Electronic copying machine

Claim 2

An electronic copying machine having: photosensitive means for selectively retaining an electrostatic latent image; charger means for charging the surface of said photosensitive means; exposure means for exposing said photosensitive means with an image from a document to form said electrostatic latent image of said document on said photosensitive means; developing emans for applying a toner to said electrostatic latent image to form a toner image; transfer charger means for transferring said toner image to a transfer medium; discharge lamp means for exposing said surface of said photosensitive means to render said photosensitive means conductive so that charges on said surface are neutralized; and control means for controlling a charging timing of said charger means and an exposure timing of said exposure means in such a manner that, even when making a first copy a leading end of a toner-image forming area of said photosensitive means, which corresponds to a leading end of the transfer medium, is first exposed to said transfer charger means and said discharge lamp means before being charged by said charger means in a polarity the same as said transfer charger means so that said leading end of said area can be exposed by said exposure means.

Claim 3

An elecrronic copying machine accordingtto claim 1, wherein said control means comprises a programmable microprocessor connected to at least said charger means and said exposure means and includes a central processing unit which receives a timing signal in order to control said charger means and said exposure means and a read-only memory device which stores a permanent program and a predetermined timing constant for determing a charging timing of said charger means and an exposure timing of said exposure means, said read-only memory device having the permanent program which is for said central processing unit and according to which said control means performs a predetermined function, whereby the charging time of said charger means and the exposure timing of said exposure means are controlled in such a manner that, from a first copying operation, the leading end of the toner-image forming area of said photosensitive means is charged by said charger means after being affected by said transfer charger means, and said discharge lamp means and the leading end of the toner-image forming area is exposed by said exposure means.

Claim 4

An electronic copying machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the charging timing of said charger means and the exposure timing of said exposure means are controlled in such a manner that the leading end of the toner-image forming area of said photosensitive means corresponds to a leading end of the transfer medium and is located immediately before said transfer charger means at rest.

Claim 5

An electronic copying machine having: photosensitive means for selectively retaining an electrostatic latent image; charger means for charging the surface of said photosensitive means; exposure means for exposing said photosensitive means with an image from a document to form said electrostatic latent image of said document on said photosensitive means; developing means for applying a toner to said electrostatic latent image to form a toner image; for transfer charger means for transferring said toner image to a transfer medium; separating charger means for radiating an AC corona to neutralize charges produced by said transfer charger means thereby separating the transfer medium from said photosensitive means; discharge lamp means for exposing said surface of said photosensitive means to render said photosensitive means conductive so that charges on said surface of the photosensitive means are neutralized; corona charger means having a polarity opposite to the polarity of said toner image and being disposed between said transfer charger means and said discharge lamp means; and control means for controlling a charging timing of said charger means and an exposure timing of said exposure means in such a manner that even when making a first copy, a leading end of a toner-image forming area of said photosensitive means, which corresponds to a leading end of the transfer medium, is first exposed to said corona charger means and said discharge lamp means before being charged by said charging means and exposed by said exposure means.

Claim 6

An electronic copying machine having: photosensitive means for selectively retaining an electrostatic latent image; charger means for charging the surface of said photosensitive means; exposure means for exposing said photosensitive means with an image from a document to form said electrostatic latent image of said document on said photosensitive means; developing means for applying a toner to said electrostatic latent image to form a toner image; for transfer charger means for transferring said toner image to a transfer medium; separating charger means for radiating an AC corona to neutralize charges produced by said transfer charger means thereby separating the transfer medium from said photosensitive means; discharge lamp means for exposing said surface of said photosensitive means to render said photosensitive means conductive so that charges on said surface of the photosensitive means are neutralized; corona charger means having a polarity opposite to the polarity of said toner image and being disposed between said transfer charger means and said discharge lamp means; and control means for controlling a charging timing of said charger means and an exposure timing of said exposure means in such a manner that even when making a first copy, a leading end of a toner-image forming area of said photosensitive means, which corresponds to a leading end of the transfer medium, is first exposed to said corona charger means and said discharge lamp means before being charged by said charging means and exposed by said exposure means.

Claim 7

An electronic copying machine according to claim 4, wherein said control means comprises a programmable microprocessor connected to at least said charger means and said exposure means and includes a central processing unit which receives a timing signal in order to control said charger means and said exposure means and a read-only memory device which stores a permanent program and a predetermined timing constant for determining the charging timing of said charger means and the exposure timing of said exposure means, said read-only memory device having the permanent program which is for said central processing unit and according to which said control means performs a predetermined function, whereby the charging time of said charger means and the exposure timing of said exposure means are controlled in such a manner that, from the first copying operation, the leading end of the toner-image forming area of said photosensitive mean which corresponds to the leading end of the transfer medium, is charged by said charger means after being affected by said corona charger means and said discharge lamp means, and is exposed by said exposure means.

Claim 8

An electronic copying machine according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the charging timing of said charger means and the exposure timing of said exposure means are controlled in such a manner that the leading end of the toner-image forming area of said photosensitive means corresponds to the leading end of the transfer medium and, is located immediately before said corona charger means at rest.