Liquid applying member and a tool for manufacturing that member

A liquid applying member and a tool are provided. The liquid applying member includes an applying roller which can stably apply an unstabilizing liquid to a transfer paper. The tool is referable for manufacturing the applying roller. A large number of recess portions independent from each other are provided on a circular circumferential surface of the applying roller for applying the unstabilizing liquid which unstabilizes an attachment state between the toner and the transfer paper to the transfer paper having a toner image formed thereon. The recess portion can be formed by pressing the rotating tool constructed with a roller member made of a material harder than that of the surface portion of the applying roller and provided with projecting portions formed on a circular circumferential surface thereof, so as to engage with the recess portions having a target shape of the applying roller to the raw material of the applying roller.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to a liquid applying member of an image 
forming substance removing apparatus, in particular, a liquid applying 
member for applying an unstabilizing liquid, which makes unstable the 
attaching state between an image forming substance and an image carrier, 
onto an image carrier in a reproducing apparatus for reproducing the image 
carrier, which removes the image forming substance from the image carrier 
having an image made of the image forming substance formed on the surface 
thereof constructed with fiber material. 
2. Description of the Related Art 
Conventionally, from the viewpoint of effective utilization of natural 
resources, there have been proposed heretofore various sorts of 
reproducing methods of reproducing the image carrier by removing the image 
forming substance from the image carrier in order to reuse the image 
carrier and various sorts of apparatuses for accomplishing the above. 
As to such technologies, for instance, refer to the published 
specifications of Japanese Laid-open Patent publication Nos. 1-10157/1989, 
2-55195/1990, 4-4472/1992, 4-82983/1992, and 4-300395/1992. 
In particular, in order to remove only the image forming substance without 
comparatively damaging the image carrier, the present applicant has 
already proposed a method of and an apparatus for holding on the image 
carrier at least one sort of water or water solution selected from the 
group consisting of water solution containing water, water solution 
containing surface active agent, water solution containing water-soluble 
polymer, and water solution containing surface active agent and 
water-soluble polymer as an unstabilizing liquid; heating the image 
forming substance on the image carrier so as to fuse or soften that 
substance; bringing a peeling-off member capable of demonstrating a 
sticking force larger than the sticking force between the image carrier 
and the image forming substance into contact with the image carrier; and 
peeling off and removing the image forming substance from the image 
carrier when the peeling-off member is separated from the image carrier. 
(For instance, refer to Japanese Patent Application No. 4-25591/1992 and 
Japanese Patent Application No. 5-239075/1993.) 
Furthermore, although there exist some methods of employing a roller-shaped 
liquid applying member, dipping into the solution, and non-contact 
applying by use of the ink jet, etc., as a method of applying the 
unstabilizing liquid, the above-mentioned methods of employing a liquid 
applying member are profitable from the viewpoints of design margin, cost 
reduction, quality stabilizing, etc. 
Hereupon, the amount of applying the unstabilizing liquid needed for 
reproducing the above-mentioned image carrier differs in accordance with 
the sort of the image carrier, the sort of the unstabilizing liquid, and 
the condition at the time of the peeling-off treatment; and further the 
amount varies in the wide range of 1%-50% of the image carrier's weight. 
For instance, since weight of general paper is about 5 g, the amount of 
applied unstabilizing liquid needed for reproducing the general (ordinary) 
paper of A4 size varies widely in the range of 0.05 g-2.5 g. 
In such a way, since the amount of the applied unstabilizing liquid needed 
for the purpose varies in a wide range, there was a fear of impossibility 
of applying a needed amount of the unstabilizing liquid depending on the 
sort of the image carrier in the case of employing the above-mentioned 
roller-shaped liquid applying member. 
In such a situation, conventionally, there was a proposal of making the 
circumferential velocity of the liquid applying member larger than the 
transporting speed of the image carrier, for instance, by raising the 
rotation speed of the liquid applying member, in order to increase the 
amount of applying of the liquid by use of the above roller-shaped liquid 
applying member. (For instance, refer to the contents of the above 
described published specification of the Japanese Laid-open Patent 
Publication No. 7-92667/1995.) 
