Claims
- 1. An image forming apparatus comprising:an image carrier comprising a conductive support, at least a photoconductive layer formed on said conductive support, and a surface protection layer formed on said photoconductive layer and including a charge injection layer; and a charging member for charging said image carrier in contact with said surface protection layer when applied with a voltage, wherein said surface protection layer has a diamond-like structure or an amorphous structure containing hydrogen with a volume resistance of 109 Ω·cm to 1012 Ω·cm and a Knoop hardness of 400 Kg/mm2 or greater, wherein said charging member comprises magnetic particles for charging having a mean particle size ranging from 20 μm to 150 μm, and wherein a light transmission of the surface protective layer is 50% or more of a wavelength of light used for exposing the image carrier.
- 2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said image carrier and said charging member contact each other, and each moves at a particular linear velocity.
- 3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said image carrier and said charging member move in opposite directions to each other, as seen at a position where said image carrier and said charging member contact each other.
- 4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said magnetic particles for charging each have a conductive surface layer.
- 5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, further comprising a developing unit for developing a latent image formed on said image carrier with toner to thereby produce a corresponding toner image and for collecting the toner left on said image carrier after a transfer of said toner image from said image carrier to a recording medium.
- 6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, further comprising a developing unit for developing a latent image formed on said image carrier with toner to thereby produce a corresponding toner image and for collecting the toner left on said image carrier after a transfer of said toner image from said image carrier to a recording medium.
- 7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said magnetic particles for charging each have a conductive surface layer.
- 8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7, further comprising a developing unit for developing a latent image formed on said image carrier with toner to thereby produce a corresponding toner image and for collecting the toner left on said image carrier after a transfer of said toner image from said image carrier to a recording medium.
- 9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a developing unit for developing a latent image formed on said image carrier with toner to thereby produce a corresponding toner image and for collecting the toner left on said image carrier after a transfer of said toner image from said image carrier to a recording medium.
- 10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said magnetic particles for charging each have a conductive surface layer.
- 11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a developing unit for developing a latent image formed on said image carrier with toner to thereby produce a corresponding toner image and for collecting the toner left on said image carrier after a transfer of said toner image from said image carrier to a recording medium.
- 12. An image forming apparatus comprising:image carrier means comprising a conductive support, at least a photoconductive layer formed on said conductive support, and a surface protection layer formed on said photoconductive layer and including a charge injection layer; and charging means for charging said image carrier in contact with said surface protection layer when applied with a voltage, wherein said surface protection layer has a diamond-like structure or an amorphous structure containing hydrogen with a volume resistance of 109 Ω·cm to 1012 Ω·cm and a Knoop hardness of 400 Kg/mm2 or greater, wherein said charging means comprises magnetic particles for charging having a mean particle size ranging from 20 μm to 150 μm, and wherein a light transmission of the surface protective layer is 50% or more of a wavelength of light used for exposing the image carrier means.
- 13. An apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein said image carrier means and said charging means contact each other, and each moves at a particular linear velocity.
- 14. An apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein said image carrier means and said charging means move in opposite directions to each other, as seen at a position where said image carrier means and said charging means contact each other.
- 15. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein said magnetic particles for each have a conductive surface layer.
- 16. An apparatus as claimed in claim 15, further comprising developing means for developing a latent image formed on said image carrier means with toner to thereby produce a corresponding toner image and for collecting the toner left on said image carrier means after a transfer of said toner image from said image carrier means to a recording medium.
- 17. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14, further comprising developing means for developing a latent image formed on said image carrier means with toner to thereby produce a corresponding toner image and for collecting the toner left on said image carrier means after a transfer of said toner image from said image carrier means to a recording medium.
- 18. An apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein said magnetic particles for charging each have a conductive surface layer.
- 19. An apparatus as claimed in claim 18, further comprising developing means for developing a latent image formed on said image carrier means with toner to thereby produce a corresponding toner image and for collecting the toner left on said image carrier means after a transfer of said toner image from said image carrier means to a recording medium.
- 20. An apparatus as claimed in claim 13, further comprising developing means for developing a latent image formed on said image carrier means with toner to thereby produce a corresponding toner image and for collecting the toner left on said image carrier means after a transfer of said toner image from said image carrier means to a recording medium.
- 21. An apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein said magnetic particles for charging each have a conductive surface layer.
- 22. An apparatus as claimed in claim 12, further comprising developing means for developing a latent image formed on said image carrier means with toner to thereby produce a corresponding toner image and for collecting the toner left on said image carrier means after a transfer of said toner image from said image carrier means to a recording medium.
Priority Claims (3)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
11-263035 |
Sep 1999 |
JP |
|
11-334582 |
Nov 1999 |
JP |
|
2000-253876 |
Aug 2000 |
JP |
|
Parent Case Info
This application is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 10/028,767 Filed on Dec. 28, 2001, which is a Divisional of application Ser. No. 09/662,701 filed on Sep. 15, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,366,751.
US Referenced Citations (11)
Foreign Referenced Citations (10)
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62-212662 |
Sep 1987 |
JP |
6-230652 |
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Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10/028767 |
Dec 2001 |
US |
Child |
10/279903 |
|
US |