JP2010230930A - Cleaning device and image forming apparatus using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent vibration noise caused by vibration of a cleaning blade under low-temperature and low-humidity environment. <P>SOLUTION: A cleaning device includes: a cleaning blade member that has a tip in contact with a surface of an image carrier to remove a residue remaining on the surface of the image carrier; an attaching member that includes a first attachment piece to which a base end of the cleaning blade member is attached, and a second attachment piece which is provided so as to cross the first attachment piece at a preset angle; a housing member to which one of the first attachment piece or the second attachment piece of the attaching member is fixed at both ends along a longitudinal direction thereof; and an external force applying member that applies an external force in a direction which crosses a surface of the other one of the first attachment piece and second attachment piece of the attaching member, which is not fixed to the housing member, on the central part along the longitudinal direction of the other one of the first attachment piece or the second attachment piece, which is not fixed to the housing member. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a cleaning device and an image forming apparatus using the same.

  Conventionally, techniques related to the above-described cleaning device are disclosed in, for example, JP-A-11-174922, JP-A-2003-43895, JP-A-2004-125931, and JP-A-2008-139750. Things have already been proposed.

  The image forming apparatus according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-174922 is an image forming apparatus provided with a cleaning device having a cleaning blade, and is configured to include a device for applying vibration to the cleaning blade.

  In addition, a cleaning device according to the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-43895 includes a cleaning blade disposed so that a leading edge comes into contact with the surface of a cylindrical latent image carrier that is rotationally driven, and a proximal end side of the cleaning blade And a cleaning blade mechanism that is positioned on the outer surface of the portion and that urges the cleaning blade to abut against the surface of the latent image carrier. A plate-like vibration buffer member that holds the side portion and extends in the same direction as the cleaning blade is provided, and the vibration buffer member has a plurality of tongue piece portions arranged in the axial direction of the latent image carrier at the tip thereof. A slit-shaped notch is formed so that the tip edge of the tongue piece is on the outer surface of the cleaning blade. It is obtained by configured to be location.

Further, the elastic blade according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-125931 is used as a cleaning unit that abuts on the surface of a rotatable image carrier and removes the developer remaining on the surface of the image carrier, and at least the image An elastic blade provided with a lubricant mixed with a plurality of types of fine powders on an edge portion in contact with the surface of the carrier,
The elastic blade is configured to be used in an image forming apparatus in which an oscillating voltage obtained by superimposing an AC voltage on a DC voltage is applied to contact charging means that rotates while contacting the surface of the image carrier.

  Further, the cleaning device according to the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-139750 includes a blade member that cleans unnecessary toner adhering to an image carrier of an image forming apparatus that forms an image made of toner, and a holder that holds the blade member. In a cleaning device including a cleaning blade configured, vibration detecting means for detecting vibration caused by sliding between the image carrier and the blade member, and vibration having a phase opposite to the vibration detected by the vibration detecting means. And a vibration control means for controlling the vibration vibration means. The vibration detection means and the vibration vibration means are fixed at the antinode position of the vibration mode unique to the cleaning blade. Is.

JP-A-11-174922 JP 2003-43895 A JP 2004-125931 A JP 2008-139750 A

By the way, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a cleaning device capable of suppressing generation of vibration noise due to vibration of the cleaning blade in a low temperature and low humidity environment, and an image forming apparatus using the same. There is to do.

That is, the invention described in claim 1 is a cleaning blade member that removes residues remaining on the surface of the image carrier, with the tip portion being in contact with the surface of the image carrier,
A mounting member having a first mounting piece to which a base end portion of the cleaning blade member is mounted and a second mounting piece provided so as to intersect the first mounting piece at a predetermined angle. When,
A housing member to which both end portions along the longitudinal direction of the first mounting piece or the second mounting piece of the mounting member are fixed;
Of the first mounting piece or the second mounting piece of the mounting member, in the direction intersecting the surface of the mounting piece at the center portion along the longitudinal direction of the mounting piece not fixed to the housing member A cleaning device comprising an external force application unit that applies an external force.

