Abstract: An ink jet printing apparatus comprises a print head, a reservoir, and a rigid articulated support assembly connecting the print head to the reservoir. The support assembly affords two degrees of rotational freedom for allowing adjustment of the print head relative to the reservoir, so that printing can be carried out on surfaces lying in various planes or moving in various directions without tilting the reservoir. The support assembly has an internal channel for conducting ink from the reservoir to the print head, and may be made of a thermally conductive material in order to maintain hot melt inks at the proper operating temperature using heat generated by heating elements in the reservoir and print head.

Abstract: A simple and inexpensive printing apparatus is provided for use with ink compositions of the type which are solid at normal room temperatures and are rendered liquid and flowable at elevated temperatures. The apparatus comprises a rotary printing member having one or more printing elements thereon, an inking roll for inking the printing elements with an ink composition of the type described, and a one-piece, wrap-around radiant heater block for maintaining the inking roll and printing elements at the necessary elevated temperatures. A method for printing with heated ink compositions is also described.

Abstract: A printing system is disclosed which permits the printing of indicia on a continuously moving web at a fixed position offset from previously printed, evenly spaced web marks. The fixed position of the printed indicia relative to the web marks is independent of the velocity of the web. A web mark sensor, which may be part of the system to which the present invention is retrofitted, detects the passage of each previously printed web mark past a detection position. A registration circuit controls the timing of the printing of the indicia on the moving web and provides START signals for a servomotor-driven rotary print head which includes one or more peripherally mounted printing elements. A tachometer is mechanically coupled to a web transport mechanism to produce an output voltage which provides the velocity command for the servomotor drive of the rotary print head to match the rotational velocity of the print head to the linear velocity of the web during the printing interval.

Abstract: Stencil printing apparatus especially useful for printing on a curved or irregular underlying surface is described. It features a peripheral, elastically compressible and deformable stencil supporting wall and a flexible stencil screen having its outer peripheral edge sealingly mounted on the supporting wall, the stencil screen being deformable into continuous contact with the underlying surface with the supporting wall elastically compressed thereby for extrusion of printing fluid through the stencil screen onto the underlying surface to be printed.