Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Bridgestone Corporation

Takaya Muraishi

Takeshi Shintani

Satoshi Hatori

Akio Kosuge

Kaoru Yoshino

Yasushi Akiba

Yoshiki Hozumi

Ken Amemiya

Hiroshi Ono

Kenji Sugiura

Hisashi Kikuchi

Akira Asaoka

Yuu Sakakibara

Daisuke Tomita

Masumi Sato

Toshiyuki Uchida

Nobuo Kuwabara

Masato Yokoyama

Yuji Arai

Masami Tomita

Toshio Koike

Masanori Kawasumi

Takaaki Tawada

Shinichi Kawahara

Atsushi Sampe

Haruji Mizuishi

Hiromichi Ninomiya

Takuzi Yoneda

Tokuya Ojimi

Katsumi Masuda

Hiroomi Harada

Hiroyuki Nagashima

Hiroshi Tanabe

Tomoko Takahashi

Naomi Sugimoto

Hideki Kosugi

Koji Suzuki

Toshihiro Hamamura

Takatsugu Fujishiro

Yuuji Wada

Fumihito Itoh

Shinya Karasawa

Yasunari Harada

Ichiro Komuro

Kunihiko Nishioka

Yoshinori Ozawa

Kazunori Karasawa

Mitsuru Satoh

Kazuhiro Nishido

Yasukazu Kitamura

Hirohmi Harada

Yu Yoneda

Norio Yamagami

Etsuo Kakizaki

Masumi Satoh

Jun'ichi Murano

An image projection device includes a projector configured to project an image; and an operation unit configured to receive an operation performed by an operator. The projector is in a projecting state while the operation unit is receiving a pressing operation performed by the operator, and the projector is in a non-projecting state while the operation unit is not receiving a pressing operation performed by the operator.

Image projection device

A urethane foam member that after cutting into the desired shape from sheet urethane foam is applied with adhesive on one face of the urethane foam, an edge portion of the non-adhesive applied face at least at one side of the urethane foam member being of a low edge profile, to which permanent thermal distortion has been induced such that the thickness of the edge portion of the side is thinnest at the end portion thereof and the thickness gradually increases with distance from the end portion.

Urethane foam member, seal structure, toner storage container, process cartridge, image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus including a setting memory storing multiple voltage settings; two or more voltage applying members each contacting a voltage applied member at respective contact positions close to each other, which are simultaneously being applied with respective voltages selected from the voltage settings; two or more current detectors each detecting a current flowing in the respective contact positions; and a setting changer performing a setting changing processing in which the voltage applied to one of the voltage applying members is changed based on the current detected by the corresponding current detector while a predetermined voltage is applied to the other voltage applying members, so that an optimum current flows in the corresponding contact position.

Apparatus and method for changing a voltage setting for an image forming apparatus

A cleaning device including a rotatable cleaning member contacting a rotatable image carrier bearing a toner image to electrostatically remove toner from the image carrier while rotating, and a control unit to control rotation of the cleaning member to satisfy a relation of (60/R)&#x3e;(L/V) during removal of a toner pattern formed on the image carrier at a predetermined timing and remaining attached to the image carrier without being transferred from the image carrier onto a transfer member using the cleaning member, where R (rpm) is a number of rotations of the cleaning member, L (mm) is a length of the toner pattern in a direction of rotation of the image carrier, and V (mm/s) is a speed of the image carrier.

Cleaning device and image forming apparatus including same

A cleaning device including: multiple cleaning members arranged consecutively in a direction of movement of a cleaning target to remove adhered substances from the cleaning target; multiple casings to individually hold and at least partially enclose the multiple cleaning members, respectively, the casings and the cleaning members together constituting multiple sub-units; and a sub-unit holder to hold the multiple sub-units, from which the sub-units are individually removable.

Cleaning device, image forming apparatus including same, and method for mounting same

A cleaning device including a normally charged toner cleaning member provided in contact with a cleaning target at a contact position to remove normally charged toner from the cleaning target, a reversely charged toner cleaning member provided in contact with the cleaning target at a contact position upstream from the normally charged toner cleaning member to remove reversely charged toner from the cleaning target, and a pre-cleaning member provided in contact with the cleaning target at a contact position upstream from both the normally and reversely charged toner cleaning members to remove normally charged toner from the cleaning target. The contact position between the pre-cleaning member and the cleaning target has a width wider than a width of the contact position between the normally charged toner cleaning member and the cleaning target and a width of the contact position between the reversely charged toner cleaning member and the cleaning target.

A cleaning roller cleaning a surface of a cleaning component, wherein the cleaning roller is provided in a roller configuration having a cylindrical shape and has a portion in contact with the cleaning component, the portion being made of a melamine resin foam having a continuous foam structure, the melamine resin foam being provided by heating compression from an original configuration in a radial direction, and wherein the portion in contact with the cleaning component has a continuous foam structure and a tensile strength in a range of 1.7&#xb1;0.5 kg/cm, and an image forming apparatus incorporating the same.

