Vertical electrostatic copying machine with ghost free image projecting system

Claim 1

An electrostatic copying machine comprising a casing having a front discharge opening and a top window, a horizontal transparent support plate registering with said top window, walls delineating an illuminating chamber communicating with and extending below said window, copy paper storing means located in said casing rearwardly of said chamber, means for advancing copy paper from said storing means along a predetermined path downwardly from said storage means to the lower path of said casing and below the level of said chamber then forwardly and upwardly toward said discharge opening, electrical charging means, exposure means, developing means and drying means successively positioned along said predetermined path, and lens communicating wit said chamber along the central vertical axis of said window, charActerized in that said illuminating chamber includes a pair of light emitting elements symmetrically disposed on opposite sides of the optical axis of said lens in said chamber, a curved first specular reflector disposed along the rear of each of said light elements, each of said light elements being offset from the center of curvature of the respective reflectors in a direction away from the rear concave face of said reflector, and a pair of specular reflector plates depending from opposite edges of said window at such angles to reflect light rays directly from and as reflected by said first reflectors to said window and substantially none of the light rays incident on said window plate directly from said light elements or as reflected by said specular reflectors being reflected by said window to said lens whereby to eliminate ghost images, said light emitting elements, first reflectors and reflector plates being arranged so that the light rays directly from each one of the light emitting elements illuminate a respective half of the window, and that the reflected regular light, consisting of the light rays from the light emitting element through the reflector plate to the window and the light from the light emitting elements through the first reflectors and the reflector plates to the window, illuminate all over the surface of the window.