584 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. ED-19,NO.

4,APRIL 1972

toners (e.g., as distributed for office copying machines:
and papers makes electrostatic electrographic printin$!
one of the simplest and most inexpensive techniquesfor
generating hard copy outputfrom electrical inputs. T h t
voltagethresholdinherent in the processallowsever
further simplification, in many applications, in signifi
cantly reducing the numberof voltage switching device:
required.
REFEKEXCES
[1] I R E Subcommittee on Definitions, Formation and Utilization c
ElectrostaticImages, “IREstandardsonelectrostatographi:
devices,1961,” Proc. I R E , vol.49, p p ~619-621, Mar. 1961.
[2] J. H.Dessauer and H. E, Clark, Eds., Xerography and Relate.’
Processes, London:FocalPress, 1965, pp. 259-374.
[3] R, M . Schaffert, Ebectuophotography. London: FocalPress
1965, pp. 27-37.
[4] I. Brodie, J . A. Dahlquist: and A. Sher, “Measurement of charge
transfer in electrophotographic processes,“ J . Appl. Phys., vol,
39, pp. 1618-1624, Feb. 1968.
[SI Y . hloradzadehand D. Woodward,“Relationbetweenlatent
electrostaticimageanddevelopedimagefordielectriccoated
paper,” Photo. Sci, Eng., vol. 10,pp, 96-103, Mar.-Apr. 1966.
[6] T. Hojq, and S. Kawano, “Electrostatic super high-speed line
printer, Hitachi Rev., vol. 16, no. 12, pp. 483-489.
[7] R. E. \Vest, “High-speedreadoutfordataprocessing,” Elec-
tronics, vol. 32, pp. 83-85, Mayd1959.
[SI H. EpsteinandR. J. Phelps,Pageprintingapparatus,” U.S.
Patent 2219 171, 1959.
[9] P. Rice, Electrostatic printing,” Discovery, July 1964.
[lo] L. Kabell, “Solid state light-to-electrostatic-charge-image trans-
ducer,” U.S. Patent 3 137 857, 1964.
[ l l ] R. 1%’. Crews and P. Rice, “The,,videograph tube-A new coln-
ponentfor high speedprinting, I R E Trans.ElectronDevices,
vol. ED-8, pp. 406-414, Sept. 1961.

Ink Jet, Printing

Abstract-Severalbasicallydifferentnonimpactprinting prcl-
cesses have been developed in the last several years using modu-
lated or deflected ink jets. This review paper describes these pro..
cesses, which are also applicable to the accurate dispensingof fluid!.,
particle sorting, the generation of uniform droplets for research pu:r-
poses, and other applications.

INTRODUCTION

A DE1;IAND for quiet,fast,computer-compatibl~

printingmethodshasproducedanumber
nonimpact nonmechanical processes in the
few decades-among them the ink jet systemsdescribes11
cf
Iai,t -a
PUMP
in this paper. As pointed out by Sweet [ l ] ,attempts 1 I:

use a deflected ink jet for recording date back a t 1eas.t

Fig. 1. blingografrecordingsystem,
to Kelvin in 1873. There was a revival of interest in jc t
printing in the 1930’s, primarily for facsimile [2]-[4
followed by a jet system by Richards in 1948 [j].P L t demonstrating the
practicability of an operational
aboutthistime,Elmqvist [6] developedanosciilc~ small-orificeink jetsystem, is Elmqvist’sjet oscillo-
graphic ink jet printer, which is described in the folloa . graph [6], marketedunderthename Rlingograf by
ing, that hasbeen on the market for several years. Mor E Elema-Schonander in Sweden and
Oscillomink by
recently,jetprintershave beenmarketed for data Siemens in Germany. Fig. 1 shows that the system re-
terminals, output printers, and encoders. sembles a light-beam galvanometer, with a small nozzle
replacing the mirror. The tip has a bore of only 0.01 mm
3TECHANICALLY DEFLECTED
INK JET OSCILLOGKAPH
and ink pressure is varied from about 15 to 45 kg/cm2
Mingograf and Oscillomink Oscillographs toaccommodatea widerange of writingrates.Jet
An early memberof the commercial jet printerfamil;. length is adjustable up to a maximum of about 5 cm,
andanimportantlandmark from theviewpoint 1 (
n-hich permits a recording span of about 10 cm. Unlike
a pen arm, the free jet of ink does not contribute to the
moment of inertia of the system, permitting a frequency
Manuscript received October 15, 1971. The jet printer develott.
-
ments at Stanford Research Institute were suDDorted b v Recoenitic r ,
Equipment and by the U. S. Post Ofice Depa;<ment.
t,.esponse up to about 1 kHz (although the length of the
‘ jetmust be reducedtoabout 1 cm a t t h e highfre-
Theauthor is withStanfordResearchInstitute,hlenloPar!:,
Calif. 94025. quencies in order to follow the motion properly). Fig. 2
KAMPHOEFNER: INK JET PRINTING

VALVING ELECTRODE \\ (!IF

Fig. 3. Main components of Inktronic ink jet assembly.

Fig. 2. Oscillogram from Mingograf recorder (reduced 2 : 1 ) .

is arepresentative oscillogram fromthelringograf

oscillograph.

