Abstract: An image forming apparatus including an image holding device for holding on its surface an image developed with liquid developer; a record medium transporting device for transporting a record medium from a supply position to a transfer position for transferring the image developed on the image holding device onto a surface of the record medium; and a transfer agent supply device for supplying a transfer agent for providing a good transferred image onto the above surface of the record medium during transportation between the supply position and the transfer position.

Abstract: A media sheet handling system and a method of duplex printing are disclosed wherein a media sheet is imaged with a phase change ink on both sides of the media sheet without smudging or remelting the images and the media sheet is partially exited from the printer into a media output tray and then is drawn back into the printer along a duplex path of travel that automatically reverses the media sheet so that the trailing edge becomes the leading edge during the imaging of the second side of the media sheet. The stiffness of the media sheet facilitates the media sheet moving above and beyond a stationary media path diverter prior to reversing its direction of travel along and passing along the duplex path of travel back to the imaging station.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for reusing an image recording material wherein a releasing property is imparted to at least a substrate surface of an image recording material on which an image has been formed of an image forming material containing a heat fusible ingredient, a heat fusible material is added or attached onto the image recording material, a stripping member is contacted under pressure with the heat fusible material while heating the heat fusible material together with the image recording materials to fuse, and the image recording material is peeled off from the stripping member to transfer the image forming material together with the heat fusible material to the stripping member, thereby reusing the image recording material. The materials for imparting a releasing property to the substrate surface include silicone compounds such as silane compounds, preferably those silane compounds containing fine particles such as silicone resins.

Abstract: A device and a method for reducing contamination of the rear surface of recording papers during formation of a next image, with residual developing material adhered to a photosensitive drum and a transfer roller, by polarizing the recording papers.

Abstract: A device for adding controlled amounts of moisture to one or both sides of a copy sheet. The device includes a pair of water jets, a reservoir for storing a quantity of liquid and connected to the water jet, a pair of generally cylindrical, pressure rolls, each having an outer cylindrical surface with the rolls being aligned with respect to one another along their axes so as to define a nip between the outer cylindrical surfaces, and a controller for controlling application of water from the water jets to selected portions of each sheet passing thereunder before each sheet enters the nip formed between the outer cylindrical surfaces. Alternatively, the water jets could apply the liquid to the cylindrical surfaces of the pressure rolls.

Abstract: An image forming device that can surely prevent a flutter of a sheet-like medium in the feeding portion even when there is a difference in velocity between the conveying belt and the front conveying system at the time of feeding a sheet-like medium onto the conveying belt, thereby obtaining a high-quality image. The image forming device includes a pressure roller mounted in an idle mode on the conveying belt and near to the portion where the transfer paper is fed from the conveying system, the transfer paper being transferred from the conveying system onto the conveying belt while being sandwiched between the pressure roller and the conveying belt. The image forming device is applicable to printers of electro-photographic system, electro-static recording system, or the like.

Abstract: In a method of and an apparatus for regenerating an image support from a used image-bearing support which bears thereon hydrophobic images formed of thermofusible or heat-softening ink, a plurality of image releasing members are used for removing the hydrophobic images from the used image-bearing support. Specifically, at least one of the image releasing members has a first portion which is able to adhere to the hydrophobic images and a second portion which is unable to adhere to the hydrophobic images, and the image releasing members are arranged in series in order of size of the first portion from small to large along a feeding direction of the used image support. Accordingly, the image releasing members are allowed to adhere to the hydrophobic images in order of size of the first portion from small to large so that the hydrophobic images are removed from the used image support effectively.

Abstract: An apparatus for forming an image on a sheet member includes a photoreceptor drum on which a first toner image and a second toner image are separately formed; an image carrying belt on which the second toner image is transferred from the photoreceptor drum; a first transfer device to transfer the first toner image from the photoreceptor drum to a first side of the sheet member; a second transfer device to transfer the second toner image from the image carrying belt to the other side of the sheet member; and a cleaner capable of being brought in contact with anal separated from the image carrying belt. The cleaner is brought in contact with the image carrying belt after the first toner image is transferred from the photoreceptor drum to the first side of the sheet member.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a photoreceptor drum on which a toner image is formed, a transfer drum for transferring the toner image formed to transfer paper by bringing the transfer paper into contact with the photoreceptor drum, and a pair of register rollers for supplying the transfer paper to the transfer drum at a predetermined time and for curling the transfer paper in an arc. The register rollers include first and second rollers pressed against each other, the first roller being a predetermined hardness and the second roller being a hardness larger than the first roller. The transfer drum is disposed on the same side as the second roller with respect to an imaginary tangent line touching the surface of the second roller at one end of a contact section between the first and second rollers.

