Abstract: A cleaning method for removing a recording ink from a surface of a recording material conveying belt of a recording apparatus. The method includes the steps of detecting a recording material jam; press contacting a cleaning member to a surface of the recording material conveying belt in response to the detected jam, thus removing from the belt surface an improper discharge of recording ink; and separating the cleaning member from the surface of the conveying belt after cleaning for a period of time. The period of time is determined based upon an amount of the recording ink discharged onto the conveying belt surface.

Abstract: An ink-jet device and a method for driving the ink-jet device, wherein the pulse width WB of a second driving waveform agrees with a one-way propagation time T, 12 .mu.sec, of an ink pressure wave in ink flow passages. Therefore, there is established a relatively high pressure in the vicinity of nozzles of the ink flow passages, ejecting the ink from the nozzles at a relatively high jet velocity. The pulse width WA of a first driving waveform is shorter than the one-way propagation time T, of the ink pressure wave in the ink flow passages so that ink pressure is reduced in the vicinity of the nozzles of the ink flow passages, causing ink ejection from the nozzles at a slower jet velocity as compared with ink projection with the second driving waveform. On a recording medium, therefore, high-quality printing can be effected without deviation of an ink-jet target position, regardless of the phase of the driving waveform.

Abstract: A recording apparatus includes first and second carriers, a capping device and a switching device. The first carrier is movable by a drive force, and the second carrier is movable when connected to the first carrier. The second carrier carries an ink jet head thereon. The capping device caps the ink jet head when the ink jet head is mounted on the second carrier and the second carrier is located at a capping position. The switching device switches between a first mode and a second mode. In the first mode, the ink jet head is capped by the capping device. In the second mode, the first and second carriers are integrally connected and are capable of moving together to effect recording by the ink jet head in a full recording range.

Abstract: An actuator unit for a laminated ink jet recording head includes: a first cover member for forming a vibrating member having piezoelectric vibrators on a surface thereof; a spacer for forming pressure generating chambers with a surface thereof sealed by the first cover member; a second cover member having ink jetting outlets and ink flowing inlets, each ink jetting outlet causing the corresponding pressure generating chamber to communicate with a corresponding nozzle opening of a flow path unit at one end of the pressure generating chamber, each ink flowing inlet causing the corresponding pressure generating chamber to communicate with a common ink chamber of the flow path unit at the other end of the pressure generating chamber. The actuator unit is prepared by laminating and fixing the first cover member, the spacer and the second cover member.

Abstract: There is provided a device for direct electrostatic printing comprising a back electrode (105), a printhead structure (106), an array of printing apertures (107) in said printhead structure (106) through which a particle flow can be electrically modulated by a control electrode (106a), an image receiving substrate (109) travelling between said back electrode (105) and said printhead structure (106) in the direction of arrow A and toner delivery means (101), comprising a charged toner conveyer (103), the reference surface of said charged toner conveyer being placed at a distance B (in mm) from the front of said printhead structure (106), and a magnetic brush to provide charged toner on to the CTC, wherein the linear surface speed of the magnetic brush LSM has a specified minimal ratio versus the travelling speed LSS of the image receiving substrate, such that LSM/LSS.gtoreq.0.5.

Abstract: An aperture electrode member includes an insulating sheet having a plurality of apertures formed in a row therein, and a control electrode formed on the insulating sheet on the upper side of each of the apertures. On the face of the insulating sheet opposite to the face on which the apertures are formed, a coating layer serving as an oxide fine particle layer is formed at portions of insulating sheet at which the insulating sheet contacts with toner particle carried on the toner carrying roller. A coating layer can be formed by dispersing carbon serving as an antistatic agent and oxide fine particle silica serving as a fluidity increasing agent into a binder, applying the mixture to the insulating sheet to form a film and baking to harden it.

Abstract: In an ink jet type recording head, a flow passage forming substrate includes pressure generating chambers which are communicated with nozzle openings respectively, a common ink chamber for supplying ink to the pressure generating chambers; and ink supply inlets through which the pressure generating chambers are communicated with the common ink chamber. Each of the ink supply inlets is so designed that it has a narrow part, and it is gradually larger from the narrow part towards the pressure generating chamber, whereby the ink supply inlet is increased in length without changing the flow resistance, and the bonding area near the ink supply inlet is increased.