ELECTROSTATICALLY DEFLECTED TWO-AXIS

I N KJ E T P R I N T E R
Inktronic Data Terminal
In 1958, C. R. Lt?inston of ATT’s Teletype Corpora-
tion filed a L.S. Patentapplication [ 7 ] on “ a nelv
method and apparatus for transporting ink” that has
Fig. 4. Inktronic printer jet ink formation and deflection.
become the basis for the Inktronic data terminal. This
terminaloperatesasynchronouslycharacterbychar-
acter at any speed up to 120 characters/s, using up to trodes deflect droplets in the x and y axes as in a cathode
40 nozzles in line, spaced 1 cm from the paper, to print ray tube to print characters in two adjacent rectangular
80 characters per line on ordinary paper. Each nozzle areas (Fig. 3).
addresses two adjacent characters, spaced 10/in. With The formation of the tapered liquid ink jet at the tip
this format, no buffer storage is required for incoming of the capillary nozzle is especia.lly interesting (Fig. 4).
data and there areno mechanically moving parts except Under the proper conditions, the tapered jet can become
for those required for advancing the paper after each anorder of magnitudesmallerindiameterthanthe
line. Indexing to nen-a line requires one character period nozzle from which i t issues. 4 high dc potential differ-
of 8.3 ms. ence (on the order of 7000 V) is maintained between the
The Winston process differs from most other ink jet platen behind the paper and the nozzle. T o print, the
printersto bedescribedhereinthatthehydrostatic valving electrode (Fig. 3 ) , which is at an intermediate
pressure a t t h e nozzle is equivalent to only about 1 cm potential of 1500 V with respect to the nozzle, is raised
of xvater,n-hich is not sufficient of itself t o overcome t o 2000 V. LiTinston [8] describesthejetformation
capillary forces a t t h e nozzle and permit ink flon-. In- process as follows. “The surface of the ink meniscus on
stead, a convex bulge or meniscus forms on the nozzle the capillary tip, and the face of the valving electrode,
tip. The inner diameter of the tip can be rather large constitute ineffect the t\\io plates of a capacitor sep-
(e.g., 0.15 mm) since thepressure is low. Theouter arated by an air gap. When an electric field is impressed
diameter of the tip controls thesize of the meniscus, and across this gap, free charges in the ink migrate to the
is on the order of 0.25 m m . T h e 40 parallel nozzles are surface of themeniscus.Whenathreshold field in-
suppliedfromacommonmanifoldedreservoirthat tensity is exceeded, the force on these charges is suf-
maintains the optimum ink pressure and temperature. ficient to disrupt the ink surface, causing blobs of ink
When printing is to be initiated, an electric field is ap- t o be torn from the meniscus and accelerated toward
plied to pull the ink from the nozzle, while other elec- the valving electrode. With proper adjustment of elec-
5x6 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, APRIL 1972

T H E “ I N K T R O N X CP” R I N T E R t
C H A R A C T E R - B Y - C H A R A C T E RP R I N T E F
S P E E D OF? E F F I C I E N C YT .H E R E AF
C R E A T I O N OF T H E C H A R A C T E R I M A C 12 2 4 4 567 *
IS ABSOLUTELY SILENT. CARRIAC 1 2 2.44 T>67 *
A R E E L E C T R O N I CF U N C T I O N S INVOL 12 244 567 *
I S U S E D SO T H A T T H E P R I N T E R M F 12 244 5!67 4
P E R I O D S OF T I M E I.11TH N O D E L E T E 12 244 567 I(

N O T A C T a A L L Y USED T O CREATE C t 12 244 K G 7 @

IC: A EN X T R E M E L Y L O W R A T E O F II\ 1 2 244 567 #.

