Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Hirohisa Otsuka

Tadashi Hayakawa

Nobuyuki Yanagawa

Sadao Takahashi

Kazuhisa Sudo

Nobuo Kikuchi

Sunao Ikeda

Yoshiaki Miyashita

Takeshi Tabuchi

Kentaro Matsumoto

Atsushi Sanpe

Naomi Misago

Kouichi Yamazaki

Sirou Saeki

At least a photosensitive drum 2 and charge roller 9 are attached to a unit 8 so that the photosensitive drum 2 and charge roller 9 can be freely attached to and detached from an apparatus body 1 in unison with the unit case 8, and the charge roller 9 can be freely brought into and out of contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum 2. The apparatus body 1 is provided with pressure cams 5a and 5b adapted to cause the charge roller 9 to be brought into and out of contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum 2.

Image formation apparatus

In an image forming apparatus, a charging member, image transfer member or similar contact member contacts an image carrier implemented as a photoconductive element. Even when a voltage is applied to the contact member in a relatively low temperature environment, the contact member is provided with an adequate charge potential or an image transfer potential.

Image forming apparatus with a contact member contacting an image carrier

A device for cleaning a wire of a corona discharge type charger installed in an electrophotographic copier or similar image recording apparatus such as a charger for charging a photoconductive element, a transfer charger or a separation charger. The device includes a pair of cleaning pads which clean the wire by individually holding diametrically opposite portions of the periphery of the wire, i.e. a portion which faces the surface of the photoconductive element to be charged and a portion which is remote from the surface of the same element. The cleaning pads act on the wire only when the pads and the wire are moved in one predetermined direction relative to each other.

Wire cleaning device for a corona discharge type charger

A recycling automatic document feeder usable with an electronic copier and others includes a reversing section for feeding a document to a glass platen of the copier while turning it over. The document feeder adapts itself to a single-face and a double-face copy mode as well as to a document through type and an optical scan type exposing system.

Recycling automatic document feeder

Growing community of inventors

Kawaguchi, Japan

Hirohisa Otsuka