Electrophotographic printer transfer station with ski

1. A transfer station for an EP printer adapted to transfer a toner image to a receiver sheet being carried on a rotatable transport web, the transfer station comprising:

a) the rotatable transport web;

b) a rotatable image-bearing member around which the transport web is at least partially wrapped, so that a transfer region is defined in which toner is transferred from the image-bearing member to the receiver sheet;

c) a nip-forming ski adjacent to the transport web on the opposite side thereof from the image-bearing member and extending upstream of the transfer region; and

d) a ski mount arranged to cause the ski to press the transport web towards the image-bearing member;

e) so that as the receiver sheet moves with the transport web, the receiver sheet engages the image-bearing member upstream of the transfer region, causing the transport web to push against the ski to provide a selected nip spacing between the image-bearing member and the transport web in the transfer region.

2. The transfer station according to claim 1 , wherein the ski includes a conductive area in the transfer region and a non-conductive area outside the transfer region.

3. The transfer station according to claim 1 , wherein the ski includes a protrusion in the transfer region adapted to locally increase the force between the transport web and the image-bearing member.

4. The transfer station according to claim 1 , wherein the image-bearing member has a compliant surface of at most 80 Shore A durometer.

5. A transfer station for an EP printer adapted to transfer a toner image to a receiver sheet being carried on a rotatable transport web, the transfer station comprising:

a) the rotatable transport web;

b) a rotatable image-bearing member around which the transport web is at least partially wrapped, so that a transfer region is defined in which toner is transferred from the image-bearing member to the receiver sheet;

c) a rotatable nip-forming member adjacent to the transport web on the opposite side thereof from the image-bearing member;

d) a ski adjacent to the transport web on the opposite side thereof from the image-bearing member and extending upstream of the transfer region; and

e) a mount arranged to cause the nip-forming member to press the transport web towards the image-bearing member, wherein the ski is connected to the nip-forming member or the mount so that the nip-forming member moves with the ski;

f) so that as the receiver sheet moves with the transport web, the receiver sheet engages the image-bearing member upstream of the transfer region, causing the transport web to push against the ski to move the nip-forming member to provide a selected nip spacing between the image-bearing member and the transport web in the transfer region.

6. The transfer station according to claim 5 , wherein the image-bearing member has a compliant surface of at most 80 Shore A durometer.

7. A transfer station for an EP printer adapted to transfer a toner image to a receiver sheet being carried on a rotatable transport web, the transfer station comprising:

a) the rotatable transport web;

b) a rotatable image-bearing member spaced apart from the transport web, so that a transfer region is defined in which toner is transferred from the image-bearing member to the receiver sheet

c) a nip-forming ski adjacent to the transport web on the opposite side thereof from the image-bearing member and extending upstream of the transfer region; and

d) a ski mount arranged to cause the ski to apply a force not less than zero newtons on the transport web towards the image-bearing member;

e) so that as the receiver sheet moves with the transport web, the receiver sheet engages the image-bearing member upstream of the transfer region, causing the transport web to push against the ski to provide a selected nip spacing between the image-bearing member and the transport web in the transfer region.

8. The transfer station according to claim 7 , further including respective drives for the image-bearing member and transport web.

9. The transfer station according to claim 7 , further including a stop adapted to retain the ski no closer to the image-bearing member than a selected distance.

10. A transfer station for an EP printer adapted to transfer a toner image to a receiver sheet being carried on a rotatable transport web, the transfer station comprising:

a) the rotatable transport web;

b) a rotatable image-bearing member spaced apart from the transport web, so that a transfer region is defined in which toner is transferred from the image-bearing member to the receiver sheet;

c) a rotatable nip-forming member adjacent to the transport web on the opposite side thereof from the image-bearing member;

d) a ski adjacent to the transport web on the opposite side thereof from the image-bearing member and extending upstream of the transfer region; and

e) a mount arranged to cause the nip-forming member to exert a force not less than zero newtons on the transport web towards the image-bearing member, wherein the ski is connected to the nip-forming member or the mount so that the nip-forming member moves with the ski;

f) so that as the receiver sheet moves with the transport web, the receiver sheet engages the image-bearing member upstream of the transfer region, causing the transport web to push against the ski to move the nip-forming member to provide a selected nip spacing between the image-bearing member and the transport web in the transfer region.

11. The transfer station according to claim 10 , further including respective drives for the image-bearing member and transport web.

12. The transfer station according to claim 10 , further including a stop adapted to retain the ski no closer to the image-bearing member than a selected distance.