A new gas discharge device for electrostatic printing

A new gas discharge device for electrostatic printing is described, which is flat in shape, simple in structure, and has inherent scanning capability. As a glow discharge is sequentially transferred in the device, voltage pulses are generated from the discharge spaces and fed to recording styluses one after another. These voltage pulses are applied to the dielectric coating of the electrostatic recording paper and form latent electrostatic images on the dielectric coating in response to recording signal voltages applied simultaneously to the back side of the paper. A facsimile receiver employing the device has satisfactorily recorded facsimile signals at a rate of 9000 picture elements per second.