Abstract: A toner including toner particles including a binder resin, a colorant, and an inorganic particulate material present on a surface of the toner particles. The toner particles have a surface roughness (Ra) of from 1 to 30 nm, a standard deviation of the surface roughness of from 10 to 90 nm and include 1 to 20 convexities per 1 ?m, which have a height not less than 10 nm.

Abstract: In a lighting apparatus for an illumination light source (discharge lamp or the like), a fly-back type DC-DC converter circuit comprises a transformer and a switching element. A control circuit is provided for controlling power supplied to the illumination light source, such that operation is controlled in a current boundary mode by a control signal sent from the control circuit to the switching element. A fluctuation generator circuit is provided for giving fluctuations to a frequency at which the switching element is driven by changing the power supplied to the illumination light source with reference to a target power value associated with the power control for the illumination light source.

Abstract: The object of the present invention is to provide a toner which has sufficiently high chargeability and less toner spent to a carrier or the like even when several tens of thousands of image sheets are output, is capable of keeping high-charge property and flowability without causing substantial background smear or toner fogging, excels in low-temperature fixing property and hot-offset property, and has a wide range of fixing temperature as well as to provide a developer, an image forming apparatus, a process cartridge, and an image forming method using the toner for developing electrostatic images. The toner of the present invention comprises a colorant, and a resin, and a fluoride compound, in which the fluoride compound exists on the surfaces of toner particles, and the atomic number ratio (F/C) of fluoride atoms to carbon atoms existing on the surfaces of the toner particles is 0.010 to 0.054.

Abstract: The object of the present invention is to provide a developer having a sharp charge amount distribution and bringing out high-quality image without substantially smearing a charging unit, developing units, a photoconductor, and an intermediate transferring member by the developer, namely, a developer capable of providing an appropriate image density and exhibiting extremely little background smear even when used over a long period of time and repeatedly used for a number of sheets of paper as well as to provide an image forming apparatus for electrophotography using the developer.

Abstract: A developing apparatus using a two-component developer constituted by a magnetic carrier and a toner, and an image forming apparatus comprising the developing apparatus. A developing unit and a stirring unit are provided, and in order to suppress toner scattering that may occur after a development operation has been halted for a long time, and thereby suppress contamination of the apparatus interior, the developer in a developing machine is transferred to a stirrer serving as a developer storage unit on the exterior of the developing machine when the development operation ends.

Abstract: A developing device including a development part for developing latent images to toner images. The developing device also includes an agitation part that agitates developer, and a controller, which controls an agitation strength of an agitator in the agitation part. The developer circulates between the development part and the agitation part.

Abstract: The toner supply unit is provided with a preventing unit for preventing toner contamination due to toner leakage from that sealing valve. A mouth ring of the toner container is provided with the sealing valve. This valve is opened/closed by removing/inserting a nozzle.

Abstract: A toner container includes a container body having a mouth-piece member positioned at a mouth of the container body. The mouth-piece member includes an opening to allow toner to be discharged from the container body, a valve configured to seal the opening and which allows a nozzle located at a setting portion of an image forming apparatus to protrude into the valve, and a least two guides provided at opposite sides of the mouth-piece member configured to engage with at least two setting guides at the setting portion of the image forming apparatus.

Abstract: An apparatus, method and program produce small print including character string information in a plurality of languages together with a logo. A language converting function converts an input character string into another language. A multi-language printing function converts the input character string into a specified number and types of languages. A layout function allows specifying one piece of information of the logo, specifying one record, specifying one type of character string information and printing the specified layout as the small print inclusive of the logo and character string.

Abstract: In a lighting apparatus for a discharge lamp, a mask signal against a re-arc voltage is correctly generated to detect a lamp voltage accurately in view of a support to high frequency lighting such that the detection of the lamp voltage is not affected by the re-arc voltage. The lighting apparatus for the discharge lamp comprises a DC-AC converter for receiving an input voltage from a DC power supply to convert the input voltage to an AC voltage; detecting means for detecting a lamp voltage associated with a discharge lamp or a lamp voltage and a lamp current; and a signal generator circuit for generating a mask signal for excluding a re-arc voltage, which occurs at the time the polarity is inverted, from items to be detected, in the event of a detection of the lamp voltage. The signal generator circuit detects the lamp voltage or lamp current or a voltage at an output stage of the DC-AC converter to correctly capture a polarity inversion timing to generate a mask signal against the re-arc voltage.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a conveying pipe configured to convey a developer and a magnetic field generation mechanism configured to generate a magnetic field inside the conveying pipe to affect the developer. The magnet is formed to have lower magnetic intensities at positions upstream and downstream from a middle position of the conveying pipe along a conveying direction of the conveying pipe than a magnetic intensity in the middle of the conveying pipe.

Abstract: An agent transport unit for transporting an agent from a first container to a second container includes a transport route and a pump. The transport route connects the first container and second container, and includes at least one of a first route, a second route, and a third route. The first route extends in a substantially horizontal direction, the second route extends in a substantially vertical direction, and the third route extends in a substantially inclined direction with a repose angle equal to or less than that of the agent. The pump supplies a gas flow into the transport route to transport the agent in the transport route.

