Elongated fluid jet printing apparatus

Claim 2

An elongated fluid jet printing apparatus having an enhanced printing resolution potential and an average pixel width capability of approximately L/N, said apparatus comprising: a first elongated array of fluid jet orifices for individually passing fluid jet filaments therethrough and having M fluid jets per unit L of length substantially greater than 100 orifices per inch; and a second elongated array of individual charging electrodes positioned downstream and offset to one side of said first array for electrically charging fluid droplets as they break away from said fluid filaments, there being N of said charging electrodes per unit L of length of at least 100 electrodes per inch where the number M is substantially greater than the number N and where there is no element-by-element alignment between said first and second arrays and there are varying ratios between each electrode and its adjacent orifices along the length L.

Claim 3

An elongated fluid jet printing apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the number M is at least twice as large as the number N.

Claim 4

An elongated fluid jet printing apparatus as in claim 1 or 2 wherein said second array is parallel to said first array.

Claim 5

An elongated fluid jet printing apparatus as in claim 3 including a third elongated array of individual charging electrodes positioned downstream and offset to another side of said first array for electrically charging fluid droplets as they break away from said fluid filaments, there being N of said charging electrodes per unit L of length of at least about 100 electrodes per inch where the number M is substantially greater than the number N and where there is no element-by-element alignment between said first and third arrays and wherein said second and third arrays are respectively offset to opposite sides of said first array.

Claim 6

An elongated fluid jet printing head comprising: an elongated orifice plate including means defining at least one elongated row of a plurality of substantially more than 100 per inch of jet orifices, means for supplying printing fluid to said elongated orifice plate and producing a plurality of parallel flows of fluid filaments, at least one extended row of a plurality of on the order of at least 100 individual electrodes per inch disposed on one side of said row of orifices, said plurality of electrodes in each row being spaced from one another along the length of said orifice plate so that there is no element-by-element alignment between said orifices and said electrodes and there are varying ratios between each electrode and its adjacent orifice, but that nevertheless each individual electrode spans across at least two jet filaments emitted from said plurality of jet orifices and the resulting trains of individual droplets formed therefrom, means for applying a predetermined electrical potential to selected ones of said plurality of individual electrodes so as to charge corresponding preselected droplets moving therepast, deflection means for deflecting said preselected charged droplets, and collection means for collecting the deflected droplets.

Claim 7

An elongated fluid jet printing head comprising: an elongated orifice plate including means defining at least one elongated row of a plurality of substantially more than 100 per inch of jet orifices, means for supplying printing fluid to said elongated orifice plate and producing a plurality of parallel flows of fluid filaments, at least one extended row of a plurality of on the order of at least 100 individual electrodes per inch disposed on one side of said row of orifices, said plurality of electrodes in each row being spaced from one another along the length of said orifice plate so that there is no element-by-element alignment between said orifices and said electrodes and there are varying ratios between each electrode and its adjacent orifice, but that nevertheless each individual electrode spans across at least two jet filaments emitted from said plurality of jet orifices and the resulting trains of individual droplets formed therefrom, means for applying a predetermined electrical potential to selected ones of said plurality of individual electrodes so as to charge corresponding preselected droplets moving therepast, deflection means for deflecting said preselected charged droplets, and collection means for collecting the deflected droplets.

Claim 8

An electrode charging system for charging individual ink droplets emitted from a plurality of fluid jet orifices in a fluid jet printer, said charging system including: an orifice plate having a plurality of jet orifices arranged in a spaced apart manner along said orifice plate, a pair of horizontally extending rows of a plurality of individual electrodes, said plurality of individual electrodes in each row being spaced from one another along the length of said orifice plate so that there is no element-by-element alignment between said orifices and said electrodes and there are varying ratios between each electrode and its adjacent orifices along the length of the head but that nevertheless such individual electrode spans and electrically accesses at least two jet filaments as they are emitted from said plurality of jet orifices, with each row of individual electrodes being positioned on opposite sides of said plurality of fluid jet orifices, and means for applying a predetermined electrical potential to selected ones of said plurality of electrodes in each row so as to electrically charge preselected droplets moving therepast.

