Oki Data Corporation

Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha

Mitsubishi Denki K.k.

Shin-etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.

Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.

Kureha Corporation

Takao Mizutani

Hirokazu Ando

Yukio Aoki

Masao Isoda

Masayuki A Suzuki

Akihito Onishi

Kouichi Takamune

Kazuhiko Nagaoka

Nobuo Wakasugi

Hirokazu Sakuma

Mitsuyasu Kachi

Takehiko Okajima

Tsutomu Kazama

Hidenobu Ito

Hiroshi Kikuchi

Tsutomu Nakamura

Hideaki Ishimizu

Takao Uchida

Noboru Ooishi

Tsutomu Yamane

Satao Hirabayashi

Seiichi Mimura

Yoshio Kasuga

Hidenobu Itou

Yoshiyuki Hatsutori

Tetsuya Segawa

Tadakatsu Yokoi

Tutomu Shimoda

A lenticular lens medium forms a lenticular lens which includes a plurality of semicylindrical-shaped or arc-shaped elongated convex parts. The lenticular lens medium has a volume resistivity of 1&#xd7;10-1&#xd7;10&#x3a9;&#xb7;cm and a surface resistivity of 1&#xd7;10-1&#xd7;10&#x3a9;/&#x25a1;.

Lenticular lens medium

A lenticular lens medium forms a lenticular lens which comprises a plurality of semicylindrical-shaped or arc-shaped elongated convex parts. The lenticular lens medium has a volume resistivity of 1&#xd7;10-1&#xd7;10&#x3a9;&#xb7;cm and a surface resistivity of 1&#xd7;10-1&#xd7;10&#x3a9;/&#x25a1;. The lenticular lens medium including the convex parts has a thickness of 0.3-3 mm.

A developing apparatus supplies a developer from a developing roller to an image-bearing body that bears an electrostatic latent image thereon. A toner-supplying roller is rotatably supported to oppose the developing roller. A rotating body has recesses formed in its surface, opposing the developer-bearing member. The toner-supplying roller and the rotating body rotate in opposite directions and at different circumferential speeds. The rotating body is formed of a foamed material having cells formed in and open to a surface of the rotating body, the cells having a cell size in the range of 10 to 40 cells/inch. The toner-supplying roller and the rotating body rotate at circumferential speeds such that a ratio between the circumferential speeds is in the range of 1 to 2.5. The rotating body and toner-supplying roller may have a diameter that varies along the length.

Developing apparatus

An operation command for constructing compensation data is generated in a control device, and measurement data obtained from an external length measuring device is input to an input unit. The measurement data is compared with an estimated position in a control device of a cylinder servo motor, and errors between them is stored in a compensation memory. In addition, in normal operation, the external length measuring device is removed. A movement command is input to the input unit and compensated using the error stored in the compensation memory, so that the estimated error is deleted in the normal operation.

Control device-built-in cylinder servo motor

An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier rotatable in a predetermined rotative direction, a charging unit for charging a surface of the image carrier, a precharging device disposed upstream from the charging unit with respect to the predetermined rotative direction of the image carrier for precharging the surface of the image carrier; and a voltage supply unit for supplying a voltage to the precharging device.

Image forming apparatus including a precharging device

A thrust converter includes reciprocation movement means reciprocation-rotation conversion means for converting reciprocating movement of the reciprocation movement means into rotational movement; rotation-reciprocation conversion means for converting rotational movement of the reciprocation-rotation conversion means; and reaction-force receiving means for supporting reaction force stemming from reciprocation movement of the rotation-reciprocation conversion means. Thrust imparted to the reciprocation movement means can be imparted to a load while being amplified or reduced, through employment of a compact and simple construction.

Thrust converter, method of controlling the same, and controller for controlling the same

A cylinder servo motor includes a servo motor having a rotor and a stator; a cylinder servo main unit which is connected to a rotary shaft of the rotor of the servo motor by way of a ball screw nut and which has a ball screw shaft, the ball screw shaft moving in an axial direction; a rotation sensor for detecting a rotary position of the servo motor; and control means for controlling the rotation sensor and the servo motor. The cylinder servo motor main unit, the rotation sensor, and the control means are integrated together, thereby providing a cylinder servo motor which obviates a necessity of wiring a line between the servo motor, the rotation sensor, and the control device section at a location to which the cylinder servo motor is to be shipped.

Cylinder servomotor

An image-forming apparatus includes a developing roller and a developing blade. The developing blade applies toner to the developing roller to form a thin layer of toner on the developing roller. The image-forming apparatus performs a printing operation that includes a paper-feeding period and a developing period following the paper-feeding period. The developing roller rotates relative to the developing blade at a first speed during the paper-feeding period and then at a lower second speed than during the developing period, thereby eliminating chance of white lines of occurring in a printed image. The developing roller may be rotated at a constant speed in each printing operation until the circumferential surface of the developing roller has traveled over a certain cumulative distance. When the surface has traveled over the first distance, the developing roller may be rotated at an increased speed over a certain distance.

