JP2743082B2 - Cleaning equipment for electrophotographic equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a printer, a copier, a facsimile, etc.
The present invention can be applied to an electrophotographic apparatus that records an image by an electrophotographic method by repeating charging, writing, developing, transferring, and fixing. Specifically, the present invention relates to a cleaning device for removing residual toner remaining on an image carrier (photoconductor) after transfer in such an electrophotographic apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art In an electrophotographic apparatus, charging, writing,
A cleaning device is provided together with the developing, transferring, and fixing devices. Since the cleaning device is worn out like other image forming devices, it is necessary to periodically replace the cleaning device with a new one. However, in order to reduce the running cost, it is preferable that the replacement be performed separately from another image forming apparatus having a different life, and it is preferable that the replacement be easily performed by the user.

Therefore, the conventional cleaning device has a unit configuration as shown in FIG. 5, for example. Then, a cleaning blade 1 is provided on one side, and grips 2 and 3 are provided on upper surfaces at both ends in the longitudinal direction. Further, the blade pressure releasing member 4 is attached, and the cleaning blade 1 is held at a retreat position where the image carrier is not damaged. Then, handle 2.
3, the cleaning device 5 as shown in FIG.
Was held by hand, the upper body 7 of the apparatus body 6 was opened, and the image carrier 9 was attached to a predetermined position of the lower body 8 without damaging the image carrier 9.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, such a conventional cleaning device includes:
There were the following disadvantages.

The handles 2 and 3 must be provided, and after the attachment to the apparatus main body 6, the handles 2.
3 must be able to be folded. In addition, a blade pressure release member 4 is required separately from the handles 2 and 3, and after completion of attachment to the apparatus main body 6,
The pressure release member 4 must be detachable so as not to be in the way. Therefore, the configuration becomes complicated.

At the time of attachment, after the attachment is completed as described above, handle 2
3 must be folded and the blade pressure release member 4 must be removed. On the other hand, at the time of removal, the grips 2 and 3 must be raised, and the blade pressure release member 4 must be attached again to retract the cleaning blade 1 to a position where the image carrier 9 is not damaged. Therefore, the attachment / detachment operation is troublesome.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to eliminate such drawbacks in the conventional cleaning device, simplify the configuration, improve the operability of attachment and detachment, and reduce the cost.

Means for Solving the Problems Therefore, the present invention has a unit configuration as shown in, for example, the following illustrated embodiment, and holds a cleaning blade 53 and rotatably includes a blade holder 52. In the mounted state, the cleaning blade 53 is set with the blade holder 52 as a pressure contact position.
Is pressed against the image carrier 12, and when detaching from the apparatus main body 10, the blade holder 52 is in a retracted position and the pressing of the cleaning blade 53 against the image carrier 12 is released. In the cleaning device 17, a holder cover 55 is attached to the blade holder 52 so as to cover the blade holder 52, and the blade holder 52 is rotated together with the holder cover 55 at a predetermined position of the holder cover 55 where a finger is located when the whole is grasped at the time of attachment / detachment. Finger hook c that moves to move the Knning blade 53 to the retracted position
Is provided.

Operation When the user puts his finger on the finger hook portion c and grasps the entire body, the blade holder 52 is automatically rotated together with the holder cover 55 to move the cleaning blade 53 to the retracted position, and can be directly attached to and detached from the apparatus main body 10. And

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 4 shows an overall schematic configuration of a laser printer which is an example of an electrophotographic apparatus. In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes an apparatus main body, which is mounted on an optional dedicated table 11. A drum-shaped image carrier (photoconductor) 12 that rotates clockwise in the figure is provided in the center of the apparatus main body 10. Around the image carrier 12, a charging device is sequentially arranged in the rotation direction.
A cleaning device 17, which is an embodiment of the present invention, is arranged together with a light writing device 14, a developing device 15, and a transfer device 16.

On the other hand, on the right side of the
18 and 18 are removably loaded vertically. Then, the paper feed rollers 19
19, a registration sensor 20, a sheet feeding device 22 having a pair of registration rollers 21 and 21 and the like. On the other hand, the aforementioned transfer device 16
On the side opposite to the sheet feeding device 22 with the interposed therebetween, a conveying device 23, a fixing device 24, a switching device 25, and the like are arranged in order.