Claim 9

An electrode charging system for charging individual ink droplets emitted from a plurality of fluid jet orifices in a fluid jet printer, said charging system including: an orifice plate having a plurality of jet orifices arranged in a spaced apart manner along said orifice plate, a pair of horizontally extending rows of a plurality of individual electrodes, said plurality of individual electrodes in each row being spaced from one another along the length of said orifice plate so that there is no element-by-element alignment between said orifices and said electrodes and there are varying ratios between each electrode and its adjacent orifices along the length of the head but that nevertheless such individual electrode spans and electrically accesses at least two jet filaments as they are emitted from said plurality of jet orifices, with each row of individual electrodes being positioned on opposite sides of said plurality of fluid jet orifices, and means for applying a predetermined electrical potential to selected ones of said plurality of electrodes in each row so as to electrically charge preselected droplets moving therepast.

Claim 10

An electrode charging system as in claim 6 wherein said orifices are arranged in a single horizontal row and said individual plate electrodes in each row are positioned directly opposite one another.

Claim 11

An electrode charging system as in claim 6 wherein said orifices are arranged in a double horizontal row and said individual electrodes in one of said pair of rows are positioned so that they overlap with opposing individual electrodes in the other of said pair of rows.

Claim 12

An electrode charging system as in any one of claims 6, 7 or 8 wherein each said individual electrode is a flat plate.

Claim 13

An elongated fluid jet printing apparatus comprising: a linear orifice array of M individual orifices therein disposed along a predetermined cross-machine length; and a linear electrode array of N individual charging electrodes also disposed along said predetermined cross-machine length and parallel to said orifice array but not aligned element-by-element with said orifice array wherein there are varying ratios between each electrode and its adjacent orifices along the length of the arrays, M being substantially greater in number than N, both M and N being at least about 100 per inch along said predetermined cross-machine length.

Claim 14

An elongated fluid jet printing apparatus comprising: a linear orifice array of M individual orifices therein disposed along a predetermined cross-machine length; and a linear electrode array of N individual charging electrodes also disposed along said predetermined cross-machine length and parallel to said orifice array but not aligned element-by-element with said orifice array wherein there are varying ratios between each electrode and its adjacent orifices along the length of the arrays, M being substantially greater in number than N, both M and N being at least about 100 per inch along said predetermined cross-machine length.

Claim 15

An elongated fluid jet printing apparatus as in claim 10 comprising a plurality of said electrode arrays.

Claim 16

An elongated fluid jet printing apparatus as in claim 10 comprising a plurality of said orifice arrays and a plurality of said electrode arrays.

Claim 17

An elongated fluid jet printing apparatus comprising: a linear orifice array of M individual orifices therein and a plurality of linear electrode arrays each having N individual charging electrodes disposed parallel to said orifice array, there being on the order of at least 100 of said individual charging electrodes per inch in each of said electrode arrays, M being substantially greater in number than N; wherein the individual electrodes in said plural electrode arrays are respectively aligned element-by-element but wherein the orifices are not aligned element-by-element with said electrodes and there are varying ratios between each electrode and its adjacent orifices along the length of the arrays.

Claim 18

An elongated fluid jet printing apparatus comprising: a linear orifice array of M individual orifices therein and a plurality of linear electrode arrays each having N individual charging electrodes disposed parallel to said orifice array, there being on the order of at least 100 of said individual charging electrodes per inch in each of said electrode arrays, M being substantially greater in number than N; wherein the individual electrodes in said plural electrode arrays are respectively aligned element-by-element but wherein the orifices are not aligned element-by-element with said electrodes and there are varying ratios between each electrode and its adjacent orifices along the length of the arrays.

Claim 19

An elongated fluid jet printing apparatus comprising: a plurality of parallel linear orifice arrays each having M individual orifices therein; and a plurality of linear electrodes arrays each having N individual charging electrodes disposed parallel to said orifice arrays, there being on the order of at least 100 of said individual charging electrodes per inch in each of said electrode arrays, M being substantially greater in number than N; wherein the individual electrodes in said plural electrode arrays are respectively in offset alignment with respect to one another and wherein the orifices are not in registered alignment with the individual electrodes and there are varying ratios between each electrode and its adjacent orifices along the length of said arrays.