On the other hand, there is a fear of causing a problem in that, when the 
rotation speed of the liquid applying member is raised up as mentioned 
before, the rear edge portion of the image carrier is rapidly transported 
and thereby the image carrier is broken and paper jamming occurs, and 
further the liquid applying amount becomes insufficient contrary to the 
initial aim. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned 
actual circumstances and drawbacks to be solved. 
It is an object of the present invention to solve the points at issue as 
mentioned heretofore. 
It is another object of the present invention to enable a stable 
application of the unstabilizing liquid necessary for reproducing the 
image carrier even in the case of making the circumferential speed of the 
image carrier equal to the transporting speed thereof. 
It is still another object of the present invention to provide for a liquid 
applying member which is capable of stably applying the unstabilizing 
liquid necessary for reproducing the image carrier and a tool or 
instrument referable for manufacturing the member even in the case of 
making the circumferential speed of the image carrier equal to the 
transporting speed thereof. 
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a tool or 
instrument referable for manufacturing the above-mentioned liquid applying 
member. 
In order to attain the above-mentioned objects, a first invention is 
characterized in that a liquid applying member is formed in a state of a 
roller for applying an unstabilizing liquid onto an image carrier having 
an image formed on the surface of the image carrier made of am image 
forming substance, wherein the unstabilizing liquid is applied onto the 
image carrier for the purpose of making unstable the attaching state 
between the image forming substance and the image carrier, and wherein a 
large number of recess portions independent from each other are provided 
on a circular circumferential surface of the liquid applying member. 
A second invention is characterized in that a tool or instrument is 
employed for manufacturing the liquid applying member of the first 
invention, wherein the above tool is constructed with a roller member made 
of a material harder than that of the surface portion of the liquid 
applying member, and wherein projecting portions are provided on the 
circular circumferential surface of the roller member such that the 
projecting portions are engaged with the recess portions formed in a state 
of a target shape on the liquid applying member. 
A third invention is characterized in that, in the tool or instrument of 
the second invention employed for manufacturing the liquid applying member 
of the first invention, wherein the projecting portions are provided on 
the circular circumferential surface of the roller member such that the 
circular circumferential surface remains on the roller member. 
In the first invention, the unstabilizing liquid is held in the recess 
portion formed on the surface of the roller-state liquid applying member, 
and the unstabilizing liquid held in the liquid applying member is brought 
into contact with the image carrier. Then, the liquid applying member is 
rotated and thereby the unstabilizing liquid is applied to the image 
carrier. 
Hereupon, since the amount of the unstabilizing liquid held in the recess 
portion on the surface of the liquid applying member is larger than that 
of the unstabilizing liquid held in the other portion on the circular 
circumferential surface thereof, the amount of the unstabilizing liquid 
held on the surface of the liquid applying member is almost decided in 
accordance with the shape and size (for instance, "deth") of the above 
recess portion. 
Consequently, if the shape and size of the recess portion of the liquid 
applying member are previously set so as to enable to hold the 
unstabilizing liquid of the amount necessary for reproducing the image 
carrier, it is possible to stably apply the unstabilizing liquid of the 
necessary amount to the image carrier. 
Furthermore, since the above respective recess portions are formed 
independently from each other, there arises no fear that the unstabilizing 
liquid held once flows down along the groove before applying the liquid as 
in the case of forming the continuous groove such as the spiral groove, 
mesh-like groove, or the like. 
In the second invention, the tool or instrument provided with a projecting 
portion so as to engage the recess portion of the target shape on the 
surface of the liquid applying member on the circular circumferential 
surface of the roller-state member made of the material harder than the 
surface portion of the liquid applying member is pressurizedly pressed to 
the roller-state raw material of the liquid applying member, and the 
projecting portion of the tool eats into the surface of the raw material. 
