Electrophotographic image forming apparatus including discharging device
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorNoboru Kusunose
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes a process cartridge and a discharging device. The process cartridge includes a photo-receptor and a charging device. A toner image is formed on the photo-receptor. The charging device is configured to uniformly charge a surface of the photo-receptor. The discharging device is provided outside of the process cartridge and configured to emit light to discharge the surface of the photo-receptor. The process cartridge also includes a light incidence opening to pass the light emitted from the discharging device therethrough, and the light incidence opening is formed to regulate the passed light so as to irradiate an area of the surface of the photo-receptor.
Claims13
An electrophotographic image forming apparatus, comprising:
- a process cartridge including a photo-receptor and a charging device, wherein a toner image is formed on said photo-receptor, and said charging device is configured to uniformly charge a surface of said photo-receptor;
- and
- a discharging device provided outside of said process cartridge and configured to emit light to discharge a surface of said photo-receptor, wherein said process cartridge also includes a light incidence opening to pass the light emitted from said discharging device therethrough, wherein said light incidence opening is formed to regulate the light passed so as to irradiate an area of said surface of said photo-receptor and, wherein a first area, of said surface of said photo-receptor which has been irradiated, is outside of a second area of said surface of said photo-receptor, said second area being within 5 mm from a position where said charging device charges said surface of said photo-receptor at an upstream side of said position.
An electrophotographic image forming apparatus, comprising:
- means for accommodating both means for forming a toner image thereon and means for uniformly charging a surface of said toner image forming means;
- and
- means for emitting light to discharge said surface of said toner image forming means, said light emitting means being provided outside of said accommodating means, wherein said accommodating means includes means for both passing the light emitted from said light emitting means therethrough and regulating the light passed so as to irradiate an area of said surface of said toner image forming means and, wherein said area, of said surface of said toner image forming means which has been irradiated, is outside of an area of said surface of said toner image forming means which is within 5 mm from a position where said charging means charges said surface of said toner image forming means at an upstream side of said position.
A method of forming an image in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, comprising the steps of:
- charging a surface of a photo-receptor with a charging device in a process cartridge;
- emitting light from a discharging device arranged outside of said process cartridge to discharge said surface of said photo-receptor;
- and
- regulating the light passing through a light incidence opening formed in said process cartridge so as to irradiate an area of said surface of said photo-receptor, wherein said step of regulating includes irradiating said area of said surface of said photo-receptor outside of an area of said surface of said photo-receptor within 5 mm from a position where said charging device charges said surface of said photo-receptor at an upstream side of said position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.