12 244 5 6 7 #
Fig. 5 . Sample copy from Inktronic printer (1 : 1). 1 3 3 4 4 rK7 *
Fig. 6. Sample copy from Paillard machine (1 : 1).
trsode geometry, field strength,andinkproperties :
co~~ntinuous tapered jetis formed that produces a col
ber of characters),andaset of 2 2 characters.Other
lirrlated stream of charged ink drops moving a t high
unitshavebeendemonstratedwithlargercharacter
velocity. T h e j e t m a y be turned on and off a t a mod,
sets. Fig. 6 shows sample printing from this unit.
er,ately rapid rate by modulating the voltage appliec;
CasioComputerCo.Ltd.inJapanhasa license
to the valving electrode.” A more detailed descriptioc
agreement with Paillard, although their printers differ
of jet phenomena and the effects of alternative geom.
in some important points. One interesting version by
etries is given in the basic patent for this process [ 7 ] .
Casio consists of a jet mounted in a small plastic case
The modulation and deflection processes differ in ar.
connected to an electronic calculator or to a computer
interesting way from those for other ink jet printing
byalightweightcable.Machine-generatedcharacters
systems in that the jet iselectrostaticallyvalved or.
can beproducedondemandbymovingtheunitby
for the full duration of the time required to print a line
hand from left to right over the desired space.
making up a character, and the character generation
circuitrytracesoutthelineinsequenceratherthan ELECTROSTATIC
SINGLE-AXIS SYSTEMS
DEFLECTIOX
printing the character matrix row by row or column by WITHPULSATING
JET
column. A “core-rope” switching-core memory system
is usedfortranslationbetweencommunication-lint. Stanford University Oscillograph
codes (or keyboard code) and the character set. Each A number of developments, to bedescribed, were
characterhas 112possible dotlocations,forming triggered by Sweet’s development at Stanford Univer-
an
8 x 1 4 matrix. Up to 31 of these dot locations are used sity in 1963 of a high-speed single-axis deflection ink jet
in forming any one character. The character sets have. systemforoscillography[1], [lo].
62 graphic symbols, or an option of 93 symbols includ- Fig. 7 showsthisdesigninschematicform.Ink at
ing upper and lowercase alphabet, numerics, and stan- 4.2 kg/cm2pressurefeedsa0.035-mmdiameter glass
dardcommunicationsymbols.Fig. 5 shows sample nozzle. Theresultingcolumn of ink, whichhasan
copy from an Inktronic printer. initial velocity of 21 m/s, is unstable because of surface
tension forces that reduce it to a series of droplets of
Pa:illard and Casio smallertotalsurfacearea.ThisRayleighbreakup is
Paillard SA. inSwitzerlandhasdevelopedan ink synchronized bya 100 kHz-axial vibration of the
jet printer [9] that makes use of the same general prin- nozzle, so astoachieveveryuniformdrop size and
ciples as Teletype’s, but with several differences. (The spacing.Bestdropformationoccurswithina narrow-
basicprincipleusedinbothsystemswasearlierde,- ratio of dropspacingtojetdiameter so t h a t , for a
scribed by Richards in a patent [ 5 ] filed in 1948.) The given drop rate, the velocity of the jet must be raised
new features of the Paillard system,described in several in proportion to its diameter. (Since the area of the jet
U. S. Patents by E. Ascoli, cover the technology of the increases as the square of the diameter, the total effect
nozzle, self-regulating electronically controlled pumps, is that the required flow rate goes up as the cubeof the
charactergenerators,andoverallelectronicandme- orifice diameter for a constant drop rate.) In the ex-
chanical design. ample, the drops are 0.073-mm diameter and form a t a
Paillard presently uses a single nozzle t h a t is moved rate of 100 OOO/s. An electrostatic charge is induced on
continuously along a line during the printing process, each drop as it breaks off from the columnar jet, the
the objective being a low-price machine in comparison amount of charge being determined by the signal input
with Teletype’s design withits large number of nozzles. voltage on the charging electrode relative to the con-
Paillard’s first production machine, the Hermes HR-3, ductiveliquidinthe nozzle. Inthisexample,150 V
has 19-column capacity, a printing rate of 70 charac- on the charging electrode will produce a charge on the
ters/s (line rate of 2 t o 5 lines/s, depending on the num- drop of 0.6X10-12 C, with a resulting 1.0-cm deflection
KAMPHOEPNER: INK JET PRINTINO

NICKELMAGNETOSTRICTIVE
TRANSDUCERCHANGES
LENGTHAT 100 k H z RATE

kg/cm2

100 kHz
IGNAL
VlBRATiO INPUT
STANFORDRESEARCHINSTITUTE
0.0035 cm d12m.
INK JETDIVIDES M E N L OP A R K ,C A L I F O R N I A 94025

. .. . . . . -. . .. .. ..... .. .. . . .-. ........................

....... ....

Fig. 8. 2-dot code bars on envelope (SR.I/USPOD

printer-1 :1).

permitsdocumentsinRecognitionEquipmentIncor-
porated’s optical character recognition (OCR) machine
INTERCEPTED t o be reencodedwith a simplebarcodeimmediately
SURPLUS INK
afterreading, at a transportvelocity of 5 m/s. The
bar-encoded documents can then be sorted in a sequence
of machine passes in a bar-code-reading machine that
DIRECTS AIR FROM BLOWER is less expensive than an OCR machine. (The saving is
ACROSS INK STREAM
considerable,sincethephysicalsorting of documents
Fig. 7 . Schematic of Sweet’s oscillographic printer. having a ten-digit number, as an example, requires ten
passes through a ten-pocket sorter.) Most major gaso-
of the drop after i t has passed through a dc deflection line credit sales slips are processed in this manner for
field of 16 kV/cm. Total flight from nozzle to paper in return to the customer. The bars are spaced 12/cm;
the example is3.5 cm. A major advantage of the system each bar consists of eight closely spaced dots, each dot
is that the speed of response is not limited by transit about 0.25-mm diameter. Fig. 8 shows similar experi-
time of the drops through the deflection plates; i.e.,200 mental bar-code imprinting from a unit developed at
drops in flight simultaneously might each be made to S R I for the U. S. Post Office Department that has a
follow a differenttrajectory, if desired.Thelaminar 16 bar/cm packing density. This system uses much
air stream shown in Fig. 7 is used when high accuracy shorter bars (two drops per bar) in order to make the
is required at high deflections. I t is set at about one- codereaderinsensitive t o skewing of thedocument.
third the velocity of the drops, and its purpose is to Both systems use fluorescent ink in order to produce an
deflecttheaerodynamicwakethattrailseachdrop. image that is inconspicuous to the eye in ordinary light,
(Unless this is done, a drop that trails another will be but provides a high signal-to-noise ratio when properly
influenced by the trajectory of its predecessor.) Drops excited .
t h a t are not to be printed are deff ected toa catcher elec- Fig. 9 shows the SRI drive structure for producing
trostatically. axial motion of the nozzle, which in turn imposes pres-
Quitegoodhigh-speedoscillogramsmadewiththis suremodulationandhencevelocityperturbationson
printer are shown in [l]. The main limitation of this the ink jet. The axially resonant cylirtdrical structure
system as a n oscillograph is therelativelysmallde- producesaseveralhundredfoldincreaseinthedis-
flection obtainable for good linearity. For a system with placement of the tip over thedislplacement occurring a t
a 100-kHz drop rate and 2-cm maximum peak-to-peak two piezoelectric disks, which are clamped between the
trace, the maximum deviation from linearity is about two cylinders a t t h e node point l(Fig. 9). I n a variation
5 percent of full-scale amplitude. There are other im- of the design, the left cylinder can be extended another
portant applications, however, that exploit the speed quarterwavelength so thattheend, ~ h i c hthenbe-
and print quality of this system without requiring the comes a second node point, can be rigidly mounted. This
peak amplitudes or deflection accuracies needed in an arrangement prevents a lateral vibrationof the nozzle if
oscillograph. the printer must be installed in ar high-speed document-
handling machine that has severe shock and vibration
S R I Bar-Code Imprinting sources. Only about 15 V need be applied to the 0.16-cm
Another application of Sweet’s pulsating jet printer thick BaTiOs crystals to produce adequate drop syn-
is to print a fluorescent bar code used in conjunction chronization.Nozzledeflectionisontheorder of a
withhigh-speeddocument-processingsystems. A jet micron, but the velocity alternation is high enough t o
printer designed a t Stanford Research Institute (SRI) produce significant acceleration (on the order of 200 g)

