Abstract: At least one thermal barrier coating member mounted on an inner wall surface, facing a combustion chamber of an engine, of a cylinder liner accommodating a piston slidably along an axial direction, is provided with: a base layer configured to be detachably fitted into a recess formed in the inner wall surface of the cylinder liner; and a thermal barrier coating layer formed on an opposite side of the base layer from the inner wall surface of the cylinder liner. The thermal barrier coating layer is disposed above a piston ring which is positioned at an uppermost position in the axial direction of the cylinder liner when the piston reaches top dead center.

Abstract: At least one thermal barrier coating member mounted on an inner wall surface, facing a combustion chamber of an engine, of a cylinder liner accommodating a piston slidably along an axial direction, is provided with: a base layer configured to be detachably fitted into a recess formed in the inner wall surface of the cylinder liner; and a thermal barrier coating layer formed on an opposite side of the base layer from the inner wall surface of the cylinder liner. The thermal barrier coating layer is disposed above a piston ring which is positioned at an uppermost position in the axial direction of the cylinder liner when the piston reaches top dead center.

Abstract: A repulsive magnetic field is formed in a section immediately upstream of a regulating blade, so that generation of a developing-agent stationary layer is suppressed or eliminated. Accordingly, a developing apparatus capable of stably maintaining the layer thickness of developing agent conveyed to a developing area for a long time is provided.

Abstract: A repulsive magnetic field is formed in a section immediately upstream of a regulating blade, so that generation of a developing-agent stationary layer is suppressed or eliminated. Accordingly, a developing apparatus capable of stably maintaining the layer thickness of developing agent conveyed to a developing area for a long time is provided.

Abstract: In a development device which develops an electrostatic image formed on a rotating photosensitive drum by applying a development bias to a development sleeve bearing a two-component developer, the development device includes a specific pattern determination portion which determines whether or not the electrostatic image includes a specific pattern. When the development device develops the specific pattern electrostatic image determined by the specific pattern determination portion, a potential difference between a development sleeve and a first non-image part of a predetermined range which is adjacent to the specific pattern electrostatic image and located on an upstream side in a photosensitive drum rotating direction is set smaller than a potential difference between the development sleeve and a second non-image part which is different from the first non-image part.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image forming section for forming an image on a recording material with transparent toner; a heater for heating a first image and a second image which are formed on the recording material by the image forming section as transparent images different in toner coverage per unit area; a glossiness detector for detecting glossiness of the first and second images after the first and second images are heated; and a correction section for correcting an image forming condition of the image forming section on the basis of a glossiness toner coverage characteristic obtained by a detection result of the detector.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of development units each using a developer including a toner and a carrier, a density detection unit configured to perform a density detection operation for detecting a density of a detection toner image formed by each of the plurality of development units, and a replenishment unit configured to perform a toner replenishment operation based on a result of the detection by the density detection unit. In the image forming apparatus, at least two of the plurality of development units use respective toners having different color depths in the same hue, and a frequency of the density detection operation using the development unit using a lighter color toner is higher than a frequency of the density detection operation using the development unit using a darker color toner.

Abstract: In a development device which develops an electrostatic image formed on a rotating photosensitive drum by applying a development bias to a development sleeve bearing a two-component developer, the development device includes a specific pattern determination portion which determines whether or not the electrostatic image includes a specific pattern. When the development device develops the specific pattern electrostatic image determined by the specific pattern determination portion, a potential difference between a development sleeve and a first non-image part of a predetermined range which is adjacent to the specific pattern electrostatic image and located on an upstream side in a photosensitive drum rotating direction is set smaller than a potential difference between the development sleeve and a second non-image part which is different from the first non-image part.

Abstract: A developing device includes a developer-bearing member supporting developer for developing electrostatic images, a first chamber supplying the developer to the developer-bearing member, a second chamber below the first chamber, first and second communicating portions connecting the first and second chambers, a first carrying member carrying the developer in the first chamber in a first direction from the first communicating portion to the second communicating portion, a second carrying member carrying the developer in the second chamber in a second direction from the second communicating portion to the first communicating portion, and a partition between the first and second chambers. A bottom portion of the first chamber is inclined such that a downstream end thereof in the first direction is higher than the other end at a position where the bottom portion faces the developer-bearing member.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus which improves uneven gloss occurring at the step of fixing a transparent toner is provided with an image bearing member on which a latent image is formed, a transparent toner image forming device for forming a transparent toner image on the image bearing member, a transferring device for transferring the formed transparent toner image onto a recording material, a fixing device for fixing the transferred transparent toner image on the recording material, and a controller for controlling the bearing amount of the transparent toner image formed on the image bearing member, and the controller controls a condition for forming the transparent toner image to change the bearing amount of the transparent toner image in accordance with the fixing temperature of the fixing device.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of development units each using a developer including a toner and a carrier, a density detection unit configured to perform a density detection operation for detecting a density of a detection toner image formed by each of the plurality of development units, and a replenishment unit configured to perform a toner replenishment operation based on a result of the detection by the density detection unit. In the image forming apparatus, at least two of the plurality of development units use respective toners having different color depths in the same hue, and a frequency of the density detection operation using the development unit using a lighter color toner is higher than a frequency of the density detection operation using the development unit using a darker color toner.

