Patent ID: 7865117

Claim:
A developer station for a printer or copier, comprising: a rotating developer roller having a mixture of toner particles and ferromagnetic carrier particles accumulated on a surface of the developer roller as a layer; an additional rotating roller receiving toner particles from said developer roller at a transfer zone; an intermediate image carrier receiving toner particles from said additional rotating roller; a smoothing device with a smoothing element arranged before the transfer zone, the smoothing element being charged with an initial mechanical tension in a rest state of the developer roller and designed such that it exerts a force on and over an entire width of the layer formed by the mixture of toner particles and carrier particles present on the developer roller and smoothes the layer before the transfer of the toner particles onto the additional roller; within the developer roller at least one magnet having a magnetic field associated therewith; said smoothing element comprising a magnetic material attracted to said at least one magnet to create said initial mechanical tension; and said smoothing element being arranged adjacent to said transfer zone and extending toward its distal free end in a direction of rotation of the developer roller up to and with the free end positioned at a gap between the developer roller and the additional roller at the transfer zone, said distal free end being in contact with said mixture of toner particles and ferromagnetic carrier particles on said surface of said developer roller as said layer.