Fig. 9. Schematic of SRI/Recognition Equipment
bar-code imprinter.
Fig. 10. SRI/RecognitionEquipmentbar-codeimprinter.
andmodulatethe nozzle pressurebya fewtenth::
kg/cm2.Typically a 1.75-kg/cm2pressuresource
used with a 0.04-mm diameter nozzle. This printer
shown in operation in Fig. 10.
The inks used in the SRI bar-code printers are de.
signed for very fast drying and for maximum signal-to-
noise ratio in a code reader. In a typical application,
the document must be gated and stacked within
than 50 cm from the point where i t is encoded, so that
only 100 ms is available for drying or absorption of the
inkbefore i t must besmearproof.Fortunately,
having drying times of only 15 to 30 ms can be obtained.
b y using a volatile solvent, with a suitable electrolyte
added in order to achieve the conductivity needed
drop charging. Characteristics of a typical ink include
emission peaking in the red-orange a t a b o u t 6200 A for
good discrimination against “whiteners” in paper coat-
XEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, APRIL i 972
ings (which fluorescein the blue region), viscosity under
3 centistokes for stable drop formation without satellites
and rapid draining from the excess-ink deflector, sur-
facetension a t least 20 dyn/cm for rapid and stable
drop formatioc., and resistivity less than 5000 Q-cm for
rapid drop charging.
A . B . Dick Compa.ny’s Videojet Printer
A. B. DickCompanymarketstheVideojetcom-
munications printer, based on Sweet’s system [ I ] with
modifications b y Lejvis andBrown [11 ] of Clevite
Corporation and by a number of A. B. Dick develop-
ments described asfollows.
The Videojet printer uses a single lightweight nozzle
t h a t is moved across the paper horizontally by a low-
inertia motor, a line a t a time, on demand. ‘The motion
is continuous at 63 cm/s, with a return at about 250
cm/s between lines. The ink drops can be deflected to
any of 11 stepsvertically,andprint 9 suchvertical
columns of dots percharacter.Theresultant 9 X 11
matrix provides a set of 64 characters. Fig. 11 shows
representative printing from the Videojet printer. The
printing rate is 250 characters/s, matching Dataphone
capabilities, although the jet printer could operate at
1500 characters/s or more if required (using a higher
drop rate and a 5 X 7 matrix). Normal spacing corre-
sponds to 10 characters/in, but is variable from 5 to 15.
The ink gun has a 0.065-mm orifice, producing a 0.125-
mm drop diameter and 0.3-mm spot size. A 2.1-kg/cm2
ink source pressure is used, and drop formation is con-
trolled by a small 66-kHz pulsation in pressure. Ink is
provided to the nozzle via a small stainless steel tube
whichpassesaxiallythroughapair of piezoelectric
cylinders about the size of aspirin tablets. These cylin-
ders are held incompressionbyflanges a t t h e nozzle
end of the tube and by ablock at the opposite end, into
which the tube is screwed. Pressure pulsations occur as
the result of axial vibrations imparted to the nozzle end
of the assembly. This produces standing pressure waves
inthefluidcolumn,andresonanceimprovestheef-
ficiency of energytransfer.Charginganddeflection
electrodes are similar to Sweet’s and SRI’s.
is A “guard drop” technique [12] in the Videojet printer
i:, putszerochargeoneveryotherdrop, so t h a t each
chargeddropliesbetweentwounchargedundeflected
drops. This halves the drop rate available for printing,
butreducesdeflectiondeviationscausedbymutual
repulsion between drops. I t also reduces the deviations
less caused by variable aerodynamic shielding of a drop by
the trailing wake of the preceding drop.
Fig. 1 2 shows how the droplets form by a necking-
inks, down process t h a t leaves a thin filament of ink between
each drop j u s t before separation. The filament separates
a t one end first, then at the other end. The end that
for separates first accelerates toward the other end due to
surface tension, and forms a small satellite droplet that
continues its motion relative to the primary drops, so
t h a t it either catches up and joins the primary drop
KAMPHOEFNER:INK JET PRINTING 589