From the switching device 25, a face-down discharge path 26, a face-up discharge path 27, and a double-sided recording discharge path 28 are separated and extend. The face-down paper discharge path 26 also communicates with a paper discharge stack unit 30 on the apparatus main body 10 via a discharge device 29 provided on the apparatus main body 10. The face-up paper exit 27 is
It leads to a face-up tray 31 that can be opened and closed on the side surface of 10. The two-sided recording paper discharge path 28 leads to the dedicated table 11.

By the way, the dedicated table 11 is provided with a paper reversing device 33 in communication with the above-described double-sided recording paper discharge path 28, and a refeeding device is connected from the paper reversing device 33 to the above-described paper feeding device 22 of the apparatus main body 10. A paper device 34 is provided. A large-volume paper cassette 35 is removably loaded on the right side of the dedicated table 11 in the drawing. In addition, a large-volume paper feeder 37 having a paper-supply roller 36 and the like is provided at the mounting portion of the large-volume paper cassette 35.

When the laser printer is operated, the paper feed roller 19 or the paper feed roller 36 is appropriately selected and driven, and the paper 38 is sequentially fed out of the cassettes 18 and 35. Then, the registration sensor 20 detects the leading end of the sheet 38, abuts against the registration roller 21, and stops, thereby preventing the occurrence of skew.

On the other hand, the surface of the image carrier 12 is sequentially charged by the charging device 13 while rotating clockwise in the drawing, and the next optical writing device 14 is charged.
Irradiates a laser beam to form an electrostatic latent image on its surface,
Subsequently, when passing through the developing device 15, the electrostatic latent image is sequentially visualized. Then, the registration rollers 21 and 21 are driven by combining the image and the registration, and the registration rollers 21 and 21 are driven.
The above-described sheet 38 that has been abutted against 21 is sent out toward the image carrier 12. Then, the image on the image carrier 12 is transferred to the sheet 38 in the transfer device 16. After transfer, image carrier 12
Is cleaned by the cleaning device 17.

On the other hand, the paper 38 is sent to the fixing device 24 by the transport device 23, and the image transferred thereto is fixed by the fixing device 24.
When a large number of sheets 38 are to be discharged, or when stacking is to be performed in the order of pages, the sheet 38 is sent to the sheet discharge stacking section 30 through the discharge device 29 through the face-down sheet discharge path 26. When the paper 38 is a thick paper such as a postcard,
The discharge direction is switched by the switching device 25, and the paper is sent out through the face-up discharge path 27, and the opened face-up tray 31 is opened.
Stack it face up as it is. Further, when recording is also desired to be performed on the back surface, the discharge direction is switched by the switching device 25, the paper is discharged through the double-sided recording paper discharge path 28, and guided to the paper reversing device 33 of the dedicated table 11. Then, it is reversed and passed through the re-feeding device 34 again to return to the main body.
The sheet is conveyed to the ten sheet feeding devices 22, and again hits the registration rollers 21 and stops. Then, the image is similarly recorded on the back surface and is discharged onto the discharge stack unit 30 or the waste-up tray 31.

In the illustrated laser printer, the developing device 15, the transfer device 16, the cleaning device 17, and the like are housed in the image forming case 40 together with the image carrier 12. As can be seen from FIG. 3, the image forming case 40 opens the front cover 41 of the apparatus main body 10 so that it can be pulled out to the front (front) side. This allows
The image carrier 12 and each device 15 /
Easy replacement and maintenance of 16 ・ 17 etc.

The cleaning device 17 according to the present invention has, for example, a unit configuration as shown in FIG. Symbols in the figure
Reference numeral 50 denotes a main body, which is horizontally long, has a step on one side of the upper surface, and has vertical recesses 50a, 50a formed at both ends in the longitudinal direction toward the step. In addition, guide pins 51 are respectively stood at lower portions on both sides in the longitudinal direction at regular intervals, and both project outward in the longitudinal direction. On the other hand, a toner collection chamber is formed inside. And, on the step, the blade holder
52 is mounted to be freely rotatable.

The blade holder 52 has a horizontal portion 52a and a vertical portion 52b, which are both horizontally long and plate-like. One side of a horizontally long cleaning blade 53 is attached to the horizontal portion 52a. As a result, the cleaning blade 53 is
Hold. On the other hand, the vertical portion 52b is provided with a clearance a which is cut out at the center and opens upward, and the screw holes bb on both sides are raised so as to sandwich the clearance a. And those screw holes b
Attach the holder cover 55 by screwing the mounting screws 54 into 54b.

