Electrophotography – Having particular structure
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-06
2001-03-06
Pendegrass, Joan (Department: 2852)
Electrophotography
Having particular structure
C399S162000, C399S224000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06198890
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to electrophotographic color printer arrangements.
Conventional electrophotographic color printer arrangements are in many cases inconveniently large in size and, in an effort to reduce size, some printers locate heat generating components close enough to the photoreceptor to subject the photoreceptor to undue heating, causing premature aging and substantial wear of the surface.
In the Chamitski et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,245, an electrophotographic apparatus includes a photoreceptor belt supported for motion in a triangular path with four sets of charging, exposure, and development stations horizontally spaced adjacent to one portion of the belt, thereby requiring the printer to have a substantial length in the horizontal direction.
The Smith U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,259 discloses a multicolor electrophotographic printer having a photoreceptor belt which follows a generally oval path which is elongated in a vertical direction with three vertically aligned printing stations adjacent to the photoreceptor on one side of the oval path and one further printing station adjacent to the photoreceptor on the opposite side of the path. After an image has been generated and transferred from the photoreceptor belt to a sheet of paper, the paper is transported by a belt to a remote heat generating fuser which is spaced horizontally from the vertically elongated belt path to minimize heating of the photoreceptor from the fuser.
The patent to Maruyama et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,421 discloses an electrophotographic multicolor image printer having a photoreceptor belt which is driven in a generally triangular path oriented with a long dimension in the vertical direction and includes a conveyor to convey a sheet of paper to which an image has been transferred to a remote fuser which is spaced in the horizontal direction from the photoreceptor belt.
In the Loewen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,377 a multicolor electrophotographic printer has a photoreceptor belt extending in a generally oval path which is elongated in the horizontal direction. In this printer, liquid toners are used which are pumped from liquid toner supply containers beneath the belt to developing units adjacent to the lower side of the belt.
The Haneda et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,037 discloses an electrophotographic color printer having a photoreceptor belt supported in a generally elongated path oriented at an angle of 5° to 30° to the horizontal. A stepped arrangement of exposure lasers and developing units are mounted adjacent to the lower side of the photoreceptor path and paper sheets are transported from a sheet feed device disposed beneath the exposure and developing units to a transfer station at the lower end of the belt and then to a fuser adjacent to the lower end of the photoreceptor belt after transfer of an image. In this printer, a used toner recovery chamber is located inside the photoreceptor belt loop and toner cleaned from the surface of the photoreceptor after transfer of the image is directed by a screw conveyer into the used toner recovery chamber.
The Ikeda et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,722 and the Haneda et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,394 disclose electrophotographic color printing arrangements in which exposure units are mounted inside a moving photoreceptor having a transparent support surface. Since exposure units can be provided which do not occupy a significant amount of space, however, such arrangements do not per se reduce significantly the size of a multicolor electrophotographic printer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electrophotographic color printing arrangement which overcomes disadvantages of the prior art.
Another object of the invention is to provide an electrophotographic color printing arrangement having a compact structure while avoiding overheating of the photoreceptor by heat generating components of the printer.
A further object of the invention is to provide an electrophotographic color printing arrangement enabling convenient positioning of toner supply containers for a plurality of different color developing units to permit a large supply of toner while enabling the toner to be supplied by gravity to the developing units.
These and other objects of the invention are attained by providing an electrophotographic color printing arrangement having a belt shaped photoreceptor supported for motion in an elongated path extending at an angle to the horizontal which is in the range from about 35° to about 65° and a plurality of developing units disposed in spaced relation along the path of the photoreceptor adjacent to the lower side of the photoreceptor belt with corresponding toner supply units extending vertically above the developing units adjacent to one edge of the photoreceptor belt. A fuser unit is mounted in spaced relation to the photoreceptor belt in a region above the lower end of the photoreceptor belt so as to be spaced as far as possible from the photoreceptor belt in an enclosure having a substantially rectangular vertical outline. Preferably, a horizontal paper tray is removably supported beneath the developing units with a paper feed end adjacent to the lower end of the photoreceptor path from which a paper sheet can be transported to a transfer station and then transported substantially vertically to the fuser for image fusing and thereafter to a paper exit adjacent to an output tray.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4982242 (1991-01-01), Ishii et al.
patent: 5160969 (1992-11-01), Mizuma et al.
patent: 5216472 (1993-06-01), Muto et al.
patent: 5257037 (1993-10-01), Haneda et al.
patent: 5291245 (1994-03-01), Charnitski et al.
patent: 5313259 (1994-05-01), Smith
patent: 5444515 (1995-08-01), Haneda et al.
patent: 5473421 (1995-12-01), Maruyama et al.
patent: 5541722 (1996-07-01), Ikeda et al.
patent: 5557377 (1996-09-01), Loewen et al.
patent: 5557394 (1996-09-01), Haneda et al.
patent: 5752137 (1998-05-01), Haneda et al.
patent: 53323688 (1993-12-01), None
Farrington Ingrid Annemarie
Hung-Hsu Hsu
Liu Dean
Aetas Technology Corporation
Baker & Botts LLP
Pendegrass Joan
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