Bridgestone Corporation

Bridgestone Tire Company Limited

Seiko Electronic Components Ltd.

Seiko Electric Components Ltd.

Takahiro Kawagoe

Yoshitomo Masuda

Koji Takagi

Masao Ogawa

Gaku Yakushiji

Hideharu Daifuku

Tadashi Nakajima

Yuko Maeda

Takao Ogino

Yoshio Takizawa

Tadaaki Miyazaki

Shinichi Toyosawa

Kazuya Murata

Hiroshi Kaneda

Hajime Kitano

Norio Nihei

Shigeru Kijima

Tokuo Okada

Takashi Kitamura

Toyoo Harada

Chikara Yamada

Isamu Shinoda

Junji Sakata

Toshiaki Arai

Katsuhiko Arai

Kinya Suzuki

Norihiko Kaga

Hideyuki Niwa

Junji Furukawa

Toshiyuki Osaki

Taro Miyamoto

Tadashi Fuse

Yasushi Inoue

Eiichi Kobayashi

Hiroshi Harashima

Itsuo Tanuma

Ryuta Tanaka

Hiroaki Wada

Yuichiro Mori

Ryota Fujio

Hirotaka Yamazaki

Yuichi Ishino

Eiji Sawa

Yasuhiro Iino

Masaki Yoshio

Hajime Tamura

Reiji Hattori

Tetsuro Amano

Shohei Morikawa

Takashi Nyomura

Ryuzo Osawa

Toshio Chikaraishi

Takaaki Imamura

Kazuo Takayama

Each embodiment relates to an image display device which comprises an image display panel, in which two or more groups of particles having different colors and different charge characteristics are sealed between two substrates, at least one of two substrates being transparent, and, in which the particles, to which an electrostatic field produced by a pair of electrodes provided on one or both substrates is applied, are made to fly and move so as to display an image. Among them, in the first aspect of the invention, an image forming process for forming the image by applying an electric field pattern between the electrodes, the electric field pattern serving to fly particles A to the substrate at an image display side; and an image forming process for forming the image by applying an inversion (negative) electric field pattern with respect to the electric field pattern, the inversion electric field pattern serving to fly particles B having different colors and different charge characteristics with respect to those of the particles A to the substrate at an image display side; so that an image deleting process prior to forming the image to be displayed is eliminated.

Image display unit

In particles for image displaying used in an image display device, in which one or more kind of particles are sealed between opposed substrates, at least one substrate being transparent, and, in which the particles are made to fly and move so as to display an image, each particle has a micro-irregularity at its surface. Moreover, in an image display device, in which one or more kind of particles are sealed between opposed substrates, at least one substrate being transparent, and, in which the particles, to which an electrostatic field produced by two kinds of electrodes having different potentials is applied, are made to fly and move so as to display an image, use is made of each particle having a micro-irregularity at its surface.

Particle and device for image display

The present invention intends to provide particles for displaying images used in an image display device capable of displaying and eliminating repeatedly accompanied by flight and movement of particles utilizing Coulomb force, being superior in stability, particularly in repetition durability, memory characteristic stability, adaptability for temperature change, having capability of regulating charge amount, and accordingly, favorable images with sufficient contrast should be stably obtained. The present invention provides particles coated with a resin; specifying Span of particle diameter distribution, charge attenuation property, thermal change of the surface hardness, tensile break strength, Izod impact strength (with a notch), abrasion loss (Taber), tensile elastic modulus, flexural elastic modulus, or tear strength. The present invention also proposes about the structure of the particles.

Particles and device for displaying image

In the image display device according to the first aspect of the invention, a liquid powder composed of a solid material stably floating as a dispersant in a gas and exhibiting a high fluidity in an aerosol state is sealed between opposed substrates, at least one substrate being transparent, and the liquid powder is moved. Moreover, in the image display device according to the second aspect of the invention, a porous spacer is arranged between opposed substrates, at least one substrate being transparent, a liquid powder composed of a solid material stably floating as a dispersant in gas and exhibiting a high fluidity in an aerosol state is sealed, and the liquid powder is moved.

Image display device and method

A reversible image display panel which comprises a pair of substrates one of which is transparent and a group of particles charged with single polarity, a group of particles with single color charged with single polarity, a group of particles having portions with different colors and different charge characteristics, or two groups of particles with different charge characteristics each enclosed between the substrates, characterized in applying an electric field across the substrates, and displaying images by flying and moving the particles. The reversible image display panel and the image display device in accordance with the invention have fast response speed and simple structure, being superior in stability and vividity. In an occasion of driving, generation of the strong electric field is unnecessary for them and accordingly, electric circuits can be assembled employing general purpose electronic materials.

Reversible image display sheet and image display

An ethylene propylene rubber foam which comprises as the crude rubber, an ethylene propylene rubber having an iodine value of 35 to 45 and a Mooney viscosity ML at 100&deg; C. of 20 to 50, and which has less compression set and is suitable as a material for a transfer member, a primary transfer member, a secondary transfer member, a cleaning member for image formation bodies, a bias member, a backup member, etc.; an electroconductive ethylene propylene rubber foam which comprises as the crude rubber, an ethylene propylene rubber having an iodine value of 35 to 45 and a Mooney viscosity ML at 100&deg; C. of 20 to 50, and which electrifies an image formation body through direct charge injection by applying voltage, thus enabling to electrify at low voltage, substantially prevent ozone generation, noises and defective image; an electrifying member comprising the above electroconductive rubber foam; electrifying equipment equipped with the above member; and image formation equipment equipped with the above member or the above equipment.

