ABSTRACT
It is traditional for historical discussions of inkjet technology to begin with references to the 19th-century studies made by Lord Rayleigh on the stability of liquid jets. This work formed the practical basis for the development of continuous inkjet printers that have found broad application in industrial marking processes and the graphic arts. These devices make use of the Rayleigh instability, which causes a continuous liquid jet to break up into a stream of droplets, which then are electrostatically deflected between trajectories allowing them to print or to collect for recirculation.
