Konishiroku Photo Industry Co., Ltd.

Mitsuo Akiyama

Shunichi Abe

Yoshihiko Kudo

Hiroshi Kuru

Isao Ikemoto

Masamitsu Kasuya

An apparatus and method for stabilizing an output of a D.C. power source by using a micro-computer to regulate an input voltage to provide an output voltage according to a controlling signal. The invention further utilizes a periodic interruption process in the program sequence which moniters the output voltage, compares it to a predetermined level and regulates the output voltage in accordance with the monitered voltage.

Circuit for electric power source

In an electrophotographic copying machine of the type using a slit exposure optical system with reciprocating carriages, movement of these carriages at the time a transfer medium is being processed in the usual fixing device often causes a jittering of the apparatus which adversely affects the quality of the image being fixed. The method according to the present invention avoids this problem by assuring that there is no movement, particularly no return movement of the carriages from the time the transfer medium enters the fixing device until it is discharged therefrom.

Control method of electrophotographic copying machine

During original document scanning, the forward clutch effects scanning travel of the optics unit in a copying machine having user selectable modes for magnification copying and is normally disengaged by detection of the trailing edge of a transfer sheet being transported through the machine; the return clutch for reverse optics unit travel is simultaneously actuated by detection of the sheet's trailing edge to return the optics unit to its original position. In the event that the trailing edge is not detected before expiration of a predetermined time period corresponding to maximum permissable forward travel of the optics unit for the selected magnification mode, the forward clutch is immediately disengaged, although the return clutch is not engaged until the sheet's trailing edge is subsequently detected.

Copying machine

In an optical scanning system for a copying apparatus, it is known to reciprocate the equipment so that an image to be scanned is applied, for example, to a photosensitive drum, developed, and eventually applied to a recording medium. It is essential for each scanning cycle that the scanning function restart at the proper starting position. This objective is attained by the present invention which first moves the scanning equipment back to a position spaced from the initial starting position and only then completes the movement to the initial starting position. Strains on the equipment involved in an immediate forcible return to the initial starting position are thereby avoided.

Copying apparatus with scanning position control

An apparatus for detecting a residual quantity of toner remaining in the supply hopper of a copying machine includes a piezoelectric vibrating element disposed in a wall of the hopper and having a surface normally positioned in contact with toner in the hopper, and an electronic circuit for causing vibration of the element at a predetermined frequency and for detecting changes in operating characteristics of the element as representative of a decrease in the amount of toner in the hopper to operate a warning device.

Apparatus for detecting a residual quantity of toner

Apparatus for separating sheets from a belt driven photosensitive surface in which a pair of rollers are disposed on opposite sides of the photosensitive surface downstream of the transfer paper feed point. One of the rollers is movable from a position spaced from the photosensitive surface to a position in which it contacts the sheet carried by the photosensitive surface and cooperates with the other roller to separate the sheet from the photosensitive surface. A sensor is provided to detect the absence of a sheet and to prevent the movable roller from contacting the photosensitive surface in the absence of a transfer sheet.

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Hachioji, Japan

Mitsuo Akiyama