US3870257A - Electrostatic recording using discharge space potential - Google Patents

Electrostatic recording using discharge space potential Download PDF

Info

Publication number
US3870257A
US3870257A US389743A US38974373A US3870257A US 3870257 A US3870257 A US 3870257A US 389743 A US389743 A US 389743A US 38974373 A US38974373 A US 38974373A US 3870257 A US3870257 A US 3870257A
Authority
US
United States
Prior art keywords
electrodes
scanning
common electrode
discharge
voltage
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
US389743A
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Toshio Ohkubo
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
NEC Corp
Original Assignee
Nippon Electric Co Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Nippon Electric Co Ltd filed Critical Nippon Electric Co Ltd
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of US3870257A publication Critical patent/US3870257A/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

Links

Images

Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/385—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective supply of electric current or selective application of magnetism to a printing or impression-transfer material
    • B41J2/39—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective supply of electric current or selective application of magnetism to a printing or impression-transfer material using multi-stylus heads
    • B41J2/40—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective supply of electric current or selective application of magnetism to a printing or impression-transfer material using multi-stylus heads providing current or voltage to the multi-stylus head
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
    • H04N1/23—Reproducing arrangements
    • H04N1/29—Reproducing arrangements involving production of an electrostatic intermediate picture

Definitions

  • Spatial scanning is provided by a plurality of scanning electrodes spaced apart from a common electrode and sequentially pulsed to establish a progressing gas discharge.
  • a plurality of stylus electrodes are each responsive to the gas discharge between a respective scanning electrode and the common electrode to produce a facsimile recording or the like.
  • This invention relates generally to an electrostatic recording device and, more particularly, to a new and improved electrostatic recording device for use in a facsimile recording apparatus and the like.
  • the former the multi-stylus electrode type, which relies upon mechanical scanning, has the disadvantages that its scanning speed is not very high, being of the order of 1,000 lines per minute at most, and that it requires frequent maintenance necessitated by the need for frequent replacement of rotary brushes, which are for distributing video signals to multi-stylus electrodes, and the multi-stylus electrodes themselves, both of which can be easily worn out during operation.
  • An electrostatic printing tube has an inherently high scanning speed, because the deflection of an electron beam is utilized for scanning.
  • This electron tube is inevitably expensive because of its particular construction.
  • Another disadvantage is that extremely high voltages of the order of 15 kilovolts are needed for operation.
  • Still another disadvantage of the electrostatic printing tube is the high dielectric strengths required for the components of peripheral circuitry because of the grounded-anode type circuit structure.
  • a further disadvantage is the complex adjustment procedure required in the tube manufacture, such as exact electron beam focussing, compensation for deflection uniformity, etc.
  • this invention utilizes the electric glow discharge phenomenon, which has been used for display devices, to provide an electrostatic recording device which utilizes the scanning action of an electric discharge and the resulting gaseous conduction.
  • the present invention has made a great contribution to the solution of the problems of the prior art by realizing an extremely compact electrostatic recording device which features low manufacturing cost, ease of maintenance, and high scanning speeds.
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the principles of operation of an electrostatic recording device according to this invention
  • FIG. 2 is a perspective view' of a typical electrode arrangement for an electrostatic recording device according to this invention.
  • FIG. 3 is a schematic circuit diagram for example of a variable resistance element for use in the electrostatic recording device of this invention.
  • FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view depicting the detailed construction of an embodiment of the electrostatic recording device of this invention.
  • the recording device comprises a hermetically sealed envelope containing therein an inert gas such as neon, argon, or xenon or their mixture at a predetermined pressure, a plurality of scanning electrodes 111 through 117 and so forth in coplanar array disposed in the envelope at regular intervals, a common electrode (anode) disposed in the envelope at a suitable spacing with respect to the array of scanning electrodes, and a plurality of voltage pickup electrodes 121 through 127 and so forth also" in coplanar array disposed adjacent said array of scanning electrodes in one-to-one correspondence.