The raw material or the tool is rotated in a state of fixing the position 
of the central axis and thereby the projecting portion on the tool is 
transferringly processed for the surface of the raw material and thereby 
the recess portion of the target shape can be formed. 
Hereupon, in case that the projecting portion is not formed on the circular 
circumferential surface of the tool so as to oppose the entire area 
employed for applying the liquid to the circular circumferential surface 
of the liquid applying member, the above-mentioned roller-state raw 
material or the tool is moved in the center axis direction in a state of 
pressurizedly pressing and rotating, and thereby the above-mentioned 
recess portion can be formed on all of the portions employed for applying 
the liquid to the circular circumferential surface of the raw material. 
In the third invention, when the tool or instrument is brought into 
pressurized contact with the roller-state raw material of the liquid 
applying member, and the raw material or the tool is rotated, the recess 
portion is formed by causing the projecting portion of the tool to eat 
into the surface of the raw material in a state of bringing the circular 
circumferential surface remaining on the surface of the tool into 
pressurized contact with the outer circumferential surface of the raw 
material.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate 
identical or corresponding arts throughout the several views, the present 
invention will be described below with reference to referred embodiments 
in which the invention is applied to a liquid applying member for use in a 
reproducing apparatus for an image carrier. 
Referring first to FIG. 1, a constitutional example of the above 
reproducing apparatus is described. This reproducing apparatus is provided 
as an example of a device for peeling off a toner image from a transfer 
paper as an image carrier on which the toner image is formed by use of a 
transfer-type electrophotograhic copying machine. The reproducing 
apparatus for the image carrier according to the present invention is not 
limited to the device shown in FIG. 1. 
In FIG. 1, the reproducing apparatus comprises a liquid supplying unit 20 
employed as a medium for supplying an unstabilizing liquid 21 to a 
transfer paper 10. The transfer paper 10 is fed from a paper feeding unit 
not shown in FIG. 1 containing stacked transfer paper for separately 
feeding sheet by sheet the transfer paper 10 on which the toner image is 
formed. The reproducing apparatus also comprises a toner peeling-off unit 
30 including a peeling-off medium for peeling-off toner from the transfer 
paper 10 to which the unstabilizing liquid 21 is applied, and a drying 
unit 40 for drying the transfer paper 10 from which the toner is removed 
and ejecting the dried transfer paper 10 to a paper tray unit which is not 
shown in FIG. 1. 
In the above reproducing apparatus, the paper feeding unit feeds the 
transfer paper 10 to the liquid supplying unit 20 in a state that a 
surface including the toner image (hereinafter, called "a toner image 
surface") faces downward. At this time, the paper feeding unit separates 
plural fed transfer papers 10 and thereby only one of them is sent out to 
the liquid supplying unit 20. A concrete constitution and operation of the 
feeding unit are the same as those of the feeding mechanism in 
electrophotograhic copying machines, and therefore, the detailed 
description thereof is omitted here. 
The above liquid supplying unit 20 is provided to supply the unstabilizing 
liquid 21 such as a water solution including water or a surface active 
agent to the transfer paper 10 so as to enhance a penetration property 
(permeability) to the transfer paper 10. In the embodiment which is shown 
in FIG. 1, the liquid supplying unit comprises a liquid container 22 for 
containing a liquid 21, an applying roller 23 as a liquid applying member 
which is set so as to be partially sunk in the liquid 21 in the liquid 
container 22 for supplying the liquid 21 to a toner image surface of the 
transfer paper 10 by drawing up the liquid 21 by the action of rotation, 
and a carrying roller 24 facing the applying roller 23 in a state of being 
separated from each other so as to hold the paper conveying path 
therebetween. The applying roller 23 is described later in detail. 