  Further, the invention described in claim 2 is, of the first mounting piece or the second mounting piece of the mounting member, a central portion along the longitudinal direction of the mounting piece that is not fixed to the housing member; By attaching an elastic member in a compressed state between the central portion of the mounting piece and the opposing member, the mounting portion is attached to the central portion along the longitudinal direction of the mounting piece that is not fixed to the housing member. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an external force in a direction intersecting the surface of the piece is applied.

Furthermore, the invention described in claim 3 includes an image carrier on which a toner image corresponding to image information is formed on the surface;
Transfer means for transferring the toner image formed on the image bearing member to a recording medium directly or via an intermediate transfer member;
A blade member for cleaning that removes the residue remaining on the surface of the image carrier, with the tip portion contacting the surface of the image carrier;
A mounting member having a first mounting piece to which a base end portion of the cleaning blade member is mounted and a second mounting piece provided so as to intersect the first mounting piece at a predetermined angle. When,
A housing member to which both end portions along the longitudinal direction of the first mounting piece or the second mounting piece of the mounting member are fixed;
Of the first mounting piece or the second mounting piece of the mounting member, in the direction intersecting the surface of the mounting piece at the center portion along the longitudinal direction of the mounting piece not fixed to the housing member An image forming apparatus including an external force application unit that applies an external force.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the third aspect, the image carrier is provided with a protective layer having a high hardness on the surface thereof.

  According to the first to third aspects of the present invention, it is possible to suppress the generation of vibration noise of the cleaning blade in a low temperature and low humidity environment as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the life of the image carrier can be extended as compared with the case where this configuration is not provided.

It is a block diagram which shows the principal part of the cleaning apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating a tandem type digital color printer as an image forming apparatus to which a cleaning device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is applied. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the cleaning apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the attachment state of a cleaning blade. It is a block diagram which shows the installation state of a cleaning blade. It is a perspective block diagram which shows an attachment member. It is a block diagram which shows the force applied to a mounting member from a buffer material. It is a graph which shows an experimental result. It is explanatory drawing which shows the numerical analysis method of the vibration state of an attachment member. It is a graph which shows the numerical analysis result of the vibration state of an attachment member. It is a graph which shows the numerical analysis result of the vibration state of an attachment member. It is a graph which shows an experimental result. It is explanatory drawing which shows the numerical analysis method of the vibration state of an attachment member. It is a graph which shows the numerical analysis result of the vibration state of an attachment member. It is a graph which shows the numerical analysis result of the vibration state of an attachment member. It is a block diagram which shows the principal part of the cleaning apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1
FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a tandem type digital color printer as an image forming apparatus to which the cleaning apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is applied. The tandem type digital color printer includes an image reading device, and functions as a full-color copying machine or a facsimile. Of course, the image forming apparatus may not include an image reading apparatus and may form an image based on image data output from a personal computer (not shown).

  In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body of a tandem type digital color printer. The digital color printer main body 1 reads an image of an original 2 on the upper side of one side (left side in the illustrated example). A device 3 is provided. Further, inside the color printer main body 1, image data output from the image reading device 3, a personal computer (not shown) or the like, or image data sent via a telephone line or a LAN is previously stored. An image processing device 4 that performs predetermined image processing is disposed, and an image based on image data that has been subjected to predetermined image processing by the image processing device 4 is provided inside the digital color printer main body 1. Is output.

  The image reading device 3 opens and closes the platen cover 6 to place the document 2 on the platen glass 7 and illuminates the document 2 placed on the platen glass 7 with the light source 8. The reflected light image is scanned and exposed on an image reading element 13 made of a CCD or the like through a reduction scanning optical system made up of a full rate mirror 9, half rate mirrors 10, 11 and an imaging lens 12, and this image reading element 13 is configured to read the image of the document 2 at a predetermined dot density.

  The image of the document 2 read by the image reading device 3 is, for example, the image processing device 4 as document reflectance data of three colors of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) (for example, 8 bits each). In this image processing apparatus 4, shading correction, position shift correction, lightness / color space conversion, gamma correction, frame deletion, color / moving editing, etc. are predetermined for the reflectance data of the document 2. Image processing is performed.

