Eastman-kodak Company

Nexpress Solutions, Inc.

James Raymond Flick

Feraydoon S Jamzadeh

David J Reed

Eric C Stelter

Joseph E Guth

Dennis R Kamp

Kevin E Yousey

Donald Saul Rimai

Thomas Nathaniel Tombs

Robert E Zeman

Thomas K Hilbert

Andrew Ciaschi

Bijay S Saha

Donald Calvin Buch

Alec N Mutz

Bruce J Rubin

Dennis J Grabb

Peter G Evans

Carl Irvin Bouwens

Ronald T Speziale

William May

Benjamin E Rimai

James G Popowich

In an apparatus for printing images on a moving primary imaging member by jetting ink, containing a fluid and marking particles, in an image-wise fashion onto the primary imaging member, a device for concentrating the ink prior to transferring a marking particle image to a receiver member. The ink concentrating device includes a fractionating unit for separating fluid of the ink from the marking particles. The fractionating unit is located a predetermined spaced distance from the primary image bearing member. An electrostatic field is established between the primary image bearing member and the fractionating unit for concentrating the marking particles in the liquid of the ink.

Concentrating a liquid ink jet ink to transfer to a receiver member

A developer station and related method for distributed replenishment of toner as well as powder coatings and related materials. The developer station is divided into a first space adjacent or within a second space, the first space located adjacent a toner supply and the second space including a developer sump. The first space includes a toner-conveying device located in the first space, the toner-conveying device having a tapered body with a first end and a second end. A conveyance housing is located adjacent to and disposed such that the toner conveying device conveys the toner toward the developer sump as it travels from the first end of the toner conveying device to the second end of the toner conveying device, the housing having slots or openings so that the toner is deposited in the developer sump along the length of the conveying device.

Electrographic distributed replenishment apparatus and method

A pre-heater for a fusing assembly for an electrostatographic reproduction apparatus, in which an image-wise pattern of pigmented marking particles is fixed to a receiver member transported along a travel path in operative relation with said fusing assembly. The pre-heater as described includes a housing defining an internal chamber. The housing internal chamber defines an opening adjacent to the receiver member travel path. A heating element is located within the housing internal chamber. An airflow system is provided including a blower, and a distribution plenum in flow communication between the blower and the heating element. An impingement member is positioned in the chamber opening adjacent to said travel path. An impingement plenum is in flow communication between the heating element and the impingement member, and a return conduit is in flow communication between the opening and the blower. Accordingly, air from the blower is delivered through and heated by the heating element, impinges upon a receiver member bearing a marking particle image in the opening, and is returned to the blower while being substantially prevented from escaping from the chamber.

Pre-heater for an electrostatographic reproduction apparatus fusing assembly

A protective enclosure for an image-recording drum of the type used in electrophotographic printer/copiers comprises a pair of spaced guides that serve to slidably support the drum within the enclosure. Such guides, when aligned with similar drum guides located within a printer/copier frame, enable the drum to be transferred from the enclosure to the copier/printer by merely sliding the drum from one pair of drum guides to the other. A mounting mechanism operates to couple the drum enclosure with the printer/copier frame to properly align the respective drum guides. By virtue of the invention, the image-recording drum can be installed in copier/printer without physically contacting the drum's delicate photosensitive surface, thereby eliminating any image artifacts that may arise from inadvertent scratching or marring of the drum surface during installation.

Protective container/installation fixture for image-recording/image-transfer drums

A method and apparatus for producing high quality folded greeting cards or the like is described as is a package of receiver sheet stock used for making such cards. A toned image is formed on an image supporting member using preferably an electrostatographic recording apparatus. A discrete receiver sheet is fed into engagement with the image supporting member to transfer the image to the receiver sheet. The receiver sheet is of a card stock of the type having a weight of no less than 28# bond. The grain of the sheet is in the grain short direction and the receiver sheet is fed into transfer relationship with the image supporting member by movement of the sheet in a direction coincident with the direction of the longer edges of the sheet. The receiver sheet is further characterized by one or more scoring lines which extend generally parallel to and intermediate the shorter edges of the sheet to facilitate folding of the receiver sheet after formation of an image thereon. The image on the image supporting member is transferred to the receiver sheet and then fused. A quality fold is provided to the card by folding the card with a fold line being along the scoring line(s). A further finishing of the card may be made by trimming of border areas.

