Electrostatic recording apparatus with auxiliary electrodes

Claim 1

An electrostatic recording apparatus comprising: a wire electrode row including a multiplicity of wire electrodes which are continuously arranged substantially in a row and are divided into a plurality of wire electrode blocks each having the same number of wire electrodes; a pair of first and second auxiliary electrode rows provided respectively along both sides of and opposite to the wire electrode row, the auxiliary electrodes of the first auxiliary electrode row being arranged in a zigzag form relative to those of the second auxiliary electrode row and each of the auxiliary electrodes having approximately the same length as that of each of the wire electrode blocks; a driving circuit for simultaneously driving the corresponding same-numbered wire electrodes of the respective wire electrode blocks, the driving of the wire electrodes in each of the wire electrode blocks being carried out in accordance with the numbered order thereof within a respective wire electrode block; and a scanning circuit for scanning a selected auxiliary electrode of one of the first and second auxiliary electrode rows in cooperation with a first selected auxiliary electrode of the other of the first and second auxiliary electrode rows and subsequently in cooperation with a second selected auxiliary electrode of the other of the first and second auxiliary electrode rows.