  • an inert gas such as neon, argon, or xenon or their mixture at a predetermined pressure
  • a plurality of scanning electrodes 111 through 117 and so forth in coplanar array disposed in the envelope at regular intervals a common electrode (anode) disposed in the envelope at a suitable spacing with respect to the array of scanning electrodes, and a plurality of voltage pickup electrodes 121 through 127 and so forth also
  • the scanning electrode 111 is connected to the scanning terminal 16l-provided outside of the hermetically sealed envelope, whereas the three sets of every third scanning electrodes 112, 115, ...;113,116, .;and 114,117, are respectively connected to the scanning terminals 162, 163, and 164 provided also outside of the envelope.
  • the common electrode 140 is connected, outside the envelope, to the positive electrode of a DC power supply 143 through a current-limiting resistor 141 and a variable-resistance element 142 provided with a control input terminal 144.
  • a video signal incoming through a signal input terminal 165 is amplified by an amplifier 145 and the amplified video signal is applied between the backing electrode and ground as a negative polarity voltage.
  • the video signal is also applied to the control input terminal 144 to control the resistance value of the variable-resistance element 142 in response to the magnitude of the video signal.
  • Shunt resistors 151' through 157 and so on are respectively connected to the recording stylus electrodes 131 through 137 and so on, andthese shunt resistors are grounded in common.
  • the shunt resistors 151 through 157 and so on are provided to reduce the adverse effects of the stray capacitances that inevitably exist between the recording stylus electrodes and ground.
  • a start pulse 171 of positive polarity as illustrated is applied to the terminal 161.
  • scanning pulses 172, 173, 174, all of positive polarity are respectively applied to the scanning terminals 162, 163, and 164.
  • the scanning electrode 111 maintains the greatest voltage difference with respect to the common electrode 140 to which a DC voltage of the DC power supply 143 is applied.
  • this voltage difference is greater than the discharge triggering voltage, an initial discharge occurs on the scan electrode 111 only and the voltage with respect to the common electrode is maintained at a value equal to the discharge-maintaining voltage, that is, the voltage of the DC power supply 143 minus a voltage drop through the current-limiting resistor 141 and the variable-resistance element 142 caused by a discharge current.
  • the discharge-maintaining voltage that is, the voltage of the DC power supply 143 minus a voltage drop through the current-limiting resistor 141 and the variable-resistance element 142 caused by a discharge current.
  • the scan electrodes 112, 115, connected to the scan terminal 162 are maintained at volt, or at the ground potential, and the scan electrodes 113, 114, 116, 117, connected to the scan terminals 163 and 164 are all maintained at V volts.
  • every third scanning electrode 112, 115, connected in common to the scanning terminal 162 can maintain the maximum potential difference with respect to the common electrode 140.
  • Scanning speeds due to the transfer of a discharge are possible up to a maximum of 5 microseconds per hit, which may be converted into a scanning rotation speed of about 26,000 revolutions per minute when the full width of a .llS-B6 format (Japanese lndustrial Standard) is scanned at the line density of 4 lines per millimeter. Therefore, the previous value is considered to be extremely high as compared with the mechanical scanning speeds.
  • each of voltage pickup electrodes 121 through 127 and so forth disposed respectively adjacent the scanning electrodes produces a voltage at a position in the discharge space where the pickup electrode is located by the ionic conduction that has taken place by the discharge.
  • This voltage s app oximately proportional to the cathode drop voltage in the discharge tube.
  • the picked up voltages are derived outside the envelope through the recording stylus electrodes 131 through 137 and so forth for the application to the front surface of the electrostatic recording medium 180.
  • a recording voltage equal to the difference between the pickup electrode voltage and the video signal voltage is applied to that position of the recording medium with which the recording stylus comes into contact, which is associated with the scanning electrode on which the discharge. is taking place.
  • a latent electrostatic image corresponding to the recording voltage is developed.
  • the latent image can be made visible and the recording is accomplished by following the known processes of development and fixation as used for conventional electrostatic recording.
  • the recording voltages ranging from 500 to 800 volts are necessary in order to obtain recordings of sufficient densities and contrast
  • the recording voltage becomes less than the above-mentioned voltage (500 to 800 volts) by an amount equal to the pickup electrode voltage and hence, much less than the voltage of a power supply used for the electrostatic printing tube.
  • the pickup electrode voltage may be of the order of 200 to 300 volts.
