Cold pressure transfix in a simplified printer

A cold pressure fusing apparatus for use in a xerographic color copying machine for fixing a developed dry toner image to a substrate, comprising:

• an intermediate transfer belt, the intermediate transfer belt supporting developed toner color images,
• a pressure roll mounted in said machine, the pressure roll in contact with the surface of the intermediate transfer belt, the pressure roll and the transfer belt forming a nip, and
• substrates entering the nip to receive a developed dry toner color image from the transfer belt, the substrates exiting the nip with fixed developed dry toner color images on the substrates,
• the pressure roll providing suitable pressure in relationship to the substrates to fix the developed dry toner color image to the copy sheet, the suitable pressure to fix the toner color image on the substrates being in relationship to temperature.

A cold pressure fusing apparatus for use in a xerographic copying machine for fixing a developed toner image to a substrate, comprising:

• a photoconductor mounted in said machine;
• the photoconductor surface supporting developed toner images, the photoconductor able to withstand high temperatures,
• a pressure roll mounted in said machine, the pressure roll in contact with the photoconductor, the pressure roll and photoconductor surface forming a nip for securing developed toner images to substrates, the temperature of at least one of the pressure roll and photoconductor surface being high with respect to the other, and
• a pressure control for applying pressure at the nip to secure developed toner images to the substrates, a pressure at the nip being low and the photoconductor being warmed to a temperature above room temperature,
• the pressure roll providing pressure as a function of the type of substrate, and the toner material to secure the developed toner image to the substrate.

A method of providing a fixed toner image on a substrate, wherein the image is a fixed dry powder image of toner powder having a predetermined threshold pressure and wherein fixing is achieved solely by the application of pressure applied to the powder image on the substrate, comprising the steps of:

• creating an electrostatic charge image pattern on a photosensitive surface;
• depositing dry electrostatic toner powder upon said substrate to form the image pattern;
• fixing the toner powder image to said substrate by a threshold pressure, the threshold pressure being a function of the type of substrates and the toner powder material;
• and
• applying heat at the point of fixing the powder image to the substrate.