Brother Kogyo Kabushiki-kaisha

Shigeru Kagayama

Tetsuya Kitamura

Yasuhiro Hattori

Yoshiyasu Honma

Osamu Nagata

Shunichi Higashiyama

Yoshikazu Takahashi

Masahiko Suzuki

Takemi Yamamoto

Jun Sakai

Masashi Tsuda

Takashi Kawaguchi

Mitsuo Yamane

Mikio Imaeda

Kouji Inaishi

Keiko Suzuki

Morikazu Iwase

A selection electrode is formed in correspondence with each aperture of an aperture electrode unit, and a data electrode is formed every two or four adjacent apertures on the same plane as the selection electrode. The selection electrodes and the data electrodes are time-divisionally driven by controlling voltages to be applied to these electrodes. Therefore, a high-resolution recording operation can be performed with a small number of driving ICs, and the cost can be reduced.

Image-forming apparatus with electric-field control of data and selection electrodes

An image forming apparatus uses an electrode member with apertures therein through which toner is passed according to image data to form an image on a supporter. The electrode member has an insulative inorganic substance formed thereon to protect a surface of the electrode member from wear. Thus, the supply of toner through the apertures in the electrode is stable. Further, since the protection layer of inorganic substance is arranged on the toner carrying roller side of the aperture electrode member, the image forming apparatus has an excellent image forming property.

Image formation apparatus having a toner flow control member with a protection layer

A film,is adhered using an adhesive layer,to the lower surface of an insulation sheet,that contacts the peripheral surface of atoner bearing roller. Apertures,are formed through the insulation sheet,, the adhesive layer,and the film,. An indentation portion,is formed around each aperture,in an upper surface,of the insulation sheet,. Because the insulation sheet,and the film,are not attached into an integral unit using baking, the resultant member will not warp by differences in thermal expansion of the insulation sheet,and the film,, as would occur if the two were baked together. Because the film,is extremely hard and smooth, toner will not pierce into the film

Recording head for forming images with charged particles

By mounting a circuit device on an electrode circuit board by means of a flip-chip method, a number of circuit devices can be mounted at a small pitch and at a high mounting density with ease even if the electrode circuit board is a flexible board. The electrode circuit board is made to include a plurality of apertures for passing charged toner particles therethrough and a plurality of control electrodes associated with each of the apertures, the control electrodes being electrically connected to the circuit devices that control a drive signal applied to the control electrodes. The electrode board is utilized in an image forming apparatus.

Electrode board for image forming apparatus

An aperture electrode assembly having an insulating sheet, made of polyimide, in which a plurality of apertures having a diameter of 80 &mgr;m are formed in a line. A control electrode, made of copper leaf having a thickness of 8 &mgr;m, surrounds each of the apertures on the insulating sheet. A coating layer containing carbon particles as a conductive material is formed so as to cover both the control electrodes and the surface of the insulating sheet. As the material of the coating layer, the coating liquid is prepared by mixing the carbon particles in an insulating binder made of an organic synthetic resin, preferably, of polyimide resin. The coating liquid is applied onto the insulating sheet and the control electrodes, and baked at a temperature lower than 300&deg; C., preferably between 200&deg; C. and 280&deg; C., for several minutes. A back coating layer is provided to the back surface of the insulating sheet. The back coating layer is formed by baking the coating liquid layer at a temperature of 450&deg; C. separately from the insulating sheet and, then, the baked coating layer is adhered to the back surface of the insulating sheet using an adhesive.

Electrode assembly, and method for producing, used in recording process

Driver ICs are formed from low-temperature polycrystal silicon directly on an insulating sheet of a recording electrode body by forming a thin film of amorphous silicon, polycrystallizing the amorphous silicon by using excimer laser, and converting the polycrystallized silicon into a semiconductor circuit. Therefore, the step of mounting driver ICs on the insulating sheet is obviated. It becomes possible to produce a recording head and an image forming apparatus having a high resolution and a high reliability.

Recording electrode body, method of manufacturing a recording electrode

A motor drives four final gears provided to four image recording units via a driving belt. Each of the image recording units corresponds to one of yellow, magenta, cyan and black. Each final gear is connected to a rotation axis of a toner feed roller via an electromagnetic clutch. If a black-and-white image is to be formed, only the electromagnetic clutch associated with the black image recording unit is connected, while the rest of the electromagnetic clutches are kept disconnected so that unnecessary image recording units are not driven. This arrangement improves the image quality and durability of the apparatus, and achieves a reliable color printing operation.

