Olympus Optical Company, Ltd.

Atsushi Yagi

Masaji Nishikawa

Masashi Asano

A liquid developer apparatus comprises a developer unit for applying a liquid developer to an electrostatic latent image formed on a recording medium, and a switch circuit for selectively outputting to the developer unit one of a first bias voltage and a second bias voltage which has the same polarity as that of the electrostatic latent image and is higher than the first bias voltage. The switch circuit outputs the second bias voltage during a predetermined period of time other than a period of time in which the electrostatic latent image is developed.

Liquid developer apparatus and method using two different bias voltages

A liquid developing apparatus includes an electrostatic recording medium, a latent image forming section for forming an electrostatic latent image on the electrostatic recording medium, a carrying section for carrying the electrostatic recording medium on which the electrostatic latent image is formed, along a predetermined carrying path, a development head provided on the carrying path and having a rubbing surface on which the electrostatic recording medium carried by the carrying means is rubbed, and a liquid developer supply section for supplying a liquid developer to the development head to develop the electrostatic latent image formed on the electrostatic recording medium. The rubbing surface has a width ranging from 1 mm to 9 mm, and the electrostatic recording medium has a smoothness (i.e., a roughness) ranging from 140 seconds to 220 seconds.

Liquid developing apparatus comprising a development head having a

In a liquid-type developing apparatus of this invention, a developing head has a hollow portion having a slit-shaped opening having as a longitudinal direction a direction perpendicular to the convey direction of a recording sheet, and a partitioning wall for dividing the hollow portion into developing liquid flow-in and flow-out chambers and having a top portion located at the slit-shaped opening. A plurality of projecting portions and a plurality of recessed portions for constituting a developing portion are formed on the top portion of the partitioning wall. The plurality of projecting portions and recessed portions are alternately disposed at a predetermined pitch to form stripes in the longitudinal direction of the slit-shaped opening. The direction of the stripes is set to be oblique to the convey direction of the recording sheet. The height of each projecting portion is set to be equal to that of the slit-shaped opening, and the height of each recessed portion is set to be lower than that of the slit-shaped opening.

Liquid-type developing apparatus including developing head having

An image-forming/processing station forms images in a plurality of colors in a superposed manner, in units of individual colors, on an identical unrolled portion of a recording roll medium, in accordance with color image formation data. When the images in the plurality of colors are to be formed, a recording medium conveying unit reciproctes, a plurality of times, the identical unrolled portion of the recording roll medium to the image-forming/processing station, in accordance with formation of the image in the plurality colors, and conveys a recorded-on unrolled portion of the recording roll medium to a downstream side of the station when formation of the images in the plurality of colors is completed. A recording medium storing unit is provided on the downstream side of the station and temporarily stores the unrolled portion of the recording roll medium on which image formation in each color is to be performed. A recording medium discharging unit is provided on the downstream side of station means and discharges the unrolled portion of the recording roll medium on which image formation in each color has been performed. A switching unit is provided on the downstream side of the station, which can be switched between first and second positions, for guiding the unrolled portion of the recording roll medium toward the storing unit or the discharging unit.

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Hachioji, Japan

Atsushi Yagi