Gary A Drago
Engineers at Louisiana Pl, Longmont, CO

4698644, Oct 6, 1987

Oct 27, 1986

6/923055

Gary A. Drago - Longmont CO
Walter F. Baier - San Jose CA
Francis C. Lee - San Jose CA
Ross N. Mills - Boulder CO
Horst G. Mossbrugger - San Jose CA

International Business Machines - Armonk NY

G01D 1516

346140R

An ink jet drop-on-demand print head comprises a plurality of tubular piezoelectric transducers each having two electrodes formed by an electrically conducting coating. A housing member holds the transducers in a position which includes at least one row of transducers. A substrate includes a plurality of electrical conductors, and the substrate is positioned so that each electrical conductor is adjacent one of the electrodes. A resilient connector means is provided which is not conductive along its length but is conductive across its width, and the connector means is positioned to make contact with a selected one of the electrical conductors and only one of the electrodes of one of the transducers. In a specific embodiment, the substrate comprises a flat conductor cable, and in a second embodiment the substrate comprises a printed circuit board.

4266231, May 5, 1981

Nov 1, 1979

6/090368

Gary A. Drago - Longmont CO
Arthur L. Mix - Boulder CO
Robert T. Ritchie - Boulder CO

International Business Machines Corp. - Armonk NY

G01D 1518

346 75

During the startup and/or shutdown cycle of an ink jet printer, a movable probe in the form of a thin hollow tube, is inserted into the flight path of the ink droplets. The tube is normally positioned relative to the droplets flight path. At the shutdown cycle, the charge electrode is removed from the vicinity of the jet streams. The undeflected droplets are caught by the hollow tube. The tube is then moved to a position next to the nozzle plate. The ink jet printer head may then be turned off and all ink is caught in the tube. At startup the sequence is reversed until the tube is back at its normal position.