Abstract: A system for supplying a liquid material to an ink jet printing apparatus including a plurality of printheads is disclosed. The system includes a housing defining a first chamber and a second chamber, the first chamber including a ventilation part and being adapted to store a supply of liquid ink therein. The first chamber includes a liquid reserve pocket adapted to supply the printheads with small amounts of the liquid material therein. The second chamber includes a foam material positioned therein. The system includes a device activated by a user for piercing said reserve pocket thereby allowing any of the liquid material therein to flow into said first chamber. The liquid material can be either ink or a maintenance fluid.

Abstract: A system for supplying a liquid material to an ink jet printing apparatus including a plurality of printheads is disclosed. The system includes a housing defining a first chamber and a second chamber, the second chamber including a ventilation port and being adapted to store a supply of liquid ink therein. The first chamber includes a liquid reserve pocket adapted to supply the printheads with small amounts of the liquid material therein. The second chamber includes a foam material positioned therein. The system includes a device activated by a user for piercing said reserve pocket thereby allowing any of the liquid material therein to flow into the said first chamber. The liquid material can be either ink or a maintenance fluid.

Abstract: An improved ink jet printhead is disclosed of the type having a plurality of parallel ink flow channels which terminate with an ink droplet emitting nozzle, a heating element with a cavitational protective layer thereover located in each channel, and MOS electronic circuitry monolithically integrated within the printhead for applying electrical pulses to the heating elements. The pulsed heating elements produce bubbles momentarily on the protective layer of the heating elements which expel ink droplets from the nozzles. The improvement is obtained by providing multi-layer ionic passivation of the MOS electronic circuitry which is exposable to the ink. This is accomplished through the deposition of a multi-layered, thin film insulative coating thereon consisting of a first layer of doped or undoped silicon dioxide having a thickness of 200 .ANG. to 2 .mu.m followed by a second layer of plasma nitride having a thickness of 1000 .ANG. to 3 .mu.m.

Abstract: A thermal ink jet printhead of the type which expels droplets on demand towards a recording medium from nozzles located above and generally parallel with the bubble generating heating elements contained therein is disclosed, together with fabrication processes therefor. The droplets are propelled along trajectories that are perpendicular to the heating element surfaces and from nozzles located in the printhead roof; such configuration is generally referred to as "roofshooter". Each printhead comprises a silicon heater plate and a fluid directing structural member. The heater plate has a linear array of heating elements associated addressing electrodes, and an elongated ink fill hole parallel with the heating element array. The structural member contains at least one recessed cavity, a plurality of nozzles, and a plurality of parallel walls within the recessed cavity which define individual ink channels for directing ink to the nozzles.