GB1351707A - Printing by selective ink ejection from capillaries - Google Patents

Abstract

1351707 Facsimile apparatus S F SKALA 28 May 1971 17728/71 Heading H4F [Also in Divisions B6 and H1] A printer comprises a plurality of capillary tubes 9 from which ink droplets can be selectively discharged by the action of an electron beam. The capillaries 9 may communicate with a common body of ink 12, selected capillaries being filled with ink by charging the ink in that region by the electron beam 5, and charging a conducting layer 13 to draw ink up the capillary. A piezo electric transducer 18 then snaps the assembly of capillaries to detach a droplet from each loaded capillary. An electrostatic field established between the assembly and a platen 22 draws the detached droplets on to record medium 21. The electron beam is controlled from an analogue or symbolic input source 5 such as a video scanner by grid 3. In modifications, a plurality of rows of capillary tubes may be employed, either for generating whole lines of characters or for multicolour recording (Fig. 2, not shown), and mercury may be employed to admit ink to selected tubes (Fig. 3, not shown) the selection being performed by an electron beam acting on piezo electric material. In a further modification (Fig. 4, not shown) ink is introduced to all capillary tubes and an electrostatic field is generated, the electron beam determining which tubes release ink droplets into the field, and in yet another modification (Fig. 6, not shown) mercury is employed to admit ink to the selected tubes and the electron beam permits droplet release.