Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Shigeru Fukuda

Masahide Yamashita

Jun Aoto

Yasuo Hirano

Mitsuru Seto

Takeshi Shintani

Takashi Bisaiji

Makoto Ohsaki

An image forming apparatus comprises an intermediate transfer unit associated with a photoconductive medium. A first unit transfers a developed image on the photoconductive medium to the intermediate transfer unit such that an intermediate image on the intermediate transfer unit is formed. A second unit transfers the intermediate image from the intermediate transfer unit to a copy sheet such that a reproduced image on the copy sheet is formed. The intermediate transfer device of one aspect of the present invention comprises a surface layer of a mixture containing a friction reducing substance which reduces a coefficient of friction on the surface layer. The intermediate transfer device of another aspect of the present invention comprises a surface layer of a mixture containing a fluorocarbon polymer component and a secondary resin component which are compatible with each other, a visible developed color image being formed on the surface layer.

Image forming apparatus having an intermediate transfer unit with a

An image forming method wherein a toner image on an image carrier is transferred in a first transfer step to an intermediate image transfer element, the transferred toner image on said intermediate image transfer element being subsequently transferred in a second transfer step to a transfer medium. The intermediate image transfer element has a surface whose angle of contact with water is at least 70 degrees and whose position in the triboelectric series is on a positive side with respect to the position of said toner when the toner on the image carrier is negatively charged and on a negative side with respect to the position of the toner when the toner on the image carrier is positively charged.

Electrophotograhic image forming method using an intermediate image

In an image forming apparatus of the type transferring a plurality of toner images of different colors sequentially formed on an image carrier sequentially to an endless intermediate transfer body one above the other by primary transfer, and then transferring the resulting composite color image to a transfer medium by secondary transfer, the intermediate transfer body is provided with surface energy, surface tension or adhering force which is greater than or equal to the corresponding value of the image carrier, but smaller than or equal to the corresponding value of the transfer medium.

Image forming apparatus

An intermediate transfer type image forming apparatus for sequentially performing primary and secondary image transfer with the intermediary of an intermediate transfer medium implemented as, e.g., a belt, and the intermediate transfer member are disclosed. The image transfer medium has a lower surface resistivity on its rear than on its front or image carrying surface.

Intermediate transfer type image forming apparatus and an intermediate

An image recorder having an image editing function for recording on a paper only a part of image information which lies is a marked area of a document by digitally reading the image information. The marked part of image information on the document is recorded on a paper having a particular size which adequately matches the marked part with respect to the dimensions.

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Kawasaki, Japan

Shigeru Fukuda