Method and apparatus for producing high quality greeting cards or the

An image forming apparatus is particularly usable with a relatively stiff receiving sheet. In one embodiment, it includes a transfer member around which the receiving sheet is attached. To maintain good contact between the receiving sheet and the transfer member, a pair of rollers are positioned to engage the receiving sheet in non-imaged margins to hold it intimately to the transfer member. The sheet may also be engaged at other positions in its path in the non-imaged margins to control its movement. In another embodiment, corona applied to the sheet before separation from the transfer member is specially biased to discourage premature or excessive separation because of the stiffness of the sheet. The bias can be then changed to encourage separation if a more flexible receiving sheet is used.

Image forming apparatus including relatively stiff receiving sheet

A method of forming duplex color images on a receiving sheet passes the receiving sheet through a fuser twice for the first image and once for the second image. The process includes the step of determining which of the toner images should have a higher gloss and forming that toner image first so that it receives the greatest fusing energy. Preferably, the determining step is accomplished by determining which image receives more photographic content.

Method of forming duplex toner images

A toner image carried by a receiving sheet is fused by heat and pressure applied by first and second fusing members. To compensate for heat lost from the pressure member to the receiving sheet, the fuser has at least two speeds, a first fast speed, which is utilized for the first revolution of the fusing member contacting the toner image and a second slower speed to which the fuser is changed at the end of such first revolution.

Image forming apparatus having a multispeed heated pressure fuser and

A magnetic brush device for applying toner to an electrostatic image includes an applicator having a rotatable core. The sleeve for the core is made of an insulating material and preferably has a thin metallic coating on the outside of the sleeve defining the sleeve's outside surface.

Device for developing an electrostatic image on an image member

The present invention is used in an image-recording apparatus wherein a substantially uniform layer of triboelectrically charged thermoplastic toner particles is deposited onto an imaging member. The toner particles are imagewise heated such that the heated toner particles are thermally tacked to the imaging member. The imaging member is then contacted with a mass of magnetic carrier particles to attract nonheated toner particles to the carrier particles, thereby removing nonheated toner particles from the imaging member and ladening the carrier particles with the removed toner particles. In accordance with the invention, upon using the carrier particles to attract and remove toner from the imaging member, the toner-laden carrier particles are mixed with a supply of carrier particles in which the average number of toner particles per carrier particle is lower than that of said toner-laden carrier particles. This produces a mixture of carrier particles in which the average amount of toner attracted to each carrier particle is substantially lower than that of the toner-laden carrier particles. This mixture is then subjected to a detoning step in which essentially all of the toner on each carrier particle is removed prior to the carrier particles being contacted to the imaging member again.

Recording apparatus with magnetic brush removal of non-tacked toner

In accordance with the invention, there is provided a magnetic brush laydown/pickup apparatus having a shell surrounding a plurality of alternating pole magnets, said shell and magnets being relatively movable to transport developer mix through a development zone. Developer mix, comprised of toner particles and carrier particles, is selectively supplied to the surface of the shell at a location upstream of a development zone. The developer mix is selectively removed from the surface of the shell at a location downstream of the development zone. Toner particles are selectively stripped from the developer mix on the shell. A control is used to (1) activate the supply and removal of developer mix to and from the shell and deactivate the stripping of toner particles to provide a source of toner particles for laydown in the development zone, and (2) deactivate the supply and removal of developer mix to and from the shell and activate the stripping of toner particles to provide a source of developer mix, substantially depleted of toner particles, for toner particle pickup in the development zone.

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Rochester, NY, United States of America

James Raymond Flick