Hand-held ink jet with insertable cartridges

Claim 1

A hand-held ink jet device constructed for use with insertable ink jet print/cartridges to produce ink droplet streams for stroke-marking, said device comprising: (a) nest means for insertably receiving an ink jet print/cartridge of the type having a self-contained ink supply, a plurality of orifice means and a plurality of discrete jetting means energizable respectively for drop-on-demand ejection of ink droplets through such orifice means; (b) driver means including a plurality of discrete drivers for respective coupling to said plurality of discrete print/cartridge jetting means, said drivers being selectively actuatable for providing ink jetting electrical energy pulses; (c) means for electrically coupling said driver means to the jetting means of a print/cartridge inserted in said nest means; and (d) switchable control means for selectively actuating said driver means to provide electrical energy pulses in a continuous series and for selectively controlling different numbers of driver means to energize their respective jetting means with such continuous pulse series.