Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Kazuhiro Kotaka

Shigeru Fujita

Hiroyuki Endo

Satoshi Kai

Nobuhiro Tanaka

Eiri Sagae

Yuzuru Kudoh

Yoshihisa Hara

Yuusuke Arai

There is provided a grinding roller for use in a fixing device including a pair of rotary fixing members that rotate while being pressed against each other to form an area of contact, and heat and press a recording medium carrying an unfixed toner image and fed to the area of contact, to thereby fix the unfixed toner image on the recording medium. The grinding roller is configured to grind a surface of a toner image-side rotary member of the pair of rotary fixing members that comes into contact with the unfixed toner image. The grinding roller includes an abrasive grain layer including abrasive grains, forming a surface layer of the grinding roller, and having a surface with irregularities including projections each formed by an aggregate of some of the abrasive grains and larger in size than each of the abrasive grains and recesses formed between the projections.

Grinding roller, fixing device, and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a developing device. The developing device includes a toner carrier (developing roller). The developing roller includes a base member, electrode bars, a pair of electrodes, and a protection layer. The base member includes a conductive core and an insulating layer formed on the outer surface of the core. The electrode bars and the pair of electrodes are made of a conductive metal, and are provided on the outer surface of the insulating layer. The electrode bars and the pair of electrodes are formed in a way that an unnecessary portion of a metal film is irradiated with a laser beam and thus is removed. The electrodes are each formed helically on the outer surface of the base memberand formed to taper down toward the outmost side thereof in its cross section.

Toner carrier, developing device and image forming apparatus

A thermal insulation stamper includes a first metal layer, a heat insulating layer, an intermediate layer, a conductive coating, and a second metal layer. The first metal layer has a fine pattern on an exposed surface. The heat insulating layer is formed of a heat-resistant resin and overlies the first metal layer. The heat-resistant resin contains oxygen. The intermediate layer overlies the heat insulating layer. The conductive coating overlies the intermediate metal layer. The second metal layer overlies the conductive coating. A region with a high concentration of oxygen is formed in the vicinity of an interface between the heat insulating layer and the intermediate layer. A method for producing such a thermal insulation stamper is also disclosed.

Thermal insulation stamper and production method of same

A heat insulating stamper is disclosed. The heat insulating stamper includes an uppermost section made of a metal material, a lowermost section made of the same material as the uppermost section, and a middle section having a heat conductivity lower than the uppermost section. The middle section includes the same metal material as the uppermost section and the lowermost section, and heat insulating portions.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Kazuhiro Kotaka