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AssigneeKonica Minolta, Inc.
InventorsYohei Ito, Tsugihito Yoshiyama, Yoshiki Nakane, Tomohisa Yoshida, Masanori Kawada
Estimating the term…
An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a rotative image carrier and transferring the image onto an object, including: a cleaning unit removing a residual material from the image carrier; and a lubricant applying unit applying lubricant to a circumferential surface of the image carrier, the lubricant applying unit including: a rotative transporter picking up and retaining lubricant, transporting the lubricant to a lubricant application point, and supplying a portion of the lubricant to the image carrier at the lubricant application point; an ejector causing the transporter to eject a portion of the lubricant retained by the transporter; a collector collecting the portion of the lubricant ejected from the transporter; and a controller controlling ejection of the portion of the lubricant so as to maintain the amount of the lubricant retained by the transporter as no greater than a predetermined upper limit.
An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a rotative image carrier and transferring the image onto an object, comprising:
A lubricant application method used by an image forming apparatus that transfers an image formed on a rotative image carrier onto an object, removes a residual material on the rotative image carrier by using a cleaning unit after the image has been transferred onto the object, and applies lubricant to a circumferential surface of the rotative image carrier by using a lubricant applying unit after the residual material has been removed, the lubricant application method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.