Electrophotographic apparatus
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorsYozo Matsuura, Hiromichi Ema, Shiroh Kondoh, Eiji Takenaka, Hiroshi Saitoh
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Abstract
An electrophotographic apparatus capable of forming a high quality image by a contact type developing system using a photoconductive belt and a developing roller. The belt has a tubular configuration. A single friction roller is made of rubber and received in the tubular belt to drive it in a rotary motion. The friction roller has an outside diameter smaller than the inside diameter of the belt to provide the belt with a slack. The developing roller contacts the slack of the belt and, therefore, contacts the belt over a sufficient nip width.
Claims7
An electrophotographic apparatus for forming an image by an electrophotographic process, comprising:
- a photoconductive belt having a tubular configuration;
- a friction roller having an outside diameter smaller than an inside diameter of said photoconductive belt and received in said photoconductive belt, at least a surface of said friction roller being made of a material having high friction;
- and
- a developing roller contacting a slack of said photoconductive belt which is ascribable to a difference between the outside diameter of said friction roller and the inside diameter of said photoconductive belt, said developing roller developing an electrostatic latent image formed on said photoconductive belt.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.