Charging device, process cartridge, image forming apparatus, and toner

A cleaning unit, which can be incorporated in a process cartridge removably installable in an image forming apparatus, includes a lubricant applicator to apply lubricant to an image carrier, a first blade disposed upstream from the lubricant applicator in a direction of rotation of the image carrier with its distal end held in contact with the image carrier to remove residual toner remaining on the image carrier, a second blade disposed downstream from the lubricant applicator in the direction of rotation of the image carrier with its distal end held in contact with the image carrier to regulate the amount of lubricant applied to the image carrier, a temperature measuring member to measure a temperature of or near the second blade, a heater, and a temperature controller to control the heater to heat the second blade so that the measured temperature falls within a given set temperature range.

Cleaning unit, process cartridge incorporating same, and image forming apparatus incorporating the cleaning unit

In an image forming apparatus including a plurality of image forming devices, a first image forming device in which a leveling blade that functions as a lubricant leveling blade is easily worn away over time uses an obtuse-angle blade as a first leveling blade, and a second image forming device being other image forming device among the plurality of image forming devices uses a right-angle blade as a second leveling blade.

Image forming apparatus

Described embodiments include apparatuses and processes for cleaning a surface of a rotatable image carrier including a cleaning unit configured to prevent material from accumulating on a cleaning blade.

Cleaning device with accumulation prevention, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus including same

An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of process cartridges provided for black and for another color. The process cartridges each including a set of a latent image carrier, a charging unit that charges a surface of the latent image carrier, and a lubricant applying unit that applies lubricant to the surface of the latent image carrier. The process cartridges for black and for the another color each has a cartridge frame with which the process cartridge is attachable to and removable from an apparatus body. The cartridge frames of the process cartridges for black and for the another color being of the same type. The process cartridge for black differs from the process cartridge for the another color in the configuration of the charging unit. The amounts of lubricant applied by the lubricant applying units to the respective latent image carriers differ with respect to the configuration of the charging unit.

Image forming apparatus and process cartridge having a charging unit

Provided is an image forming apparatus containing: an image-bearing member; a toner removal unit configured to remove a toner remained on the image-bearing member; a coating unit configured to coat a surface of the image-bearing member with a lubricity imparting agent; a unit configured to change a coated state of the lubricity imparting agent which has been applied to the image-bearing member by the coating unit; and a controlling unit configured to control the coating unit so as to operate a coating mode for at least the period when the image-bearing member is rotated once or more in the course of image formation, wherein the coating mode is a mode in which an amount of the lubricity imparting agent applied onto the image-bearing member is increased compared to an applied amount of the lubricity imparting agent during an ordinal operation for image formation.

Image forming apparatus with coating mode

The present invention provides a charging device which comprises a charging roller () and a cleaning component (). The charging roller charges a surface of an image-recording medium () with a voltage which is applied from an external source. The cleaning component cleans a surface of the charging roller. The charging roller includes a resistance adjustment layer which is made of a resin composite and formed on an outer periphery of a core metal. The hardness of the charging roller is 45 degrees or more in JIS D hardness. The cleaning component has a portion which is in contact with the charging roller. This portion is made of resin foam which has a continuous foam structure. The density of the resin foam is 5 to 15 kg/mand its tensile strength is 1.7&#xb1;0.5 kg/cm.

The invention provides a charging device used in an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a fax machine, a printer or the like, the charging device including: a gold-plated discharge wire for charging an image carrier such as a photoconductive member or the like; and a cleaning member, having an abrasive, for cleaning the discharge wire, with the gold plating being maintained over time satisfactorily, and provides a process cartridge having this charging device. The cleaning member has an abrasive containing alumina and/or silicon, the grain size of which ranges from #6000 to #8000. The discharge wire is a tungsten wire on which a plating film is formed by gold plating, such that the thickness of the plating film is not smaller than 1.5 &#x3bc;m, and the diameter of the tungsten wire is not smaller than 30 &#x3bc;m.

Image forming apparatus, and charging device and process cartridge used in the image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a charging roller that continuously rotates and uniformly charges a photoconductor for forming an electrostatic latent image thereon, a cleaning roller that contacts a peripheral surface of the charging roller and cleans the charging roller while being driven by rotation of the charging roller, wherein a peripheral surface of the cleaning roller is formed of a melamine resin foam, and a cleaning roller shifting unit that causes the cleaning roller to contact the charging roller for a predetermined time at predetermined intervals of image formation while movably holding the cleaning roller.

Process cartridge and image forming apparatus for effectively cleaning a charging roller at predetermined intervals

Growing community of inventors

Kawasaki, Japan

Takaya Muraishi