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:
Jun. 04, 2013
Filed:
Nov. 09, 2009
Akio Kosuge, Yokohama, JP;
Shinichi Kawahara, Tokyo, JP;
Nobuo Kuwabara, Yokohama, JP;
Satoshi Hatori, Yokohama, JP;
Yoshinori Ozawa, Atsugi, JP;
Daisuke Tomita, Yokohama, JP;
Takeshi Shintani, Kawasaki, JP;
Akio Kosuge, Yokohama, JP;
Shinichi Kawahara, Tokyo, JP;
Nobuo Kuwabara, Yokohama, JP;
Satoshi Hatori, Yokohama, JP;
Yoshinori Ozawa, Atsugi, JP;
Daisuke Tomita, Yokohama, JP;
Takeshi Shintani, Kawasaki, JP;
Ricoh Company, Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a charging device to charge a surface of the image carrier, disposed across a predetermined gap from the image carrier, a latent image forming device, a developing device to develop a latent image formed on the image carrier into a toner image, a transfer unit to transfer the toner image from the image carrier onto a recording medium, a cleaning member to clean the image carrier after the toner image is transferred therefrom, a lubricant application member to lubricate the image carrier, a polarity adjustor to adjust polarities of the toner and lubricant adhering to the image carrier to be identical to a polarity of a charging bias. The polarity adjustor is disposed facing the image carrier, upstream from the charging device and downstream from the transfer unit in a direction in which the image carrier rotates.