Image forming apparatus and method
AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorOsamu Takagi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An image forming apparatus uses toner whose degree of dispersion is set in a range of 1.0 to 1.15 (the degree of dispersion is defined as a value that is obtained by dividing an average particle diameter obtained from a particle-diameter distribution on the basis of the volume of the toner by an average particle diameter obtained from a particle-diameter distribution on the basis of the number of particles of the toner). The apparatus includes a toner carry roller for carrying the toner thereon and a toner-layer restricting blade that is disposed in contact with the toner carry roller and serves to restrict the carried toner to be a single layer. Sufficient density contrast can be obtained with a low driving voltage.
Claims21
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- toner flow control means for controlling a flow of charged toner particles;
- and
- toner supply means for supplying toner particles to said toner flow control means, wherein a degree of dispersion of the toner is set in a range of 1.0 to 1.15, the degree of dispersion being defined as a value that is obtained by dividing an average particle diameter obtained from a particle-diameter distribution on the basis of toner volume by an average particle diameter obtained from a particle-diameter distribution on the basis of toner particle number.
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- an electrode unit that controls a flow of charged toner particles;
- and
- a toner supply system for supplying toner particles to said electrode unit, wherein a degree of dispersion of the toner is set in a range of 1.0 to 1.15, the degree of dispersion being defined as a value that is obtained by dividing an average particle diameter obtained from a particle-diameter distribution on the basis of toner volume by an average particle diameter obtained from a particle-diameter distribution on the basis of toner particle number.
An image forming method using an electrode unit, the method comprising:
- controlling a flow of charged toner particles;
- supplying toner particles to said electrode unit;
- and
- setting a degree of dispersion of the toner in a range of 1.0 to 1.15, the degree of dispersion being defined as a value that is obtained by dividing an average particle diameter obtained from a particle-diameter distribution on the basis of toner volume by an average particle diameter obtained from a particle-diameter distribution on the basis of toner particle number.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.