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US 7,925,187 B2Granted
Development device, image forming apparatus and development method
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorsAkira Izutani, Minoru Nakamura
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A development device including a development roller to bear a development agent including toner, a development agent supplying roller which is provided adjacent to the development roller to supply the development agent to the development roller, a regulation applicator to regulate the layer thickness of the development agent on the development roller and a capture device to capture the development agent finely powdered by the regulation applicator.
Claims16
A development device comprising:
- a development roller configured to bear a development agent comprising toner;
- a development agent supplying roller provided adjacent to the development roller, the development agent supplying roller configured to supply the development agent to the development roller;
- a regulation applicator configured to regulate a layer thickness of the development agent on the development roller by applying a constant regulation pressure of 30 N/m or higher;
- and
- a capture device configured to capture the development agent which is finely powdered under the pressure from the regulation applicator;
- wherein the capture device is a mesh having an opening diameter of 3 μm or smaller or a slit having an opening width of 3 μm or smaller.
3 more elements
A development method comprising:
- bearing a development agent comprising toner on a roller surface of a development agent supply roller in rotation;
- transferring the development agent from the development agent supply roller to the development roller abrasively adjacent thereto and triboelectrically charged by abrasion with a regulation applicator so that the development roller bears the development agent thereon;
- regulating a layer thickness of the development agent borne on the development roller with the regulation applicator by applying a constant regulation pressure of 30 N/m or higher;
- developing a latent electrostatic image on the image bearing member with the development agent borne on the development roller;
- and
- capturing the development agent which is finely powdered under the pressure from the regulation applicator with a capture device;
- wherein the capture device captures development agent having a article diameter of 3 μm or smaller.
4 more elements
A development device comprising:
- a development roller configured to bear a development agent comprising toner;
- a development agent supplying roller provided adjacent to the development roller, the development agent supplying roller configured to supply the development agent to the development roller;
- a regulation applicator configured to regulate a layer thickness of the development agent on the development roller by applying a constant regulation pressure of 30 N/m or higher;
- and
- a capture device configured to capture the development agent which is finely powdered under the pressure from the regulation applicator;
- wherein the capture device is a fiber brush having a fiber breadth of 1 to 10 denier and an implant density of from 500,000 to 1,000,000 pieces of hair per inch2.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.