Abstract: A continuous forms printer utilizing paper without pinholes along each edge is provided with a first paper transfer device on the input side of the printing station and a second paper transfer device on the output side of the printing station. The two paper transfer devices are operated at slightly different speeds in order to place tension in the continuous forms at the printing station in order to control registration and magnification problems. For example, a vacuum transport belt is placed on the output side and operated at a slightly greater speed than the printer. The belt is provided with friction characteristics and operated at a vacuum pressure to allow slippage of the belt and paper at the desired tension. By placing positive paper control on the output side, the directional stability of the continuous forms is improved thus avoiding skew control problems.

Abstract: A sheet S is supported by a movable cylindrical transfer drum 12 and a toner image is transferred from a photosensitive drum 9 onto the sheet S in this state. The sheet S is curved by curl rolls 29, 30 of a conveyer unit 20 so that it is curved outward in harmony with the direction of the transfer drum 12 and that its curvature radius is smaller than that of the transfer drum 12. Then the sheet S is conveyed toward the transfer drum 12. A guide plate 40 is placed between the curl rolls 29, 30 and the transfer drum 12 and the leading end portion of the sheet S conveyed from the curl rolls 29, 30 abuts and slides on the guide face 42 of the guide plate 40. Thus, a moment is given to the following portion of the sheet S held between the curl rolls 29, 30 and the curvature radius of the following portion thereof is corrected so that the curvature radius of the following portion thereof may be increased.

Abstract: In a color electrophotographic printer, an intermediate transfer belt is provided to layer toner images of a plurality of colors, and the toner images on the belt are transferred onto a paper sheet. In order to remove a paper sheet when a paper jam happens, a door is provided in a case of the printer, while a cover is provided to protect a transfer region where the intermediate transfer belt contacts with a paper sheet for transferring the toner images. When the door is opened, the cover moves to cover a portion of the surface of the intermediate transfer belt exposed to the door. When the jammed paper sheet is removed, the image forming process is resumed immediately on the toner images on the intermediate transfer belt. Further, an intermediate transfer unit including the intermediate transfer belt and the cover detachable from the printer may be provided.

Abstract: To maintain an image eraser used for erasing a toner image printed on a sheet operable wastes power, and additionally, a manual operation is required for loading a sheet feed portion with sheets from which the printed image is removed for reuse. The main body of an image forming apparatus is provided with a tray for image erasure and a feed roller for feeding sheets from the tray. Disposed in a passage for transporting the sheets from the tray is an image eraser comprising a nozzle for applying a treatment for removal of toner, a toner removal roller and a pressure roller and the likes. By means of a transport roller, sheets are transferred from the image eraser to an intermediate tray or a registration roller for feeding sheets to an image forming position. The image eraser is actuated for image erasure while the image forming apparatus is not performing an image forming operation.

Abstract: There is provided a method for forming an image-receiving sheet for sublimation thermal transfer recording, in which a photoreceptor is partly or wholly charged as it is rotated, while the powdery coating composition is charged oppositely to the photoreceptor and is then adhered to the surface of the photoreceptor, and thereafter the composition is transferred onto the base sheet, and then heated, melted and fixed, thereby to form a continuous film of the receiving layer on the base sheet.There is further provided a white, powdery coating composition for use for the production of such an image-receiving sheet as above, which comprises a resin component, a white colorant, and a cured product of reaction-curable silicone oils and is characterized in that the composition comprises, as the resin component, from 70 to 95% by weight of a resin mixture comprising from 50 to 90% by weight of a saturated polyester resin having an acid value of from 1.0 to 20 mg KOH/g and a glass transition point of from 50.degree.

