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:
May. 15, 2007
Filed:
Dec. 03, 2004
Shigekazu Enoki, Kanagawa, JP;
Koji Suzuki, Kanagawa, JP;
Yasushi Koichi, Kanagawa, JP;
Osamu Ariizumi, Kanagawa, JP;
Kumiko Hatakeyama, Kanagawa, JP;
Koichi Kato, Kanagawa, JP;
Masahide Yamashita, Tokyo, JP;
Toshiyuki Kabata, Kanagawa, JP;
Jun Yura, Kanagawa, JP;
Shigekazu Enoki, Kanagawa, JP;
Koji Suzuki, Kanagawa, JP;
Yasushi Koichi, Kanagawa, JP;
Osamu Ariizumi, Kanagawa, JP;
Kumiko Hatakeyama, Kanagawa, JP;
Koichi Kato, Kanagawa, JP;
Masahide Yamashita, Tokyo, JP;
Toshiyuki Kabata, Kanagawa, JP;
Jun Yura, Kanagawa, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a charging device configured to uniformly charge a surface of the image carrier with a charging member applied with a bias of a first polarity (e.g. a negative polarity) for charging. A latent image forming device forms a latent image on the surface of the image carrier uniformly charged. A developing device develops a latent image by depositing toner grains of the first polarity on the latent image to thereby form a corresponding toner image. A transferring device forms an electric field between the image carrier and a moving member that serves as a movable contact with the image carrier to thereby transfer the toner image from the surface of the image carrier to the moving member or to a recording member nipped between the image carrier and the moving member. A polarity controlling device sets residual toner to a second polarity (e.g. a positive polarity) opposite to the first polarity, before the residual toner left on the image carrier by the transferring device is conveyed to a corresponding position to the charging member.