Trenched stimulating plate

Claim 1

In a jet drop recording head comprising an orifice plate provided with a plurality of orifices, a common manifold connecting with the orifices, means marginally securing the orifice plate to the manifold, means for supplying a recording liquid to the manifold at sufficient pressure for forcing the liquid through the orifices and creating a plurality of liquid jets, means for stimulating the jets to break up into streams of regularly formed drops, and means for charging and deflecting the drops to create intelligible patterns therefrom; the improvement wherein the means for stimulating the jets comprises an elongated stimulating plate secured to and forming a part of the wall of the manifold for directly contacting recording liquid in the manifold, means forming a flexible medial channel or trench in said stimulating plate and extending along the length thereof, the portions of said plate on either side of said channel forming longitudinally continuous, thicker, stiffer and more massive peripheral portions, thereby forming an acoustical barrier between the thinner medial portion of said plate and the greater, more rigid masses of the portions of said plate on the sides of said channel, and means for acoustically stimulating the thinner medial portion of said plate and thereby stimulating the jets, the acoustical barrier at the sides of the channel reflecting and confining the acoustical energy within said channel independently of, and substantially unaffected by, the interface between said stimulating plate and said manifold.