Image forming apparatus for normal and thick print media

A semiconductive roller has an electrically conductive shaft, a roller provided on the shaft formed of silicone rubber with carbon contained therein. The silicone rubber is also added olefin oil and zinc oxide. A method is used for manufacturing a semiconductive roller formed of an electrically conductive shaft. The method includes carrying out a first vulcanization where the semiconductive roller is shaped into a roller and carrying out a second vulcanization where the semiconductive roller is heated at 200&deg; C. for substantially four hours.

Semiconductive roller

A cleaning roller is used for electrostatically attracting residual toner left on a photoconductive drum. The cleaning roller includes a shaft and a member formed on the shaft to cover the shaft. The member has contact portions that lie in a cylindrical plane and a plurality of recesses that are formed in the member and bounded by the contact portions. The contact portions are in contact with the photoconductive drum to attract residual toner left on the photoconductive drum. The recesses hold therein the residual toner attracted to the contact portions. The recesses have openings that lie in the cylindrical plane such that a ratio of the areas of the contact portions to the areas of the openings is in the range from 3:7 to 1:1. The openings of the recesses have effective diameters in the range from 50 to 150 .mu.m if the toner particles have effective diameters in the range from 6 to 9 .mu.m. The cleaning roller includes a metal shaft and a resilient member formed on the metal shaft to cover the metal shaft. The resilient member has an electrical resistance in the range from 5.times.10.sup.6 .OMEGA. to 5.times.10.sup.9 .OMEGA..

Cleaning roller

A method for cleaning an image-forming apparatus. Toner is charged to the first polarity prior to transferring the toner image to the print medium and accidentally inverted from the first polarity to a second polarity opposite to the first polarity during the transfer of the toner image to the print medium. When performing a cleaning operation, a first voltage of a first polarity is applied to at least one of a charging roller and a cleaning roller in contact with a surface of a photoconductor. The surface of the photoconductor is charged to a second voltage. The second voltage has a smaller value than the first voltage and is of the same polarity as the first voltage. Therefore, the toner of the second polarity sandwiched between the charged surface of the photoconductor and the at least one of the charging roller and cleaning roller is inverted in polarity, i.e., from the second polarity to the first polarity by triboelectric charging. If the first voltage is applied to the cleaning roller, the photoconductor may be charged to the second voltage by a transfer device or by a charging device. Alternatively, if the first voltage is applied to the charging roller, the photoconductor may be charged to the second voltage by a cleaning device or by the transfer device.

Method of cleaning residual toner from drum and rollers of image forming

A method of manufacturing a developing roller includes two steps. First, a grinding wheel is moved along the length of a developing roller which has been subjected to a secondary vulcanization. The grinding wheel is brought into contact with the developing roller and is caused to rotate so as to perform an abrasive finishing on the surface of the developing roller. Second, a buffing member is moved along the length of the developing roller. The buffing member is in contact with the developing roller and is moved in the peripheral direction of the developing roller so as to perform buffing on the surface of the developing roller.

Method of manufacturing developing roller

The invention provides a semiconductive silicone rubber composition comprising (A) an organopolysiloxane containing at least two aliphatic unsaturated groups, (B) reinforcing silica powder having a specific surface area of at least 50 m.sup.2 /g, (C) a conductive agent, (D) a hydrocarbon oil having a heat loss of up to 30% at 200.degree. C./4 hours, and (E) a curing agent. Cured silicone rubber of the composition has a resistance of 1.times.10.sup.3 to 1.times.10.sup.12 .OMEGA. which remains stable for long-term use. The semiconductive silicone rubber composition is appropriate as a semiconductive roll stock for the manufacture of charging rolls, transfer rolls and developing rolls in business machines.

Semiconductive silicone rubber compositions and semiconductive silicone

An absolute position detection apparatus which comprises sine and cosine wave generators for generating one or more sets of sine and cosine waves within a cycle, analog-to-digital converters for converting the incoming sine and cosine waves generated by the sine and cosine wave generators into digital values. An arithmetic unit is used for calculating a compensation for errors including offset, amplitude and phase errors on the basis of the digital values from the analog-to-digital converters. In the apparatus, the arithmetic unit operates on a phase angle from phase angles found by the arithmetic performed prior to or during said error compensations and the digital values from the analog-to-digital converters, whereby a low-priced, highly reliable absolute position detection apparatus can be achieved without the addition of compensation circuits to the hardware.

Absolute position detection apparatus and error compensation methods

An electrophotographic development apparatus capable of maintaining the surface roughness of a developer roller thereof for a long term or even for the life span of the apparatus. The developer roller includes an elastic layer, formed on a core metal shaft, and made of a rubber elastic material with additional insulating micro-powder of 30 to 200 parts having a particle diameter in a range of 1 to 50 micrometers, where the amount of the rubber elastic material constitutes 100 parts. During a printing operation, the insulating micro-powder drops from the elastic layer as the rubber elastic material is worn, so that the developer roller can maintain its surface roughness in proportion to the particle diameter of the dropped powder.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Takao Mizutani