Application of Intensity-Modulated Ink Jets to Alphanumeric Printing Devices

Experimental models for a line printer and a terminal printer have been constructed, making use of intensity-modulated ink jets for the recording of characters on untreated paper at a speed of 24 lines/s and 50 characters/s, respectively. The characters are printed on the matrix principle, using matrices of 10X16 and 5X7 formed by one oscillating ink jet. The nozzles producing the jets are oscillated by means of an electromagnet or a piezoelectric crystal. The terminal printer can be used as a normal typewriter as well as for automatic printout from a computer. As the printers contain few moving mechanical parts, their noise level is very low.