T H E ” V I D E O J E T P R O C E S S ” IN Stone and Bischoff [IS] describe means of sensing and

PRINTER UTILIZES A STREAM correctingthephasingintheVideojetprinterbefore
ON G PRINTING MEDIUM. each line is printed.
UNDEFLECTED
J E T PRINTERS

IN THE PRINTER, INK UNDER Another family of jet printers does not incorporate a
ENERGIZED WITH AN ULTRASOP deflectionsystem(orusesdeflectiononlytogate or
MODULATION OF THE INK STRE modulate the stream). Some printers use a single nozzle,
CREAK UP INTO 66,800 DISCF capable of being gated; these depend entirely on relative
UNIFORM SIZE AND SPACING. paper motion to achieve translation in the plane per-
VISCOSITY OF INK, NOZZLE I pendiculartothejetaxis(asinafacsimileprinter).
Fig. 11. Sample copy from Videojet printer (1 : 1). Others use a line of parallel gated jets, permitting pro-
portionately higher printing speeds and requiring only
one axis of translation of the paper. The nondeflecting
systems are sometimes used where unusually high posi-
tional accuracy is required, since the linearity problems
associated with deflection systems are eliminated.
A . B. Dick Laboratory Unit
Fig. 13 shows printing produced by A. B. Dick several
years ago in the laboratory on a drum-type fascimile
system with vertical scanning lines a t 508/c111 (200/in).
The sample is from an 84- by 11-inch copy made in the
earlydevelopment of theVideojetprocesssimply to
indicatethecapability of thepulsatiaginkjetasa
means of making copies. Examples of other nondeflect-
ing jet printing systems are described in what follows.
Data Corporation Precision Printer f o r Digital Graphics
DataCorporation,inDayton,Ohio,hasdeveloped
undeflected versions of a pulsating jet printer for pre-
cision digital graphics applications [16]. I n one unit, a
single jet is used for black and white reproduction; in
another, four jets are used for color.
T h e black and white systemhas a n 80-kHz drop rate,
Fig. 12. Drop formation in pulsating ink jet system
(A. B. Dick). with aneffectiverate of 40 k l l z duetothe use of
“guarddrops”toobtainhigh posit:ional accuracy.
Spots of about 0.13-mm diameter are printed on 0.09-
ahead of i t or drops back and joins the primary drop mm centers on paper up to 1.5- by 3.-m insize. T h e
behind it, dependinguponwhichend of the filament paper is mountedon a drum that is r o t a t e d a t 120
separated first. Since each drop retains a charge that is r/min and is indexed 0.09 mm axially for each revolu-
defined at the instantof separation from the jet column, tion. Electrostatic deflection is used only to divert and
it can be seen t h a t a droplet that rejoins the primary collectthosedropsthatarenotto be printed.The
drop ahead of i t will havebeenexposed to the same printer is entirelydigitallycontrolled,andiscom-
charging voltage as that drop, whereas a droplet that patible with digital image enhancement or other digital
rejoinstheprimarydropbehind i t mill have had its graphic processing systems. Fig. 14 shows representative
breakoff from the main column prior to that of the pri- COPY
mary drop that it rejoins, so t h a t its charging voltage Accurately controlled gray scale is obtainable by us-
will have been different if the voltage of the charging ing a dot matrix, for example, 3x3, 4x4, or 5x5, and
electrodehaschanged
in
that
interval.
Thus the printingdifferentcombinations of dots.Because of
printer is designed to produce the “fast” type of satellite partialoverlap of adjacentdrops,morecombinations
that rejoins the drop ahead of it. (and thus more density steps) are possible in an element
An importantdesignfactor is thephasing of the than would be anticipated from the dot count of the
charging signaIs relative to the drop formation process; matrix.Stillfinerincrementsindensity,andreduced
drop separation must occur at the time that the proper pattern effects, are obtained by using two matrices side
voltage is impressedonthechargingelectroderather byside;forexample,anevenlyincremented39-step
than as the signal is changing from one desired level to grayscalecan be obtainedfrom a pair of 4x4 dot
another.PatentsbyKeurand Dah1 1131, [14] and matrices,
590 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, APRIL 1972

25-1 Detergent Concentrate (liquid) PAPER

MOTION
1 gallon container (1-3 gallons)
1 gallon container (4-7 gallons)
(packed 4/case)
container (9 or more galloos)
'1 ga1.0~1
55 gallon f ibra drums (lined)
Fig. 13. Samplefrom A. B. Dicklaboratory
ink jet copier (1 :1).

