Patent ID: 8406672

Claim:
Apparatus for bending a receiver having an image side and a non-image side in a bend area, the bend area including a bend axis, comprising: a) an electrophotographic print engine for depositing toner on the image side of the receiver in the bend area; b) a device for compressing the deposited toner to form a toner film, the compressing device including: i) a heated anvil disposed adjacent to the non-image side of the receiver, so that the temperature of the toner in the bend area rises above its glass transition temperature; and ii) a quencher disposed adjacent to the image side of the receiver opposite the anvil and operative to selectively press the bend area of the receiver and the toner therein against the anvil after the temperature of the toner in the bend area rises above its glass transition temperature, the quencher being cooled, so that the toner in the bend area is stretched and cooled below its Tg by the quencher to form the toner film disposed over the surface of the receiver in the bend area; and c) a heater for reheating the bend area of the receiver so that temperature of the toner in the bend area rises above its glass transition temperature, so that the toner contracts and the receiver bends at the bend axis.