  The image data that has been subjected to the predetermined image processing by the image processing device 4 as described above is similarly processed by the image processing device 4 in yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K). After being converted into image data of four colors, image forming units 14Y, 14M, 14C, and 14K for image forming units 14Y, 14M, 14C, and 14K for yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) are provided. The image exposure apparatuses 15Y, 15M, 15C, and 15K perform image exposure with laser light according to the corresponding color image data.

  Incidentally, inside the tandem type digital color printer main body 1, as described above, four image forming units 14Y, 14M of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) are provided. 14C and 14K are arranged in parallel at a certain interval in the horizontal direction.

  As shown in FIG. 2, these four image forming units 14Y, 14M, 14C, and 14K are configured in the same manner except for the color of the image to be formed, and are roughly divided at a predetermined speed along the direction of arrow A. A photosensitive drum 16 as an image carrier to be rotated, a primary charging scorotron 17 for uniformly charging the surface of the photosensitive drum 16, and image data corresponding to each color on the surface of the photosensitive drum 16. An image exposure device 15 as image writing means for performing image exposure to form an electrostatic latent image based on the above, a developing device 18 for developing the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 16 with toner, A cleaning device 19 for cleaning toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 16 and a pre-cleaning corotron 20 are provided.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the image exposure device 15 modulates the semiconductor laser LD in accordance with the corresponding color image data output from the image processing device 4, and converts the laser beam LB from the semiconductor laser LD into image data. In response, it emits. The laser beam LB emitted from the semiconductor laser LD is irradiated onto the surface of the rotary polygon mirror 23 via the mirrors 21, 22 and the like, and after being deflected and scanned by the rotary polygon mirror 23, an f-θ lens (not shown) Scanning exposure is performed on the photosensitive drum 16 through the reflection mirrors 22, 24, 25, and the like along the rotation axis direction (main scanning direction).

  As shown in FIG. 2, the image processing device 4 exposes the image forming units 14Y, 14M, 14C, and 14K for the respective colors of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K). Corresponding color image data is sequentially output to the devices 15Y, 15M, 15C, and 15K, and laser light LB emitted according to the image data from these image exposure devices 15Y, 15M, 15C, and 15K corresponds. The surfaces of the photosensitive drums 16Y, 16M, 16C, and 16K are scanned and exposed to form electrostatic latent images. The electrostatic latent images formed on the surfaces of the photosensitive drums 16Y, 16M, 16C, and 16K are respectively yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C) by the developing devices 18Y, 18M, 18C, and 18K. , And developed as a toner image of each color of black (K).

  Each color of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) sequentially formed on the photosensitive drums 16Y, 16M, 16C, and 16K of the image forming units 14Y, 14M, 14C, and 14K. As shown in FIG. 2, the toner image is transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 26 as an endless belt-like intermediate transfer member disposed below each of the image forming units 14Y, 14M, 14C, and 14K at the primary transfer position N1. Multiple transfer is performed by the primary transfer rolls 27Y, 27M, 27C, and 27K. The intermediate transfer belt 26 is wound around the drive roll 28, the tension applying roll 29, the meandering control roll 30, the driven roll 31, the back support roll 32, and the driven roll 33 with a constant tension. It is circulated and driven at a predetermined moving speed along the direction of arrow B by a drive roll 28 that is rotationally driven by a dedicated drive motor with excellent constant speed (not shown). As the intermediate transfer belt 26, for example, a belt formed of a flexible synthetic resin film such as polyimide or polyamideimide having flexibility is used.

  The yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) toner images transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 26 in a multiplexed manner are reversed in polarity (positive polarity) by the back support roll 32. ) Is applied to the recording paper 35 as a recording medium by the contact force and electrostatic force at the secondary transfer position N2 by the grounded secondary transfer roll 34 that is in pressure contact with the back support roll 32. The recording sheet 35 to which the toner image corresponding to the color of the image to be formed is transferred is conveyed to the fixing device 38 by the two conveyance belts 36 and 37. The recording paper 35 onto which the toner images of the respective colors have been transferred undergoes a fixing process with heat and pressure by a fixing device 38 and is discharged onto a discharge tray 39 provided outside the printer main body 1.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the recording paper 35 is of a desired size and material from a paper feed tray 40 disposed at the bottom of the printer main body 1, and includes a paper feed roll 41 and a pair of paper separation rolls (not shown). Are fed one by one by one and are temporarily transported to a registration roll 46 through a paper transport path 45 in which a plurality of transport rolls 42, 43, 44 are arranged. The recording paper 35 supplied from the paper feed tray 40 is sent to the secondary transfer position N2 of the intermediate transfer belt 26 by a registration roll 46 that is rotationally driven at a predetermined timing. Although only one sheet feeding tray 40 is illustrated, a plurality of sheet feeding trays having recording papers 35 having different sizes or the same size may be provided. A large number of recording sheets 35 can be continuously fed.