  • each recording stylus electrode is simultaneously charged by stray capacitance which inevitably appears between the recording stylus electrode and ground, and the amountof electrical energy stored therein continues discharge with a certain time constraint even after the discharge at one scanning electrode has been shifted tothe next.
  • FIG. 2 An actual method for forming these voltage pickup electrodes is depicted in a perspective view shown in FIG. 2. As illustrated, an array of scanning electrodes 201 and so forth and an array of voltage pickup electrodes 203 and so forth are formed, in one-to-one correspondence, on the same insulating shield 200 in such a manner that one end of each voltage pickup electrode is disposed in the notch 202 cut in one end of the corresponding scanning electrode so as to produce a small clearance therebetween.
  • Such an electrode arrangement has been found simplest and most economical for providing both efficiency of picking up spatial potentials and facilitation of manufacturing through the use of well-known photoetching techniques.
  • the electrostatic recording device of this invention is no exception to this rule; the scanning electrode, or the cathode, gives rise to sputtering causing degradation in dielectric strength with respect to the voltage pickup electrode and the life span of the device to be shortened.
  • the method has been used of reducing the sputtering in a discharge tube, such as a display tube, by the addition of a saturated mercury vapor to an inert gas in a hermetically sealed envelope. This method has been found to be effective as applied to the present device.
  • a facsimile signal has a great deal of redundancy, the proportion of black signals to the entire signals being considerably small. In the absence of the video signal, therefore, there is no need for deriving a voltage from the voltage pickup electrode; the mere scanning operation is all that is needed, whereas the conduction of a discharge current is only needed in the presence of a video signal.
  • variable-resistance element 142 which may be a transistor, shown in FIG. 1 serves to variably control the discharge current in response to the video signal.
  • One implementation of the element 142 is schematically illustrated in FIG. 3.
  • reference numerals 140 and 141 denote respectively the common electrode (anode) and the current-limiting resistor as mentioned in connection with FIG. 1.
  • Reference numeral 301 denotes a transistor as the variable resistance element 142 inserted in series with the current-limiting resistor 141 connected in the discharge current path.
  • Reference numeral 303 denotes a shunt resistor connected from the collector to the emitter of transistor 301.
  • Reference numeral 302 denotes a pulse transformer for insulating a video signal source 305 from the DC power supply 143 in the collector circuit of transistor 301 and for applying a video signal to the base electrode of the transistor 301.
  • Reference numeral 304 denotes a damping resistor connected across the secondary of transformer 302, and reference numeral 306 denotes a resistor connected in series to the base of the transistor.
  • the discharge current is limited only by the resultant resistance equal to the sum of the resistances of the current-limiting resistor 141 and the shunt resistor 303 connected in series therewith. It will be understood, therefore, that the resistance of both resistors should be set to achieve a minimum current to provide a stabilized discharge scanning operation.
  • the resistance value of the current-limiting resistor should be set at a value capable of furnishing a maximum current, or a sufficient output voltage, to each recording stylus electrode.
  • the discharge current can be controlled in response to the magnitude of the video signal, whereby the greater the proportion of white signals occupying in the entire signals, the longer the device will last.
  • the common electrode 205 faces that portion of the scanning electrode 201, considerably apart from the rectangular notch portion 202 as illustrated. Therefore, an electric discharge will occur between the common electrode and that portion of the scanning electrode located just beneath the common electrode when the discharge current is small.
  • Such an arrangement contributes greatly to retarding the aging and deterioration in insulation between the scanning and voltage pickup electrodes.
  • a discharge will take place over the entire scanning electrode surface as a result of an increase in discharge current and hence in discharge area.
  • all of the scanning electrodes 411 through 417 and so forth, each provided with a notch cut in one end thereof, the voltage pickup electrodes 421 through 427 having their ends projecting into the respective notches cut in the scanning electrodes, the recording stylus electrodes 431 through 437 respectively connected to the voltage pickup electrodes, the scanning terminals 451 through 454, and the lead wires 442 through 444 to which the three sets of every third scanning electrodes are respectively connected can be formed on an insulating shield 401 such as a ceramic or glass material by utilizing well-known integrated circuit techniques; e.g. evaporation, plating, photoetching, screenprinting, etc.