The toner peeling-off unit 30 comprises a plurality of belt supporting 
rollers (hereinafter, called "supporting rollers") 31 and 32, a toner 
offset belt 34 (hereinafter, called "an offset belt") as a peeling-off 
medium having a form of a belt suspended around a heating roller 33 
containing a heating lamp 33a as a heating medium, a pressing roller 35 
containing a heating lamp 35a as a grasping medium disposed so as to be 
brought into pressurized contact with the heating roller 33 such that the 
offset belt 34 is put between both of the rollers 33 and 35, and a 
rotating brush roller 3 for removing toner from a surface of the offset 
belt 34. At least the surface of the offset belt 34 is made of a material 
having a greater adhesive force to the softened toner than an adhesive 
force between the surface of the transfer paper 10 and the toner. For 
example, the belt itself can be made of aluminum, copper, nickel, or other 
metallic materials or macromolecular materials such as polyethylene 
terephthalate (PET) with titanium oxide dispersed. Therefore, in this 
embodiment, the offset belt 34 is formed by using a 100 .mu.m thick 
polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film. 
The above heating roller 33 and the pressing roller 35 are provided so as 
to put the toner image surface of the transfer paper 10 in direct contact 
with the offset belt 34 and to soften the toner attached to the transfer 
paper 10 by heating. 
In addition, the above rotating brush roller 36 has a constitution such 
that toner attached to the offset belt 34 is removed by exerting an 
intermittent scratching force on a circumferential surface of the offset 
belt 34. 
The above drying unit 40, which is used to dry the transfer paper 10 so 
that a liquid holding amount of the transfer paper 10 is 10% or less of 
the paper weight, comprises a heating drum 41 made of, for example, an 
aluminum containing a heating lam 41a and a paper pressing belt 43 
suspended around plural supporting rollers 42 and moving endlessly in a 
state that it is wound around a circumferential surface of the heating 
drum 41 by a certain angle. A tension of the paper pressing belt 43 is 
adjusted by moving one of the supporting rollers 42 in a direction 
indicated by an arrow in FIG. 1. For materials of the paper pressing belt 
43, materials having a heat-proof property or air permeability such as, 
for example, canvas, cotton, and polyethylene terephthalate (teflon) 
cloths can be used. 
In the above constitution, the transfer paper 10 on which a toner image is 
formed by a normal PPC coping machine (for example, an FT2200 manufactured 
by Ricoh) is fed by the feeding unit not shown in FIG. 1 in a state that 
the toner image surface thereof faces downward. The unstabilizing liquid 
21 is applied to the toner image surface uniformly by the liquid supplying 
unit 20, the unstabilizing liquid 21 penetrates into an interfacial 
(boundary surface) portion between the toner and the transfer paper 10, 
and an attachment state of the toner is unstabilized. Then, the transfer 
paper 10 is transported to the toner peeling-off unit 30 in a state of 
retaining the supplied unstabilizing liquid 21. Next, in the toner 
peeling-off unit 30, the toner firmly sticking to the transfer paper 10 is 
softened by the heating roller 33 and the pressing roller 35 and attached 
to a surface of the offset belt 34. When the transfer paper 10 is 
separated from the offset belt 34 at an end of the heating roller 33, the 
toner attached to the surface of the offset belt 34 is peeled off from the 
transfer paper 10, and thereby the toner is removed from the transfer 
paper 10. The transfer paper 10 from which the toner is removed is 
separated from the pressing roller 33 by a separation claw and transported 
to the drying unit 40. The transfer paper 10 transported to the drying 
unit 40 is dried, and then ejected to the paper tray unit not shown in 
FIG. 1. Thereafter, the same liquid supplying and toner peeling-off 
processes are repeated. 
Next, the applying roller 23 used as a liquid applying member for applying 
the unstabilizing liquid 21 to the transfer paper 10 in the above 
reproducing apparatus is explained hereinafter. The applying roller 23 
used in this embodiment has a large number of independent recess portions 
23a each having a form of a quadrangular pyramid on its circular 
circumferential surface as shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b. A pitch p and a depth 
d of the recess portions 23a are previously set in accordance with a 
target applying amount. 
