Media Feed Assembly For A Printing Device

1 . A media feed assembly for a printing device, said assembly comprising:

a stack of porous sheets of print media, said stack having a topmost sheet and a second sheet immediately underlying the topmost sheet;

a sheet separation device for providing a separated topmost sheet, said sheet-separation device comprising an air supply in fluid communication with at least one nozzle, said nozzle being configured to direct a blast of air normal to a face of the topmost sheet such that the blast of air penetrates through the topmost sheet and impinges on the second sheet, thereby separating the topmost sheet from the stack; and

a sheet conveyor for conveying the separated topmost sheet to the printing device.

2 . The media feed assembly of claim 1 , wherein the air supply is reversible, such that a relative positive pressure is supplied for sheet separation and a relative negative pressure is supplied for sheet engagement.

3 . The media feed assembly of claim 1 , wherein the air supply is configured such that a suction force is imparted onto the separated topmost sheet after separation of the topmost sheet from the stack.

4 . The media feed assembly of claim 1 , wherein an elongate pick-up bar comprises the at least one nozzle, said elongate pick-up bar extending across said print media.

5 . The media feed assembly of claim 4 , wherein the at least one nozzle comprises an elongate channel extending across the length of the pickup bar.

6 . The media feed assembly of claim 4 , comprising a plurality of discrete nozzles extending across the length of the pickup bar.

7 . The media feed assembly of claim 1 , wherein said at least one nozzle is positioned at a distance of between 0.1 mm and 0.2 mm from the topmost sheet in order to effect sheet separation.

8 . A printer which comprises

the media feed assembly as claimed in claim 1; and

the printing device or printing onto the separated topmost sheet conveyed by the sheet conveyor.