Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
  • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
  • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
  • B41J2/01—Ink jet
  • B41J2/17—Ink jet characterised by ink handling
  • B41J2/175—Ink supply systems ; Circuit parts therefor
  • B41J2/17593—Supplying ink in a solid state
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
  • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
  • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
  • B41J2/01—Ink jet
  • B41J2/17—Ink jet characterised by ink handling
  • B41J2/195—Ink jet characterised by ink handling for monitoring ink quality

Definitions

• the subject invention concerns a printer designed to apply droplets of hot melt ink onto a substrate in order to generate characters or symbols thereon.
• an external reservoir is immersed in a hot water bath or the like and is connected via a comparatively long hose or tube to the printer proper, the latter having a print-head including one or several discharge nozzles- Hot melt ink in solid form is supplied to the reservoir in which the hot melt ink melts when affected by the hot water bath and from whence the molten hot melt ink is transferred via the hose or the pipe to the printer itself to be applied on the substrate.
• the hose or pipe as well as the printer must be kept heated, which may be effected by means of infra-red radiation or other heating arrangements.
• a serious drawback found in this prior-art device is that it is composed of several spaced apart, separate components which in addition must be maintained in a heated condition along the entire and comparatively long path of travel of the molten hot melt ink from the reservoir to the print-head.
• the heating causes problem also because the heat energy input must be comparatively high in view of the heat losses to the environment.
• the purpose of the subject invention is to avoid the disadvantages and the problems inherent in the prior-art device and to provide a printer which is complete in itself while at the same time it is compact and efficient.
• the purpose is achieved in a manner which is as simple as it is ingenious in that the printer has a housing in which are provided a reservoir having an inlet for supply of the hot melt ink in solid state and an outlet, a feeder adjacent the reservoir outlet, said feeder having an inlet for reception of the hot melt ink in solid state from the receiver and an outlet, a heater,.
• the printer designed generally on the drawing figure by reference numeral 1 is designed for application of molten hot melt ink 2 in the form of droplets 3 onto a substrate 4, such as e.g. paper, cardboard or the like which may be used to form packages of various kinds, primarily for foodstuff, in order to generate symbols or characters on said substrate 4.
• a substrate 4 such as e.g. paper, cardboard or the like which may be used to form packages of various kinds, primarily for foodstuff, in order to generate symbols or characters on said substrate 4.
• the printer 1 comprises a housing 5 of an essentially circular cylindrical shape, and a cover 7 positioned at a distance 6 from and around the housing.
• the housing 5 has a tubular jacket 8 of a suitable material, such as aluminium, and at its rear (right-hand side in the drawing figure) the tubular jacket 8 is connected to an end wall, not shown, and at its front to a disc-shaped partition wall 9, for instance of aluminium or other suitable material.
• a suitable material such as aluminium
• the hot melt ink 2 in solid state 14 is intended to be supplied to the reservoir 12 from the storage in the shape of granules together with a carrier gas 19, such as pressurized air.
• a carrier gas 19 such as pressurized air.
• the reservoir 12 is equipped with a jacket 20 in which perforations 21 are formed to allow discharge from the reservoir of the carrier gas 19 supplied thereto.
• the per ⁇ forations are in the shape of a gas-pervious net which thus forms the jacket 20 of the reservoir 12.
• the granular material used presently has an average diameter o approximately 0.3-0.5 mm. and the gas-pervious net 20 consequently has a mesh size smaller than the average diameter of the granules.
• the carrier gas 19 emitted from the reservoir may flow out of the housing 5 to the environment via apertures 22 formed in the tubular jacket 8.
• the carrier gas 19 could have a negative pressure, that is, be sucked into the reservoir 12 together with the granules.
• a suction means may be provided in the space 11, for instance an ejector which creates a negative pressure inside the reservoir 12.
• Another possibilitiy is to configure the reservoir 12 as a completely closed and pressure-tight container which is subjected to a positive pressure and may be equipped with a sluice valve or an equivalent means, allowing the granular material to be supplied in batches or contin- ous ⁇ y. In this manner the positive pressure forces the granules to advance in the direction towards the outlet 18 of the reservoir 12.
• Another possible solution is to supply the hot melt ink 2 in solid state 14 to the reservoir 12 in the shape of rods or the like instead of in the shape of granules.
• a feeder generally designated by numeral 23, is located, said feeder having an inlet 24 for reception of the hot melt ink 2 in solid state 14 from the reservoir, and an outlet 25.
• the feeder in accordance with the illustrated embodiment is configured as a screw worm 26 which is rotationally mounted in an enclosing housing 27.
• the screw worm 26 Via a drive shaft 26 extending through the partition wall 10, the screw worm 26 is rotated by an electric motor 29, the latter being positioned in the space 30 between the partition wall 10 and the rear end wall, not shown, of the housing 5, and being electrically connected to a source of electricity, not shown, by means of electric wires 31.
