The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 06, 1993
Filed:
Apr. 24, 1991
Yasuo Katano, Yokohama, JP;
Yasuyuki Okada, Yokohama, JP;
Takeshi Takemoto, Yamato, JP;
Akira Oyamaguchi, Yokohama, JP;
Yoshio Watanabe, Kawasaki, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus comprising a recording medium having a recording layer which has a characteristic in which a receding contact angle decreases when the recording layer is heated in a condition where the recording layer is in contact with a liquid, the recording medium being moved by an external driving mechanism in a predetermined direction, a supplying head for supplying a liquid to a predetermined area on a surface of the recording layer of the recording medium, the supplying head comprising a narrow path for leading the liquid to the surface of the recording layer due to a capillary attraction, and a thermal head for selectively heating the surface of the recording layer of the recording medium in accordance with image information, wherein an area on the surface of the recording layer is heated and brought in contact with the liquid so that the area changes to a liquid adhesive area, and wherein a visible image corresponding to the image information is formed on the surface of the recording layer when a recording agent is adhered to the liquid adhesive area.