The surface form of the recess portions 23a is not limited to the above 
described quadrangular pyramid, but various forms can be employed as shown 
in the cross sectional views in FIGS. 3a to 3d. For example, FIG. 3a shows 
an example of recess portions 23a each having a form of a pyramid such as 
a triangular or quadrangular pyramid without almost any plane surface. 
FIG. 3b shows an example of pyramidal recess portions 23a with a plane 
surface. FIG. 3c shows an example of hemispherical recess portions 23a, 
and FIG. 3d shows an example of recess portions 23a each having a form of 
a bucket in a water wheel such that an oval surface is inclined. In 
addition, the above various recess portions 23a are permitted to be 
arranged in a lattice pattern or a hound's tooth (zigzag) pattern on the 
circular circumferential surface of the applying roller 23, and this 
arrangement is also not limited. To apply the unstabilizing liquid 21 
uniformly to the transfer paper 10, it is preferable to arrange the recess 
portions 23a uniformly on the circular circumferential surface of the 
applying roller 23. 
FIGS. 4a, 4b, 5a, and 5b show examples of a process method of forming the 
above-described recess portions 23a on the applying roller 23. There is 
provided a rotating tool 50 (a kind of a diagonal-line knurl roller) which 
has projecting portions 50a in the form of quadrangular pyramids (See FIG. 
4b) on its surface, such that they are engaged with the recess portions 
23a of the target shape based on JIS-B0951 on a circular circumferential 
surface of a roller member made of a material harder than that of the 
surface portion of the applying roller 23 (for example, Al or other 
metals). The rotating tool 50 is moved in a direction indicated by an 
arrow S along a rotating shaft in a state of being pressed in a direction 
indicated by an arrow P to a circular circumferential surface of a raw 
material 230 in the form of a roller which is a material of the applying 
roller 23 as shown in FIG. 5a. At this time, the raw material 230 is 
revolutionally driven in a direction indicated by an arrow R to 
subsequently move the rotating tool 50 coupled with the rotating raw 
material. In this method, the applying roller 23 having a target shape of 
recess portions 23a can be easily obtained by performing a transfer 
process (plastic process) such as transferring a shape of the projecting 
portions 50a of the rotating tool 50 onto the entire circular 
circumferential surface of the raw material 230 as shown in FIG. 5b. The 
projecting portions 50a on the above rotating tool 50 need not be formed 
in a plurality of rows in an axial direction, but it is permitted to have 
a single row. 
Furthermore, as a method of forming recess portions 23a on the circular 
circumferential surface of the above applying roller 23, it is also 
possible to employ an etching method used for manufacturing a conventional 
gravure roller for gravure printing. This etching method, however, has 
disadvantages in that it requires intricate processing procedures such as 
(1) coating photosensitive solution, (2) drying by heat, (3) exposing with 
a photomask, (4) developing and removing the photosensitive agent with the 
solution on the unexposed portions (reinforcing a photosensitive film, if 
necessary), (5) etching bite (corroding with the solution), and (6) 
removing the photosensitive agent. Further, the etching method requires a 
technical management on processing the recess portions (slot), in other 
words, skills and know-how for a management of a shape of the recess 
portions (groove), in addition to a higher processing cost. From these 
points of view, the above-mentioned processing method according to the 
embodiment shown in FIGS. 4a, 4b is more advantageous than the etching 
method. 
When the recess portions 23a are formed on the applying roller 23 by using 
the above rotating tool 50, there arises a fear that deformed portions 23b 
may be created on the circular circumferential surface of the applying 
roller 23 as shown in FIG. 6. Therefore, it is preferable to form the 
projecting portions 50a of the above rotating tool 50 such that the 
circular circumferential surface 50b remains as shown in FIG. 7a. The 
recess portions 23a can be formed as shown in FIG. 7b by revolving the 
rotating tool 50 in a direction indicated by an arrow R in a state of 
pressing it to the raw material 230 of the applying roller 23 (in a 
direction indicated by an arrow P) and moving the rotating tool 50 in a 
direction indicated by an arrow S. At this time, the recess portions 23a 
are formed by making the projecting portions 50a of the rotating tool 50 
bite (eat into) the surface of the raw material 230 in a state that the 
circular circumferential surface 50b between the projecting portions 50a 
of the above rotating tool 50 is pressed so as to be brought into contact 
with the outer peripheral surface of the above raw material 230. 
