Abstract:
An electrostatic charge pattern on an image-bearing surface is reproduced on a collector plate by means including a transfer sheet. The transfer sheet, comprising electrically insulating material, is disposed for reciprocal movement between the imagebearing surface and the collector plate. The transfer sheet is first disposed with one surface adjacent the image-bearing surface. The other surface of the transfer sheet, having a plurality of discrete dots of electrically conductive material thereon, is momentarily grounded to induce thereon an electrostatic charge whose charge density varies with the charge pattern on the image-bearing surface. The transfer sheet is then moved to the collector plate which comprises an electrically insulating plate with a plurality of electrically conductive discrete dots thereon adapted to contact the dots on the transfer sheet. The opposite surface of the collector plate is next grounded so that the electrostatic charge pattern on the transfer sheet is transferred to the collector plate.
Abstract:
A passive cooler arranged for three stages of cooling including an outer L-shaped member serving as two of the cooling stages and an inner member serving as the third stage of cooling at a preselected equilibrium temperature. Certain surfaces of each leg of the outer member and an exposed surface of the inner member are each given a surface finish having a spectral response in accordance with certain radiation wavelengths such that the inner member is maintained at a preselected temperature which is lower than otherwise possible when the cooler is exposed to thermal radiation, the cooler being located in an environment having a temperature lower than the preselected temperature.
Abstract:
An infra-red (IR) detector operating in ambient temperatures in the range of 4* to 200* Kelvin, and pressures in the range of 10 2 to 10 12 mm Hg is provided with a trap for preventing condensation and thus icing of water molecules in the infra-red (IR) optical path that may be present in or near the detector or icing of water molecules which may emerge from the surface of the components adjacent to the detector owing to the ambient low pressures. The detector is mounted within a two-piece cylindrical shield around the IR-path arranged in coaxial spaced relation. The clearance space between the shield pieces defined by the overlapping open ends of the cylinders is less than the mean free path of water molecules at the ambient pressure which is less than 10 microns for orbiting satellites. The outer shield is kept at a temperature that is greater than the vapor condensation or crystallization temperature while the inner shield, insulated from the outer shield, is kept at a temperature that is less than the vapor condensation or crystallization temperature. Water vapor or other vaporizable contaminants that would tend to leak into the portion of the inner shield adjacent to the detector surface are condensed or crystallized at the surface of the inlet portion of the space and thus precludes such vapors from being deposited on the operating portions of the detector disposed within the inner shield. Although water vapor is the more troublesome volatile vapor that is removed from the sensor chamber, oils, alcohols, and various synthetic polymers are also removed precluding contaminant deposition in the sensor chamber.