Patent ID: 7384036

Claim:
A sheet handling device for wide format sheets comprising a sheet support plate, said sheet support plate having a top surface containing suction holes which are connected to at least one suction chamber, said at least one suction chamber being divided into compartments that are connected to a suction device adapted to create a subatmospheric pressure in the compartments wherein at least one internal wall between adjacent ones of said compartments defines at least one flow restriction orifice, and at least one of said compartments is directly connected to the suction device, and at least another one of the compartments is indirectly connected to the suction device through said orifice and wherein the sheet support plate has at least one hollow space interconnecting a plurality of said suction holes and extending over at least two adjacent compartments and being connected to these compartments through respective apertures, and wherein the internal wall separating these compartments includes, for each of said hollow spaces, a protrusion which extends through the aperture into said hollow space.