Therefore, the recess portions 23a in a fixed shape can be formed, while 
an outer peripheral surface having a uniform radius is obtained without 
creating the deformed portions 23b as shown in FIG. 6 on the outer 
peripheral surface of the raw material 230. 
Furthermore, as to the processing method of the recess portions 23a of the 
above applying roller 23, it is also permitted to employ the 
above-described etching method or cutting/grinding processing methods, in 
addition to the above-mentioned method of pressing the rotating tool 50 to 
the raw material 230 as shown in FIGS. 4, 5, and 7. Furthermore, it is 
permitted to employ a processing method used for thread rolling as shown 
in FIGS. 8a and 8b. In FIG. 8(a), the recess portions can be formed on the 
circular circumferential surface of the raw material 230 by moving a flat 
die 52 in a direction indicated by an arrow in a state that the raw 
material 230 is put between a flat die 51 and the flat die 52 whose facing 
surfaces 51a and 52a have the projecting portions as mentioned above. In 
FIG. 8b, the recess portions can be formed on the circular circumferential 
surface of the raw material 230 by rotating round dies in the directions 
indicated by arrows in a state that the raw material 230 is put between 
the round dies 53 and 54 whose circular circumferential surfaces 53a and 
54a have the projecting portions as mentioned above. 
A result of an experiment in applying the above unstabilizing liquid 21 to 
the transfer paper by using the above-mentioned applying roller 23 shown 
in FIG. 2 is described hereinafter. 
FIG. 9 is a graph illustrating a relationship between a depth d (mm) of the 
recess portions 23 in the form of quadrangular pyramids formed on the 
applying roller 23 and an applying amount (9/A4) 6f the unstabilizing 
liquid, where data indicated by symbols .diamond., .quadrature., and 
.DELTA. in the drawing represent values obtained by setting a 
circumferential speed (mm/sec) of the applying roller 23 to 25, 40, and 50 
mm/sec, respectively. The pitch of the above recess portions 23a is set to 
0.6 mm. Further, the unstabilizing liquid 21 used here is made by mixing 1 
wt % of a surface active agent AOT (aerosol OT) and 1 wt. % of S113 in 
water, and a conveying speed of the transfer paper is set to the same 
value as the linear speed of the applying roller 23. 
As is apparent from the graph in FIG. 9, it can be easily understood that, 
the deeper the depth d the recess portion becomes, in other words, the 
larger the capacity of the recess portions (the capacity of the space 
enclosed by the side surfaces of the recess portions and the circular 
circumferential surface thereof) becomes, the more amount of the 
unstabilizing liquid tends to be applied to the transfer paper. 
FIGS. 10a and 10b are graphs showing the differences between the liquid 
applying amounts to various applying rollers. In this drawing, A, B, C, 
and D in the (axis of) abscissa represent an applying roller having 0.6 mm 
of the pitch p and 0.223 mm of the depth d, an applying roller having 0.6 
mm of the pitch and 0.156 mm of the depth d, an applying roller having 0.6 
mm of the pitch p and 0.12 mm of the depth d, and an applying roller 
having 0.4 mm of the pitch p and 0.1 mm of the depth d, respectively. The 
unstabilizing liquid 21 used here is made by mixing 10 wt % of a surface 
active agent AOT (aerosol OT) and 10 wt % of D (methylentanediol) in water 
(surface tension=approx. 40 dyne/cm), and a conveying speed of the 
transfer paper is set to the same value as the linear speed of the 
applying roller 23. In addition, data indicated by symbols 
.diamond-solid., .box-solid., and .tangle-solidup. in FIG. 10a represent 
values obtained by setting a circumferential speed of the applying roller 
23 to 25 mm/sec and using transfer paper "T6200 (trademark)," "Shigen 
(trademark)," and "My Paper (trademark)" made by Ricoh, respectively. 
