Xerox Corporation

Christopher R Snelling

Dale Robert Mashtare

Robert W Gundlach

John Stephen Facci

Joseph C Mammino

Michael Jon Levy

William J Nowak

Robert W Phelps

Scott David Weber

Jeffrey J Folkins

Dan A Hays

Heiko Rommelmann

Martin Edward Banton

Richard F Bergen

Alberto Rodriguez

Kristine A German

Charles J Kramer

Henry R Till

David B Kay

Ronald E Godlove

James M Markovics

Kenneth W Pietrowski

Bernard Leibman

Dusan G Lysy

Richard F Koehler, Jr

Robert H Townsend

Darryl L Pozzanghera

Myron J Lenhard

Stephen P Hoover

Michael S Smith

Joseph D LaRussa

Michael J Price

William S Little

In a development system including a developer transport adapted for depositing developer material on an imaging surface having an electrostatic latent image thereon, comprising: a housing defining a chamber storing a supply of developer material comprising carrier and toner; a donor member, mounted partially in the chamber and spaced from the imaging surface, for transporting developer on an outer surface thereof to a region opposed from the imaging surface, the donor member having a magnetic assembly having a plurality of poles, a sleeve, enclosing the magnetic assembly, rotating about the magnetic assembly; a developer bed height of the developer material produce by the rotation of the magnetic assembly on the donor member to a predefined developer bed height within a development nip; and a grid, spaced and interposed between the donor member and the charge retentive surface, the grid having being dispose longitudinal with respect to the charge retentive surface and the donor member, the grid being spaced such that developer bed contacts the grid.

Apparatus and method for non-interactive magnetic brush development

In a development system including a developer transport adapted for depositing developer material on an imaging surface having an electrostatic latent image thereon, including: a housing defining a chamber storing a supply of developer material including carrier and toner; a donor member, mounted partially in the chamber and spaced from the imaging surface, for transporting developer on an outer surface thereof to a region opposed from the imaging surface the donor member having a magnetic assembly having a plurality of poles, a sleeve, enclosing the magnetic assembly, rotating about the magnetic assembly; the magnetic assembly generating a developer bed having a predefined developer bed height; a grid, interposed between the donor roll and the imaging surface within the predefined bed height, the grid having apertures for permitting carrier and toner therethrough; and means for biasing a region between the grid and the imaging surface at a voltage potential so that toner is ejecting towards the imaging surface after toner passes the apertures of the grid.

Developer member adapted for depositing developer material on an imaging surface

A printing machine is disclosed, that combines charged image pattern creation techniques of electrostatic imaging with the coloration capabilities of dye sublation to produce novel color printing systems offering unique advantages in copy quality, costs, speed, and security. Donor particles having a sublimable dye coated thereon are employed with electrostatic imaging techniques to create a temporary donor image. Uniform heat is applied to sublime dyes from the donor particle pattern into the final image support member.

Color printing system

A resonator for applying vibrational energy to a member, for example a photoreceptor belt or developer/donor member, includes an energy transmitting horn member having a platform portion and a horn portion, the horn portion including a contacting portion for contacting a surface of the member, and a piezoelectric material in association with the horn member for driving the horn member to vibrate, the piezoelectric material responsive to a voltage signal from a voltage source. The piezoelectric material is a composite of at least one piezoceramic material and at least one of a polymer or air, and has a 1-3 configuration. By the selection of a piezoceramic/polymer composite material having the specified configuration for use as the vibratory energy producing source, or transducer, of a resonator, improved piezoelectric material performance is achieved, particularly with respect to control and/or elimination of undesired transverse vibration, and manufacturing complexity is reduced.

Resonator having a piezoceramic/polymer composite transducer

Apparatus for non-interactive, dry powder development of electrostatic images on an imageable surface with developer material; including a housing containing developer material; a resonating donor member, spaced from the imageable surface, for transporting developer material to a development zone adjacent the imageable surface, the resonating donor member forming a cloud of developer material in the development zone to develop the images.

Apparatus for non-interactive electrophotographic development

A rotatable charging apparatus includes a length extending between a first end and a second end, with the rotatable charging apparatus centered about an axis parallel to the length. The rotatable charging apparatus outer periphery forms N apparatus positions. One charging device is fixed to each of N&minus;1 apparatus positions. The remaining (Nth) apparatus position is devoid of a charging device, thus forming an &ldquo;empty&rdquo; charging device position. A host printing machine selectively causes the rotatable charging apparatus to rotate about its axis thereby selectively position any of its N&minus;1 charging devices to face a proximately-located photosensitive element. When a problem exists with the current charging device, or when the total number of operating hours of the current charging device exceeds a fixed threshold, the printing machine causes the rotatable charging apparatus to rotate from its current charging device to position a new charging device facing the photosensitive element. Also, the printing machine causes the rotatable charging apparatus to rotate from its current charging device to the empty charging device position facing the photosensitive element when a power-down or hard-stop condition exists in the printing machine.

Rotatable charging apparatus, and printing machine including the same

An apparatus for non-interactive, dry powder development of electrostatic Images composed of solid areas and fine lines areas on an imageable surface including a housing containing developer material; a magnetic member, spaced a predefined distance from the image, for transporting the developer material from the housing to develop solid areas of the image, the magnetic roll including an magnetic core and a cylindrical sleeve enclosing and rotating about the magnetic core; and a donor member, adjacent to the magnetic roll and spaced from the image receiving member and adapted to transport marking particles to a development zone adjacent the image receiving member; an electrode positioned in the development zone between the image receiving member and the donor member; a voltage supply for electrically biasing the electrode during a developing operation with an alternating current to detach marking particles from said donor member, forming a cloud of marking particles in the development zone, and developing fine line areas of the image from the cloud.

