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:
Feb. 01, 2000
Filed:
Jan. 13, 1999
Yasuo Tanaka, Okazaki, JP;
Minolta Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
In an image forming apparatus, toner images respectively formed on a plurality of photosensitive components set along a transport belt are transferred onto a recording sheet transported on the transport belt by means of electric fields generated by a plurality of transfer devices set corresponding to the plurality of photosensitive components. The toner images are superimposed to form a color image. The image forming apparatus includes a current supplying device for supplying a constant current to the one of the plurality of transfer devices and to each of the plurality of transfer devices that is adjacent to the one of the plurality of transfer devices when a toner image transfer is not being performed by the plurality of transfer devices, a detecting device for detecting a voltage across one of the plurality of transfer devices when the constant current is supplied by the current supplying device, and a voltage setting device for setting a specific voltage to be applied to the one of the plurality of transfer devices in accordance with the voltage detected by the detecting device, the specific voltage being used for the generation of the electric field.