Further, data indicated by symbols .diamond-solid., .box-solid., and 
.tangle-solidup. in FIG. 10b represent values obtained by using transfer 
paper "T6200 (trademark)" made by Ricoh and setting the circumferential 
speed of the applying roller 23 to 25, 40, and 50 mm/sec, respectively. 
As is apparent from the graphs shown in FIGS. 10a and 10b, it can be easily 
understood that, although there exist differences in the sort of the 
transfer paper and in the circumferential speed of the applying roller, 
the larger the capacity of the recess portion formed on the 
circumferential surface of the applying roller 23 (the capacity of the 
space enclosed by the side surfaces of the recess portions and the 
circular circumferential surface) becomes, the more amount of the 
unstabilizing liquid tends to be applied to the transfer paper. 
As is apparent from the foregoing descriptions of the 
embodiments/modification according to the present invention, some merits 
or advantageously functional effects can be found out. 
According to the first invention, assuming that the shape and size of the 
recess portion of the liquid applying member are previously set so as to 
enable to hold the unstabilizing liquid of the amount necessary for 
reproducing the image carrier, even though the circumferential speed of 
the liquid applying member is equal to the speed of transporting the image 
carrier, it is possible to stably apply a necessary amount of the 
unstabilizing liquid to the image carrier by use of the liquid applying 
member. 
Furthermore, since the respective recess portions on the above-mentioned 
liquid applying member are formed independently from each other, there 
arises no fear that the unstabilizing liquid held once does not flow down 
along the groove before applying the liquid as in the case of forming a 
continuous groove such as a spiral groove, a mesh-state groove, etc. 
Consequently, contrary to the case of employing a liquid applying member 
having a sponge-like surface portion, a liquid applying member having a 
pear-skin processed surface, or a liquid applying member having a 
continuous groove formed on the surface thereof such as a spiral groove, a 
mesh-state groove, or the like, the invention can expect a functional 
effect of stably applying the necessary amount of unstabilizing liquid for 
producing the image to the image carrier without making the 
circumferential speed greater than the speed of transporting the image 
carrier. 
According to the second invention, a tool or instrument having a projecting 
portion formed thereon so as to engage with a recess portion of a target 
shape to be formed on the circular circumferential surface of a 
roller-state member and made of a substance harder than that of the 
surface portion of the liquid applying member is pressurizedly pressed to 
the roller-state raw material of the liquid applying member, and the raw 
material or the tool is rotated. In such a situation, the projecting 
portion of the tool eats (cuts) into the surface of the raw material, and 
thereby the aforementioned recess portion is formed thereon. 
Consequently, compared with the conventional method of forming the recess 
portion by use of etching, the procedure of mechanical processing becomes 
simple and the cost of processing is reduced. Furthermore, the management 
of the recess portion's shape is simple, and the work of processing does 
not require any special skill or know-how of the worker. 
According to the third invention, when the above-mentioned tool or 
instrument is pressurizedly pressed to the roller-state raw material of 
the liquid applying member and the raw material or the tool is rotated, 
the projecting portion of the tool eats into the surface of the raw 
material in a state of pressurizedly pressing the circular circumferential 
surface remaining on the surface of the tool to the outer circumferential 
surface of the raw material, and thereby the recess portion is formed on 
the outer circumferential surface of the raw material. 
Consequently, any changed portion is not formed on the outer 
circumferential surface of the raw material and the outer circumferential 
surface of uniform diameter can be obtained, and thereby the recess 
portion of suitable aimed shape can be formed on the roller-state raw 
material of the liquid applying member. 
Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the present invention 
are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be 
understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may 
be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.