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:
Jul. 29, 2003
Filed:
Oct. 12, 2001
Masahiro Hosoya, Tokyo, JP;
Hitoshi Yagi, Tokyo, JP;
Yasushi Shinjo, Tokyo, JP;
Haruhi Oh-Oka, Tokyo, JP;
Other;
Abstract
Image forming apparatus which form an image on a substrate and uses a liquid developer containing toner particles and a solvent. One embodiment includes a latent image retaining body, a first developing surface facing the latent image retaining body at a first development station, a latent image forming unit, and a second developing surface facing the latent image retaining body at a second development station. The latent image retaining body has a photosensitive layer which has a dielectric constant ∈ [C /Nm ] and an average thickness d [m]. The photosensitive layer retains an image developed by the first developing surface and a latent image comprising image and non-image regions formed by the latent image forming unit. The second developing surface is supplied with a developing electrical potential having an electrical potential difference &Dgr;V from an electrical potential of non-image region of the latent image. The plurality of toner particles of the first liquid developer has a volume density &rgr; [kg/m ], a surface density m [kg/m ], a dielectric constant ∈ [C /Nm ], an average radius r [m], and a density of electrical charge q [C/kg], and the image developed on the latent image retaining body by the first developing surface has an average thickness d [m] at the second development station. The second liquid developer has an average thickness d [m] at the second development station and a dielectric constant ∈ [C /Nm ], wherein following equations are satisfied,