  • the scanning electrodes 413, 414, 416, 417, and so forth whichcannot be directly connected to the lead wires 443 and 444 are connected thereto through insulated wires 461, 462, 463, 464, and so forth by using the wire bonding method, for example.
  • the scanning electrodes be spaced apart at a regular. interval at least of 0.4 millimeter.
  • the spacing or pitch of the successive recording stylus electrodes should be 0.25 millimeter, for instance, for a density of 4 lines per millimeter, although this value is subject to change according to the required recording resolution. ln other words, the pitch of the recording stylus electrodes has been suitably determined before they are aligned at equal intervals at one edge of the insulating shield.
  • the end surface of the shield at which the recording stylus electrodes are aligned is inclined at a suitable angle with respect to the bottom surface of the insulating shield. This is to secure optimum contact between the stylus electrodes and the electrostatic recording medium.
  • the common electrode 470 is disposed so as to face those portions of the array of scanning electrodes considerably removed from the notchportions, and a terminal 471 is connected to the commonelectrode to provide for the connection of the discharge power supply.
  • the common electrode 470 and terminal 471 are formed by integrated circuit techniques as mentioned previously.
  • the insulating upper and lower shields are bonded together with a suitable sealing compound such as glass along the peripheral portions 481 and 482 to establish a hermetic seal.
  • Reference numeral 490 denotes the shunt resistances for reducing the effect of the stray capacitances existing between the plurality of scanning electrodes and ground. These shunt resistances are formed by applying a resistive paint on the recording stylus electrodes and then, annealing the paint, for example.
  • a conductive paint for instance, is applied to form the electrode 491 for connection to the terminal 492.
  • the hermetically sealed structure is mounted on evacuation apparatus and thoroughly evacuated through the exhaust tube 403. Then a small amount of an inert gas such as neon, argon, or xenon, or a mixed gas is admitted to bring up the gas pressure inside to a predetermined value and the exhaust tube is sealed off.
  • an inert gas such as neon, argon, or xenon, or a mixed gas
  • an electrostatic recording device for facsimile and the like comprising: an envelope adapted to hermetically contain at least one kind of gas for developing a gas discharge; a first plurality of electrodes arranged to cause gas discharges one after another and thereby to provide a spatial scanning by the discharges; a second plurality of electrodes disposed adjacent respective ones of said scanning electrodes for picking up voltages induced at the conductivestate of said gas discharges; at least one common electrode provided opposite to said first plurality of electrodes, said gas discharges occurring between said common electrode and said first plurality of electrodes; a plurality of stylus electrodes each connected at one of their ends to respective ones of said second plurality of electrodes with the other end thereof arranged in a straight line with the corresponding ends of the remaining stylus electrodes on the outside of said envelope and positioned to come.
  • variable resistance means connected to said common electrode for controlling the currents of said discharges in response to the level of avideo signal to be recorded; and means for applying said video signal to the other surface of said recording medium, the improvement wherein said first plurality of electrodes each have a notch formed.
  • said second plurality of electrodes are disposed in a one-to-one correspondence in the notches formed in said first plurality of electrodes.
  • An electrostatic recording device as recited in claim 1 further comprising scanning means connected to each of said first plurality of electrodes for sequentially applying a potential difference referenced to said common electrode-to each said first plurality of electrodes to thereby establish a scanning action of an electrical discharge. between said first plurality of electrodes and said common electrode.
  • An electrostatic recording device as recited in claim 2 whereinsaid scanning means includes means for connecting a source of voltage to said common electrode through said variable resistance means and voltage pulsing means connected to each of said first plurality at electrodes for sequentially applying voltage pulses thereto, the resulting potential difference between said common electrode in the presence of a video signal and a pulsed electrode in said first plurality of electrodes being sufficient to maintain a gas discharge therebetween.
  • An electrostatic recording device as recited in claim 3 wherein said voltage pulsing means includes first, second and third terminal means, each of saidtervoltage required for scanning.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Printers Or Recording Devices Using Electromagnetic And Radiation Means (AREA)
  • Facsimile Heads (AREA)
  • Fax Reproducing Arrangements (AREA)
US389743A 1972-08-22 1973-08-20 Electrostatic recording using discharge space potential Expired - Lifetime US3870257A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP8428172A JPS5532067B2 (US20020051482A1-20020502-M00012.png) 1972-08-22 1972-08-22

