Nec Corporation

Yoshinobu Kariya

Ryosuke Uematsu

Kazunori Shindo

Shinro Oikawa

A non-magnetic toner having a single main ingredient without a carrier has two toner components having different mean grain sizes. The small-size toner component has a lower resistivity than the resistivity of the large-size toner component to achieve a stable mount of electrified charge and thus an excellent image quality during the printing using the toner.

Non-magnetic toner including components having different mean grain sizes

An electrostatically charged image is applied to a smooth surface and moved past a development zone in which a carrier sheet perforated with a multitude of bores is also located. A layer of developing liquid is applied under gradually increasing pressure to a first surface of the carrier sheet so that the applied liquid squeezes through the bores to and beyond a second, opposite surface of the carrier sheet. The liquid emerges above the opposite surface of the carrier sheet to produce a multitude of part-spherical bulges. Field concentration occurs on the part-spherical surfaces of the individual tiny bulges. The first surface of the carrier sheet preferably exhibits lyophilic characteristic to the developing liquid, while the second surface exhibits lyophobic characteristic.

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Niigata, Japan

Yoshinobu Kariya