Image recording apparatus and method with improved image transfer characteristics

An image recording apparatus, comprising:

• image carrying means having a surface on which an electrostatic latent image is formed;
• developing means for developing the electrostatic latent image into a toner image by selectively applying toner to the surface of the image carrying means;
• intermediate transferring means to which the toner image is transferred;
• particle supplying means for supplying adheringly fine particles as an intervening layer onto a surface of said intermediate transferring means and the image carrying means between the carrying means and toner to form a substantially uniform layer of fine particles, the fine particles having a volume resistivity of between 1×108 Ωcm and 1×1014 Ωcm and the fine particles having a particle diameter smaller than that of the toner;
• image transferring means for transferring the toner image from the intermediate image transferring means onto a recording sheet;
• supplying the fine particles to the surface of the image carrying means to form a substantially uniform layer of the fine particles on the surface of the image carrying means by the particle supplying means disposed facing the image carrying means;
• and
• collecting the toner left on the surface of the image carrying means using the particle supplying means after the surface of the image carrying means passes a location facing the image transferring means.

An image recording apparatus, comprising:

• particle supplying means for supplying a uniform layer of adheringly fine particles as an intervening layer onto a surface of an image carrying means between the image carrying means and toner, the fine particles having a volume resistivity between 1×108 Ωcm and 1×1014 Ωcm, the image carrying means surface having formed thereon the fine particles and an electrostatic latent image defined by electrostatic potential differences;
• developing means for developing the electrostatic latent image formed into a toner image by selectively applying toner among the fine particles on the surface of the image carrying means;
• image transferring means for transferring the toner image onto a recording sheet or an intermediate image transferring means;
• and
• ultrasonic wave generating means for projecting an ultrasonic wave to the toner image or the image carrying means without contacting the toner image or the image carrying means before the toner image is transferred from the image carrying means onto the recording sheet or the intermediate image transferring means;
• wherein:
• the particle supplying means is disposed facing the image carrying means, the particle supplying means supplying the fine particles to the surface of the image carrying means to form a substantially uniform layer of the fine particles on the surface of the image carrying means, and
• the particle supplying means collects the toner left on the surface of the image carrying means after the surface of the image carrying means passes a location facing the image transferring means.

An image recording apparatus, comprising:

• particle supplying means for supplying a uniform layer of adheringly fine particles as an intervening layer onto a surface of an image carrying means between the image carrying means and toner, the fine particles having a volume resistivity between 1×108 Ωcm and 1×1014 Ωcm, the image carrying means surface having the fine particles and an electrostatic latent image formed thereon;
• developing means for developing the electrostatic latent image into a toner image by selectively applying toner among the fine particles on the surface of the image carrying means;
• intermediate image transferring means onto which the toner image is transferred;
• image transferring means for transferring the toner image from the intermediate image transferring means onto a recording sheet;
• and
• ultrasonic wave generating means for projecting an ultrasonic wave to the toner image or the intermediate image transferring means carrying the toner image thereon without contacting the toner image or the intermediate image transferring means after the toner image is transferred from the image carrying means to the intermediate image transferring means but before the toner image is transferred onto the recording sheet or another intermediate image transferring means, wherein:
• the particle supplying means is disposed facing the image carrying means, the particle supplying means supplying the fine particles to the surface of the image carrying means to form a substantially uniform layer of the fine particles on the surface of the image carrying means, and
• the particle supplying means collects the toner left on the surface of the image carrying means after the surface of the image carrying means passes a location facing the image transferring means.

An image recording apparatus, comprising:

• image carrying means having a surface on which an electrostatic latent image is formed;
• developing means for developing the electrostatic latent image into a toner image by selectively applying toner to the surface of the image carrying means;
• image transferring means for transferring the toner image onto at least one of a recording sheet and an intermediate image transferring body;
• and
• particle supplying means disposed facing the image carrying means, the particle supplying means supplying the fine particles to the surface of the image carrying means to form a substantially uniform layer of the fine particles on the surface of the image carrying means, wherein:
• the developing means contains a developing agent comprising the toner and powdery fine particles, the particle diameter of the fine particles being smaller than that of the toner, the developing means uniformly adheringly supplying the fine particles as an intervening layer onto the image carrying means before the electrostatic latent image is formed thereon, and
• the developing means selectively supplying the toner among the fine particles on the image carrying means after the electrostatic latent image is formed thereon, and
• the particle supplying means collects the toner left on the surface of the image carrying means after the surface of the image carrying means passes a location facing the image transferring means.

An image recording apparatus, comprising:

• image carrying means having a surface on which an electrostatic latent image is formed;
• developing means for developing the electrostatic latent image into a toner image by selectively applying toner to the surface of the image carrying means;
• image transferring means for transferring the toner image onto at least one of a recording sheet and an intermediate image transferring body;
• and
• particle supplying means disposed facing the image carrying means, the particle supplying means supplying the fine particles to the surface of the image carrying means to form a substantially uniform layer of the fine particles on the surface of the image carrying means, wherein:
• the developing means contains a developing agent comprising the toner and powdery fine particles, the particle diameter of the fine particles being smaller than that of the toner, and the developing means selectively supplying the toner to the image carrying means while at the same time uniformly adheringly supplying the fine particles as an intervening layer onto the image carrying means, and
• the particle supplying means collects the toner left on the surface of the image carrying means after the surface of the image carrying means passes a location facing the image transferring means.

