Claims
- 1. An image forming apparatus comprising at least: a latent image carrier on which an electrostatic latent image is formed, a writing device for writing said electrostatic latent image on said latent image carrier, a developing device for developing said electrostatic latent image on said latent image carrier, and a charge control device being in contact with a part of said latent image carrier for making said latent image carrier into a uniformly charged state, wherein said electrostatic latent image, written on said latent image carrier by said writing device, is developed by said developing device, thereby forming an image, said image forming apparatus being characterized inthat said writing device has writing electrodes which are in contact with a charged layer of said latent image carrier to write said electrostatic latent image.
- 2. An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1, being characterized in that said charge control device is disposed, as a unit with said writing device, to said writing device such that the charge control device is located upstream of said writing electrodes in the rotational direction of said latent image carrier.
- 3. An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or 2, being characterized in that said writing electrodes are supported by a substrate having elasticity and are kept in contact with said latent image carrier with a small pressing force by the elastic force of said substrate.
- 4. An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1, being characterized in that said writing electrodes write said electrostatic latent image on said latent image carrier by applying charge to or removing charge from said latent image carrier.
- 5. An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 4, being characterized in that said writing electrodes are controlled to be connected to either high voltage or low voltage by switching operation according to the image to be formed, thereby writing said electrostatic latent image on said latent image carrier.
- 6. An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1, being characterized in that the resistance value of said each writing electrode is set to be smaller than the resistance value of said charged layer.
- 7. An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1, being characterized in that the resistance value of said each writing electrode is set at 106 Ωcm or more.
- 8. An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1, being characterized in that the resistance value of said charged layer is set at 109 Ωcm or less.
- 9. An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1, being characterized in that said latent image carrier, said writing device, and said developing device are provided for each color of black, yellow, magenta, and cyan, whereby four image forming units for the respective colors are provided, said image forming units being arranged in tandem.
- 10. An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 9, being characterized by further comprising an intermediate transferring device, to which respective color developing powder images are temporally transferred by said image forming units for the respective colors.
Priority Claims (3)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
2000-298925 |
Sep 2000 |
JP |
|
2000-298927 |
Sep 2000 |
JP |
|
2001-227630 |
Jul 2001 |
JP |
|
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/966,989 filed Oct. 1, 2001; the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
US Referenced Citations (7)
Foreign Referenced Citations (9)
Number |
Date |
Country |
54-56436 |
May 1979 |
JP |
59-79768 |
May 1984 |
JP |
59-079769 |
May 1984 |
JP |
59-079771 |
May 1984 |
JP |
63-45104 |
Sep 1988 |
JP |
6-166206 |
Jun 1994 |
JP |
09-071003 |
Aug 1997 |
JP |
10-152936 |
Feb 1998 |
JP |
10-052935 |
Sep 1998 |
JP |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09/966989 |
Oct 2001 |
US |
Child |
10/314136 |
|
US |