The holder cover 55 is horizontally long like the blade holder 52, and includes a horizontal portion 55a and a vertical portion 55b. And the vertical part
55b is provided with a finger hanging portion c in the center. Also, the mounting screws 54 described above are provided on both sides of the finger hook c.
・ Punch through d through which 54 passes. Then, the back side of the finger hook portion c is inserted into the relief a of the blade holder 52 and attached, and the blade holder 52 is covered with the holder cover 55. Then, one ends of the compression springs 56 are pressed against the back surface of the vertical portion 52b. The other ends of the compression springs 56
a · 50a, and pressed against the main body 50. Therefore,
The blade holder 52 receives rotation behavior in the direction of the arrow in the figure.

Then, when the cleaning device 17 is attached to the apparatus main body 10, the cleaning blade 53 is pressed against the image carrier 12 by the urging force of the compression springs 56 with the blade holder 52 at the pressure contact position. After the transfer, the residual toner is scraped off by the cleaning blade 53, and the scraped-off toner is collected in the toner collecting chamber to clean the surface of the image carrier 12.

Now, when replacing the cleaning device 17 in the illustrated laser printer, first, as shown in FIG. 3, the image forming case 40 with the front cover 41 of the apparatus main body 10 opened is pulled out. Then, as shown in FIG.
Grab the whole. Then, the finger is naturally located at the finger hook c. Thus, the blade holder 52 is automatically rotated together with the holder cover 55 against the compression springs 56, 56,
The image carrier is moved by moving the blade holder 52 to the retracted position.
The pressing of the cleaning blade 53 against 12 is released. Then, the user puts his finger on the finger hook c and lifts the cleaning device 17 as it is in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Then, the cleaning device 17 can be taken out of the image forming case 40 without damaging the image carrier 12. Then, similarly, a new cleaning device is grasped and attached in the image forming case 40. When the hand is released after the attachment, the blade holder 52 is rotated integrally with the holder cover 55 by the urging force of the compression springs 56, and the blade holder 52 is again moved to the pressure contact position.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the image forming case 40 is pulled out to replace the cleaning device 17 with the laser printer is described. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to an electrophotographic apparatus in which the upper body is opened relative to the lower body to replace the cleaning device, as in the prior art shown in FIG. Further, the finger hook portion c provided on the holder cover 55 is not limited to the concave portion as in the embodiment, and may be a hole, and may be formed so as to protrude if it does not interfere.

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

There is no need to provide a handle as in the related art, and thus it is not necessary to naturally adopt a configuration in which the handle is folded as in the conventional case. Further, unlike the related art, there is no need to provide a blade pressure releasing member, and similarly, it is not necessary to adopt a configuration in which the pressure releasing member can be removed. Therefore, the configuration can be simplified and the cost can be reduced.

At the time of attachment, the handle does not need to be folded and the blade pressure contact releasing member does not need to be removed after the attachment as in the conventional case. On the other hand, the handle does not need to be raised and the blade pressure release member need not be reattached as in the related art. Therefore, the operability of attaching and detaching to and from the apparatus main body is improved, and the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing attachment and detachment of the cleaning device to and from an apparatus main body, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the replacement of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 4 is an overall schematic configuration diagram of the laser printer. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a conventional cleaning device, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing attachment and detachment of the cleaning device to and from the apparatus main body. 10 Apparatus body 12 Image carrier 17 Cleaning device 52 Blade holder 53 Cleaning blade 55 Holder cover c Finger holder

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A cleaning unit configured to hold a cleaning blade and rotatably mount a blade holder on the image carrier; Contact, when attaching and detaching to and from the device body,
In the cleaning device of the electrophotographic apparatus, in which the blade holder is set to the retracted position and the pressing of the cleaning blade against the image carrier is released, the holder cover is attached over the blade holder, and when the whole body is grasped at the time of attachment / detachment, a finger is pressed. A cleaning device for an electrophotographic apparatus, comprising: a finger holder for rotating the blade holder together with the holder cover to move the cleaning blade to the retracted position at a predetermined position of the holder cover.