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:
Apr. 13, 2004
Filed:
Sep. 26, 2002
Kunio Shigeta, Hachioji, JP;
Hiroshi Akita, Hachioji, JP;
Takenobu Kimura, Hachioji, JP;
Yotaro Sato, Hachioji, JP;
Konica Corporation, , JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus is provided for obtaining excellent developing properties using toner with small particle diameters and for forming high-quality visual images. In a developing device of an image forming apparatus, a two-component developer is used which satisfies conditions that volume mean particle diameter dt of a toner is 3˜5 &mgr;m (Condition 1), volume mean particle diameter dc of a carrier is 5 dt˜10 dt (Condition 2), and a weight ratio Rw of the toner and the carrier is 1.6 (dt/dc) ×(&rgr;t/&rgr;c)˜2.4 (dt/dc)×(&rgr;t/&rgr;c) (Condition 3, where &rgr;t and &rgr;c are density of the toner and the carrier, respectively). A main magnetic pole M of a rotary sleeve is arranged in the vicinity of the closest position of the rotary sleeve and an image forming body, and the closest distance D between the rotary sleeve and the image forming body satisfies a condition that D is 0.5 H˜0.8 H for the free tip height H of a magnetic brush B of the main magnetic pole M. It is preferable that the actual supplied amount of the toner is regulated within a specific range.