Abstract: An improved ink jet head is provided. This improved ink jet head comprises a diaphragm, which is part of an ink chamber. The diaphragm includes a segment which contacts an opposing wall by a drive voltage lower than that for the rest of the diaphragm. The ink jet head also comprises an opposing wall opposite to the diaphragm. When the pressure for ink droplet ejection is generated, the segment of the diaphragm contacts the opposing wall, creating an extremely low compliance state. After ink droplet ejection, the segment of the diaphragm separates from the opposing wall, producing a high compliance state that absorbs the pressure created in the ink chamber by oscillation in the ink channel. Thus, pressure in the ink chamber resulting from ink vibration in the ink path including the ink chamber is buffered to prevent satellite emissions.

Abstract: A toner jet printer and method of use for printing images by manipulating individual toner particles using two-dimensional print cell arrays built by micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) technologies. Toner particles are positioned by electrostatic forces within each print cell by either selective or non-selective filling. If selectively filled, each cell is then subjected to a mechanical force to eject the toner particles onto a paper substrate. If non-selectively filled, only those print cells corresponding to an intended image are addressed electronically to eject a toner particle from an addressed cell by mechanical forces controlled by micro actuator actuation. Single color or multiple color printing can be achieved using the same cell array.

Abstract: In an image forming apparatus, a toner carry roller, the upstream surface of an aperture electrode unit and the downstream surface of the aperture electrode unit are processed so that the surface roughness values thereof are equal to about 2 .mu.m, 0.2 .mu.m or less and about 6 .mu.m in terms of Rz, respectively. Accordingly, at the upstream side of the toner supply direction, the friction coefficient between the toner and the upstream surface is smaller than that between the toner and the toner carry roller surface so that subsequently-supplied toner pushes previously-supplied toner to the apertures of the aperture electrode unit. At the downstream side of the toner supply direction, the friction coefficient between the toner and the toner carry member is smaller than that between the toner and the downstream surface, the toner which is carried and supplied by the toner carry roller is fed to the apertures where it is dammed up by the toner adhering to the downstream surface.

Abstract: A swath type printer including a print carriage supported printhead and a printhead positioning mechanism for adjusting the position of the printhead relative to the media axis at the end of each scan of the carriage along a carriage axis, such that dots printed by printing elements of the printhead in a sequence of a first scan and a second scan of the print carriage are interleaved along the media axis and are separated along the media axis by one-half of the predetermined printing element dot pitch.

Abstract: A drive waveform consists of a jet pulse signal A for ejecting ink and a preliminary pulse signal B for causing preliminary variations in a pressure within an ink flow passage before the ink is ejected. The jet pulse signal A and the preliminary pulse signal B have the same peak value (a voltage) E(V). The width WA of the jet pulse signal A is identical with time T during which a pressure wave uni-directionally travels along the inside of the ink flow passage, and the width WB of the preliminary pulse signal B is twice the uni-directional propagation time T within the ink flow passage. A delay time TD between time TE at which the preliminary pulse signal B falls and time TS at which the jet pulse signal A rises, is half the time T during which the pressure wave uni-directionally travels along the inside of the ink flow passage. The invention makes it possible to implement an inexpensive ink-jet apparatus and a driving method thereof which provide a required volume of ink droplet and superior print quality.

Abstract: A bonding width L between a head frame 5 and a flow path unit 12 in a direction orthogonal to an array of pressure producing chambers 7 is set to 0.5b.ltoreq.L.ltoreq.5a if it is assumed that a distance from the bonding end to the piezoelectric vibration element 2 closest to the head frame 5 is a and that the bonding ends of the head frame 5 interposing the piezoelectric vibration element 2 is b. Cracking of a spacer 6 or separation of the spacer 6 from a resilient plate 4 is prevented by ensuring a rigidity of the head frame 5 necessary for suppressing deformation of the flow path unit 12 and by causing the head frame 5 to absorb internal stresses of the flow path unit 12 caused by ambient temperature change.

