JP2006243048A - Liquid image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid image forming apparatus wherein at least one of an exposure means and a charging means which are disposed below an image carrier is not polluted by a liquid developer dropped from the image carrier. <P>SOLUTION: The liquid image forming apparatus is provided with a retreating mechanism T1 which moves an LPH 53 from a position for development to a retreat position so that it is not polluted by the liquid developer dropped from a photoreceptor drum 51 when development is not performed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid image forming apparatus employed in a copying machine, a facsimile machine, a printer, and the like.

  As shown in FIG. 6A, the tandem-type liquid image forming apparatus that forms a color image has a photosensitive drum 200, a main charging device 300, an exposure device 400, a liquid developing device 500, and a cleaning device for each color type. 600, a static elimination lamp 700, and the like.

  In this liquid image forming apparatus, for each color type, the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 200 is developed with a liquid developer in which toner is dispersed in an insulating carrier liquid. That is, the photosensitive drum 200 is supplied with a liquid developer from the developing roller 510 of the liquid developing device 500, and the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 200 is developed by the supplied liquid developer. Is done. Further, the developed and visualized toner images on the liquid developing device 500 are primary images as transfer images so that each color type coincides with the intermediate transfer belt 800 positioned above the photosensitive drum 200. Transcribed. The primary transferred image is further secondarily transferred from the intermediate transfer belt 800 to a recording medium (not shown) such as recording paper.

Conventionally, in a liquid image forming apparatus, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 are known as techniques for preventing contamination of a device below the photosensitive drum or the apparatus by a liquid developer dripping from the photosensitive drum. It has been. In Patent Document 1, the entire liquid image forming apparatus is disposed in order to prevent contamination of the recording paper located below the liquid developer leaking from the liquid image forming apparatus, and the sheet storage unit is disposed above the liquid image forming apparatus. It is structured. In Patent Document 2, in a one-drum type liquid image forming apparatus, a plurality of developing units provided for each color type are provided directly below the photosensitive drum in order to prevent contamination of the liquid developer dripped from the photosensitive drum after development. It is set as the structure which retreats from the position to the position which is not polluted.
JP-A-7-273801 JP 11-338262 A

  By the way, in the tandem type liquid image formation, in order to develop the liquid layer of the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 200, a difference in rotational linear velocity between the photosensitive drum and the developing roller is used as a basic design value. The constant speed or the rotational linear speed of the photosensitive drum is set higher than the rotational linear speed of the developing roller 510. However, in practice, the tolerance of the outer dimensions of the developing roller 510 varies, and the gear that transmits the driving torque to the developing roller 510 has backlash. Therefore, a time lag occurs between the rotation of the photosensitive drum 200 and the developing roller, and the rotation line The relative speed relationship may be reversed.

  In this case, a rotational linear velocity difference (rotational linear velocity of the photosensitive drum 200 <rotational linear velocity of the developing roller 510) occurs in the nip portion between the photosensitive drum 200 and the developing roller 510, and the liquid developer is upstream of the nip portion. A reservoir a is generated (see FIG. 6B).

  The liquid developer pool generated on the upstream side of the nip portion moves to the lower part of the photoconductor drum 200 through the photoconductor drum 200 when the photoconductor drum 200 is stopped. Liquid developer gradually drops. As a result, there arises a problem that the main charging device 300 located below the photosensitive drum 200 or the exposure device 400 is contaminated with the liquid developer.

  In Patent Document 1, the paper storage unit is disposed above the liquid image forming apparatus, and the main charging device and the exposure apparatus disposed below the photosensitive drum of the liquid image forming apparatus are the photosensitive drum. A configuration for preventing liquid developer dripping from contamination is not disclosed. Patent Document 2 is a one-drum type, and the charging device and the exposure device are arranged not on the side of the photosensitive drum but on the side, so that the problem of contamination of the charging device and the exposure device does not occur. It is a configuration.

  An object of the present invention is to prevent at least one of at least an exposure unit and a charging unit disposed below an image carrier from being contaminated by a liquid developer dripped from the image carrier. The object is to provide a liquid image forming apparatus.

