Moore Business Forms, Inc.

Marc Cousoulis

Orrin D Christy

Mark A Matheis

John E Pickett

Leo Swanson

Mark J Muranyi

James R Halliday

Non-magnetic toner in a fluidized bed is charged by at least one corona wire extending through the bed, the non-magnetic toner surrounding the wire in the fluidized bed. In order to prevent build up of insulating particles on the corona wire (which leads to a change in electric field gradient and eventually adversely impacts on the uniformity of the image applied to the substrate with the toner) is substantially precluded by vibrating the wire to shake toner particles off the wire. Vibration is accomplished at spaced points in time, such as by utilizing a rod having an irregular (e.g. substantially sinusoidal shaped) surface and by reciprocating the rod to cause the irregular surface to engage the wire and cause a quick rise and release thereof, so that the wire goes through a wide series of frequencies when vibrating. The rod may be reciprocated by a pneumatic cylinder, and may be of stainless steel having a substantially circular cross section with a diameter between about 0.02-0.04 inches. The at least one corona wire is connectable to a source of electric current and extends between and is supported by first and second corona wire support structures. A number of high strength fiberglass rods may extend between the support structures for positioning shielding, and a spring may be associated with a support structure for engaging and mounting the wire at or adjacent one end of the wire. The support structure may also include a guide (such as the spaced sets of ball bearings) for precisely guiding the rod during reciprocation.

Corona wire cleaning by mechanical vibration of the wire

A security document is produced from a paper substrate having invisible hydrophobic toner blended into the paper. The clear toner is produced by milling and classifying a polyester resin, mixing it with silica flowing agent, and then electrostatically imaging the toner onto the paper substrate, as a spot that can be overprinted, or preferably as indicia that is not visible to the naked eye or color copiers. An infra-red absorbing or UV responsive dye may be added to the toner so that it is visible under infra-red/ultraviolet light respectively, or without that dye it is not visible when eliminated by light of any wavelength. When applied to the paper the toner is snow white, but after infra-red heat fusing it blends into the paper and is substantially invisible. The security indicia is easily made visible by passing a conventional marker nib over it, or other mechanism for applying a water based low concentrate colored ink which is readily absorbed by the surrounding paper, but not by the hydrophobic security indicia.

Variable data clear mark imaging

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Fairfield, NJ, United States of America

Marc Cousoulis