  Prior to that, in the four image forming units 14Y, 14M, 14C, and 14K of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, as described above, the yellow, magenta, cyan, and black toner images are respectively stored in advance. It is formed sequentially at a predetermined timing.

  By the way, the photosensitive drums 16Y, 16M, 16C, and 16K are discharged by the pre-cleaning corotron after the toner image transfer process is completed, and then the residual toner and the like are removed by the cleaning devices 19Y, 19M, 19C, and 19K. To prepare for the next image forming process. Further, residual toner, paper dust, and the like are removed from the intermediate transfer belt 26 by a belt cleaner 47 disposed so as to face the driven roll 33.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a cleaning device used in the digital color printer configured as described above.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the cleaning device 19 includes a cleaning blade 50 that contacts the surface of the photosensitive drum 16, an application brush 51 that applies a lubricant to the surface of the photosensitive drum 16, and the surface of the application brush 51. The lubricant 52 made of a solid material such as zinc stearate (ZnSt) in contact with the surface of the coating drum 51 and the unnecessary lubricant 52 in contact with the surface of the application brush 51 are scraped off, whereby the lubricant 52 on the surface of the photosensitive drum 16 is removed. And a discharge auger 54 for discharging the toner removed by the cleaning blade 50 to the outside by being rotationally driven at a predetermined timing.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the cleaning device 19 is sealed by a seal member 56 between the photosensitive drum 16 and the upstream side of the cleaning device housing 55 in the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 16.

  As the cleaning blade 50, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, a two-layer cleaning blade in which a cleaning layer 57 made of urethane rubber or the like having different physical properties and a back support layer 58 are stacked is used. The cleaning blade 50 is fixed to a mounting member 60 made of a sheet metal whose base end portion 50a is bent in an L-shaped cross section by means such as adhesion.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the cleaning blade 50 has a base end portion 50 a located downstream of the surface of the photosensitive drum 16 as a member to be cleaned along the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 16. In addition, the tip 50b is a so-called “doctor blade” that is located upstream in the rotational direction of the photosensitive drum 16 and contacts the surface of the photosensitive drum 16 from the opposite direction to the rotational direction. .

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, in the cleaning blade 50, the length before deformation of the distal end portion excluding the base end portion 50a fixed to the mounting member 60 is called a free length (FL), and the cleaning blade 50 The angle formed between the base end portion 50a of the blade 50 and the tangent L at the contact point on the surface of the photosensitive drum 16 with which the front end portion 50b of the cleaning blade 50 contacts is the blade installation angle (BSA) and the front end portion 50b of the cleaning blade 50. And the tangent line L are each called a wrap angle (WA). Further, when the photosensitive drum 16 is removed with the cleaning blade 50 fixed at the mounting position, the distance between the tip 50b of the cleaning blade 50 that extends linearly and the tangent L is called the nip distance (x). The nip force (NF) at which the cleaning blade 50 contacts the surface of the photosensitive drum 16 can be expressed as F = k · x. Here, k is a constant specific to the blade.

