Patent 7850289 was granted and assigned to Eastman Kodak on December, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A printer includes a printhead and a source of fluid. The printhead includes a nozzle. The fluid is under pressure sufficient to eject a column of the fluid through the nozzle. The fluid has a temperature. An asymmetric thermal modulator is associated with the nozzle and includes a structure that transiently lowers the temperature of a first portion of the fluid as the fluid is ejected through the nozzle and a structure that transiently raises the temperature of a second portion of the fluid as the fluid is ejected through the nozzle.