New high proper motion stars from the Digitized Sky Survey.: I.: Northern stars with 0".5 yr-1<μ<2".0 yr-1 at low galactic latitudes

We have conducted a systematic search for high proper motion stars in the Digitized Sky Survey, in the area of the sky north of -2.8 degrees in declination and within 25 degrees of the Galactic plane. Using the SUPERBLINK software, a powerful automated blink comparator developed by us, we have identified 601 stars in the magnitude range 9<r<20 with proper motions in the range 0."5 yr(-1) < mu < 2."0 yr(-1) which have not been observed with the Hipparcos satellite. Among those, we recovered 460 stars previously listed in Luyten's proper motion catalogs (LHS, NLTT) and discovered 141 new high proper motion stars, ranging in magnitude from R=13.0 to R=19.8. Only nine stars from the Luyten catalogs that were not observed by Hipparcos could not be recovered with SUPERBLINK: three had proper motions larger than the search limit of the code (mu > 2."0 yr(-1)), and five were missed because they were either too bright for SUPERBLINK to handle or they are in the immediate proximity of very bright stars. Only one of Luyten's stars (LHS 1657) could not be recovered at all, even by visual inspection of the POSS plates, and is now suspected to be bogus. The very high success rate In the recovery by SUPERBLINK of faint Luyten stars suggests that our new survey of high proper motion stars is at least 99% complete for stars with proper motions 0."5 yr(-1) < mu < 2."0 yr(-1) down to R=19. This paper includes a list of positions, proper motions, magnitudes, and finder charts for all the new high proper motion stars.