Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Kozoh Sudoh

Yusuke Takeda

Sadayuki Iwai

Toshio Inada

Tsuneo Kurotori

Katsuaki Miyawaki

Makoto Obu

Noriyasu Takeuchi

Seiichi Miyakawa

Kunio Hibi

Masakazu Muranaka

Youichi Ueda

Hidenori Kanno

An apparatus which forms a discharge electric field in order to discharge an object. The apparatus includes an electrode member facing and separated by a preselected gap from the object, and a power source which applies a discharge voltage to the electrode member to thereby cause discharge to occur between the object and the electrode member. Further, the electrode member at the gap includes a material selected in association with the gap so that a functional relationship between the discharge voltage and a discharge current caused by the discharge voltage is a continuous function.

Image forming device which forms an electric field to discharge an object

A wet process image forming apparatus using a developing liquid consisting of a carrier liquid and a toner dispersed therein, in which air containing carrier vapor produced in, e.g., a fixing section, is sucked by a suction fan via a first duct into a liquefying section. The liquefying section liquefies the carrier vapor and water vapor. A separating section is disposed below the liquefying portion and includes a receptacle. A liquid produced by the liquefying section is caused to flow down into the receptacle along a chain due to its own weight. The separating section separates the liquid into the carrier liquid and water on the basis of a difference in specific gravity. Only the carrier overlying the water in the receptacle is fed to a carrier tank via overflow ports formed in the wall of the receptacle. The water is delivered to a water tank via a pipe. The pipe is so configured as to maintain the liquid level in the receptacle substantially at the level of the overflow ports.

Wet process image forming apparatus and carrier vapor collecting device

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Yokohama, Japan

Kozoh Sudoh