Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
1998-02-05
2001-11-06
Aftergut, Jeff H. (Department: 1733)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C156S272400, C156S308200, C156S309600, C399S328000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06312543
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing a delivery belt for delivering precision parts with high positional accuracy, a film in a shape of a circle, tube, sleeve, ring, or belt for tight packing of articles, or a tubular article. The present invention is applied mainly to functional parts of image-forming apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, tubular articles having a metal layer as a part are produced typically by the methods below:
(1) Extrusion of a plastic material in a tube form by hot melt extrusion such as inflation around a metallic tube, and succeeding solidification by cooling,
(2) Casting of a solution of a resin or a resin precursor onto an external or internal surface of a metallic tube in a prescribed amount, and succeeding removal of the solvent (heat treatment if necessary), and
(3) A method disclosed by the inventors of the present invention (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
8-187773
) in which a thermoplastic sheet film is wound on a cylindrical member with the wind-ending portion of the film laid on the wind-starting portion of the same film, a tubular member is fitted outside the wound film, and the entire is heated to join the overlapped portion of the film to form the sheet film into a tube, at least one of the thermoplastic sheet film having a layer containing metal powder dispersed therein.
In the hot melt forming method of the above item (1), when the tubular article produced by inflation is used as a film
20
of a fixation device of an image-forming apparatus as shown in
FIGS. 10A and 10B
, the tubular article is deformed irreversibly during the a sheet-drawing operation disadvantageously. The deformed tubular article will not recover the original shape since the tubular article has a metal layer as a part.
The casting method of the above item (2) involves the problems of difficulty in controlling the solution concentration, and in adjusting the drying atmosphere; the cost in solvent treatment in the drying step; and so forth in order to obtain a uniform thickness of the film.
In the method of the above item (3), a sheet film is wound with the one winding end is laid on the other winding end, a tubular member is fitted outside it, the level difference at the overlapping portion is flattened by decease of the gap distance between the cylindrical member and the tubular member by heat expansion to obtain a tubular film. In this method, the characteristic metal properties (e.g., thermal conductivity, and electroconductivity) are partly lost because metals should be contained in a thermoplastic resin in a powdery form.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a process for producing a tubular article (or a tubular film) having no or less disadvantages of the aforementioned conventional tubular article, and to provide a fixation device, and a delivery unit employing the tubular article.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a tubular article having highly uniform thickness of the film of the tubular article.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a process of producing a tubular article of high precision at a low cost at high productivity.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a toner fixation device of an image-forming apparatus by use of the aforementioned tubular article (tubular film).
The process for producing a tubular article comprises winding a first thermoplastic sheet film on a cylindrical member with the wind-starting portion and the wind-ending portion thereof overlapped; placing a metal outside the above wound film either (a) by winding a metal sheet with both of the ends thereof abutted, or (b) by fitting a metal tube; winding a second thermoplastic sheet film on the metal tube with the wind-starting portion and the wind-ending portion overlapped; fitting a tubular member outside the wound second thermoplastic sheet film; and heating at least the first and second thermoplastic films to bond the overlapped portions of the thermoplastic sheet films to complete the three-layered tubular article.
The tubular article produced according to the present invention is improved significantly in physical performances of a film such as heat resistance (e.g., thermal expansion, and break strength at a high temperature), thermal conductivity, and electrical conductivity owing to the metal layer constituting a part of the tubular article in comparison with a simple resin tubular article (or a film).
By employing the film of a highly uniform thickness of the present invention as a fixation film of the image-forming apparatus is useful not only for conventional heat transfer type of image fixation device but also for the fixation device employing an induction heating for heat generation of the fixation film itself, whereby various fixation devices can be produced which exhibit various high fixation performances.
The tubular article produced according to the present invention is useful as a closed loop tubular article for a fixation device and a transfer device for conductive image transfer.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4029837 (1977-06-01), Leatherman
patent: 5201873 (1993-04-01), Kikuchi et al.
patent: 5500511 (1996-03-01), Hansen et al.
patent: 5508496 (1996-04-01), Hansen et al.
patent: 5765086 (1998-06-01), Kishino et al.
patent: 5778293 (1998-07-01), Ohtsuka
patent: 5862445 (1999-01-01), Ogawa et al.
patent: 5-9027 (1993-02-01), None
patent: 8-129314-A (1996-05-01), None
patent: 8-187773 (1996-07-01), None
Takeuchi Kazutaka
Tanaka Yasuhiro
Aftergut Jeff H.
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
LandOfFree
Process for producing tubular article for a fixation device does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Process for producing tubular article for a fixation device, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Process for producing tubular article for a fixation device will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2617410