Electrostatic cleaning of electrodes in an electrographic printer

US4862198A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Moore Business Forms, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Robert S. Rizza · Manchester, US
• Ben W. Fagen · Enfield, US
• Michael W. Raymond · Bolton, US
• Peter Feher · Suwanee, US
• Norman L. Milliard · Town of East Hartford, US
• Thomas B. Kegelman · Palm Harbor, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 6, 1988
• Grant date: Aug 29, 1989
• Expiry date: Oct 6, 2008

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G03G15/325
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

The print head of an electrographic printer is cleaned electrostatically. The printhead has a number of electrodes in an electrode array, which cooperate with a dielectric belt. Periodically, printing with the printer is interrupted (e.g. after every 100 pages of printing, or about every minute), and then substantially all of the electrodes are energized at the same time for a time period sufficient to effect burning off of contaminants from the electrodes (e.g. about the time it takes to print four pages, or about 3 seconds). A host computer controls the operation of the printer components. The printer developer unit may be moved away from the dielectric belt prior to the energization of all of the electrodes to effect cleaning.