Abstract: A print head in which an electrostatic character image is formed on a print drum by direct contact with electrodes, developed and printed out all within the same revolution of the drum. The characters are generated electronically using a keyboard or data terminal. The drum may be made small and the print head take the form of a hand-held printer. While retaining its small diameter the drum may be extended axially to form a line printer.

Abstract: In a printer of the type in which print is formed on a drum by an electrostatic process in which charges in the shape of the characters to be printed are placed on the surface of the drum and after development the print is transferred therefrom onto a print receiving surface of a print medium by means solely of pressure acting between the print medium and the drum and in which the drum comprises an electrically conductive former having a cylindrical surface uniformly coated with a dielectric layer, a drum charging system which comprises an array of parallel conductors and an elastomeric laminate 5 in the form of a strip having one end contacting each conductor of said array 2 of parallel conductors and the other end wiping the dielectric surface of the drum 3 along a line parallel to the drum axis, said laminate being formed by a plurality of contiguous layers which are alternately conductive and non-conductive, each of which layers is oriented to respectively extend from the array of conductors to the said d