  These free length (FL), blade installation angle (BSA), wrap angle (WA), nip distance (x), and nip force (NF) are parameters that determine the characteristics of the cleaning blade 50.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the attachment member 60 is a first attachment piece 61 to which the cleaning blade 50 is fixed and a first attachment piece 61 that is bent so as to intersect the first attachment piece 61 at an angle of approximately 90 degrees. 2 mounting pieces 62. Here, the length of the second mounting piece 62 is L1 including the plate thickness of the mounting member 60, and the length of the first mounting piece 61 is L2 excluding the plate thickness of the mounting member 60. Yes. As shown in FIG. 1, the attachment member 60 is fastened by fixing screws 63 to the side surfaces of the cleaning device housing 63 having a rectangular cross section at both ends along the longitudinal direction of the first attachment piece 61. It is attached in the state.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a flicker cover 66 that covers the space above the flicker bar 53 is fixed to the cleaning device housing 55 by a fastening screw 67 on the upper portion of the mounting member 60. Yes. The flicker cover 66 is bent so that the portion 66a on the mounting member 60 side is relatively high and the portion 66b on the fastening portion side is relatively low.

  In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the second mounting piece 62 that is not fixed to the cleaning device housing 64 (housing member) of the mounting member 60 and the portion 66 a of the flicker cover 66 on the mounting member 60 side. A urethane sponge 68 as a cushioning material having a thickness of 3 mm or 5 mm is interposed between the lower end surface and the lower end surface in a compressed state so as to have a thickness of 0.25 mm. As shown in FIG. 7, the mounting piece 62 is configured such that an elastic repulsive force F <b> 1 as an external force acts downward on the upper surface of the second mounting piece 62.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the urethane sponge 68 is formed in an elongated rectangular shape having a width of 8 mm to 10 mm and a length of 50 mm, for example, and the upper surface of the second mounting piece 62 at the center in the longitudinal direction of the mounting member 60. It is interposed between the flicker cover 66 and the lower end surface of the portion 66a on the mounting member 60 side in a compressed state. When this urethane sponge 68 is compressed to a thickness of 0.25 mm, an elastic repulsive force of about 792 gf is generated.

  Further, in order to confirm how much pressing force generated by the urethane sponge 68 is necessary, the present inventors numerically analyze the vibration generated in the cleaning blade 50 three-dimensionally as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 9, when various positions of the mounting member 60 are fixed in the two-dimensional cross section of the mounting member 60, the end portion, the central portion, and the bending portion of the second mounting piece 62 of the mounting member 60 are bent. The magnitude of the horizontal and vertical amplitudes generated at each position of the part and the reaction force of the fixed point were obtained by numerical analysis.

  10 and 11 show the results of the numerical analysis, respectively.

  First, as is clear from the result of the numerical analysis, the amplitude of the vertical vibration intersecting the surface of the cleaning blade 50 is the horizontal vibration along the surface of the cleaning blade 50 as shown in FIG. It was found to be significantly smaller than the amplitude of.

  Therefore, in the case of the second mounting piece 62 of the mounting member 60, it is important to suppress vibration in a direction that intersects the surface of the second mounting piece 62 at an angle of approximately 90 degrees. . At that time, since the first mounting piece 61 of the mounting member 60 is fixed to the cleaning device housing 64 with the fastening screw 63, the vibration is already suppressed.

  Secondly, even with the same horizontal amplitude, as shown in FIG. It can be seen that 6 to 9 are desirable because the reaction force at the fixed point is small.

Experimental example 1
The inventors made a prototype of an offline bench model of a digital color printer as shown in FIG. 2 and removed the developing device and the charging device in an environment of 10 ° C. and a relative humidity of 15% RH. Is applied to the coating brush 51, and an AC voltage of 1.5 kVp-p and a current of about 750 μA are applied to the surface of the photosensitive drum 16 to supply zinc stearate (ZnSt). An experiment was conducted in which the sound pressure of the vibrating sound was measured in the vicinity of the cleaning blade 50.

  As the cleaning blade 50, a two-layer structure was used.

  FIG. 12 shows the results of the above experimental example.

  As is apparent from this graph, when the cushioning material 68 according to the present embodiment is used, a urethane sponge having a thickness of 5 mm is compressed to a thickness of 0.25 mm and an external force F1 of 792 gf is applied. It was found that the sound pressure of the vibration sound (frequency 700 to 900 Hz) generated in the cleaning blade 50 can be suppressed to 35 (dB) or less.