Ethylene propylene rubber foam and image formation equipment

There is disclosed an elastic member constituted of polyurethane foam obtained by agitationally mixing with water, a urethane prepolymer synthesized from a polyol and a polyisocyanate, characterized by simultaneously employing as polyols, a (A) polymer polyol synthesized from a polyether polyol as a basis, comprising at least 70% by weight of oxypropylene moiety; and a (B) hydrophilic polyether polyol comprising at least 50% by weight of oxyethylene moiety, or simultaneously employing as polyols, the component (A), the component (B) and a (C) polyether polyol comprising at least 70% by weight of oxypropylene moiety. The above elastic member is simultaneously imparted with excellent characteristics such as low hardness, fine cells, low residual compressive strain, high strength and the like. The polyurethane foam which constitutes the elastic member can be produced by free foaming. The electroconductive elastic member which is produced by using an aqueous dispersion of carbon instead of water is imparted with low electric resistance in addition to the above excellent characteristics.

Electroconductive elastic member, elastic member and image formation equipment

A new charging member which is durable enough to exhibit stable performance over a long period of time without deterioration by the sticking of toner particles. It is characterized by its surface having a universal hardness no higher than 10 N/mm at a depth equivalent to the diameter of toner particles.

Charging member and charging device

An electrically conductive member comprising an electrically conductive elastic layer and a coating layer formed thereon, characterized in that said coating layer is formed from a polyurea resin as a cured product resulting from reaction between a polyamine compound and a polyisocyanate compound. It has a coating layer which readily conforms to elastic deformation of rubber or the likes, has long durability, and has good properties in protection of the photosensitive body from staining and prevention of toner sticking, control of the toner charging and a low coefficient of friction.

Electrically conductive member and image-forming apparatus

Disclosed is a toner support for preventing occurrence of an image failure such as stain, uneven image density, and fogging on a white image as much as possible, thereby certainly forming a high quality image enough to keep up with formation of a color image. The toner support is characterized in that the maximum value of a surface potential of the toner support, which is measured after an elapse of 0.35 sec since the surface of the toner support is charged by generating a corona discharge by means of applying a voltage of 8 kV to a corona discharger disposed apart from the surface of the toner support by 1 mm, is in a range of 90 V or less, and that the absolute value of a surface potential decay rate of the toner support, which is measured at an elapse of 0.2 sec after charges are imparted on the surface of the toner support by generating a corona discharge by means of applying a voltage of 8 kV to a corona discharger disposed apart from the surface of the toner support by 1 mm, is in a range of 0.1 V/sec or more.

Toner support and image forming apparatus

A toner carrier which gives good images (free of fogging in white area, harshness in halftone area, and density variation in black area) even after continuous long runs. The toner carrier includes an electrically conductive elastic layer and a coating layer formed thereon which contains a siloxane-crosslinked acrylic resin obtained from an acrylic copolymer with an alkoxysilyl group by crosslinking and curing.

Toner carrier and image-forming apparatus

A new intermediate transfer member which has a durable coating layer which easily conforms to the elastic deformation of the rubber layer, exhibits good wear resistance, permits easy resistance control, and fulfills such requirements as protection of the photosensitive body from staining, prevention of toner sticking, and decrease in the coefficient of friction. It is characterized in that the coating layer is composed mainly of a urethane resin which is formed from a polyol compound and a polyisocyanate compound in an excess amount in terms of NCO/OH molar ratio and which contains a solvent-insoluble fraction no less than 70%.

Intermediate transfer member and image-forming device

Disclosed is an intermediate transfer member disposed between an image forming body and a recording medium, for transferring and holding a toner image formed on a surface of the image forming body onto a surface of the intermediate transfer member once and then transferring the toner image onto the recording medium, the intermediate transfer member including: a rubber composition, wherein the state of occurrence of cracks in the rubber composition after the rubber composition imparted with 20% of elongation has been exposed for 120 hours to an environment with an ozone concentration of 10 ppm and with a temperature of 40.degree. C. is specified such that no crack is seen, or the number of cracks and the depth of cracks satisfy a specific evaluation standard.

Intermediate transfer member and intermediate transfer device

An electroconductive elastic member including an electroconductive material prepared from a polyurethane foam or polyurethane elastomer using a polyester polyol and a quaternary ammonium salt to impart electroconductivity. The polyurethane foam or polyurethane elastomer can be produced using, as a polyisocyanate component, a hydrogenated product from diphenyl-methane diisocyanate, hexamethylene diisocyanate, or any of various modified diphenylmethane/hexamethylene diisocyanate The elastic member may be used in an electrophotographic apparatus. Thus the member is well suited for producing an elastic roller with intermediate electric resistance in an electrophotographic process.

Electroconductive elastic member and electrophotographic apparatus using

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Tokorozawa, Japan

Takahiro Kawagoe