magnusson

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR APPLYING LIQUID DEVELOPER COMPOSITION TO A CONTINUOUS WEB BEARING A LATENT ELECTROSTATIC IMAGE, SAID APPARTUS COMPRISING: (A) LIQUID DEVELOPER SUPPLYING MEANS, (B) A PAIR OF PRESSURE ROLLERS ADAPTED TO CONTACT OPPOSITE SURFACES OF SAID WEB, ONE OF SAID ROLLERS BEING ADAPTED TO HAVE SAID WEB CONTACT A SUBSTANTIAL PORTION OF THE PERIPHERY THEREOF, THE OTHER OF SAID ROLLERS BEING POSITIONED IN A PLANE AB OVE SAID ONE ROLLER SO AS TO MAKE SUBSTANTIALLY LINE CONTACT WITH SAID WEB AND PROVIDING MEANS FOR BRINGING LIQUID DEVELOPER COMPOSITION INTO CONTACT WITH SAID WEB, (C) MEANS PROVIDING A CONTINUOUS COLUMN OF SAID LIQUID DEVELOPER EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY SUBSTANTIALLY ACROSS SAID OTHER ROLLER FOR APPLYING SAID LIQUID DEVELOPER COMPOSITION TO SAID OTHER ROLLER TO DEVELOP SAID LATENT IMAGE ON SAID WEB AND TO SUBSTANTIALLY OBLITERATE OFFSET IMAGES FORMED ON SAID OTHER ROLLER AS A RESULT OF PREVIOUS DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTROSTATIC IMAGES ON SAID WEB WITH SAID OTHER ROLLER, (D) SAID LIQUID APPLYING MEANS COMPRISING AN ELEMENT HAVING ONE EDGE SURFACE AND ADJACENT END SURFACES CONTACTING SAID OTHER ROLLER AND SHAPED TO CONFORM TO THE CURVATURE THEREOF, AND HAVING ANOTHER UNDERCUT EDGE SURFACE BETWEEN SAID END SURFACES CLOSELY SPACED FROM SAID OTHER ROLLER ALONG A SUBSTANTIAL PORTION OF ITS LENGTH, AND A LONGTITUDINAL SLOTTED PORTION BETWEEN EACH OF SAID SURFACES, SAID SLOTTED PORTION COMMUNICATING WITH THE DEVELOPER SUPPLY MEANS, AND (E) MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID ROLLERS AND MOVING SAID WEB THEREBETWEEN.