An image recording method, comprising the steps of:

• forming an electrostatic latent image defined by electrostatic potential differences on an image carrier having a uniform layer of adheringly fine particles formed on the surface of the image carrier as an intervening layer on a surface of the image carrier between the image carrier and toner, the fine particles having a volume resistivity of between 1×108 Ωcm and 1×1014 Ωcm;
• forming a toner image by selectively applying toner particles among the layer of the fine particles, the toner particles having a diameter greater than a particle diameter of the fine particles;
• transferring the toner image to a recording sheet or an intermediate image transferring unit;
• supplying the fine particles to the surface of the image carrying means to form a substantially uniform layer of the fine particles on the surface of the image carrying means by the particle supplying means disposed facing the image carrying means;
• and
• collecting the toner left on the surface of the image carrying means using the particle supplying means after the surface of the image carrying means passes a location facing the image transferring means.

An image recording method, comprising the steps of:

• forming a substantially uniform layer of light transmissive adheringly fine particles as an intervening layer on a surface of an image carrier between the image carrier and toner, the fine particles having a volume resistivity of between 1×108 Ωcm and 1×1014 Ωcm and the surface of the image carrier having a photosensitive layer formed on an electrically grounded base;
• substantially uniformly charging the surface of the image carrier;
• forming an electrostatic latent image on the image carrier by exposing the layer of fine particles on the surface of the image carrier to image light;
• developing the electrostatic latent image into a toner image by selectively applying the toner among the layer of fine particles, the toner having a particle size greater than the particle size of the fine particles;
• transferring the toner image onto a recording sheet or an intermediate image transferring unit;
• supplying the fine particles to the surface of the image carrying means to form a substantially uniform layer of the fine particles on the surface of the image carrying means by the particle supplying means disposed facing the image carrying means;
• and
• collecting the toner left on the surface of the image carrying means using the particle supplying means after the surface of the image carrying means passes a location facing the image transferring means.

An image recording method, comprising the steps of:

• forming an electrostatic latent image defined by electrostatic potential differences on an image carrier, the surface of which image carrier is rotatably supported;
• forming a toner image by selectively applying toner onto the image carrier;
• applying adheringly fine particles as an intervening layer onto a surface of the image carrier between the image carrier and toner, the fine particles having a volume resistivity between 1×108 Ωcm and 1×1014 Ωcm and to an intermediate image transferring unit to form a substantially uniform fine particle layer, the particle diameter of the fine particles being smaller than that of the toner;
• transferring the toner image formed on the image carrier among the fine particle layer formed on the intermediate image transferring unit;
• transferring the toner image from the intermediate image transferring unit to a recording sheet;
• supplying the fine particles to the surface of the image carrying means to form a substantially uniform layer of the fine particles on the surface of the image carrying means by the particle supplying means disposed facing the image carrying means;
• and
• collecting the toner left on the surface of the image carrying means using the particle supplying means after the surface of the image carrying means passes a location facing the image transferring means.

An image recording method, comprising the steps of:

• forming an electrostatic latent image defined by electrostatic potential differences on an image carrier the surface of which is rotatably supported;
• forming a toner image by selectively applying toner and adheringly fine particles applied as an intervening layer onto the surface of the image carrier between the image carrier and toner by using as a developing agent a mixture of the toner and the fine particles, the particle diameter of the fine particles being smaller than that of the toner and the fine particles having a volume resistivity between 1×108 Ωcm and 1×1014 Ωcm;
• projecting an ultrasonic wave to the toner image to vibrate the toner and the fine particles before the toner image is transferred onto a recording sheet or an intermediate image transferring unit;
• transferring the toner image onto the recording sheet or the intermediate image transferring unit;
• supplying the fine particles to the surface of the image carrying means to form a substantially uniform layer of the fine particles on the surface of the image carrying means by the particle supplying means disposed facing the image carrying means;
• and
• collecting the toner left on the surface of the image carrying means using the particle supplying means after the surface of the image carrying means passes a location facing the image transferring means.

An image recording method, comprising the steps of:

• forming an electrostatic latent image defined by electrostatic potential differences on an image carrier having a surface, the image carrier being rotatably supported;
• forming a toner image by selectively applying toner and powdery particles onto the image carrier by using as a developing agent a mixture of the toner and the powdery particles, the particle diameter of the powdery particles being smaller than that of the toner and the powdery particles having a volume resistivity between 1×108 Ωcm and 1×1014 Ωcm and the powdery particles being adheringly applied as an intervening layer onto the image carrier surface between the image carrier and toner;
• transferring the toner image onto an intermediate image transferring unit;
• projecting an ultrasonic wave to the toner image transferred on the intermediate image transferring unit to vibrate the toner image before the toner image is transferred onto a recording sheet or an intermediate image transferring unit;
• transferring the toner image onto the recording sheet;
• supplying the fine particles to the surface of the image carrying means to form a substantially uniform layer of the fine particles on the surface of the image carrying means by the particle supplying means disposed facing the image carrying means;
• and
• collecting the toner left on the surface of the image carrying means using the particle supplying means after the surface of the image carrying means passes a location facing the image transferring means.