  In order to solve the above problems, the invention according to claim 1 is directed to an image carrier, a charging unit for uniformly charging the image carrier, and exposing the charged image carrier to electrostatic latent image. An exposure unit that forms an image; and a transfer unit that is disposed above the image carrier, and that transfers the toner image on the image carrier, the electrostatic latent image being developed with a liquid developer. In the liquid image forming apparatus in which at least one of the means and the charging means is disposed below the image carrier, at least one of the means disposed below is positioned at the time of development when not developing. Thus, the gist of the liquid image forming apparatus is provided with a retracting mechanism that moves to a retracted position.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the at least one means is an exposure means.
The invention of claim 3 is characterized in that, in claim 1, the at least one means is a charging means.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the exposure means is moved from the first developing position to the first retracted position so as not to be contaminated by the liquid developer dripping from the image carrier during non-development. A first retraction mechanism that moves and a second retraction position that moves the charging means from the second development position to the second retraction position so as not to be contaminated by the liquid developer dripping from the image carrier during non-development. A retracting mechanism is provided.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, at least one of the exposure unit and the charging unit is positioned at the retracted position so that the liquid developer dripping from the image carrier is not contaminated by the retracting mechanism during non-development. Therefore, the contamination of the means located at the retracted position by the liquid developer can be prevented.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the exposure unit can be positioned at the retracted position so that the liquid developer dripping from the image carrier is not contaminated during non-development, contamination of the exposure unit by the liquid developer can be prevented. . As a result, since the exposure means is not contaminated, exposure failure due to contamination of the liquid developer can be prevented.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the charging unit can be positioned at the retracted position so as not to be contaminated by the liquid developer dripping from the image carrier during non-development, the contamination of the charging unit by the liquid developer can be prevented. . As a result, the charging unit is not contaminated, and charging failure due to contamination of the liquid developer can be prevented.

  In the invention of claim 4, since the exposure means and the charging means can be positioned at the first retracted position and the second retracted position, respectively, so as not to be contaminated by the liquid developer dripping from the image carrier during non-development. Contamination of the exposure unit and the charging unit with the liquid developer can be prevented.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the liquid image forming apparatus of the present invention is embodied as a tandem color image forming apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as an image forming apparatus) will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus includes a paper feeding unit 1, a vertical conveyance path 2, a registration roller pair 3, a belt conveyance unit 4, a first image forming unit 5, a second image forming unit 6, a third image forming unit 7, 4 image forming means 8, secondary transfer means 9, fixing means 10, discharge conveyance path 11, discharge tray 14 and the like. The paper feed means 1 includes a paper feed cassette 1a and a pickup roller 1b, and transports the paper P in the paper feed cassette 1a to the vertical transport path 2 by the pickup roller 1b. The vertical conveyance path 2 conveys the conveyed paper P to the secondary transfer unit 9 via the registration roller pair 3.

  The belt conveying unit 4 includes a driving roller 41, a driven roller 42, and an endless intermediate transfer belt 43 that is stretched over the two rollers. The intermediate transfer belt 43 maintains an appropriate tension by the tension roller 44. In this state, the driving roller 41 receives driving force from a driving motor (not shown), and the outer peripheral speed of the photosensitive drum 51 in each image forming unit and the outer peripheral speed of the intermediate transfer belt 43 of the belt conveying unit 4 are constant. It is driven to become.

  The first to fourth image forming units 5 to 8 shown in FIG. 3 are for black (BK), magenta (M), cyan (C), and yellow (Y) from the left side in the figure, and all are almost the same. It is a unit of composition. Here, for convenience of explanation, the configuration of the first image forming means 5 will be described with reference to FIG. In other image forming units, the same components as those of the first image forming unit 5 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

  The first image forming means 5 includes a photosensitive drum 51, a main charging device 52, an LPH (LED PRINT HEAD) 53, a liquid developing device 54, a primary transfer means 55, a cleaning device 56, and a charge eliminating lamp 57. The unit 90 is assembled into a unit 90 (see FIG. 2), and is attached to an apparatus main body (not shown).

