Konica Corporation

Shigeo Maeda

Hiroshi Kobayashi

Kazuhiko Tsuboi

Seiichi Yagi

A neutralizer for use in an image forming apparatus for eliminating an electric charge from a non-image area in a surface of an image carrying member has an array of light emitting elements, a shift register and a driving device. The light emitting elements, driven by the driving device, eliminate the electric charge from a selective portion along a line across the width of the image carrying member by selectively emitting a light beam from each light emitting element. The shift register shifts-in a binary data during a registering time period, and holds the binary data during a holding time period. The driving device drives each light emitting element based on a binary data being in the register both during the registering time period and the holding time period. The light emitting elements, therefore, change their states between turn-on and turn-off states successively in the registering time period, and the neutralizer decreases the number of simultaneous changes of the the state of the light emitting elements.

Discharging device for copying apparatus

A charge eliminating device for use with a photoreceptor drum. The device eliminates a charge on a required portion of the surface of a photoreceptor drum so that an electrostatic latent image is eliminated on the required portion. The device includes a circuit board for holding an electrical circuit on its surface, the circuit board having a line-shaped edge disposed to face the surface of the photoreceptor drum. A plurality of light emitting elements are disposed on the circuit board to emit light in parallel to the surface of the circuit board in the direction of the line-shaped edge of the circuit board. The device further includes a housing having a plurality of compartments each of which encloses one of the plurality of light emitting elements on the circuit board and has an opening at the line-shaped edge for passing the emitted light in parallel to the surface of the circuit board to the surface of the photoreceptor.

Growing community of inventors

Machida, Japan

Shigeo Maeda