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:
Aug. 08, 2000
Filed:
May. 13, 1998
Kenji Tani, Yamatokoriyama, JP;
Yasuichi Onose, Sakurai, JP;
Kazuya Masuda, Nara, JP;
Nobuhiko Nakano, Nara, JP;
Shirou Wakahara, Soraku-gun, JP;
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus for enabling toner to easily pass through gates of control electrode and increasing the scattering efficiency of the toner to improve the printing quality. Since a sticking force between the toner and toner holder or among particles thereof is weakened and the toner is held on the toner holder with a slight binding force between the toner holder and the control electrode, a voltage applied for enabling the toner to pass through the gates of the control electrode and scatter toward the counter electrode can be minimized as long as the toner can pass through the gates of the control electrode. In other words, a pulse is applied to a shielded electrode just before the toner held on the toner holder passes through the gates of the control electrode, so that the sticking force between the toner and the toner holder or among particles thereof can be weakened, or the toner can be transformed into cloud-like particles. Accordingly, the toner can easily pass through the gates of the control electrode and the scattering efficiency of the toner is increased to improve the printing quality.