This is a quick view of dijit Gothic style text; d

V = 500 INK
a mstrix 24 cells high form letters and figures c DROPLETS
point size.
Cb)
COLLECTION
PLATES

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmn(
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWYZabcdefghijklmn(
ABCDEFGHlJKLMNOPQRSTUVWYZabcdefghijklmn~

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefg
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefg
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefg
Fig. 14. Sample copy from Data Corporation machine (I :1)-

Color can be printed using subtractive-process coloYS

-cyan, magenta, and yellow-as an overlay of thrc e
independent images. By varying the densities as well :. s
choice of the basic colors, the entire color spectrum
obtainable. Each color-density value is converted int C;I
an ink-drop matrix analogous to that usedfor onc...
color gray-scale printing. A single nozzle printer coul 1
be used for color by making three successive runs, but
the preferred approach is t o use a four-jet printer wit!l
yellow, magenta,cyan,andblackinks.The use OF
black is not essential, but it permits a reduction in th:
total number of drops physically printed on topof eacl I
other and a reduction of the total amount of ink tha:
must be placed on the paper.
Jet Modulated by Electrostatic Dispersion
In a series of papersandpatents [17]-[20], Prof.
'C. H. Hertz of Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden
and his associates have described a number of printing,
applicationsbasedupontheabilitytomodulatethe
ink flow of a j e t a t r a t e s exceeding 200 kHz.
Ink i s projectedfroma10-pdiameterglass nozzle
under high pressure, typically 30 kg/cm2, producing a
jet having a velocity of about 35 m/s. I n Fig. 15(a), for
no electric field, the jet will break into droplets that
travel in a straight line to the paper; in Fig. 15(b), a dc
voltage of severalhundredvoltsplacedbetweenthe
electrode ring and the somewhat conductive ink within
the nozzle causesthestreamtospreadin a cone of
small, charged droplets (see also Fig. 16). T h e sign of
the charge is opposite to that of the charging electrode
and is on theorder of C foreachdroplet. T o pre-
vent the fine mist of particles from producing a back-
(4
Fig. 15. (a) Unchargeddroplets.(b)Dispersion of highlycharged
droplets. (c) Arrangementfor on/off operation of inkjet. (d)
Arrangement for gray-scale modulation using an aperture.
Fig. 16. Dispersed jet of Fig. 15(b). (Hertz) (500 V on
charging electrode E, 10 ws exposure.)
ground tint on the paper, a pair of collection plates with
a dc field strength on the order of 5000 V/cm can be
used asinFig.15(c),oradiaphragmwith a small
(0.2-mm) aperture can be used as in Fig. 15(d). With
the aperture, it is possible to capitalize on the fact that
the solid angle formed by the spray of charged droplets
is dependent on the voltage applied to the control elec-
trode; thus the printing through the aperture can pro-
duce a continuous tonal range from pure black through
white.
Another method of obtaining gray scale in the print-
ing is t o use pulse-duration modulation (PDM) of the
control voltage, switching the signal voltage between 0
and 500 V. Typically the PDhI frequency is 10 kHz
KAMPHOEFNER: INK JET PRINTING 591

RECORDINGPAPER
O ND R U M \

DIRECTION O F INK JET --

AMPLIFIER
EXPERIMENTAL
PROCEDURE: MICROSCOPE
TO SUCTION 101.1NOZZLE k 3 m m
PUMP

Fig. 1 7 . Structure of Hertz gun for gray-scale printing,

>...o
................................1
GIANT PULSE LASER
VOLTS (30ns LIGHT SOURCE)

1ObsON. 1 5 p s O F F

10 50
TIME - 1.1s
PULSES APPLIEDTO
CONTROLELECTRODE

Fig. 19. Initial stage of jet dispersion for pulsed

two-level control signal (Hertz).

A magnified view of the jet dispersion process, taken

withamicroscopeandpulsed-laserillumination, is
shown inFig. 19. The jet isseen 2 m m after i t has
passed thecontrolelectrode. I n thiscasearegularly
pulsed voltage of 500 V was applied for 10 ps to the
control electrode, alternating with 15 ps a t 0 V. The
charged drops can be seen starting to disperse from the
axis of the jet, while the uncharged drops remain on
axis,compressingtogethersornewhatduetothe re-
duced air resistance encountered by the trailing drops.
This was a30-ns exposure, with a jet velocity of 40 m/s,
a drop diameter of 15 p, and a drop formation rate of 1
nIHz.
The printing samples shownin Fig. 18 were produced
on a facsimile-type apparatus having two mechanically
coupled drums-one for the original t o be scanned and
the other for the copy to be reproduced. Variations of
this design have been demonstrated for use in copying
Fig. 18. ResolutiontestwithHertzsystemshowingresolution photographic negatives or posi-tives, and for facsimile.
andgray scale. (a) Reproduced 1 : l . (b) Reproduced 2 : l . (10 Other applications of the electrostatically dispersed jet
lines/mm scan, 3 m/s writing speed.) havebeendemonstratedbyHertz,including a 5 X7
matrix high-speedalphanumericallineprinterusing
and the pulse length is continuously variable between 0 five heads per column for computer output use; a 50-
and 100 ps, depending on the gray tone desired. In this character/s typewriter in which 5 X 7 matrix characters
casetheelectrodeaperturearrangementcan bere- aredepositedbyasinglejetthat is mechanically
placed by a simple structure (Fig. 17) in which the con- oscillatedverticallyandprintsontoacontinuously
trolelectrodeandaperturearecombinedintoone stepped band, which is then pressed against the paper
cylinder.Depending on theapplication,thediameter by a print bar after a line has been generated, and an
may or may not bedecreased a t one end to a small intensity modulated version of the previously described
aperture. The control voltage is applied to this conduc- Elmqvist galvanometer-deflected oscillographic
jet
tiveelectrode,which is porousand is backedbya printer.
vacuum so a s t o collect the ink that is not directed to
the paper. Fig. 18 shows recent copy from two resolu- Line Arrays of Jets
tiontests.The process hasaresolution of about 5 As mentioned, Hertz has built printers using a line
lines/mm. of severalparalleljetsprintingsimultaneously,based
542

on his dispersed jet principle. Sweet and Cumming121] P EZOELECTRIC

I N K CHAMBER, ,/DISC IN WALL
have also patented a system containing a line array of
jets in which the drop formation method and electro-
static deflectionmethodforgatingeachjet on or off . *.. .... ,.