  The photosensitive drum 51 uses an amorphous silicon drum, and is charged by the main charging device 52 so that the dark potential in the developing region is about 300V. The surface of the charged photosensitive drum 51 is irradiated with light corresponding to image information by the LPH 53, that is, by exposure, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 51. The photosensitive drum 51 corresponds to an image carrier. The LPH 53 is used to reduce the size of the unit, but an LSU (laser scanning unit) may be used.

  The photosensitive drum 51 corresponds to an image carrier. The main charging device 52 corresponds to charging means. or. LPH 53 corresponds to exposure means. The primary transfer unit 55 corresponds to the transfer unit of the present invention.

  The liquid developing device 54 stirs and mixes the liquid developer so as to have a predetermined concentration, and the developing roller 72 applies the developer to the electrostatic latent image of the portion irradiated with the light from the photosensitive drum 51. As a result, a toner image is formed on the photosensitive drum 51. The dark potential of the photosensitive drum 51 is set to 300V, the developing bias is set to 200V, and the post-exposure potential is set to 20V. That is, the dark potential corresponds to the white portion of the image, the post-exposure potential corresponds to the black portion of the image, and this difference is a so-called contrast potential. The toner image obtained by developing the electrostatic latent image formed as described above is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 43 of the belt conveying unit 4 in the nip with the primary transfer unit 55. The primary transfer means 55 is disposed above the photosensitive drum 51 as shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the primary transfer unit 55 uses a transfer roller, and a voltage having a polarity opposite to the surface potential of the photosensitive drum 51 is set in a range of −1000 to −1300 V and applied. .

  The toner that has not been transferred on the photosensitive drum 51 is scraped off by the rubber blade 56a of the cleaning device 56 in the next process. The photosensitive drum 51 is neutralized by a neutralizing lamp 57 to lower the residual potential on the surface and make it uniform, and thereafter, it is prepared for the next series of processes. The potential setting for image formation in this manner varies depending on the characteristics of the photosensitive drum 51, the toner performance, and the environment. The image forming apparatus develops images corresponding to magenta, cyan, and yellow on the photosensitive drum by the second to fourth image forming units 6 to 8 in the same manner as the first image forming unit 5. A full-color image is formed by sequentially repeating the transfer onto the intermediate transfer belt 43 without transfer.

  Returning to FIG. 3 again, image formation after transfer will be described. In the present embodiment, the secondary transfer unit 9 includes a secondary transfer roller. The secondary transfer unit 9 is disposed at a secondary transfer position on the vertical conveyance path 2. The secondary transfer position is a position where the secondary transfer unit 9 faces the driving roller 41 and is pressed against the intermediate transfer belt 43. A secondary transfer bias is applied to the secondary transfer unit 9, and the paper P conveyed by the secondary transfer unit 9 from the intermediate transfer belt 43 through the vertical conveyance path 2 and the registration roller pair 3. A full-color image is secondarily transferred to the image. Thereafter, the paper P onto which the full-color image has been secondarily transferred is separated from the intermediate transfer belt 43 and conveyed to the fixing unit 10. The fixing unit 10 includes a first fixing roller 10a and a second fixing roller 10b. Each fixing roller includes a fixing heater (not shown), and the identification fixing heater is controlled to a predetermined temperature necessary for fixing. Due to this temperature, a full-color image is fixed on the paper P that is pressed and passed by both rollers. The paper P is discharged to the discharge tray 14 via the discharge conveyance path 11 after being fixed by the fixing unit 10.

  The intermediate transfer cleaning unit 12 includes an intermediate transfer cleaning roller 12a and an intermediate transfer cleaning blade 12b. The intermediate transfer cleaning roller 12 a is in pressure contact with the intermediate transfer belt 43 and is rotated in the same direction as the rotation direction of the intermediate transfer belt 43. The intermediate transfer cleaning blade 12b counter-contacts the intermediate transfer belt 43 on the downstream side from the position of the intermediate transfer cleaning roller 12a in the moving direction of the intermediate transfer belt 43, thereby removing residual toner on the intermediate transfer belt 43. The intermediate transfer belt 43 is prepared for the next image forming process.