  In contrast, when the cushioning material according to the present embodiment is not used, or when a urethane sponge having a thickness of 3 mm is compressed to a thickness of 0.25 mm and an external force F1 of 334 gf is applied, the cleaning blade When the number of cycles of the photosensitive drum 16 exceeds 200 cycles, the sound pressure of the vibration sound generated at 50 exceeds the target 35 (dB), and the vibration sound generated at the cleaning blade 50 is audible. .

Experimental example 2
Further, the present inventors investigated the vibration state of the mounting member 60 when the cushioning material according to the present embodiment was not used under the same conditions as in Experimental Example 1, and as shown in FIG. Adhering an accelerometer for measuring the acceleration of the surface of the second mounting piece 62 of the 60, the three ends of the longitudinal direction of the surface of the second mounting piece 62 and the center portion

  An experiment for measuring acceleration in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the second mounting piece 62 was performed.

  14 and 15 show the results of the above experimental example.

  As is apparent from this graph, the acceleration in the direction perpendicular to the surface of the second mounting piece 62 at the three positions of both ends and the center along the surface of the second mounting piece 62 is the center in the longitudinal direction. By using the cushioning material 68 according to the present embodiment and suppressing the central portion in the longitudinal direction of the mounting member 60 by the external force F1, the sound pressure of the vibration sound generated in the cleaning blade 50 is set to the target. To 35 (dB) or less.

Embodiment 2
FIG. 16 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. The same reference numerals are given to the same parts as those in the first embodiment. In the second embodiment, the shape of the external force acting member is as follows. This is different from the first embodiment.

  That is, in the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 16, the urethane sponge 68 as the external force acting member extends along the longitudinal direction of the mounting member 60 on the upper end surface of the second mounting piece 62 of the mounting member 60. Only one is provided.

  Since other configurations and operations are the same as those of the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

  In addition, as understood from the above embodiment, the present invention uses a urethane sponge as a cushioning material, but this urethane sponge not only functions as a cushioning material that absorbs or attenuates vibration. The main function is to apply an external force to the attachment piece of the attachment member and mechanically suppress the occurrence of vibration in the attachment piece of the attachment member as a result.

16: Photosensitive drum, 19: Cleaning device, 50: Cleaning blade, 60: Mounting member, 61: First mounting piece, 62: Second mounting piece, 68: Urethane sponge (buffer material).

Claims (4)

A blade member for cleaning that removes the residue remaining on the surface of the image carrier, with the tip portion contacting the surface of the image carrier;
A mounting member having a first mounting piece to which a base end portion of the cleaning blade member is mounted and a second mounting piece provided so as to intersect the first mounting piece at a predetermined angle. When,
A housing member to which both end portions along the longitudinal direction of the first mounting piece or the second mounting piece of the mounting member are fixed;
Of the first mounting piece or the second mounting piece of the mounting member, in the direction intersecting the surface of the mounting piece at the center portion along the longitudinal direction of the mounting piece not fixed to the housing member A cleaning device, comprising: an external force application unit that applies an external force. Of the first attachment piece or the second attachment piece of the attachment member, a central portion along the longitudinal direction of the attachment piece that is not fixed to the housing member, and an opposing member that faces the central portion of the attachment piece By interposing the elastic member in a compressed state, an external force in a direction intersecting the surface of the mounting piece is applied to the central portion along the longitudinal direction of the mounting piece that is not fixed to the housing member. The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning device is operated. An image carrier on which a toner image corresponding to image information is formed on the surface;
Transfer means for transferring the toner image formed on the image bearing member to a recording medium directly or via an intermediate transfer member;
A blade member for cleaning that removes the residue remaining on the surface of the image carrier, with the tip portion contacting the surface of the image carrier;
A mounting member having a first mounting piece to which a base end portion of the cleaning blade member is mounted and a second mounting piece provided so as to intersect the first mounting piece at a predetermined angle. When,
A housing member to which both end portions along the longitudinal direction of the first mounting piece or the second mounting piece of the mounting member are fixed;
Of the first mounting piece or the second mounting piece of the mounting member, in the direction intersecting the surface of the mounting piece at the center portion along the longitudinal direction of the mounting piece not fixed to the housing member An image forming apparatus comprising: an external force application unit that applies an external force. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image carrier includes a protective layer having a high hardness on a surface thereof.