are similar in principle to those in Sweet's single nozzle

oscillographic system; this line-array system, capableof
real-time recording of standard television signals, uses
commondeflectionelectrodesandpowersupply. A. Fig. 20. Asynchronous pressure-pulsed jetprinter (BEM).
similarline-arrayjetsystem is describedinapatent
1221 by R. Taylor of the Mead Corporation, in which a
series of line arrays is used, with each arrayof jets offset
slightly so that the packing density of the nozzles can
be less than that of the printed dot pattern, thus easing
fabrication of the nozzle array and also permitting the
use of differentcolors of ink.Applicationsdescribed
includeprintingmultiplecopiesfromamaster,high-
speed printout from a computer or memory, and crea-
tion of a time-varying three-dimensional display.
Asynchronous Pressure-Pulsed Jet Printer
E . L. Kyser and S. B. Sears of BEM, MountainView,
Calif., have developed a jet printer that propels single a
drop asynchronously, each time that a pressure pulse
is applied to an ink reservoir. (Gould Inc. has also de-
veloped a printer on the same principle, but the public
release of the details was too late for inclusion in this)
paper.)
The BEM printer is extremely simple, consistingof a
smallrectangularchamber,perhaps 1.5 by 1.3 by 0.5
cm, with a supply tube at one side and an exit for the
nozzle on the opposite side (Fig. 20). A 0.7-cm diameter.
piezoelectric disk is mounted in one ~7all such that the
volume of the chamber is reduced each time that the
disk is electrically pulsed. The system operates on de.
mand, and simply squirts out a drop each time a pres.
sure pulse is applied to the fluid. The drop size is deter. Fig. 21. BEM asynchronousinkdropprinter. 700 drops/s; 50
mined by thenozzle diameter and by the energy contenl. ~s delay between successive pictures; scale 0.001 in/div; ejection
velocity 60 in/s.
of the driving pulse. Spot size (on the paper) has beer!
varied between 0.1 and 0.65 mm. When pulsed regularly,
the unit in its current form be canoperated a t r a t e sfron-i diameter nozzle, and the fact that it is asynchronous.
dc to about 8000 drops/s. Fig. 21 shows the jet operating Spacing from the nozzle can be set from about 2.5 cm
at a rate of 700 drops/s. The stability of the system if. down to about 0.03 cm, the latter beinga closer spacing
indicated by the lack of blurring in the strobe-illumi than other jet systems permit. There is nodeflection
natedphotograph,whichaverageseachimageover F system;papermotion is normallyusedtoachieve
1-s exposure, equivalent to 700 drops. translation in one direction, and pulsed, stacked nozzles
The system hasno equivalent of a check valve to pre (seven, for example, for printing a 5 X 7 matrix alpha-
vent reverse flow; the pressure pulse simply drives thc numeral set) are used to produce the ink pattern in the
ink feed line and the nozzle symmetrically, the energ!. other direction.
loss being unimportant. Under some circumstances thc
SUMMARY
ink may pull back into the nozzle as much as 0.2 mn
between each pulse. No bias pressure is required in thl. Ink jet printing offers a simple but elegant solution
chamber;infact,duetocapillaryforces,the s ~ p p l ; ~t o a number of printing applications, especially those
line can actually be setto zero or a slight negative pres requiring quiet operation, printing on irregular surfaces
sure. Less than 100 V is required to drive the piezo' oronuncontrolledmaterials,orprintingfrom a con-
electric disk. stantly changing data source,
The main advantagesof the approach areits extreml;. Some nonprinting applications of' the ink jet type of
simplicity,thefactthat it permitsarelativelylargft: systemsinclude: a "Micro-Dispenser" [ 2 3 ] marketed
 KAMPHOEFNER : INK 593

by Princeton FluidicsCorporation,dispensesand [SI c.