Next, the liquid developing device 54 will be described with reference to FIG.
The liquid developing device 54 includes a storage tank 71 that stores the liquid developer 70. Inside the storage tank 71, a developing roller 72 as a developer carrier, a coating roller 73, a pumping roller 74, a doctor blade 75, a cleaning blade 76, and a pair of stirring screws 77a and 77b are provided. ing. The developing roller 72, the application roller 73, the scooping roller 74, and the stirring screws 77a and 77b are rotationally driven by a drive motor (both not shown) through a drive transmission mechanism including a gear train and the like.

  The liquid developer 70 is adjusted so as to disperse the toner at a high concentration in the carrier liquid composed of a nonpolar insulating liquid such as silicon oil and the carrier liquid. The agitating screws 77a and 77b circulate and agitate the liquid developer 70. A part of the pumping roller 74 is immersed in the liquid developer 70, and the liquid developer 70 thus pumped is rotated in contact with the coating roller 73 to apply the liquid developer 70 to the coating roller 73. The liquid developer 70 applied to the application roller 73 is removed (restricted) by the doctor blade 75 that is in contact with the application roller 73 so as to contact the rotation direction and the trail direction. It is thinned and weighed.

  The application roller 73 forms a thin layer of the liquid developer 70 on the development roller 72 by applying the liquid developer 70 on the development roller 72. In the developing area on the photosensitive drum 51, the latent image is developed by the liquid developer 70. Further, after development, the liquid developer 70 remaining on the developing roller 72 is removed from the developing roller 72 by the cleaning blade 76.

  Next, the retracting mechanism T1 of the LPH 53 that is the exposure unit of the present embodiment will be described. The retraction mechanism T1 of the present embodiment is for retreating the LPH 53 from the development position to the retraction position. The position during development is an exposure position when the LPH 53 exposes the photosensitive drum 51, and a vertical line L1 passing through the axis O of the photosensitive drum 51 as shown by a solid line in FIG. It is at a position close to the lower part of the photosensitive drum 51 while being on the upper side.

  Further, the retracted position is rotated by 90 ° about a rotation shaft 81 to be described later, so that the LPH 53 deviates from the vertical line L1 as indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. It is a position away from the lower part. Since the LPH 53 is positioned at the retracted position, the LPH 53 is prevented from being contaminated by the liquid developer dripping from the lower portion of the photosensitive drum 51.

  The retraction mechanism T1 includes a pair of bearings 80, a rotation shaft 81 rotatably supported by the bearing 80, a gear 82 fixed to one end of the rotation shaft 81, and a gear 83 meshing with the gear 82. An output shaft 84 is provided, and a motor 85 as a first drive source fixed to the housing 90 (see FIG. 2) is provided. The first drive source is not limited to the motor 85 and may be replaced with a rotary solenoid. Further, the retracting mechanism T1 does not necessarily include a gear, and a link mechanism may be combined instead of the gear.

  The pair of bearings 80 are supported via a bracket 87 with respect to the housing 90 (see FIG. 2), and are spaced apart from each other in the axial direction of the photosensitive drum 51. Both ends of the rotating shaft 81 are supported so as to be rotatable with respect to the bearing 80.

  The LPH 53 is arranged along the longitudinal direction of the photosensitive drum 51 and the axis thereof is arranged in parallel with the axis of the photosensitive drum 51. The LPH 53 includes a main body case 53a having a substantially square box shape. From one side of both end walls 53b of the main body case 53a, a protruding piece 53c protrudes sideways along the end wall. The main body case 53a is attached and fixed to both ends of the rotating shaft 81 via the projecting pieces 53c. Further, in the both end walls 53b of the main body case 53a, in the direction (upward direction in FIG. 1) perpendicular to the direction (right direction in FIG. 1) in which the protruding piece 53c extends from the both end walls 53b, The contact piece 53d protrudes. The casing 90 is provided with a pair of stoppers 88, and each contact piece 53d comes into contact with the LPH 53 when positioned at the developing position.

  During development, the motor 85 rotates forward so that the contact piece 53 d comes into contact with the stopper 88 via the output shaft 84, the gears 83 and 82, and the rotation shaft 81. As a result, the LPH 53 is positioned and located at the position during development. Further, when not developed, the LPH 53 is moved through the output shaft 84, the gears 83 and 82, and the rotating shaft 81 when the motor 85 rotates in the reverse direction from the position at the time of development. Then, it is rotated by 90 ° around the rotation shaft 81 and positioned at the retracted position. The angle is not limited to 90 °, and may be another angle. The point is that the angle can be moved to the retracted position, that is, the position where the liquid developer that is dripped is not contaminated.

