Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.

Shigeo Ohno

Tomoya Ichikawa

Yoji Yamaguchi

Mitsuhiro Matsumoto

Yusuke Kitagawa

Kuniaki Tanaka

Toshiyuki Matsui

Hiromitsu Koizumi

Tomokazu Kurita

Junichi Ozawa

Kazuya Yamanoi

Tadashi Kiyama

Michiaki Takahashi

Ryota Kubo

Ryuichi Yamamoto

Masahiro Satoh

Yoshihiro Hayashi

Hideaki Tanaka

Masataka Konishi

Hiroki Murakami

Tomoo Kobayashi

Tohru Inoue

Arichika Tanaka

Shigeki Nishimura

Mihoko Tanaka

Kazuo Maruyama

Tsutomu Sugimoto

Yasuto Okabayashi

Takeshi Sumikawa

Isao Ito

Yasuyuki Tsutsumi

Yoshitaka Kuroda

Yasuo Takayama

Toshio Masubuchi

Masayuki Kono

Toshihiko Mitsuhashi

Masafumi Okabe

Satoru Hirosaki

Masashi Ogasawara

Takahiro Shinkawa

Noritaka Ide

Takeshi Nagao

Noritake Ide

An image forming apparatus includes image forming units forming toner images with first toners having different colors and a second toner having a different softening point from the first toners, an image transfer unit superposing the toner images one on top of another and transferring the superposed toner images onto a recording medium at least such that the toner image formed of the second toner is at the top of the superposed toner images, an image fixing unit fixing the transferred toner images, and an image controller that causes the image forming unit that uses the second toner to form the toner image over at least part of an image area and also causes the image transfer unit to perform the transfer such that the toner image formed of the second toner is at the top of the superposed toner images in the at least part of the image area.

Image forming apparatus and image forming method using toners with different softening points

An image forming apparatus includes a developer housing that holds a developer; a lubricant supply brush that rotates when in contact with the developer housing, and that supplies a lubricant to a surface of the developer housing; a lubricant that is in contact with the lubricant supply brush; a first voltage supply unit that supplies an AC voltage on which a DC voltage is superimposed to the lubricant supply brush; a determination unit that determines whether or not a usage state of the developer housing is a state at an initial stage; and a controller that controls the first voltage supply unit to supply the AC voltage on which the DC voltage is superimposed to the lubricant supply brush, prior to start of execution of an image forming operation if the determination unit determines that the usage state of the developer housing is the state at the initial stage.

Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming section including first and second image forming parts each forming a toner image by using an image forming unit to be mounted, the first and the second image forming parts being inhibited from forming respective toner images if an image forming unit is not mounted to the first image forming part, the first image forming part being allowed to form a toner image if an image forming unit is mounted to the first image forming part while an image forming unit is not mounted to the second image forming part; and a transporting section including first and second receiving parts receiving waste powder discarded by the first and second image forming parts, respectively, and that transports the received waste powder. The second receiving part is provided downstream of the first receiving part in a transporting direction of the waste powder.

Image forming apparatus and waste powder transporting method

A charging device includes: a to-be-charged member; a charging member that charges the to-be-charged member and is opposed to the to-be-charged member; a cover member that surrounds the charging member disposed inside of the cover member but has an opening at a site opposed to the to-be-charged member; a grid electrode that is disposed on the opening side of the cover member with respect to the charging member, the grid electrode being provided between the cover member and the to-be-charged member; and a protective member that is provided along a longitudinal direction of the grid electrode, the protective member protecting an end part of the grid electrode and having at least one opening that is provided between the to-be-charged member and an end part of the cover member on the to-be-charged member side.

Charging device

There is provided an image forming apparatus including: an image carrier carrying an image; a charging roll charging the image carrier; a cleaning member configured to be brought into contact with the charging roll for cleaning the charging roll; a first holding portion detachably provided in an apparatus main body for holding the image carrier; and a second holding portion provided within the apparatus main body independently from the first holding portion, for holding the cleaning member.

Detachable holding portions in an image forming apparatus

A discharger includes: a discharge electrode member that is placed opposedly to a member to be charged; an opposed electrode member that is placed opposedly to the discharge electrode member; and a power source circuit that applies a discharge voltage for generating a discharge between the discharge electrode member and the opposed electrode member, and the electrode member having a surface that includes a covered layer covered by a covering material is formed on a surface opposed thereto, and the covering material containing a carbon atom, or a carbon atom and another atom or other plural atoms as a main component, and having an SP3 structure by a carbon atom.

Discharger, image carrier unit, and image forming apparatus

A cleaning device removes a toner attached to an image carrier of an electrophotographic-type image forming apparatus. The cleaning device includes a cleaning blade, a housing and a block member. The cleaning blade is in contact with a surface of the image carrier to removes the toner. The housing stores the toner removed by the cleaning blade. The block member causes the toner to temporarily remain the toner in a vicinity of a distal end of the cleaning blade. The block member is formed of a sheet-shaped elastic member. One side of the block member is fixed to the housing. A repulsive force against bending in an end portion of the block member in a longitudinal direction is substantially smaller than a repulsive force against bending in a center portion of the block member.

Cleaning device

An image formation apparatus including a photoreceptor, a charger having a charger member for charging the photoreceptor, a latent image write unit for writing an electrostatic latent image onto the photoreceptor charged by the charger, and a developing device having a developer support with a magnetic field production member, for rendering visible the electrostatic latent image written by the latent image write unit with a developer. Further, the charging member of the charger is disposed under effect of a magnetic field produced by the magnetic field production member of the developing device, and the charging member is made of a nonmagnetic material.

Image formation apparatus and charger used therewith

An image recording apparatus includes an image carrying part, a developing part and an image transferring part. The image carrying part has a surface on which an electrostatic latent image is formed. The developing part develops the electrostatic image into a toner image by selectively applying toner to the surface of the image carrying part. The image transferring part transfers the toner image onto a recording sheet or an intermediate image transferring part. Fine particles are uniformly formed on the surface of the image carrying part, and a portion of the fine particles is transferred from the image carrying part with the toner image. The fine particles are smaller in diameter than the toner particles.

Image recording apparatus and method with improved image transfer characteristics

Charger and image formation apparatus using the charger

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Kanagawa, Japan

Shigeo Ohno