Image forming apparatus

An aperture electrode body of an image forming apparatus according to the invention comprises an insulating sheet made of polyimide as a base material and having a number of apertures and control electrodes for controlling a flow of toner. Reinforcing resin sheets made of polyimide are integrally affixed on both upper and lower surfaces of the insulating sheet. Since the aperture electrode body is prevented from warping due to the difference in characteristics of their materials, a uniform contact state with a toner carrying roller is obtained to thereby control a flow of toner in a stable manner.

Image forming apparatus having at least one reinforcing member

An aperture electrode unit mounted in an image forming apparatus includes a polyimide insulating sheet, plural apertures, substantially T-shaped control electrode portions each of which is provided at a part of the peripheral edge of each aperture, and conductive wiring portions extending from the control electrode portions to the downstream side of a toner supply direction. With this construction, a minimum distance can be kept between a control electrode portion and a conductive wiring portion, which are adjacent to each other. So, no breakdown occurs, and image quality can be improved.

Image forming unit with control electrodes arranged to be electrically

An electric pen is used as a data input/output device with the same feel as though writing on paper with an ordinary pen. The electric pen can be used in conjunction with an external data processor, such as a compact portable electric note book. Hand written characters inputted by the electric pen is data processed in the external data processor and characters can be printed in a designated print area on paper or the like in print form.

Electric pen that functions as hand-held printer with multiple colors

In order to make a color image forming device compact in size, two color recording units are disposed in one side of an intermediate transfer body and another two color recording units are disposed in opposite side thereof. The two recording unit in each side are aligned vertically in close proximity to the intermediate transfer body which has a surface on which color toner image is deposited by the respective recording units. The toner image is then transferred onto and thermally fixed on an image recording medium.

Color image forming device having intermediate transfer body sandwiched

Control electrodes of an aperture electrode member have no portions arranged upstream of apertures in the direction of transportation of the toner particles. Consequently, when a voltage is applied to the control electrodes, toner particles do not adhere upstream of the control electrodes. As no adhering toner particles appear upstream of the apertures in the toner transportation direction, even if the application of the voltage to the control electrodes is interrupted, the problem of excessive toner particles being jetted from openings of the apertures does not occur. Consequently, the production of a shadow or abnormal dots on an image recording medium is prevented.

Aperture control member having a plurality of apertures passing toner

In an image forming apparatus, plural apertures are formed in a base member of an aperture electrode unit with a control electrode surrounding each aperture. Middle holes are formed between neighboring control electrodes. Each middle hole is controlled by the two neighboring control electrodes. An ON electric field is formed in the middle hole when both of the neighboring control electrodes adjacent to the middle hole are switched on. At this time, toner which is fed to a space between the apertures is passed through the middle hole. Therefore, continuous dots can be recorded in a direction perpendicular to a sheet feed direction. In addition, when the control electrodes at both sides of the middle hole are supplied with an OFF voltage at the same time, an image forming operation can be controlled without fog. Therefore, an image can be stably formed with excellent image quality.

Image forming apparatus having a plurality of aperature electrodes and

An image recording apparatus having a flexible aperture electrode body, a toner carrier roller, a toner case, and an electrically conductive opposing electrode. The aperture electrode selectively allows toners supplied by the toner carrier roller to pass through the aperture. An image receiving sheet is backed by the opposing electrode, and the toner passing through the aperture electrode is attracted onto the sheet. The aperture electrode body has both ends fixed to an attachment member. The toner case provides a pair of ribs in contact with the aperture electrode body so as to increase tension thereto.

Image recording apparatus having aperture electrode with tension

An aperture electrode unit of an image forming apparatus includes an insulating sheet, control electrodes formed on the insulating sheet and apertures formed in the aperture electrode unit. The insulating sheet is formed of material having a dielectric constant higher than a toner layer. With this construction, a voltage applied across the control electrodes and the toner carry roller is divided in accordance with a capacity rate of these elements. Thus, the voltage is effectively applicable to the toner layer, so that the toner control performance can be improved even at a low-voltage driving time. Therefore, an excellent image recording operation can be performed by a low-voltage driving operation.

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Owariasahi, Japan

Shigeru Kagayama