Electrically discharging method and device

Claim 2

An image formng method comprising the steps of: electrically charging a recording medium to form an image thereon; transferring the image on the recording medium onto a transfer medium; electrically discharging the electric charge on the recording medium by applying a given AC voltage to an AC corona discharger after completion of the transfer operation to remove the residual charge on the recording medium; and gradually attenuating the AC voltage applied to said AC corona discharger, when the discharge of the residual charge is terminated, until it becomes zero.

Claim 3

A method according to claim 1, wherein the attenuating time of the AC voltage depends on the frequency thereof.

Claim 4

An image forming apparatus comprising: a rotatable photosensitive medium; means for forming an electrostatic latent image on said photosensitive medium; means for developing said electrostatic latent image formed by said electrostatic latent image forming means; means for transferring the image from said photosensitive medium to a transfer medium; AC corona discharger means for applying AC corona discharge current to said photosensitive medium to remove any residual charge on said photosensitive medium after the image is transferred to the transfer medium by said transferring means; and attenuating means for gradually attenuating the AC voltage applied to said AC corona discharger, when the discharge of the residual charge is terminated, until it becomes zero; thereby preventing nonuniformity of the discharge distribution over said photosensitive medium.

Claim 5

An image forming apparatus comprising: a rotatable photosensitive medium; means for forming an electrostatic latent image on said photosensitive medium; means for developing said electrostatic latent image formed by said electrostatic latent image forming means; means for transferring the image from said photosensitive medium to a transfer medium; AC corona discharger means for applying AC corona discharge current to said photosensitive medium to remove any residual charge on said photosensitive medium after the image is transferred to the transfer medium by said transferring means; and attenuating means for gradually attenuating the AC voltage applied to said AC corona discharger, when the discharge of the residual charge is terminated, until it becomes zero; thereby preventing nonuniformity of the discharge distribution over said photosensitive medium.

Claim 6

An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said rotatable photosensitive medium comprises an insulative layer, a photoconductive layer and a conductive layer, said electrostatic latent image forming means comprises primary corona discharge means for providing primary charge to said photosensitive medium, secondary corona discharge means for discharging electric charge on said photosensitive medium at the same time that image exposure is provided, and means for uniformly exposing said photosensitive medium discharged by said secondary corona discharge means.

Claim 7

An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said secondary corona discharge means is said AC corona discharge means.

Claim 8

An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein after the image was transferred from said photosensitive medium to the transfer medium, the AC corona discharge current applied to said photosensitive medium is varied in value compared with that at the time when image exposure is provided.