Abstract: A charge removing member is arranged just upstream of an image transfer area along a continuous form transport path, between the last guiding portion and the transfer area, to remove accumulated charge on the continuous form. The charge removing member is alternatively a brush contactable to the form, a non-contact conductive member, a brush movable toward and away from the form, or a brush that acts as a guide member. Further alternatively, the brush contacts the form only during reverse feeding of the form, and in this case, is alternatively movable toward and away from the form, movable toward and away from the form in association with a transfer unit, or positioned to contact a straight form while being out of contact with a form bent by a transfer unit.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus having a charger which applies a voltage of the same polarity as a toner image formed on an intermediate transfer member onto an upstream side of a first transfer portion at which the intermediate transfer member faces an image bearing member, as well as a transfer electrode which applies a bias voltage of an opposite polarity to the toner image onto a downstream side of the first transfer portion. On an upstream side of a second transfer portion at which the toner image formed on the intermediate transfer member is transferred by a transfer roller onto a transfer sheet with respect to a sheet transporting direction, a bias voltage applying device is provided which applies to the transfer sheet a voltage of an opposite polarity to the toner image and greater than a surface potential of the intermediate transfer member at the second transfer portion.

Abstract: A developing device which develops an electrostatic latent image formed on an image carrier by toner, thereby forming a toner image; a transferring device which transfers the toner image to a fed transfer material; a registration device which provides a timing of feeding the transfer material; a curling device which nips the transfer material so as to produce a curl which is curved in the same direction as the transferring device; a curling control device which controls a nip operation mechanism of the curling device; and mode setting means for instructing the curling control device to operate are disclosed. In accordance with a thick sheet mode set in the mode setting means, the nip operation of the curling device is executed and a dummy transfer period in which the transfer operation of the transferring device is stopped is set.

Abstract: A regenerating apparatus for removing a printing material from a recording medium so as to reuse the recording medium includes a container, a container for accommodating a liquid for swelling the printing material; a guide member for guiding the recording medium, part of which is arranged in the liquid; a rotatable transporting roller for transporting the recording medium along the guide member, so that the printing material on the recording medium is immersed in the liquid; a rotatable transferring roller disposed near the guide member so as to be in contact at a circumferential surface thereof with the recording medium and receive the printing material swollen by the liquid from the recording medium. The surface of the transferring roller is formed with at least one of the materials selected from polyolefin resin, polyester resin, nitrogen containing resin, sulfur containing resin, fluororesin, silicon resin, polyacetal resin, epoxy resin, polyether ether ketone resin, and phenol resin.

Abstract: An apparatus for removing images on an image carrier sheet to allow the image carrier sheet to be repeatedly used. The apparatus includes an image removing member for removing images from an image carrier sheet, the images being fixed on the image carrier sheet. A liquid supply supplies a liquid to the image removing member and a transporting mechanism transports the image carrier sheet with the fixed images to the image removing member. The fixed images on the image carrier sheet are removed by the image removing member when the liquid supplied to the image removing member is applied to a surface of the image carrier sheet. A pressing member presses the surface of the image carrier sheet against the image removing member, the image removing member including a squeeze roller. The liquid supply means includes a liquid supply roller and the transporting mechanism comprises a pair of transport rollers. The squeeze roller is rotated at a higher speed than the pair of transport rollers.

Abstract: A main body of a regenerating apparatus of a recording medium has a conveyor mechanism which conveys a recording medium to be regenerated along a conveyance passage. A cleaning unit is removably mounted on the main body for easy maintenance, cleaning or replacement. Preferably, the cleaning unit has a U-shaped conveyance passage of the recording medium filled up with a cleaning liquid, and an image removing mechanism which applies a physical treatment to the surface of the recording medium. The recording medium is taken in the U-shaped conveyance passage, immersed in the cleaning liquid so that the image on the recording medium is swollen and removed by the image removing mechanism. The image removing mechanism may include a web impregnated with cleaning liquid brought into contact with the recording medium by a roller which may have a built-in heater to cause the printing material on the recording medium to swell and be scraped off by the web.

Abstract: A stalled roll registration device that minimizes or prevents creasing of a sheet as it is fed through the device. The rolls that register the sheet are not perfectly cylindrical and have a larger radius toward the outside edges of the sheetpath. After the sheet is stalled and then started through the registration pair, the velocity difference caused by the noncylindrical rolls causes the edges of the sheet to be urged toward the edges of the sheetpath thereby minimizing the risk of wrinkling the sheet.

Abstract: A transparent film for forming, e.g., a toner image thereon is provided as an optically transparent sheet member having an opaque part. During the image forming, the position and conveyance state of the transparent film are detected optically by utilizing the opaque part. After the image formation, the opaque part is cleared by (i) detaching the opaque part under heating, or (ii) clarifying the opaque part by heating and/or light illumination. Accordingly, the opaque part required for image forming does not adversely affect the final transparent film product, such as an overhead projection film. The clearing of the opaque part may be performed, e.g., along with the fixation of the toner image onto the transparent film.