Compact optical printer with planar photoreceptor

An optical printer, comprising:

• a photoreceptor including a transparent substrate, a transparent electrode layer and a photosensitive layer formed on said substrate, said photoreceptor forming a generally planar surface, said photosensitive layer being of a material selected from the group consisting of amorphous silicon hydride, amorphous silica halide, amorphous germanium, and amorphous alloys of such materials;
• means for moving said photoreceptor in a direction substantially parallel to its planar surface;
• an opposite electrode arranged in opposition to said photoreceptor for supplying a toner onto said photoreceptor, said opposite electrode including a metallic outer roller surface;
• a single electric field applying means for applying an electric field between said transparent electrode layer of said photoreceptor and said electrode;
• means for exposing said photoreceptor with a light source at a position opposite to said opposite electrode from a side of said transparent substrate;
• toner absorption means for applying a force by which said toner can be absorbed toward said opposite electrode;
• transcribing means for forming a toner image on said photoreceptor by selectively adhering said toner on said photoreceptor and for transcribing the toner image onto a paper;
• and
• fixing means for fixing the toner image being transcribed on said paper.

An optical printer comprising:

• a photoreceptor including a transparent substrate, a transparent electrode layer and a photosensitive layer formed on said substrate, said photoreceptor forming a planar surface, which is moved in a direction parallel therewith;
• toner supplying means including an opposite electrode which is arranged in opposition to said photoreceptor;
• electric field applying means for applying an electric field between said transparent electrode layer of said photoreceptor and said opposite electrode;
• exposing means for exposing from a side of said transparent substrate with a light image;
• toner absorption means for applying a force to absorb said toner toward said opposite electrode;
• transcribing means for forming a toner image on said photoreceptor by selectively adhering said toner on the said photoreceptor and for transcribing the toner image onto a paper;
• fixing means for fixing the toner image being transcribed;
• image reading means provided above said photoreceptor for reading an image of an original;
• and
• a first feeding path for feeding a paper on which said toner image formed on said photoreceptor is to be transcribed, and a second feeding path for feeding said original toward said image reading means.

An optical printer, comprising:

• a housing;
• a photoreceptor housed in said housing and including a transparent substrate, a transparent electrode layer formed on said substrate and a photosensitive layer made of amorphous semiconductor, said photoreceptor forming a planar face which is moved in a first direction parallel therewith;
• toner supplying means housed in said housing and including an opposite electrode which is arranged in opposite to said photoreceptor;
• electric field applying means housed in said housing for applying an electric field between said transparent electrode layer of said photoreceptor and said opposite electrode;
• exposing means housed in said housing for exposing from a side of said transparent substrate with a light image;
• toner absorption means housed in said housing for applying absorption force to said toner to be absorbed toward said opposite electrode;
• transcribing means housed in said housing for forming a toner image by selectively adhering said toner on said photoreceptor and for transcribing the toner image onto a paper;
• a first opening portion formed on said housing;
• a first feeding path housed in said housing for feeding a paper inserted from said first opening portion toward said transcribing means in said first direction;
• image reading means housed in said housing arranged between said toner supplying means and said transcribing means so that said image reading means can read said toner image formed on said photoreceptor or an image on an original inserted from the outside;
• a second opening portion formed on said housing;
• a second feeding path formed in said housing for feeding said original inserted from said second opening portion toward said image reading means in a second direction opposite to said first direction, said second feeding path being formed by a commonly used portion of said first feeding path;
• first roller means provided in the vicinity of said first opening portion for feeding said paper inserted from said first opening portion into said first feeding path or for discharging said original passing through said second feeding path;
• fixing means housed in said housing for fixing a transcribed toner image onto said paper fed from said first feeding path;
• and
• roller means provided in the vicinity of said second opening portion for feeding said original inserted from said second opening portion into said second feeding path or for discharging said paper from said fixing means through said first feeding path.