What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by letters patent of the united states is:
1. An electrophotographic image forming apparatus, comprising:
a process cartridge including at least one photo-receptor, on which a toner image is formed, and a charging device, configured to uniformly charge a surface of said at least one photo-receptor; and
a discharging device provided outside of said process cartridge and configured to emit light to discharge a surface of said at least one photo-receptor, wherein said process cartridge includes a light incidence opening to pass the light emitted from said discharging device therethrough, and wherein said light incidence opening is formed to regulate the light passed so as to irradiate an area of said surface of said at least one photo-receptor.
2. The electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a first area, of said surface of said at least one photo-receptor which has been irradiated, is outside of a second area of said surface of said at least one photo-receptor, second area being within 5 mm from a position where said charging device charges said surface of said at least one photo-receptor at an upstream side of said position.
3. The electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said process cartridge further includes a cleaning device, configured to remove residual toner remaining on said surface of said at least one photo-receptor, after said toner image, formed on said at least one photo-receptor, is transferred to a recording medium, and wherein all of said at least one photo-receptor, said discharging device, said light incidence opening, and said cleaning device are arranged such that the light from said discharging device, reflected by said cleaning device, does not lead to an area of said surface of said at least one photoreceptor which is within 5 mm from a position where said charging device charges said surface of said at least one photo-receptor at an upstream side of said position.
4. The electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said process cartridge further includes a cleaning device, configured to remove residual toner remaining on said surface of said at least one photo-receptor, after said toner image, formed on said at least one photo-receptor, is transferred to a recording medium, and wherein all of said at least one photo-receptor, said discharging device, said light incidence opening, and said cleaning device are arranged such that the light from said discharging device, first reflected by said at least one photo-receptor and then, reflected by said cleaning device, does not lead to an area of said surface of said at least one photo-receptor within 5 mm from a position where said charging device charges said surface of said photo-receptor at an upstream side of said position.
5. The electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said process cartridge further includes a cleaning device, configured to remove residual toner remaining on said surface of said at least one photo-receptor, after said toner image, formed on said at least one photo-receptor, is transferred to a recording medium, and wherein a surface of each part of said cleaning device, which has been irradiated with the light from said discharging device, is subject to mat treatment.
6. The electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said process cartridge further includes a cleaning device, configured to remove residual toner remaining on said surface of said at least one photo-receptor, after said toner image, formed on said at least one photo-receptor, is transferred to a recording medium, and wherein a surface of each part of said cleaning device, which has been irradiated with the light from said discharging device, is blackened.
7. An electrophotographic image forming apparatus, comprising:
means for accommodating at least one means for forming a toner image thereon;
means for uniformly charging a surface of said at least one forming means; and
means for emitting light to discharge said surface of said at least one forming means, said emitting means being provided outside of said accommodating means, wherein said accommodating means includes means for passing the light emitted from said emitting means therethrough and for regulating the light passed so as to irradiate an area of said surface of said at least one forming means.
8. The electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said area of said surface of said at least one forming means, which has been irradiated, is outside of an area of said surface of said at least one forming means within 5 mm from a position where said charging means charges said surface of said at least one forming means at an upstream side of said position.
9. The electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said accommodating means further includes means for removing residual toner remaining on said surface of said at least one forming means, after said toner image, formed on said at least one forming means, is transferred to means for recording, and wherein all of said at least one forming means, said emitting means, said light passing and regulating means, and said removing means are arranged such that the light from said emitting means, reflected by said removing means, does not lead to an area of said surface of said at least one forming means within 5 mm from a position where said charging means charges said surface of said at least one forming means at an upstream side of said position.
10. The electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said accommodating means further includes means for removing residual toner remaining on said surface of said at least one forming means, after said toner image, formed on said at least one forming means, is transferred to means for recording, and wherein all of said at least one forming means, said emitting means, said light passing and regulating means, and said removing means are arranged such that the light from said emitting means, first reflected by said at least one forming means and then, reflected by said removing means, does not lead to an area of said surface of said at least one forming means within 5 mm from a position where said charging means charges said surface of said at least one forming means at an upstream side of said position.
11. The electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said accommodating means further includes means for removing residual toner remaining on said surface of said at least one forming means, after said toner image, formed on said at least one forming means, is transferred to means for recording, and wherein a surface of each part of said removing means, irradiated with the light from said emitting means, is subject to mat treatment.
