Claims
- 1. A drop on-demand ink jet printing head, comprising:
- a structure having a plurality of nozzle apertures; and
- a plurality of piezoelectric elements connected to said structure and aligned respectively with said plurality of nozzle apertures wherein:
- said piezoelectric elements each comprises laminated multiple piezoelectric layers and multiple conductive layers and comprises end faces that extend substantially parallel to a lamination direction of said piezoelectric layers and said conductive layers;
- the lamination direction of said piezoelectric layers and said conductive layers coincides with a direction perpendicular to a main vibrating direction of said piezoelectric elements; and
- said piezoelectric elements each comprises vibration-inducing end electrodes disposed on the end faces of each of said piezoelectric elements.
- 2. A printing head as claimed in claim 1, wherein said structure comprises:
- a nozzle plate comprising said nozzle apertures;
- a spacer for forming ink storage areas interposed between said nozzle plate and said piezoelectric elements; and
- a vibration plate interposed between said spacer and said piezoelectric elements.
- 3. A printing head as claimed in claim 2, wherein said structure further comprises a base plate to which said piezoelectric elements are fixed.
- 4. A printing head as claimed in claim 3, wherein:
- said spacer comprises a partition portion that extends between and thereby partitions the ink storage areas into a first group and a second group of the ink storage areas in correspondence with said nozzle apertures; and
- said base plate is aligned with said partition portion.
- 5. A printing head as claimed in claim 4, wherein:
- said nozzle apertures are aligned to form a plurality of nozzle arrays; and
- said base plate is aligned with said partition portion of said spacer between said nozzle arrays.
- 6. A printing head as claimed in claim 2, wherein ink is stored in the ink storage areas to be ejected through said nozzle apertures in a direction that coincides with the main vibrating direction of said piezoelectric elements.
- 7. A drop on-demand ink jet printing head, comprising:
- a structure having a plurality of nozzle apertures; and
- a plurality of piezoelectric elements connected to said structure and aligned respectively with said plurality of nozzle apertures;
- wherein:
- said structure comprises a base plate to which said piezoelectric elements are each fixed at one end thereof, another end of each of said piezoelectric elements being a free end;
- said piezoelectric elements each comprises laminated multiple piezoelectric layers and multiple conductive layers;
- a lamination direction of said piezoelectric layers and said conductive layers coincides with a direction perpendicular to a main vibrating direction of said piezoelectric elements; and
- the free end of each of said piezoelectric elements is vibratable in the main vibrating direction.
- 8. A drop on-demand ink jet printing head, comprising:
- a structure having a plurality of nozzle apertures;
- a plurality of piezoelectric elements aligned with said plurality of nozzle apertures, respectively;
- a vibration plate interposed between said structure and said piezoelectric elements and extending in a given plane; and
- interconnections between said structure, said piezoelectric elements and said vibration plate; wherein:
- said piezoelectric elements each comprises laminated multiple piezoelectric layers and multiple conductive layers;
- a lamination direction of said piezoelectric layers and said conductive layers coincides with a direction perpendicular to a main vibrating direction of said piezoelectric elements; and
- an axial direction extending lengthwise through each of said piezoelectric elements is substantially perpendicular to the plane of said vibration plate.
Priority Claims (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
2-4074 |
Feb 1990 |
JPX |
|
2-337278 |
Nov 1990 |
JPX |
|
Parent Case Info
This is a Continuation of application No. 08/393,920 filed Feb. 24, 1995, which is a Continuation of application No. 08/136,049, filed Oct. 14, 1993, U.S. Pat. No. 5,444,971 which is a File Wrapper Continuation of application No. 07/657,910, filed Feb. 20, 1991 abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (19)
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Non-Patent Literature Citations (2)
Entry |
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Continuations (3)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
393920 |
Feb 1995 |
|
Parent |
136049 |
Oct 1993 |
|
Parent |
657910 |
Feb 1991 |
|