Abstract: Ink-jet system includes an ink channel between an ink reservoir and a nozzle. A pressurizing device is arranged adjacent to the ink channel for generating in the ink liquid an acoustic pressure wave propagating in the ink channel, so that an ink droplet is expelled from the nozzle. The ink channel has a substantially rectangular cross section and a depth d which is larger than the height of the nozzle, such that energy losses due to reflection of the acoustic wave at the transition from the ink channel to the nozzle are minimized. The pressurizing device includes a first electromechanical transducer with a plate-like expansible member having a height H in the direction of the depth of the ink channel such that the ratio H/d is smaller than the ratio between the respective elastic modules of the expansible member and the ink liquid.

Abstract: An electrostatic ink jet recording apparatus has a head body having an ink chamber in which ink charged to a specified polarity is stored, a plurality of ink ejection ports and a plurality of ejection electrodes. An ejection electrode drive circuit generates an ejection voltage to drive the plurality of ejection electrodes according to a time division method so that the ejection voltage is not simultaneously supplied to the adjacent ejection electrodes. A plurality of opposite electrodes are opposed to the plurality of ejection electrodes via recording paper. They are separated into first opposite electrodes corresponding to those ejection electrodes which are selectively being driven according to the time division method and second opposite electrodes corresponding to those ejection electrodes which are not being driven according to the time division method.

Abstract: An electrostatic ink jet record head of the present invention includes an ink chamber storing ink consisting of a carrier liquid and charged toner particles dispersed therein. An ejection port communicates the ink chamber to the outside of the head. An ejection electrode is disposed in the ejection port and electrically insulated from the ink. An electrophoresis electrode is positioned at the opposite side to the ejection electrode with respect to the ink chamber and electrically insulated from the ink. A control electrode is provided between the electrophoresis electrode and the ejection electrode and contacts the ink. Also, an electrostatic ink jet recorder of the present invention has, in addition to the head, a counter electrode facing the ejection port with the intermediary of a recording medium, and voltage controller for applying a particular preselected voltage to each of the discharge electrode, electrophoresis electrode, and control electrode.

Abstract: An ink supply port forming substrate 21, a common ink chamber forming substrate 25, and a nozzle plate 27 are bonded together, by inserting between them thermally fusible films 31and 32 respectively, in which are formed through holes 45 and 45 at two or more positions, and by also filling the film through holes with an adhesive that is mixed with a gap material G for adjusting the thicknesses of the thermally fusible films when they are fused, so as to form a flow path unit 30; and then the flow path unit 30 and the actuator units 1 are bonded together by inserting between them a thermally fusible film 33, in which are through holes 64 at two or more positions, and by also filling the through holes with an adhesive that is mixed with a gap material G for adjusting the thickness of the thermally fusible film when it is fused.

Abstract: An aperture electrode unit mounted in an image forming apparatus includes a polyimide insulating sheet, plural apertures, substantially T-shaped control electrode portions each of which is provided at a part of the peripheral edge of each aperture, and conductive wiring portions extending from the control electrode portions to the downstream side of a toner supply direction. With this construction, a minimum distance can be kept between a control electrode portion and a conductive wiring portion, which are adjacent to each other. So, no breakdown occurs, and image quality can be improved.

Abstract: An ink jet recording head including: a vibrating plate made of ceramic; a pressure producing chamber forming member, made of ceramic, for forming a plurality of pressure producing chambers in rows; and drive electrodes formed on a surface of the vibrating plate so as to confront the pressure producing chambers. A width of the drive electrode is smaller than a width of the pressure producing chamber. A width of a piezoelectric vibrating element is larger than the width W2 of the drive electrode and smaller than the width of the pressure producing chamber, so that the operation region of the piezoelectric vibrating element is regulated by the width of the drive electrode and the peripheral portions of the piezoelectric vibrating element are bonded to the peripheral portions of the drive electrode reliably.

Abstract: A plate assembly for ink-jet-type printing head assures a smooth ink flow and prohibits fluctuation in ink discharge quantity and speed to realize a satisfactory printing quality. A plurality of plates are bonded each other by using a thermoplastic-resin intermediate sheet having a shape corresponding to the opposite surfaces of adjacent plates. The intermediate sheet has ink passage openings of a dimension which includes a reference contour which is an axial projection of a corresponding opening in the plate. The ink passage opening in the intermediate sheet has a periphery which is set-back from the reference contour by a predetermined amount in the reference direction connecting adjacent ink passage openings, and by an increased amount in other directions. The plates and the intermediate sheet are superimposed one above the other and subsequently heated under pressure to form an integral plate assembly.