An apparatus for non-interactive, dry powder development of electrostatic Images composed of solid areas and fine lines areas on an imageable surface including a housing containing developer material; a magnetic member, spaced a predefined distance from said image, for transporting said developer material from said housing to develop solid areas of said image, said magnetic roll including an magnetic core and a cylindrical sleeve enclosing and rotating about said magnetic core; and a resonating donor member, adjacent to said magnetic roll and spaced from the image receiving member and adapted to transport marking particles to a development zone adjacent the image receiving member; an electrode positioned in the development zone between the image receiving member and the donor member; a voltage supply for electrically biasing said electrode during a developing operation with an alternating current to detach marking particles from said resonating donor member, forming a cloud of marking particles in the development zone, and developing fine line areas of said image from the cloud.

Apparatus for non-interactive electrophotographic development using resonating donor member

An apparatus for non-interactive, dry powder development of electrostatic Images composed of solid areas and fine lines areas on an imageable surface including a housing containing developer material; a first magnetic roll, spaced a first predefined distance from the image, for transporting the developer material from the housing to develop solid areas of the image, the magnetic roll including an magnetic core and a cylindrical sleeve enclosing and rotating about the magnetic core; and a second magnetic roll, spaced a second predefined distance from the image, for transporting the developer material from the housing to develop fine line areas of the image, the magnetic roll including an magnetic core and a cylindrical sleeve enclosing and rotating about the magnetic core.

Development system with split function development rolls

A pneumatically coupled sonic toner release development apparatus is provided for reliably and uniformly developing latent electrostatic images in a toner image reproduction machine using charged toner particles. The pneumatically coupled sonic toner release development apparatus includes a development housing defining a sump for holding developer material containing the charged toner particles; a developer material moving device mounted within the sump for transporting developer material within the sump; and a pneumatically coupled sonic toner release assembly including an acoustic transducer, a pneumatic coupling device connected to the acoustic transducer, and a pneumatic donor assembly connected to the pneumatic coupling device. The pneumatic donor assembly is mounted partially within the sump for receiving charged toner particles from the developer material moving device and for transporting the charged toner particles through a development nip of a reproduction machine for high quality image development. The acoustic transducer and pneumatic coupling device produce uniform acoustic motions in the pneumatic donor assembly for uniformly releasing charged toner particles from the pneumatic donor assembly, thereby resulting in high quality toner image development.

Reproduction machine including a pneumatically coupled sonic toner

A method that enhances safety while producing toners that are .ltoreq.5.mu. to be used in developing an electrostatic image includes providing selectable color toner liquids on demand to a mixing station; mixing the provided color toner liquids at the mixing station; producing a mist from the mixed toner liquid; collecting color toner particles resulting from the mist cooling; depositing the color toner particles in a development sump that includes carrier beads; and mixing the color toner particles with the carrier beads to produce two-component developer.

Acoustic ink mist color development

Apparatus for removing residual charged particles from a charge retentive surface characterized by a self-biasing electrostatic cleaner brush and a flicker bar. The brush includes fibers made of a bi-layer of PVDF films; one of which is PVDF covered over a conductive core. Upon bending in one direction, the fiber will generate an electrical potential which will attract and hold oppositely charged toner, which will then be released when the fiber is flexed by the flicker bar in the opposite direction.

Active electrostatic cleaning brush

Apparatus for removing residual charged toner particles from a charge retentive surface characterized by a self-biasing pyroelectric cleaner brush and a detoning member for removing the charged particles from the self-biasing pyroelectric cleaner brush. The brush includes a pyroelectric polymer supported by a conductive roll with resistive fibers attached to one surface of the pyroelectric polymer. Heating and cooling of a pyroelectric polymer induces thermal expansion or contraction which create surface charge density charges that are used to supply charge to the resistive fibers. The oppositely charged resistive fibers contact the toner particles on the charge retentive surface to thereby remove them from the charge retentive surface.

Cleaning brush using the pyroelectric effect

A method for supplying custom color in an image development system includes providing selectable color toner liquids on demand to a mixing station; mixing the provided color toner liquids at the mixing station; providing a mist from the mixed toner liquid; transporting the mist to a developer station; passing the mist between a development electrode and a recording member onto which a latent electrostatic image is positioned; providing an electric field between the development electrode and the recording member; and attracting the mist by means of the electric field to the electrostatic image to thereby develop the electrostatic image.

Acoustic ink mist non-interactive development

An electrostatic sonic toner release (electrostatic STORE) development apparatus, and a multicolor image reproduction machine including such a development apparatus are provided for creating toner images with reduced development fields. The electrostatic sonic toner release (electrostatic STORE) development apparatus includes a development housing defining a sump for holding developer material containing the toner particles; developer moving assembly mounted within the sump for transporting developer material within the sump; and a donor assembly mounted partially within the sump for receiving toner particles from the developer moving assembly, and for transporting the toner particles through a development nip of the reproduction machine. The donor assembly includes an acoustically deformable loudspeaker-like assembly having first and second electrode members; a dielectric member separating the first and second electrode members, means for creating air pockets against at least one of the first and second electrode members, and a polarizing voltage coupled to the first and second electrode members for generating electrostatic forces to cause acoustic motions in the acoustically deformable loudspeaker-like assembly, thereby resulting in toner release from the donor assembly, reduced image degrading electrostatic fields, and relatively higher quality image development.

Growing community of inventors

Penfield, NY, United States of America

Christopher R Snelling