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US3870257A true US3870257A (en) 1975-03-11

Family

ID=13826057

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US389743A Expired - Lifetime US3870257A (en) 1972-08-22 1973-08-20 Electrostatic recording using discharge space potential

Country Status (4)

Country Link
US (1) US3870257A (US20020051482A1-20020502-M00012.png)
JP (1) JPS5532067B2 (US20020051482A1-20020502-M00012.png)
GB (1) GB1444727A (US20020051482A1-20020502-M00012.png)
NL (1) NL160693C (US20020051482A1-20020502-M00012.png)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4096489A (en) * 1975-08-26 1978-06-20 Nippon Electric Company, Ltd. Electrostatic-recording gas discharge device with improved scanning stability

Families Citing this family (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS5948908B2 (ja) * 1976-02-27 1984-11-29 日本エタニツトパイプ株式会社 繊維質セメント管およびその製法
JPS57100212U (US20020051482A1-20020502-M00012.png) * 1980-12-09 1982-06-19
JPS6236263Y2 (US20020051482A1-20020502-M00012.png) * 1981-06-02 1987-09-16
JPS5822709U (ja) * 1981-07-08 1983-02-12 三菱電機株式会社 ロ−タリ−トランス
JPS5944017U (ja) * 1982-09-14 1984-03-23 日本フエライト株式会社 回転トランスのシヨ−トリング取り付け構造
JPS59101807A (ja) * 1982-12-02 1984-06-12 Nippon Ferrite Ltd ロ−タリ−トランス
JPS61186217U (US20020051482A1-20020502-M00012.png) * 1985-05-14 1986-11-20
JPS6329910U (US20020051482A1-20020502-M00012.png) * 1986-08-11 1988-02-27
JPS63118211U (US20020051482A1-20020502-M00012.png) * 1987-01-23 1988-07-30

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3209324A (en) * 1962-08-15 1965-09-28 Otis Elevator Co Elevator trouble reporting system
US3750190A (en) * 1970-11-20 1973-07-31 Nippon Electric Co Electrostatic recording device utilizing the electric potential in a discharge space

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3209324A (en) * 1962-08-15 1965-09-28 Otis Elevator Co Elevator trouble reporting system
US3750190A (en) * 1970-11-20 1973-07-31 Nippon Electric Co Electrostatic recording device utilizing the electric potential in a discharge space

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4096489A (en) * 1975-08-26 1978-06-20 Nippon Electric Company, Ltd. Electrostatic-recording gas discharge device with improved scanning stability

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE2342436A1 (de) 1974-03-21
GB1444727A (en) 1976-08-04
NL7311438A (US20020051482A1-20020502-M00012.png) 1974-02-26
JPS4940611A (US20020051482A1-20020502-M00012.png) 1974-04-16
NL160693C (nl) 1979-11-15
NL160693B (nl) 1979-06-15
DE2342436B2 (de) 1976-10-07
JPS5532067B2 (US20020051482A1-20020502-M00012.png) 1980-08-22

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US3870257A (en) Electrostatic recording using discharge space potential
GB1496442A (en) Luminous discharge display devices
US3548250A (en) Apparatus having a television camera tube and television camera tube for use in such an apparatus
US2829292A (en) Cathode-ray tubes
JPS6237502B2 (US20020051482A1-20020502-M00012.png)
US2952796A (en) Electrostatic printing tube
US2283148A (en) Modulation of cathode ray devices
US4804887A (en) Display device with vibration-preventing plate for line cathodes
US2527632A (en) Storage tube
US2877376A (en) Phosphor screen device
KR100385498B1 (ko) 플라즈마어드레스형액정디스플레이용캐소드
US4329616A (en) Keep-alive electrode arrangement for display panel having memory
US3750190A (en) Electrostatic recording device utilizing the electric potential in a discharge space
US2195098A (en) Electron discharge device
CA1219979A (en) Gas discharge logic device for use with ac plasma panels
US3368106A (en) Printing cathode ray tube apparatus achieving improved quantum gains
US2978607A (en) Electrostatic writing tube
US3278779A (en) Cathode-ray tube having an insulating spacer between the cathode and the control grid
US4392194A (en) Circuit arrangement for controlling a large number of printing electrodes for non-mechanical printing
US3883773A (en) Device comprising a television camera tube
Bergmann et al. Triggering a radial multichannel pseudospark switch using electrons emitted from material with high dielectric constant
US3767968A (en) Panel-type display device having display cells and auxiliary cells for operating them
US3825791A (en) Field-effect storage tube
US4096489A (en) Electrostatic-recording gas discharge device with improved scanning stability
US3938001A (en) Protection circuit for electron gun