Electrophotographic printing machine

An electrophotographic printing machine comprising:

• a photoreceptor drum including a transparent cylindrical base having an electrically conductive layer and a photoconductive layer laminated in this order on a periphery surface thereof;
• a dielectric belt with no end, said belt would around a surface of said photoreceptor drum and firmly adherent thereto for integrally moving therewith;
• an electrically conductive toner hold means for applying an electrically conductive toner on the surface of said dielectric belt, said toner hold means being provided in a vicinity of the surface of said dielectric belt in a contact area between said dielectric belt and said photoreceptor drum;
• a power supply for applying voltage across said toner hold means and the electrically conductive layer;
• an exposure unit for exposing the photoconductive layer in the contact area to form a latent image on the surface of the photoconductive layer, with no discharging of the photoconductive layer occurring during exposure, by projecting thereon a light beam through the cylindrical base and the electrically conductive layer so as to polarize the photoconductive layer, said exposure unit being disposed in the cylindrical base of said photoreceptor drum;
• a heater for melting by a heat treatment the toner of the toner image formed on the surface of the dielectric belt after the photoreceptor drum passes as exposure area;
• a pressurizing roller for pressing a superposed portion of the copying material and the dielectric belt toward the heater, the pressurizing roller being disposed confronting said heater so as to have the dielectric belt and the copying material being transported thereon interposed in between;
• and
• a tension roller being rotatively provided;
• wherein said dielectric belt with no end belts said tension roller, said photoreceptor drum and said heater so as to surround them from outside;
• thereby providing an image without a charge device for charging the photoconductive layer of the photoreceptor means.

A method for forming an image on a copying material, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) preparing a dielectric belt wound around the surface of a photoreceptor drum including a cylindrical base having an electrically conductive layer and a photoconductive layer laminated in this order on a periphery surface thereof;
• (b) forming a toner image on the surface of the dielectric belt by applying a voltage across the dielectric belt and photoconductive layer and exposing the photoreceptor drum to an image without having previously charged the photoconductive layer, thereby polarizing the photoconductive layer and forming a latent image on the surface of the photoconductive layer with no discharging of the photoconductive layer during exposure;
• and
• (c) simultaneously carrying out transfer and fusing processes of the toner image formed on the surface of the dielectric belt to a copying material by superposing the copying material onto the toner image by applying thereto heat and pressure.