Abstract: To provide a toner that can provide long-term removability and high-definition images with reduced image layer thickness and densely-packed toner particles, a developer capable of forming high-quality images using the toner, a toner container for containing the toner, a process cartridge using the toner, an image forming apparatus using the toner, and an image forming method using the toner. The toner of the present invention is a toner having a substantially spherical shape with irregularities on its surface and containing at least a binder resin and a colorant, wherein a surface factor SF-1 that represents the sphericity of toner particles is 105 to 180, a surface factor SF-2 that represents the degree of surface irregularities of the toner particles is correlated with the volume-average diameter of the toner particles, and the toner particles have an inorganic oxide particle-containing layer within 1 ?m from their surfaces.

Abstract: A toner for electrophotography contains a binder resin, a colorant and a releasing agent and has a viscosity, a storage modulus (G?) and a loss modulus (G?), in which the viscosity is 1×103 Pa·s or more and a loss tangent (tan ?) as the ratio of G? to G? is 0.4 or more at temperatures from 140° C. to 170° C.

Abstract: The object of the present invention is to provide a toner which is excellent in shelf stability for a long term by producing the toner through controlling the dispersion condition of the wax around the toner surface and through improving, not only the off-set resistance of the toner for rendering the fixing properties of the toner advantageous, but also the blocking resistance of the toner, wherein the toner contains a binder resin, a colorant, and a wax, wherein the amount of the wax is 3% by mass to 21% by mass, and the amount of the wax which is present in the portion of the toner particle which is in the range of from the outermost surface to the depth of 0.3 ?m in the toner particle is in a specified range, and at least a part of the wax is present as plural individual wax dispersion particles involved in the toner particles.

Abstract: A toner comprising toner particles comprising a first binder resin; a second binder resin different from said first binder resin and having a glass transition temperature of from 40 to 55 ° C.; a colorant; and a release agent, and a particulate resin material which is located on surface of the toner particles with a coverage of from 50 to 100%, and which has a glass transition temperature of from 50 to 90 ° C., wherein a weight ratio (W2/W1) between the second binder resin (W2) and the first binder resin (W1) is from 5/95 to 40/60, and wherein a ratio (G?80/G?180) between a storage modulus of the toner at 80 ° C. (G?80) and a storage modulus at 180 ° C. (G?180) is from 100 to 1,000.

Abstract: A toner capable of making compatible a transferring property, a fixing property and a cleaning property and forming a high-precision image. The toner comprises a binder resin and a colorant and is characterized in that the average circularity of the toner is at least 0.95, a ratio (D/S) between the total projection area (S) and the contact area (D) of the toner is 15% to 40%, and the contact area (D) is a total contact area between the toner and an object surface. The toner has such a shape as to be able to contact a latent image carrier with a proper contact area, has a high transferring rate and can prevent transferring dust.

Abstract: A discharge lamp lighting circuit 1 is provided with a DC-AC conversion circuit 3 having a plurality of switching elements 5H, 5L and a series resonance circuit (8, 9, 7p), and control means 17 for preventing a situation in which the drive frequency of the switching element remains less than its specified minimum frequency. When the discharge lamp is lit, driving control of the switching element is carried out in a frequency range higher than the series resonance frequency. By using a driving situation detection circuit 15, a driving situation of the switching element is monitored based on a relation with a phase of a lamp current which flows through the discharge lamp. If the drive frequency of the switching element becomes less than the specified minimum frequency, the drive frequency is increased, and thereby, a lower limit of the drive frequency is automatically restricted.

Abstract: A toner for developing a latent electrostatic image including a base of toner particle which contains a binder resin and a coloring agent, and an external additive. Herein, a plurality of the base of toner particle has a volume average particle diameter (Dv) of 3 ?m to 7 ?m, a ratio (Dv/Dn) of the volume average particle diameter (Dv) to a number average particle diameter (Dn) is 1.01 to 1.25, a plurality of the base of toner particle contains 15% by number or less of the base of toner particle having a particle diameter of 0.6 ?m to 2.0 ?m, a plurality of the base of toner particle has a circularity of 0.930 to 0.990 on average, the binder resin contains a modified polyester resin, and the toner contains 0.3 parts by weight to 5.0 parts by weight of the external additive, relative to 100 parts by weight of the base of toner particle.

Abstract: A toner comprising toner particles comprising a first binder resin; a second binder resin different from said first binder resin and having a glass transition temperature of from 40 to 55° C.; a colorant; and a release agent, and a particulate resin material which is located on surface of the toner particles with a coverage of from 50 to 100%, and which has a glass transition temperature of from 50 to 90° C., wherein a weight ratio (W2/W1) between the second binder resin (W2) and the first binder resin (W1) is from 5/95 to 40/60, and wherein a ratio (G?80/G?180) between a storage modulus of the toner at 80° C. (G?80) and a storage modulus at 180° C. (G?180) is from 100 to 1,000.