Radiant energy – Corona irradiation
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-26
2001-10-16
Arroyo, Teresa M. (Department: 2881)
Radiant energy
Corona irradiation
C250S325000, C250S326000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06303933
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Reference is made to commonly assigned, copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/280,119 , entitled A METHOD OF MOUNTING CORONA WIRE INTO A CHARGER HOUSING OF AN ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND AN APPARATUS FOR MOUNTING CORONA WIRES, by Andreas Dickhoff; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/277,430, entitled A CORONA CHARGER WITH A SERPENTINE STRUNG CORONA WIRE, by Andreas Dickhoff; and U.S. patent application Ser No. 09/277,618, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,504, entitled CORONA WIRE REPLENISHING MECHANISM, by Andreas Dickhoff, filed concurrently herewith.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention is in the field of electrophotography. More specifically, it relates to an apparatus and a method for attaching corona wire ends to the housing of a corona charger.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A corona charger is used to generate an electrostatic charge on a surface, for example, a sheet of paper, a photoconductor or a transport web. A corona charger typically includes one or more tightly strung corona wires. The two ends of each wire are firmly attached to the charger housing, for example, by copper lugs, or by manually twisted loops which are connected to the charger housing. Applying high voltage to these corona wires creates the requisite electrostatic charge. Such corona chargers are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,112,298; 5,140,367; 5,181,069; and 5,424,540. Having loose wire ends creates an unwanted corona which is undesirable.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,165 discloses a wiring machine of corona discharge device. This wiring machine is very complex, very bulky and includes a welding machine for welding an arranged wire onto the corona discharge device.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus and method for attaching a corona wire to a corona charge housing.
According to one aspect of the present invention, an apparatus includes: (i) a housing of a corona charger that has at least one cavity; (ii) a corona wire strung across the housing, the corona wire has at least one end located in this cavity; and (iii) a plug fixedly securing the wire end inside the cavity.
According to another aspect of the present invention a method of securing a corona charge wire to corona housing comprises the steps of: (i) stringing a corona wire across a cavity; (ii) cutting the corona wire, thereby forming an end of the corona wire; (iii) securing the end of the corona wire inside the cavity
It is an advantage of the present invention that it eliminates unwanted corona created by the edges of the wire.
It is also an advantage of the present invention that is eliminates the process of putting lugs, rings or loops on the ends of corona wire and makes it easier to cut the wire to a predetermined length.
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Arroyo Teresa M.
Nexpress Solutions LLC
Payne Sharon
LandOfFree
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