Apparatus for neutralizing and registering an electrostatically charged sheet

Abstract

In a first embodiment a stop having a plurality of ports is connected to and covers an end of a rectangular sleeve. In a region near the stop a narrow wall of the sleeve also has a plurality of ports. Near the other end of the sleeve the other narrow wall includes a plurality of ports communicating with the space inside the sleeve and a chamber of a grounded metallic manifold coupled to the sleeve. Insulators support in the chamber an electrode connected to a voltage source and a pump forces air past the electrode and into the sleeve to provide therein an ionized fluid. The fluid exits through the ports in said narrow wall and stop and if a charged sheet is in the sleeve it is neutralized and registered against said narrow wall and stop. In a second embodiment, similar to the first, the ports in the narrow wall and sleeve communicate with the chamber of a second manifold coupled to the sleeve. The second manifold is coupled to a vacuum pump for moving fluid out of the sleeve, thereby accelerating registration.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.