Abstract: A developing apparatus having: a first developer carrying member close to a developer regulating member for regulating an amount of developer; a second developer carrying member to which the developer is delivered from the first developer carrying member; and a mode for removing the toner on the surface of the second developer carrying member, in which mode, in a non-image-formation period, no toner transfer operation from the first developer carrying member to an image bearing member is substantially performed, but a toner transfer operation from the second developer carrying member to the image bearing member is performed.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus is constituted by toner image forming means for forming a toner image on a recording material with transparent or white toner, fixing means for fixing the toner image on the recording material, fixed toner image detection means for detecting the toner image fixed on the recording material, and control means for variably controlling a toner image forming condition of the toner image forming means on the basis of a detection result of the fixed toner image detection means.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a toner image forming device for forming a toner image on a recording material with transparent or white toner. A fixing device fixes the toner image on the recording material. A fixed toner image detection device detects the toner image fixed on the recording material. A controller variably controls a toner image forming condition of the toner image forming device on the basis of a detection result of the fixed toner image detection device, which detects a glossiness of the toner image. The toner image forming condition, which is variably controlled by the controller, is a weight of the toner per unit area of the toner image on the recording material.

Abstract: A developing device includes a developer-bearing member supporting developer for developing electrostatic images, a first chamber supplying the developer to the developer-bearing member, a second chamber below the first chamber, first and second communicating portions connecting the first and second chambers, a first carrying member carrying the developer in the first chamber in a first direction from the first communicating portion to the second communicating portion, a second carrying member carrying the developer in the second chamber in a second direction from the second communicating portion to the first communicating portion, and a partition between the first and second chambers. A bottom portion of the first chamber is inclined such that a downstream end thereof in the first direction is higher than the other end at a position where the bottom portion faces the developer-bearing member.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus which improves uneven gloss occurring at the step of fixing a transparent toner is provided with an image bearing member on which a latent image is formed, a transparent toner image forming device for forming a transparent toner image on the image bearing member, a transferring device for transferring the formed transparent toner image onto a recording material, a fixing device for fixing the transferred transparent toner image on the recording material, and a controller for controlling the bearing amount of the transparent toner image formed on the image bearing member, and the controller controls a condition for forming the transparent toner image to change the bearing amount of the transparent toner image in accordance with the fixing temperature of the fixing device.

Abstract: A developing apparatus having: a first developer carrying member close to a developer regulating member for regulating an amount of developer; a second developer carrying member to which the developer is delivered from the first developer carrying member; and a mode for removing the toner on the surface of the second developer carrying member, in which mode, in a non-image-formation period, no toner transfer operation from the first developer carrying member to an image bearing member is substantially performed, but a toner transfer operation from the second developer carrying member to the image bearing member is performed.

Abstract: In a device for controlling the amount of toner replenished to a developing device depending on the density of a reference image formed on a photoconductor, if the toner density of a developer in the developing device fluctuates extremely; there may occur toner scattering, formation of coarse or rough images, and carrier attachment. To overcome those problems, a photosensor is disposed to detect the toner density in the developing device, and when an output of the photosensor is outside of a predetermined range, a target value to be compared with the detected density of the reference image is modified.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus capable of preventing the increase of the size thereof by having a lengthened developer bearing member is provided with regard to an image forming apparatus capable of printing a registration mark (dragonfly) on a large sheet of recording paper for producing an art work in case of the use of a formed image as a printing manuscript. The length of the lengthwise direction of a developer bearing member provided in at least one developing device among the developing devices provided in the image forming apparatus is longer than those of the developer bearing members of the other developing devices.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus is constituted by toner image forming means for forming a toner image on a recording material with transparent or white toner, fixing means for fixing the toner image on the recording material, fixed toner image detection means for detecting the toner image fixed on the recording material, and control means for variably controlling a toner image forming condition of the toner image forming means on the basis of a detection result of the fixed toner image detection means.