Patent ID: 7533877

Claim:
A high speed printer for printing on sheets of porous media supplied from a stack of such sheets, the printer comprising at least one pagewidth printhead; a sheet pick-up assembly positioned operatively upstream of the, or each, pagewidth printhead, the sheet pick-up assembly having a gas conduit in fluid communication with a reversible gas supply, an outlet of the gas conduit being oriented so that the outlet is directed towards a top sheet of the stack such that a stream of gas can be directed out of the outlet and onto the top sheet to penetrate the top sheet and generate a cushion of gas between the first sheet and a second sheet to separate the first and second sheets whereupon the reversible gas supply reverses the direction of the stream of gas back into the outlet to draw the first sheet against the outlet; and a sheet feed mechanism operatively arranged with respect to the, or each printhead, the sheet feed mechanism having a displacement mechanism for displacing the gas conduit to feed the first sheet from the stack.