• the housing 27 of the feeder 23 is formed with one or several apertures 32 positioned inside the reservoir and forming the feeder inlet 24 for reception of the hot melt ink 2 in solid state 14 from the reservoir 12 and for transport of the ink by means of the screw worm 26 along the housing 27 in the direction towards the feeder outlet 25.
• the feeder 23 could be designed differently from the configuration described in the afore- going.
• a piston arranged for reciprocating movement inside a cylinder, could be used.
• the feeder could be designed as one or several elongate channels through which the hot melt ink 2 is conveyed under the influence of the positive pressure inside the reservoir 12 when the latter is configured in accordance with the pressurized embodiment described previously.
• a heater Downstream of the reservoir 12, inside the housing 5, there is provided a heater, generally designated by 33.
• the heater is formed by a comparatively thick disc-shaped heating block 34 of a material possessing good heat conducting properties.
• heat insulation 35 in the form of a disc-shaped plate 36 is provided.
• the plate may be made from a heat-insulating plastic, such as bakelite, and it is mounted inside the housing 5 inter- mediate the reservoir 12 and the heater 33.
• An electric heating cartridge 37 is positioned in a recess in the heating block 34 in order to heat the latter, said heating cartridge being electrically connected to the power source, not shown, by means of electric wires 38.
• the heating block 34 encloses and heats the feeder 23 downstream of the heat insulation 35, with the result that the hot melt ink 2 changes from its solid state 14 to a liquid or molten state 39 before reaching the outlet 25 of the feeder 23.
• the temperature of the hot melt ink 2 in liquid state 39 varies as a function of the composition of the hot melt ink but generally speaking the melting temperature ranges from a minimum of about 70°C to a maximum of about 180°C for hot melt inks available at present. In practice, the temperatures used range from about 120 to about 150°C.
• the housing 5 also includes a print-head, generally designated by reference 40, which forms the front end (left-hand end on the drawing figure) of the printer 1.
• the print-head 40 has a rear inlet 41 which via a channel 42 is connected to the outlet 25 of the feeder 23, and at least one front discharge nozzle 43 from which droplets 3 of the molten hot melt ink 2 are discharged to be applied on the substrate 4. Since the print-head 40 does not form part of the subject invention and is of a more or less conventional construction it will not be described in any detail herein.
• a chamber generally designated by reference 44, is provided inside the channel 42, intermediate the outlet 25- of the feeder 23 and the inlet of the print-head 40 .
• the chamber is divided into one pressure part 45 and one actuating part 46.
• These parts 45, 46 are separated by a diaphragm 47 of an resilient and impervious material, such a rubber of a quality that withstands the high temperature of the melted hot melt ink 2.
• the pressure part 45 has an inlet 48 and an outlet 49 and the inlet 48 is connected to the part of the channel 42 that extends between the pressure part and the outlet 25 of the feeder 23, whereas the outlet 49 is connected to the channel part extending between the pressure part and the inlet 41 of the print-head 40.
• the actuating part 46 of the chamber 44 encloses an actuating means 50 in the shape of a compression spring which is held between the diaphragm 47 and the opposite side or bottom 51 of the actuating part 45 to act on the diaphragm with an adjustable force and accordingly to effect variable pressurization of the melted hot melt ink 2 in the pressure part 45.
• An operating element 52 in the form of a rod extend- ing through the heater 33, the heat insulation 35, and the partition walls 9 and 10 connects the compression spring 50 to a regulating means 53 which is housed in the space 30.
• the regulating means 53 consists of a switch 54 which via electric wires 55 is electrically connected to the electric motor 29 for operation of the screw worm 26 inside the feeder 23.
• the print-head 40 in the conventional manner receives a signal to discharge droplets 3 of melted hot melt ink 2 from the discharge nozzle 43 in order to generate symbols or charactaers on the substrate 4 the volume of the pressure part 45 of the chamber 44 gradually is reduced as the hot melt ink 2 in melted state 39 is being consumed.
• the diaphragm therefore will bulge increasingly into the pressure part 45, bringing along the rod 52 in its movement, to the left as seen in the drawing figure, to another position, wherein the switch is again actuated and re-establishes the electricity supply to the electric motor 29, whereby the screw worm 26 again starts feeding the pressure part with melted ' hot melt ink.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Quality & Reliability (AREA)
• Particle Formation And Scattering Control In Inkjet Printers (AREA)
• Ink Jet (AREA)
• Massaging Devices (AREA)
• Printers Or Recording Devices Using Electromagnetic And Radiation Means (AREA)

Priority Applications (3)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=20384658

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (7)

Families Citing this family (4)

Citations (2)

Family Cites Families (5)

• 1991
  • 1991-12-19 SE SE9103764A patent/SE469591B/sv not_active IP Right Cessation
• 1992
  • 1992-12-16 AT AT93900488T patent/ATE152048T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1992-12-16 US US08/244,874 patent/US5598199A/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1992-12-16 WO PCT/SE1992/000870 patent/WO1993011944A1/en active IP Right Grant
  • 1992-12-16 EP EP93900488A patent/EP0619782B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1992-12-16 AU AU31758/93A patent/AU3175893A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1992-12-16 DE DE69219361T patent/DE69219361D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime

Patent Citations (2)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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