12. The electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said accommodating means further includes means for removing residual toner remaining on said surface of said at least one forming means, after said toner image, formed on said at least one forming means, is transferred to means for recording, and wherein a surface of each part of said removing means, irradiated with the light from said emitting means, is blackened.
13. A method of forming an image in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, comprising the steps of:
charging a surface of a photo-receptor with a charging device in a process cartridge;
emitting light from a discharging device arranged outside of said process cartridge to discharge said surface of said photo-receptor; and
regulating the light passing through a light incidence opening formed in said process cartridge so as to irradiate an area of said surface of said photo-receptor.
14. The method according to claim 13, wherein said step of regulating includes:
irradiating said area of said surface of said photo-receptor outside of an area of said surface of said photo-receptor within 5 mm from a position where said charging device charges said surface of said photo-receptor at an upstream side of said position.
15. The method according to claim 13, wherein said step of regulating includes:
causing the light from said discharging device, reflected by a cleaning device provided in said process cartridge, to remove residual toner remaining on said surface of said photo-receptor, not to lead to an area of said surface of said photo-receptor within 5 mm from a position where said charging device charges said surface of said photo-receptor at an upstream side of said position.
16. The method according to claim 13, wherein said step of regulating includes:
causing the light from said discharging device, first reflected by said photo-receptor and then, reflected by a cleaning device provided in said process cartridge, to remove residual toner remaining on said surface of said photo-receptor, not to lead to an area of said surface of said photo-receptor within 5 mm from a position where said charging device charges said surface of said photo-receptor at an upstream side of said position.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
What is claimed is:
1. A method for selectively curing a sheet of ethylene-propylene diene termonomer (EPDM) material to form a roofing membrane for installation on a roof deck comprising the steps of:
providing a sheet formed of ethylene-propylene diene ternonomer, the sheet having a field and two longitudinal edge areas bordering the field; and
simultaneously shielding at least one edge area of the EPDM sheet and exposing at least the field to a source of radiation to cure at least the field of the EPDM sheet and provide a selectively cured EPDM roofing membrane.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the sheet is provided by milling, calendering or extrusion.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the sheet is from 5 to 200 mils thick.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein two longitudinal edge areas of the EPDM sheet are shielded.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one longitudinal edge area of the EPDM sheet is shielded by operatively projecting at least one screen over the at least one longitudinal edge area of the sheet and shield the edge area of the sheet of EPDM.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein two longitudinal edge areas of the EPDM sheet are shielded by operatively projecting a screen over each longitudinal edge area of the sheet thereby shielding the edge area of the sheet of EPDM.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the source of radiation is infrared radiation.
8. An apparatus for selectively curing a sheet of ethylene-propylene diene termonomer (EPDM) material, the sheet having a field and longitudinal edge areas bordering the field, the apparatus comprising:
a curing oven having a roof and a floor interconnected by sidewalls, a front end and a back end, the front end including an entrance and the back end including an exit, a conveyor positioned between the front end and the back end of the curing oven for continuously conveying the sheet of EPDM through the curing oven;
a radiation source located above the conveyor within the curing oven; and
at least one screen operatively projecting from each sidewall of the curing oven and extending the longitudinal length of the curing oven to cover at least one edge area of the sheet and shield the edge area of the sheet of EPDM as the sheet passes through the curing oven under the radiation source.
9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the screen is a flat, rectangular shape radiation reflective material.
10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the curing oven includes an actuating member to operatively position the screen between an extended position over the edge area of the sheet of EPDM to a retracted position.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the actuating member includes a piston member and an arm attached to the screen.
12. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the radiation source provides a desired dose of high-energy radiation to cure at least the exposed field of the sheet of EPDM.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the radiation source is selected from infrared radiation, gamma rays, x-rays, or beta rays.
14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the radiation source includes an array of infrared heat lamps positioned above the conveyor within the curing oven.
15. A method of joining selectively cured sheets of EPDM membrane comprising the steps of:
providing at least two sheets formed of ethylene-propylene diene termonomer, the sheets having a field defined by a cured planar surface portion and a noncured longitudinal edge area bordering the field defined by the extent of overlap of adjacent roofing membranes when installed on a roof deck; and then
overlapping and pressing the noncured edge areas of two EPDM roofing membranes together and then vulcanizing the edge areas to splice the edge areas together.
16. A roofing membrane comprising:
a sheet formed of ethylene-propylene diene termonomer (EPDM) material, the sheet having a field defined by a cured planar surface portion and a noncured longitudinal edge area bordering the field and defined by the extent of overlap of adjacent roofing membranes when installed on a roof deck.