H. Richards, “Apparatus for producing a stream of electri-
cally charged multimolecular particles,” U. S. Patent 2 600 129,
countsdropsassmall as 1 a t kilohertzratesfor June 10, 1952.
manufacturingandlaboratorypurposes;particle sep- [61 R.Elmqvist,“Measuringinstrument of therecordiwtype,”
U. S. Patent 2 566 443, Sept. 4,1951.
aration (and in particular the sorting of biological cells) [7] c. R. LIVinston, “Methodandapparatusfortransferringink,”
by Fulwyler [24] a t Los Alamos,andbyHulett et al. U. S. Patent
[SI -,
3060429, Oct.23, 1962.
private communication, June 2 , 1971.
[ 2 5 ] at StanfordUniversity,toseparate Or Classify [9] E. Ascoli, “ProcCdC d ’ h i t u r eH W Pp a r ‘6mission e t d6flexion
electrostatique d’un jet d’encre, Ind. Org. no. 4, 1,868.
On the basis Of size’ light scattering ab- [IO] R. G. Sweet, ‘‘Si nalapparatus fluid droprecorder, U. S.Patent
sorbance,orfluorescence;atwo-dimensionalreal-time 3 596275, July 2’5, 1971.
display system by h,qyer [26] ; and a three- [ l l ] A. M. ?wis and A. D.Brown,“Electricallyoperatedcharacter
printer, U. S. Patent 3 298 030, Jan. 10, 1967.
dimensional displayconcept by
Taylor [22]. [12] V. E. Bischoff, “Guard drop
techniquefor
ink
jet
systems,”
Those interested in further variations of jet Printing [131 U. S. Patent 3 562 757, Feb. 9,1971.
R. 1, K~~~and H. A. ~ ~ ht 1l1 ~, dropk writing apparat,ls,s, u. s.
systemscanfind in. theliterature,asexamples,mag- Patent 3465350,Sept. 2, 1969.
lletically deflected magnetic-fluid systelns (Kazan [27] [I41 -9 ‘(Inkdropwritingapparatus,”
Sept. 2, 1969.
s.
u. Patent 3 465351,
and Johnson [28]), a magnetically deflected non- [IS] J. J.Stoneand V. E. Bischoff,“Dropphasing in inkdropwriting
magnetic-fluidsystem(Auphan [29]), afluidicallyde- apparatus,” U. S. Patent 3 562 761, Feb.9, 1971.
[16] “Description and technical specifications, Models BP-7004 and
flected jet printer(Hochberg [SO]), anopticallycon- BP-7005,” Data Corp., Dayton, Ohio, Tech. Note DTN-71-4,
July 1971.
jet printer (‘‘\leig1 LS1 I),and many more’ Sweet’s [17] C. H. Hertz and S,-I. Simonsson, i~Inkjetre:corder,”U. S, Patent
paper’includes a brief but good summary of earlywork 3 416153,Des. 10, 1968.
c.
on t h e generation and control of fluid drops by investi- [18] H. Hertz, A . MBnsson, and s.-I. Simonsson, “A method for
the intensity modulation of a recording ink jet and its applica-
gators in the field of fluid mechanics. tions,” Acta Univ. Lund., sec. 2 , no. 15,
pp. 1-16,
1967.
I191 A. E r n 5 and C. H. Hertz, “A new principle for a fast printout
system, Ark. Fys., vol. 40, 1969.
ACKKOWLEDGMENT [20] C. H. Hertz and :.-I. Simonsson, “Intensilty modulation of ink
jet oscillographs, M e d . Elect. B i d . Eng., vol. 7, pp. 337-340,
Theauthor wishes t o acknowledgethemanyin- 1969.
dividuals who supplied information and material for [21] R. G.SweetandR. C. Cumming,“Fluiddropletrecorderwith
a plurality of jets,” U. S. Patent 3 373 437, Mar. 12, 1968.
this review paper. Among these are R. G * Sweet Of [22] R. P. Taylor,“Imageconstructionsystem using multiplearrays
Stanford University, H. Hertz of the Lund Institute of of dropgenerators,” U. S.Patent 3 560 641,Feb. 2 , 1971.
[23] T. Balmer,“Billionth of literdispensed a t touch of button,’’
Technology, E. Wattenbarger of RecognitionEquip- Design News, pp. 22-23, Nov. 23, 1970.
merit Inc., C. u7irlstonof Teletype Corporation, R. [24] M . J . Fulwyler et al., “Device which separatesminuteparticles
according to electronically sensemd volume,” Rev. Sci. Instr.,
Thorens of Paillard, S A . , V. WennerholmofElema- vol. 40, pp. 42-48, Jan. 1969.
Schijnander AB, and E. Kyser of BEM. Key SRI staff [25] H. R. Hulett et al., “Cell sorting: Automated separation of mam-
malian cells as a function of intracellular fluorescence,” Sci., vol.
included G. Eilers, S. Graf, J. Eige, and S . Johnson. 166, pp. 747-742, NOV.7, 1969.
[26] J . H. Myer, Drosograph displaysystem,” U. S. Patent
REFERENCES 3 571 511, Mar. 16, 1971.
[27] B. Kazan,“Magneticinkrecording,” U. S. Patent 3 287734,
[l] R. G. Sweet,“HighfrequencyrecordingwithelectrostaticallyKov.22, 1966.
deflected ink jets,” Rev. Sci. Instr., vol. 36, pp. 131-136, Jan. [28] C. E. Johnson, Jr., “Oscillographic writing system,” U.S. Patent
3 1965. 878, M,ay 5, 1970.
[2] R. H. Ranger and S. B.Smith,“Coloredfacsimilesystem,” [29] M. Auphan,Inkjetrecorder,” U. S. Patent 3373436, Mar.12,
U. S. Patent 1817098, Aug.,?, 1931. 1968.
[3] C. \V. Hensell,“Recorder, U. S. Patent 1 941 001, Dec. 26,[30] D.Hochberg,“Jetprinter,” U. S. Patent 3373438, Mar.12,
1933. 1968.
[4] H . Shore,“Facsimilesystem,” U. S. Patent 2 100204, June 3, [31] J . W. Weigl, “Image recording apparatus ink droplet recorder
1933. input,”
opticalwith U.S. Patent 3 484 793, 1969.
Dec. 16