Independent Claim
94 words
An ink jet printer comprising: a source of ink (201); one or more print heads (7) each having at least one ink jet (55) for discharging droplets of ink; circuitry for controlling each print head to project droplets of ink onto a surface to create patterns of droplets of ink thereon; characterized by a transfer medium (1) having a moving surface (16) thereof adjacent to but spaced apart from said print head (7); an arrangement (12, 203 to 207) for selectively transferring the droplet patterns from said transfer medium (16) to a printing medium(23).
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
94 words
An ink jet printer comprising: a source of ink (201); one or more print heads (7) each having at least one ink jet (55) for discharging droplets of ink; circuitry for controlling each print head to project droplets of ink onto a surface to create patterns of droplets of ink thereon; characterized by a transfer medium (1) having a moving surface (16) thereof adjacent to but spaced apart from said print head (7); an arrangement (12, 203 to 207) for selectively transferring the droplet patterns from said transfer medium (16) to a printing medium(23).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
42 words
An ink jet printer in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that said printer further comprises an arrangement (13) for cleaning said transfer medium surface (16) after the droplet patterns have transferred from said transfer medium surface to said printing medium (23).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
77 words
An ink jet printer in accordance with claim 1, wherein said arrangement for selectively transferring the droplet pattern from said transfer medium surface to said printing medium (23) comprises a printing medium support surface (11) and a printing pressure roller assembly (12, 204 to 207) for pressing a printing medium (23) supported on said support surface into line contact with said transfer medium (1) when enabled, and means (203) for selectively enabling said printing -pressure roller assembly.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
62 words
An ink jet printer in accordance with Claim 3 wherein said printer further comprises a printing medium feed assembly (208) for storing a plurality of sheets of printing medium (23) and for moving said sheets one at a time to said printing medium support surface (11) in timed sequence with the operation of said printing pressure roller assembly (12, 204 to 207).
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
42 words
An ink jet printer in accordance with Claim 1 wherein each of said print heads (7) comprises actuators (62) corresponding in number to the number of jets (55) on said print head for selectively discharging droplets of ink from the corresponding jets.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
18 words
An ink jet printer in accordance with Claim 1 wherein said transfer medium comprises a rotating drum (1).
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
37 words
An ink jet printer in accordance with Claim 1 wherein said transfer medium comprises: a smooth surfaced belt; a surface for supporting said belt adjacent said print heads and means for moving said belt past said heads.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
28 words
An ink jet printer in accordance with Claim 1 wherein said transfer medium moving surface (16) preferably has a Shore hardness in the range of D40 to D75.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
50 words
An ink jet printer in accordance with Claim 8 wherein said transfer medium moving surface (16) is formed of one of the following: metal; ceramic; or of a plastic material chosen from any one of the following: teflon, tefzel (DuPont), fluorinated ethylene, cellulose acetate, urethane, polyethylene, polyethylene tetrapenthalate, and mylar.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
35 words
An ink jet printer in accordance with Claim 1 CHARACTERIZED BY means (81, 921) coordinated with the movement of said transfer medium moving surface (16) for generating control signals for said circuitry (902) for controlling.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
49 words
An ink jet printer in accordance with Claim 10 wherein said means coordinated with the movement of said transfer medium moving surface (16) comprises discernible indicia (81) disposed on said surface (16) of said drum (1) and means (921) for generating control signals in response to said discernible indicia.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
25 words
An ink jet printer in accordance with Claim 1 wherein said transfer medium surface (16) is moved past said jet at a substantially uniform speed.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
81 words
An ink jet printer in accordance with Claim 1 wherein said circuitry for controlling comprises: a memory (908) for storing indicia representative of patterns of droplets of ink to be projected on said moving surface (16) of said transfer medium (1); means (906) for writing indicia into said memory in response to received input signals; means (910) for reading indicia from said memory; and means (913) for controlling said printing head (7) in accordance with said indicia read from said memory.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
122 words
An ink jet printer in accordance with Claim 1 CHARACTERIZED BY lateral motion means (8, 9,10, 51) for con- trollably moving said print heads (7) in a direction transverse to the direction of travel of said transfer medium moving surface (16); means (8) for controlling said lateral motion means to move said print heads (7) in coordination with the movement of said transfer medium such that each ink jet (55) successively serves the tracks of a plurality of adjacent tracks on said transfer surface (16); and means for controlling said lateral motion means to return said print heads in a direction opposite to said transverse direction so as to position each ink jet over the first track of its plurality of tracks.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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