Apparatus for transferring images produced by liquid developer

Claim 2

An electrophotographic copying device comprising an image-bearing member on which latent electrostatic images are formed, developed with toner and thereafter transferred to copying material, means for forming a latent electrostatic image on said image-bearing member, developer means for applying a liquid developer comprising a liquid carrier having a toner dispersed therein onto said image-bearing member to form a toner image of the latent electrostatic image formed thereon, a corona charging means for thereafter removing excess liquid developer and simultaneously increasing the attaching force of the toner image to said image-bearing member, means for causing relative movement between said corona charging means and said image-bearing member, transfer means for transferring the toner image to copying material after removal of said excess liquid developer, and cleaning means for thereafter cleaning said image-bearing member for repeated use.

Claim 3

An electrophotographic copying device as in claim 1 wherein the surface of said image-bearing member is an insulating layer.

Claim 4

An electrophotographic copying device as in claim 1 wherein the image-bearing member comprises a base, a photoconductive layer overlying the base and an insulating layer overlying the photoconductive layer.

Claim 5

An electrophotographic copying device as in claim 1 wherein said image-bearing member is disposed about a cylindrical drum and said corona charging means is positioned within an angle not larger than 60° from a vertical line passing through the center of said cylindrical drum.

Claim 6

An electrophotographic copying device as in claim 1 wherein said corona charging means is disposed at a position wherein relative movement between said corona charging means and said image-bearing member, in response to said moving means, results in the corona charging being effected on the toner image within about 5 seconds after application of the liquid developer.

Claim 7

An electrophotographic copying device as set forth in claim 1, further comprising means for recovering the removed excess liquid developer.

Claim 8

An electrophotographic copying device as in claim 6 wherein said liquid developer recovery means includes aperture defining means on said corona charging means for recovering the removed excess liquid developer.

Claim 9

An electrophotographic copying device as in claim 1 wherein said developer means applies liquid developer having an electric resistance between 1 × 10 10 and 5 × 10 12 Ω cm.

Claim 10

An electrophotographic copying device comprising a cylindrical photoconductive drum, means for rotating said photoconductive drum, electrostatic image forming means for forming a latent electrostatic image on said photoconductive drum, developer means disposed adjacent said electrostatic image forming means for applying liquid developer comprising a carrier liquid having toner dispersed therein onto said photoconductive drum to form a toner image of a latent electrostatic image applied thereto, wherein excessive liquid developer collects at the lower portion of said photoconductive drum, a corona discharge means positioned downstream of said developer means in the direction of movement of said drum and within an angle not larger than 60° from a vertical line passing through the center of said photoconductive drum, for removing the excessive liquid developer and simultaneously increasing the attaching force of the toner image, means for recovering the removed excess liquid developer, transfer means for transferring the toner image to copying material after removal of the excessive liquid developer and cleaning means for thereafter cleaning said photoconductive drum for repeated use.

Claim 11

An electrophotographic copying device comprising a cylindrical photoconductive drum, means for rotating said photoconductive drum, electrostatic image forming means for forming a latent electrostatic image on said photoconductive drum, developer means disposed adjacent said electrostatic image forming means for applying liquid developer comprising a carrier liquid having toner dispersed therein onto said photoconductive drum to form a toner image of a latent electrostatic image applied thereto, wherein excessive liquid developer collects at the lower portion of said photoconductive drum, a corona discharge means positioned downstream of said developer means in the direction of movement of said drum and within an angle not larger than 60° from a vertical line passing through the center of said photoconductive drum, for removing the excessive liquid developer and simultaneously increasing the attaching force of the toner image, means for recovering the removed excess liquid developer, transfer means for transferring the toner image to copying material after removal of the excessive liquid developer and cleaning means for thereafter cleaning said photoconductive drum for repeated use.

Claim 12

An electrophotographic copying device as in claim 9 wherein said developer means applies liquid developer having electric resistance between 1 × 10 10 and 5 × 10 12 Ω cm.

Claim 13

An electrophotographic copying device as in claim 9 wherein said corona charging means has aperture defining means for recovering the removed excess liquid developer.

Claim 14

An electrophotographic copying device as in claim 9 wherein said corona charging means is disposed at a position wherein relative movement between said corona charging means and said image-bearing member, in response to said moving means, results in the corona charging being effected on the toner image within about 5 seconds after application of the liquid developer.