A print head of a continuous ink jet printer comprising: a cavity for the circulation of jets, at least one nozzle for producing at least one ink jet or solvent in the cavity, at least one electrode for sorting drops or segments of one or several of the jets intended for printing from drops or segments that are not used for printing, an outlet slot of the cavity, open onto the exterior of the cavity and allowing the exiting of the drops or segments of ink intended for printing, a 1.sup.st gutter for recovering drops or segments not intended for printing, a 2.sup.nd gutter for recovering drops or segments that are not deflected and not intended for printing, this 2.sup.nd gutter being mobile and comprising an input slot and at least one suction channel, a motor, to actuate the 2.sup.nd gutter for recovering in movement between a retracted position, in which it does not close off the outlet slot of the cavity, and a closed position, in which its input slot faces the outlet slot of the cavity; a seal between the print head and the 2.sup.nd gutter for recovering in the closed position of the latter.

A print head of a continuous ink jet printer comprising: a cavity for the circulation of jets, at least one nozzle for producing at least one ink jet or solvent in the cavity, at least one electrode for sorting drops or segments of one or several of the jets intended for printing from drops or segments that are not used for printing, an outlet slot of the cavity, open onto the exterior of the cavity and allowing the exiting of the drops or segments of ink intended for printing, a 1.sup.st gutter for recovering drops or segments not intended for printing, a 2.sup.nd gutter for recovering drops or segments that are not deflected and not intended for printing, this 2.sup.nd gutter being mobile and comprising an input slot and at least one suction channel, a motor, to actuate the 2.sup.nd gutter for recovering in movement between a retracted position, in which it does not close off the outlet slot of the cavity, and a closed position, in which its input slot faces the outlet slot of the cavity; a seal between the print head and the 2.sup.nd gutter for recovering in the closed position of the latter.

A continuous inkjet printer (50) has an ink droplet generator (52) and a controller (58) that varies a modulating voltage applied to the ink droplet generator (52) and measures corresponding breakup times of a jet of ink into ink droplets to obtain a portion of a characteristic of breakup time against modulating voltage. The controller (58) obtains a variation range, varies the modulating voltage over the variation range to obtain the portion of the characteristic, calculates a gradient from the portion of the characteristic, compares the gradient with a predetermined gradient and, depending on whether the calculated gradient is less than or greater than the predetermined gradient, generates an adjusted variation range that is displaced in a first sense or a second, opposite sense, respectively, relative to the variation range.

A print head for an inkjet printer includes a nozzle, a first electrode positioned to receive an ink droplet from the nozzle, a second electrode positioned to receive the ink droplet from the first electrode, and a controller configured to operate the first electrode to ionize the ink droplet and set a flight speed of the ink droplet. The controller is further configured to selectively activate the second electrode to deflect the ink droplet in response to the print head changing from a horizontal printing orientation to a vertical printing orientation.

The invention describes a number of methods and apparatus for shortening the inter-message gap on a continuous inkjet printer. Included is a novel phase testing methodology.

An ink-jet printer including a conveyor, a carriage, a recording head, a power supply, an ink receiver, a command receiver, and a controller, is provided. The controller executes the steps of: determining a discharge ink amount that should be discharged to the ink receiver; raising a drive voltage to a first voltage when the discharge ink amount is less than a first threshold value, and raising the drive voltage to a second voltage when the discharge ink amount is the first threshold value or more; performing a flushing process; based on the flushing process after having raised the drive voltage to the second voltage having finished in the case of having raised the drive voltage to the second voltage, stepping down the drive voltage from the second voltage to the first voltage; and based on the flushing process having finished and on the drive voltage being the first voltage, performing a printing process.

An ink-jet printer including a conveyor, a carriage, a recording head, a power supply, an ink receiver, a command receiver, and a controller, is provided. The controller executes the steps of: determining a discharge ink amount that should be discharged to the ink receiver; raising a drive voltage to a first voltage when the discharge ink amount is less than a first threshold value, and raising the drive voltage to a second voltage when the discharge ink amount is the first threshold value or more; performing a flushing process; based on the flushing process after having raised the drive voltage to the second voltage having finished in the case of having raised the drive voltage to the second voltage, stepping down the drive voltage from the second voltage to the first voltage; and based on the flushing process having finished and on the drive voltage being the first voltage, performing a printing process.

The present invention relates to an inkjet print head device for continuous inkjet printing, comprising a transducer; a charge electrode; a deflection plate; a gutter; and a holster; provided that the holster is receiving at least the aforementioned components, wherein the holster comprises an opening for a dedicated outlet for the ink in a printing mode, and wherein the holster further comprises an ink leakage detection area. Further the invention relates to a method and a system for detecting ink leakage in a print head. [ok]

In an existing service points granting method, service points are changed according to whether the ink ejection amount is corrected. However, changing the service points according to a user's purchases or purchase frequency for components or services has not been considered. A display unit displays products or services relevant to an ink jet recording apparatus, points corresponding to the products or services, and cumulative points possessed by each customer.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide an inkjet recording device that is capable of minimizing contamination, by floating ink, of the inside and outside of a print head without increasing the volatilization volume of a solvent. In order to attain the purpose, provided is an inkjet recording device having: a nozzle which applies print onto a printing medium by discharging ink; and a print head which houses therein a deflection electrode for deflecting the discharged ink by means of an electrostatic force, the inkjet recording device being provided with an ink suction unit which sucks in floating ink by means of the electrostatic force.