Invisible seam electrostatographic belt

摘要

An endless flexible seamed belt (10) with a mechanically and electrically invisible seam (11), substantially equivalent in performance to a seamless belt, is formed by joining two ends of substrate material, each end of which has a plurality of mutually mating elements in a puzzle cut pattern which are in interlocking relationship. After the two ends are joined, a bonding material (17) is applied to the seam of the belt. When the belt is to be an electrostatographic imaging member, the electrostatics of the belt become very important. The two ends of a flexible substrate with a conductive coating applied thereto are interlocked and a conductive bonding (17) is applied to the gap between the interlocking surfaces. The undercoating layer (43) can then be applied to the adhered seam in order to smooth the seamed surface for application of the charge generating layer and the charge transfer layer. The undercoating layer (43) may be relatively thicker than current undercoating layers to insure that the seam surface is smooth.