Claim 20

An elongated fluid jet printing apparatus comprising: a plurality of parallel linear orifice arrays each having M individual orifices therein; and a plurality of linear electrodes arrays each having N individual charging electrodes disposed parallel to said orifice arrays, there being on the order of at least 100 of said individual charging electrodes per inch in each of said electrode arrays, M being substantially greater in number than N; wherein the individual electrodes in said plural electrode arrays are respectively in offset alignment with respect to one another and wherein the orifices are not in registered alignment with the individual electrodes and there are varying ratios between each electrode and its adjacent orifices along the length of said arrays.

Claim 21

A fluid jet printing apparatus comprising: a source of pressurized fluid; a linear array of fluid jet orifices of length L, at least about 1.8 meters, in fluid communication with said source of pressurized fluid for individually passing fluid jet filaments therethrough and having M fluid jets; and at least one linear array of charging electrodes also of length L positioned parallel, downstream and offset to one side of said linear array of orifices for selectively charging fluid droplets as they break away from said fluid filaments, there being N, at least on the order of 100 per inch, of said charging electrodes where the number M is greater than the number N and there are varying ratios between each electrode and its adjacent orifices along the length L.

Claim 22

A fluid jet printing apparatus comprising: a source of pressurized fluid; a linear array of fluid jet orifices of length L, at least about 1.8 meters, in fluid communication with said source of pressurized fluid for individually passing fluid jet filaments therethrough and having M fluid jets; and at least one linear array of charging electrodes also of length L positioned parallel, downstream and offset to one side of said linear array of orifices for selectively charging fluid droplets as they break away from said fluid filaments, there being N, at least on the order of 100 per inch, of said charging electrodes where the number M is greater than the number N and there are varying ratios between each electrode and its adjacent orifices along the length L.

Claim 23

A fluid jet printing apparatus as in claim 15 further comprising a further linear array approximately N charging electrodes offset to the other side of said linear array of orifices.

Claim 24

A fluid jet printing apparatus as in claim 15 further comprising a plurality of said orifice arrays disposed parallel to one another and a further electrode array of approximately N charging electrodes offset to the other side of said orifice arrays.

Claim 25

A fluid jet printing apparatus comprising: a first elongated stucture incorporating a linear array of fluid jet orifices having orifices therealong for individually passing fluid jet filaments therethrough; and at least one second elongated structure incorporating a linear array of charging electrodes positioned parallel, downstream and offset to one side of said orifice array for selectively charging fluid droplets as they break away from said fluid filaments, said first and second elongated structures being of substantially equal lengths but having differing respective numbers of orifices and electrodes and being assembled with respect to one another with varying element-by-element orifice/electrode alignments along the length of said linear arrays to provide varying ratios between each electrode and its adjacent orifices along the length of the arrays.

Claim 26

A fluid jet printing apparatus comprising: a first elongated stucture incorporating a linear array of fluid jet orifices having orifices therealong for individually passing fluid jet filaments therethrough; and at least one second elongated structure incorporating a linear array of charging electrodes positioned parallel, downstream and offset to one side of said orifice array for selectively charging fluid droplets as they break away from said fluid filaments, said first and second elongated structures being of substantially equal lengths but having differing respective numbers of orifices and electrodes and being assembled with respect to one another with varying element-by-element orifice/electrode alignments along the length of said linear arrays to provide varying ratios between each electrode and its adjacent orifices along the length of the arrays.

Claim 27

A fluid jet printing apparatus as in claim 18 further comprising a further linear array of approximately N charging electrodes offset to the other side of said linear array of orifices.

Claim 28

A fluid jet printing apparatus as in claim 18 further comprising a plurality of said orifice arrays disposed parallel to one another and a further electrode array of approximately N charging electrodes offset to the other side of said orifice arrays.