Minolta Camera Kabushiki Kaisha

Minolta Company, Ltd.

Katsuhiko Takeda

Satoshi Deishi

Tomoo Izumi

Akihito Ikegawa

Takao Fujiwara

Toshiyuki Sakai

Noboru Ito

Masaru Imaizumi

Hiroyuki Yamasaki

Hideya Nishise

Hideo Kitakubo

Yoshihiro Shojo

Takashi Kondo

Keiji Kusumoto

Masamichi Sugiura

Hiroyuki Ideyama

Naoyoshi Kinoshita

Kouji Matsushita

Noboru Yonekawa

Shizuo Yuge

Kosuke Sasai

Yasuhiro Nakagami

Hitoshi Kageyama

Tetsuo Kyogoku

Hisashi Myochin

Kazuyuki Yoshida

Kazuko Taniguchi

Utako Kitoba

Yamato Kitajima

A liquid material supplier capable of effectively preventing a liquid material, such as ink, held on a surface of a liquid material holding member from drying and an image forming apparatus provided with the same. The supplier includes a liquid material holding member for holding a liquid material on a surface thereof. The liquid material holding member is rotatable in a predetermined direction and supplying, during rotation, the liquid material to a member to be supplied at a given supply position. The supplier further includes a supply station for supplying the liquid material to the surface of the liquid material holding member and a regulating member for regulating the liquid material on the liquid material holding member to a specified thickness. The regulating member is disposed at a position downstream of the supply station and upstream of the supply position in the direction of rotation of the liquid material holding member. The supplier further includes a removing member disposed at a position downstream of the supply station and upstream of the regulating member in the direction of rotation of the liquid material holding member.

Liquid material supplier and image forming apparatus comprising the same

An image forming apparatus has an image carrying member having a movable surface and an electrostatic latent image carried thereon, a release agent application device for applying a release agent to the surface of the image carrying member, and an ink developing device for bringing an ink into contact with the image carrying member having the electrostatic latent image formed thereon and the release agent applied thereto, to form an ink image corresponding to the electrostatic latent image. The ratio (Ti/To) of the tack value Ti of the ink to the tack value To of the release agent is not less than 2.

Image forming apparatus and image forming method

An image forming apparatus includes an image carrying member having an electrostatic latent image carried on its surface, a release agent application device for applying a release agent to the surface of the image carrying member, an ink developing device for bringing an ink into contact with the image carrying member having the electrostatic latent image formed thereon and the release agent applied thereto, to form an ink image corresponding to the electrostatic latent image, and an ink supplying device for supplying a replenishing ink to the ink developing device when the release agent is mixed with the ink in the ink developing device to control the viscosity of the ink, wherein the replenishing ink differs in viscosity from the ink in the ink developing device. And, the supply of ink is varied as a function of the environmental conditions, such as temperature. Image forming methods are disclosed for using the disclosed image forming apparatuses.

Image forming apparatus and method using a developing device relating to

In the present invention, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of an image carrying member, while ink having a tack value of not less than one is used as ink in an ink developing device. The ink is held in an ink carrying member. The ink held in the ink carrying member is brought into contact with the surface of the image carrying member to supply the ink to the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the image carrying member, to form an ink image on the surface of the image carrying member. The ink image is transferred onto a recording medium from the surface of the image carrying member by a transfer device.

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus provided with an image carrying member comprising a conductive substrate, a dielectric layer and a lubricative layer as a surface layer, a developing device comprising an ink carrying member which supports an ink layer, and a transporting device transporting the ink images to a recording medium. The present invention further relates to an image forming method comprising steps of forming electrostatic latent images on a surface of an image carrying member which comprises a conductive substrate, a dielectric layer and a lubricative layer, forming ink images on the image carrying member by means of contacting an ink to the electrostatic latent images on the image carrying member, and transporting the ink images to a recording medium.

Image forming apparatus and image forming method for image formation

A developing device having a developing sleeve opposed to a photoreceptor, and a developer transport portion adjacent to the sleeve. The developer transport portion is divided into first and second portions by a partition, and the developer is circulated between the first and second portions. A fresh toner is supplied to the developer in the second portion to be transported to the first portion while being mixed, and thereafter is supplied to the sleeve along an axial direction of the sleeve in the first portion. The second portion is provided with a transport member by which the developer is transported at an upstream side of the second portion with respect to the developer transport direction in the second portion with a speed faster than the toner supply speed and the transport speed of the developer at a downstream side of the first portion with respect to the developer transport direction in the second portion.

