An apparatus and methods of decorating a metallic container are provided. More specifically, the present invention relates to apparatus and methods used to provide a decoration or indicia on a predetermined portion of an outer surface of a metallic container body. The decorator includes at least one digital print unit, a transfer blanket, and a support element. The digital print unit transfers a decorating material to the transfer blanket to form a decoration on the transfer blanket. The support element then moves a metallic container into contact with the transfer blanket. In this manner, the decorating material is transferred to an exterior surface portion of the metallic container to decorate the metallic container. In one embodiment, the digital print unit is an electrophotographic system which transfers a toner material to the transfer blanket. In another embodiment, the digital print unit includes an inkjet print head which transfers an ink to the transfer blanket. Optionally, the decorator may include two or more support elements.

A fixing device includes: a non-contact heating unit configured to heat a recording medium in a non-contact manner; and a contact heating unit configured to press and heat the recording medium on a downstream side of the non-contact heating unit in a conveyance direction of the recording medium, in which the non-contact heating unit controls an amount of heat applied to the recording medium according to information on whether the recording medium is black or not, and a thickness of the recording medium, and the contact heating unit controls the pressure applied to the recording medium according to the thickness regardless of whether the recording medium is black or not.

Apparatus and methods are provided for measuring the dryness of primer on a substrate in an inline priming system. In implementations, the apparatus comprises a plurality of measurement electrodes spaced laterally to extend across and contact a primed surface of a substrate following application of a primer to the substrate as it is fed through the inline priming system. A resistance measurement unit is provided as part of the dryness measuring apparatus to, in use, measure the surface resistance of the primed substrate between different measurement electrodes across the primed surface of a substrate. A controller is provided in the dryness measurement apparatus, the controller arranged to, in use: receive the measured surface resistance value and to generate, based on the measured surface resistance values, a dryness profile indicative of the dryness of the primer at locations across the substrate in the direction of the spacing of the electrodes.

When sheets having the same surface property and grammage are registered on a size basis, adjustment value registration operations need to be repeated for the respective sheets as many as these sizes. An image forming apparatus that includes a display unit and forms an image on a sheet sets a setting value of adjustment influenced by the characteristics of the image forming apparatus upon forming an image by using a sheet, and then displays a sheet list which displays a list of a plurality of types of sheets on a display unit and reflects the set setting value on at least one sheet selected from the sheet list.

An information processing apparatus includes at least one processor configured to: acquire physical-property-value information of a recording medium; using information regarding a printing machine, perform an evaluation as to whether there is a possibility that the recording medium causes trouble for printing by the printing machine, the evaluation being performed with respect to at least one printing performance indicator based on the physical-property-value information; and output a result of the evaluation to a display device.

An image formation apparatus according to an embodiment may include: a first image formation section configured to form a first image of a developer containing a lustrous pigment; a second image formation section configured to form a second image of a dyeing developer; and a transfer section configured to transfer the first image and the second image on a medium such that the first image and the second image are stacked to each other on the medium.

An image forming method is provided. The image forming method includes: forming an electrostatic latent image on an electrostatic latent image bearer; developing the electrostatic latent image on the electrostatic latent image bearer with a toner to form a toner image; transferring the toner image from the electrostatic latent image bearer onto a continuous resin film; fixing the toner image on the continuous resin film with a heat roller or a heat belt. The toner contains a maleic-acid-modified polyolefin having a polypropylene block in a main chain.

An image forming apparatus includes a controller configured to identify a selected sheet size setting as defined by a dimension in the width direction and a dimension in the conveyance direction, set a cooling threshold at a first threshold if the selected sheet size setting is a first size having a dimension in the width direction larger than a predetermined dimension, and a dimension in the conveyance direction larger than the dimension in the width direction, and set the cooling threshold at a second threshold lower than the first threshold if the selected sheet size setting is a second size having a dimension in the width direction that is the same as the dimension in the width direction of the first size, and a dimension in the conveyance direction smaller than the dimension in the width direction.

Foil images are formed simultaneously with color toner images on a receiver material. One or more color toner latent images are formed on the receiver material using dry color toners. Each dry color toner has a (a) polymeric resin, a (b) pigment colorant, and a (c) wax that has a melting temperature defined as T.sub.color. A foiling latent image is formed using a dry foiling toner that has a (a′) polymeric resin and a (c′) wax that has a melting temperature defined as T.sub.foiling. The foiling latent image is in an area that is different from the color image areas and T.sub.foiling is less than T.sub.color by at least 15° C. All toners are simultaneously fixed in a fuser oil-free fixing operation. A printing foil can be brought into intimate contact with the fused foiling toner at a foiling temperature (FT) that is greater than T.sub.foiling but less than T.sub.color.

A belt transfer type multi-function device includes a control device performing controlling such that an image to be printed on paper already caught between a transfer roller and the belt roller is printed, and if printing should not be performed on a next paper, movement of the next paper is stopped on a transfer path before the next paper is positioned between the transfer roller and the belt roller, the image already transferred on the transfer belt is deleted in a state in which the next paper is stopped on the transfer path, and the next paper in a stopped state is ejected as a blank paper through a ejection port along the transfer path, so that the image already transferred to the transfer belt, which is to be printed on the next paper along the movement direction of paper, is not printed on the next paper.