Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Noritake Co., Ltd.

Eishu Ohdake

Tsuneo Kurotori

Shigeru Suzuki

Seiichi Miyakawa

Takashi Seto

Yasuo Katano

Noriyasu Takeuchi

Kenichi Shimizu

Kazuyoshi Matsumoto

Mie Yoshino

Izumi Tagoku

Masahiro Ishikawa

Harumitsu Mashiko

Kazuaki Iizuka

Yoshiyumi Tamiya

Tsutomu Teraoka

Tadahiro Suzuki

Tomohiro Oikawa

Yasuyuki Kani

Naonori Kurokawa

A liquid developer that comprises a colorant and a liquid for dispersing the colorant and serves to develop the latent image by causing the colorant to adhere to the latent image on the latent image carrier. The liquid comprises a first liquid comprising a photocurable liquid and a second liquid that is not mutually soluble with the photocurable liquid and comprises a liquid with a specific resistance higher than that of the photocurable liquid.

Liquid developer and image forming apparatus using same

Since a fluorine treatment or the like is applied on a surface of an intermediate transfer belt (), and thus, the surface bears water repelling property, when fixer () is supplied from a fixing apparatus () to surface parts of the intermediate transfer belt which are carrying a toner image, the fixer is present only on the toner parts. Namely, the fixer is not attached to surface parts which are not carrying the toner. Consequently, when the surface parts are pressed on transfer paper (P) for transferring and fixing, the fixer attached to the transfer paper is present only on the parts of the toner T. Thus, compared with a conventional case where fixer is imparted to entire transfer paper, a reduced quantity of the fixer is impregnated into the transfer paper, and thus, generation of curls and wrinkles of the transfer paper is restrained.

Fixing apparatus and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus for electrostatically transferring a latent image formed on a photoconductive drum or similar image carrier to a recording medium held by a clamp drum or similar medium conveying member. The clamp drum has a cylinder or base made of aluminum, a conductive rubber layer covering the cylinder, and an overcoat layer covering the rubber layer and higher in electric resistance than the rubber layer. A bias voltage for latent image transfer is applied while the rubber layer is connected to ground. The photoconductive drum and clamp drum are pressed against each other by a predetermined force, the former following the rotation of the latter. The photoconductive drum is provided with a photoconductor having a great electrostatic capacity, thereby preventing the effective transfer voltage at the time of image transfer from increasing.

Image forming apparatus having clamp for conveying a recording medium

A charging device for charging a desired object such as a photoconductive element of an electrophotographic copier, laser printer or similar electrophotographic recording apparatus, and a discharging member of the same. The discharging member is implemented by a resistor and located such that the surface of one end thereof defines a discharging end that faces the object with the intermediary of a gap. The other end of the discharging member is connected to a power source via a conductive connector. The discharging end is provided with any one of various alternative configurations. The resistor is covered with a protective covering. A conductive member is adhered or otherwise securely mounted between the resistor and the conductive connector. The resistor is supported by an insulative substrate. On the substrate, the resistor is divided into a plurality of discrete resistors so as to form a plurality of discharge gaps therebetween which are selectively usable. The resistor has a plurality of discharging ends each defining a different charging width.

Discharging member and charging device using the same

A solid state charger having covered electrodes with dielectric and uncovered discharge electrodes disposed parallel to each other. The covered electrodes and the discharge electrodes are both disposed on the same surface of an insulating substrate. An ac voltage is applied between the covered electrodes and the discharge electrodes, or between the covered electrodes, and a dc voltage is applied to the discharge electrodes.

Solid state charger

A flat solid discharging device applicable to an electrophotographic copier, facsimile apparatus and other electrostatic recording apparatuses for charging or discharging a photoconductive element. The device includes a dielectric element, a first and a second electrode juxtaposed to each other through the dielectric element, and a power source for applying an ac voltage across the first and second electrode to produce ions in the vicinity of the two electrodes. The first electrode has a hairline configuration and extends along the length of the device. The second electrode is constituted by a plurality of comblike conductive strips each of which extends crosswise relative to the first electrode through the dielectric. By adequately selecting the pitch of the conductive strips and the distance between the second electrode and the photoconductive element, irregularity in charging which corresponds to the pitch of the conductive strips is made negligible. The second electrode is divided into a plurality of segments in order to selectively charge the photoconductive element over different charging areas as desired.

Flat solid discharging device

A copier capable of binding copy papers at their center or their edge as desired. A bookbinding device is operatively connected to a paper outlet of the copier. To bind the papers at their center, a folding mechanism of the bookbinding device is activated first in order to form a crease along the center of each copy paper. Then, a binding mechanism of the bookbinding device is activated to sequentially stack the papers in an upwardly convex form and such that the creases face upward in alignment and, then, stitch the papers together along the aligned creases by means of a staple or the like. The bound papers are discharged to a stacking mechanism of the bookbinding device in a developed position so as to be stacked there while being folded double in the creases. When it is desired to duplicate documents on papers which are equal to or double the size of the documents and bind the copies at the center, a positional relationship between the documents and the papers is set up by a unique method.

Copying method for bookbinding

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Eishu Ohdake