Developing device for mixing and supplying developer

A charging device with a plate-like electrode having a plurality of protrusions, the charging device having a cleaning device including cleaning members which are positioned bilaterally to the electrode and grip the electrode therebetween to clean. The cleaning device cleans the electrode while the cleaning members slide on a guide formed along the electrode, or the cleaning device cleans the electrode by griping the electrode by the cleaning members which are positioned along the electrode.

Charging device having a plate electrode and a cleaning device for

A color separation system for use in a color copying apparatus including blue, green and red reflection filters as well as blue and green transmission filters. The blue and green transmission filters are disposed in front of the blue and green reflection filters, respectively, so that light passes through the transmission filters twice. The color copying apparatus includes a photosensitive member which is exposed with light passing through the color separation system, an image sensor for reading an image of an color original, and a light adjusting filter for adjusting a quantity of light impinging on said image sensor. The three reflection filters and the light adjusting filter are mounted on a rotary member. One of these filters is selectively positionable in an optical path according to the rotated position of the rotary member.

Color separation optical system for use in color copying machine

A copying machine capable of color copying includes a filter apparatus for color-separating scanning light for scanning original images, and the original images are copied by electrophotographic process. The filter apparatus includes mirror filters having color separation filters of blue, green and red, respectively deposited on mirror surfaces and a half mirror, and these mirrors are arranged apart from each other at an angle of 90.degree., so that the apparatus as a whole has a cylindrical shape. The light scanned the original images is reflected by the filter mirrors, and latent electrostatic images corresponding to respective colors are formed on a photoreceptor drum.

Method of forming a reference pattern for adjusting image density in

An image forming apparatus provided with a mechanism for causing an intermediate transfer member to be in contact with a photoconductor while a toner image formed on the photoconductor after development is firstly transferred onto the intermediate transfer member and otherwise keeps the transfer member away from the photoconductor. The mechanism for causing contact or separation keeps the intermediate transfer member away from a cleaner by its function of contacting the intermediate transfer member with the photoconductor, and keeps the intermediate transfer member in contact with the cleaner by its function of keeping the intermediate transfer member away from the photoconductor.

Image forming method and apparatus having intermediate transfer member

An interference film filter for use in a copying machine as mounted on an optical path of light traveling through an image-forming lens for preventing transmission of the light in a predetermined wavelength range. The filter comprises a transparent glass substrate, and interference films each consisting of a plurality of layers formed by vapor deposition on the substrate. The interference films include a film disposed centrally of the substrate, and an opposed pair or pairs side films. Each of the side films has a greater optical film thickness than the center film or a film disposed immediately inwardly.

Interference film filter for copying machine

An image forming apparatus using the electrophotographic process in which a toner image on a photoconductive drum is transferred onto a secondary transferring belt and the transferred toner image is further transferred onto a copy paper provides a sensor for detecting an occurrence of a paper jam before the copy paper reaches the secondary transferring belt and resumes the copying operation from the action suspended by the paper jam as soon as it is recovered from the paper jam.

Image forming apparatus with jam recovery function

A slit illumination system provided in an image forming apparatus of slit exposure type for slit-illumination of an original placed on a document glass table in the image forming apparatus. The slit illumination system is provided with a light source including an elongated exposure lamp to illuminate the original at a slit-illuminated position on the document glass table, a main reflecting mirror portion composed of first and second reflecting mirrors, and an auxiliary reflecting mirror portion composed of third and fourth reflecting mirrors. The first, second, third and fourth reflecting mirrors are respectively shaped to follow a part of first, second, third and fourth ellipsoids which are different in curvature from each other.

Slit illumination system for copying machine and the like

An image forming method and apparatus for forming a reproduced color image in which the sequence of supply of the toners of different colors onto the latent image carrier is selected according to the color information of the document to be copied. A controller is provided so as to control the various colored developers in a sequence in which the developers providing the different color toners are operated so that the second toner color overlaps the first toneer color and the first toner color can overlap on the second toner color through a series of colors.

Multi-color image forming method and an apparatus therefor

An electrophotographic imaging device includes a first developer for carrying transparent type toner and a second developer for carrying non-transparent type toner. A paper supplying cassette is provided for supplying a sheet of recording medium. A recording medium detector is provided for detecting the type of recording medium loaded in the paper supplying cassette whether it is a transparent recording medium or a non-transparent recording medium. A controller is provided for controlling the selection between the first and second developers such that the first developer is selected when the recording medium detector detects that a transparent recording medium is loaded in the paper supplying cassette.

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Toyonaka, Japan

Katsuhiko Takeda