  In the image forming apparatus configured as described above, at the time of development, the motor 85 is controlled to rotate forward by a control device (not shown), and the contact piece 53d contacts the stopper 88, whereby the LPH 53 is positioned. The exposure position is the position during development. In this state, the LPH 53 irradiates light corresponding to image information onto the surface of the photosensitive drum 51 charged to have a dark potential. As a result, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 51.

  When development is completed or when development is not being performed, the motor 85 is reversely controlled by a control device (not shown), and the LPH 53 is rotated 90 ° from the exposure position. , Located in the retracted position.

  On the other hand, since there is a variation in the outer dimensional tolerance of the developing roller 72 and a backlash in the gear that transmits the driving torque to the developing roller 72, a time lag occurs in the rotation of the photosensitive drum 51 and the developing roller 72, and the relative rotation speed is relatively The relationship may be reversed. In this case, a rotational linear velocity difference (the rotational linear velocity of the photosensitive drum 51 <the rotational linear velocity of the developing roller 72) is generated in the nip portion between the photosensitive drum 51 and the developing roller 72, and the liquid developer is upstream of the nip portion. Accumulation occurs. Then, the liquid developer pool generated on the upstream side of the nip portion moves to the lower part of the photosensitive drum 51 along the photosensitive drum 51 when the development of the photosensitive drum 51 is stopped. The accumulated liquid developer gradually drops downward (downward of the vertical line L1 passing through the axis O) as time passes.

  However, in this embodiment, as described above, the LPH 53 is located at the retracted position and is not on the vertical line passing through the axis O, so that it is not contaminated by the dropped liquid developer. Therefore, since the LPH 53 is not contaminated, exposure failure due to the contamination of the liquid developer can be prevented.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5A and 5B. In addition, about the same structure as 1st Embodiment, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and it demonstrates centering on the structure which is different.

  The image forming apparatus of the second embodiment is different from the structure of the first embodiment in that a second avoidance mechanism for the main charging device 52 is further provided, and the other structures are the same. . In the second embodiment, the retracting mechanism T1 of the LPH 53 corresponds to the first retracting mechanism. In the second embodiment, the LPH 53 development position described in the first embodiment corresponds to the first development position, and the retreat position corresponds to the first retraction position.

The second retraction mechanism T2 will be described.
The second retracting mechanism T2 of the present embodiment is for retracting the main charging device 52 as a charging unit from the second developing position to the second retracting position. The position during the second development is a position where the main charging device 52 is adjacent to the position during the first development of the LPH 53 and is charged when the photosensitive drum 51 is charged. This position is close to the lower portion of the photosensitive drum 51. As shown by the solid line in FIG. 4, the second developing position passes through the axis O of the photosensitive drum 51 and has a reference angle having an inclination angle θ (0 ° <θ <90 °) from the vertical line L1. Located on line L2.

  Further, the second retraction position of the main charging device 52 is a position away from the lower portion of the photosensitive drum 51 so as to be positioned on the reference line L2, as indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. When the main charging device 52 is located at the second retracted position, the liquid developer dripping from the lower portion of the photosensitive drum 51 may be contaminated when located at the second developing position. The main charging device 52 is prevented from being contaminated.

  The second retracting mechanism T2 guides a motor 92 as a second drive source, a rotating shaft 93 that is driven to rotate forward and backward by the motor 92, a cam 94 fixed to the rotating shaft 93, a cam follower member 95, and the main charging device 52. A guide member 96 and a pressing spring 97 are provided. The main charging device 52 is guided by a guide member 96 provided on the housing 90 on its side surface, so that the second developing position (that is, the charging position) as shown in FIG. And a second retracted position (see FIG. 5B).

