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:
Oct. 12, 1999
Filed:
Feb. 27, 1998
Osamu Kizaki, Asaka, JP;
Fumihito Ito, Yokohama, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus and method are provided that effectively remove inversely charged toner and normally charged toner attached to a transfer medium by employing two cleaning modes of operation. In a first cleaning operational mode, in which a transfer belt is brought into contact with a non-charged photosensitive body and a transfer bias is applied thereto from a bias roller, the inversely charged toner attached to the transfer belt is fully transferred onto the photosensitive body. Furthermore, in a second cleaning mode of operation, the transfer belt is brought into contact with the non-charged photosensitive body and the transfer bias is not applied hereto, as a consequence the normally charged toner attached to the transfer belt is fully transferred onto the photosensitive body.