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:
May. 13, 1997
Filed:
Oct. 31, 1995
Hideo Yamasa, Yamatokoriyama, JP;
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus is provided with a control electrode having a plurality of gates where negatively charged toner passes through, and the control electrode is arranged such that an electrode layer is formed on an insulating layer made of synthetic resin having electron attractiveness stronger than that of synthetic resin contained in the toner. For this reason, on the control electrode, when the toner flies to contact with the insulating layer, electrostatic force (repulsive force) acts between negative charges of the contact portion and the negative charges of the toner, and thus the charges repulse each other. Therefore, the toner does not adhere to the insulating layer. In such a manner, the adhesion of the toner to the control electrode is prevented and thus each gate is not blocked. As a result, even after long or frequent use of the control electrode, the flying of the toner by the control electrode can be stably controlled, thereby making it possible to obtain an image with excellent quality. Therefore, even if the control electrode is not maintained, namely, cleaned or replaced, an image with excellent quality can be obtained stably for a long time.