  The cam follower member 95 is integrally fixed to the lower part of the main charging device 52 as shown in FIG. A lower portion of the cam follower member 95 is formed in a substantially arc-shaped frame, and a cam follower surface 95a is formed on the inner surface thereof. The cam 94 is fixed to the rotary shaft 93 so as to be positioned in the cam follower member 95, and is always in contact with the cam follower surface 95a. Further, in the cam follower member 95, a pressing spring 97 is interposed between the outer surface opposite to the main charging device 52 and the casing 90. The pressing spring 97 always causes the cam follower member 95 to pass through the cam follower member 95. The main charging device 52 is urged toward the position at the time of the second development.

  At the time of development, when the motor 92 rotates forward and the cam 94 rotates via the rotating shaft 93, the cam follower member 95 is guided by the guide member 96 by the cam action of the cam 94, and FIG. It is located at the second development position shown in a).

  Further, when development is completed or when development is not being performed, ie, during non-development, the motor 92 rotates in the reverse direction, so that the cam 94 rotates via the rotary shaft 93, and the cam action of the cam 94 occurs. Thus, the cam follower member 95 is guided by the guide member 96 and is located at the second retracted position shown in FIG. The second retreat position is a position where the main charging device 52 is not contaminated by the liquid developer dripping from the lower part of the photosensitive drum 51. For example, the liquid developer may be dripped before the vertical line passing through the axis O in some cases. Therefore, the main charging device 52 is not contaminated by the liquid developer dripping from the lower portion of the photosensitive drum 51. Therefore, contamination of the main charging device 52 is eliminated, and charging failure due to contamination of the liquid developer can be prevented.

Note that the operation during development and non-development by the first retracting mechanism of the LPH 53 is the same as that in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.
In addition, this invention is not limited to each said embodiment, You may make it as follows.

  In the configuration of the second embodiment, the LPH 53 is positioned on the reference line L3 rotated in the clockwise direction θ1 from the vertical line L1 as shown in FIG. The retraction mechanism T1 is omitted. On the other hand, the second retraction mechanism T2 of the main charging device 52 is left. In this case, the second retraction mechanism T2 corresponds to the retraction mechanism of the main charging device 52. Further, the second development position described in the second embodiment corresponds to the development position, and the second retraction position corresponds to the retraction position.

  In such a configuration, the main charging device 52 can be positioned at the retracted position by the retracting mechanism at the time of non-development. Therefore, even if liquid developer drip from the photosensitive drum 51, the main charging device 52 contamination can be prevented.

  In the second embodiment, the second retraction mechanism T2 is rotated from the second development position to the second retraction position by rotating the main charging device 52 to a predetermined angle such as 90 °, like the first retraction mechanism. Configure to be evacuated.

1 is a schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment embodying the present invention. The perspective view of the retracting mechanism of the exposure apparatus. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a tandem type image forming apparatus. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment. (A), (b) is explanatory drawing of the retracting mechanism of the main charging device. (A) is a schematic diagram of a conventional image forming apparatus, (b) is a schematic side view of the main part.

Explanation of symbols

51. Photosensitive drum (image carrier)

52. Main charging device (charging means)
53 ... LPH (exposure means)
55. Primary transfer means (transfer means)
T1 ... Retraction mechanism (first retraction mechanism)
T2 ... Retraction mechanism (second retraction mechanism)

Claims (4)

An image carrier, a charging unit that uniformly charges the image carrier, an exposure unit that exposes the charged image carrier to form an electrostatic latent image, and is disposed above the image carrier. A transfer means for transferring a toner image on the image carrier in which the electrostatic latent image is developed with a liquid developer, and at least one of the exposure means and the charging means is configured to transfer the image carrier. In the liquid image forming apparatus disposed below
A liquid image forming apparatus, comprising: a retraction mechanism that moves at least one of the means disposed below from a position during development to a retreat position during non-development.   The liquid image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one unit is an exposure unit.   The liquid image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one unit is a charging unit. A first retraction mechanism that moves the exposure means from a position during the first development to a first retraction position so as not to be contaminated by the liquid developer dripping from the image carrier during non-development;
A second retracting mechanism is provided for moving the charging means from the second developing position to the second retracted position so that the liquid developer dripping from the image carrier is not contaminated during non-development. The liquid image forming apparatus according to claim 1.

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