JP3403193B2 - How to attach blade members - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for attaching a blade support and an assembly method for a process cartridge.

Here, the image forming apparatus includes, for example, an electrophotographic copying machine, a laser beam printer, an LED printer, a facsimile machine and a word processor.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art An image forming apparatus such as a printer forms a latent image by selectively exposing a uniformly charged photosensitive drum to form a latent image, and the latent image is visualized with toner. Is transferred to a recording medium to record an image. In such an apparatus, the toner must be replenished every time the toner runs out, but this toner replenishment work is not only troublesome, but it may be contaminated. Moreover, it is necessary to perform maintenance of each member regularly.

Therefore, the photosensitive drum, the charging device, the developing device, the cleaning device, and the like are integrally formed into a cartridge so that a user can attach and detach the cartridge to and from the apparatus main body to supply toner and reach the end of its life. A so-called process cartridge system has been put into practical use, in which parts such as the photoconductor can be replaced and maintenance is easy.

As a result, the maintenance can be completed and the toner can be replenished simply by exchanging the cartridge without receiving the maintenance by the service person for every fixed period, and the copier, the printer, etc. can be used more than ever. Made easier and easier.

By the way, recently, in order to reduce the size of the image forming apparatus, it is desired to reduce the size of the process cartridge and the components used therein. On the other hand,
In order to improve the assembling performance of the process cartridge, it is desired that the parts used therein can be easily attached and disassembled.

This is because, particularly from the viewpoint of protecting the global environment, the necessity of recycling process cartridges is increasing in order to effectively use resources. Therefore, it is desired to develop a more suitable process cartridge by recycling. Here, recycling process cartridges means collecting used process cartridges from the market, disassembling the collected process cartridges, replacing only necessary parts with new parts, and reusing other parts to reuse process cartridges. It is to be reassembled.

Incidentally, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 51-2433 discloses that
Although it is described that the unit used for a certain period of time is collected and reused, a specific configuration suitable for achieving reuse is not described.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for mounting a blade support and a method for assembling a process cartridge, which realizes miniaturization and improves positioning accuracy when mounting.

Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to reduce the amount of permanent deformation, prevent accumulation (reversal), and keep good performance for a long period of time without causing any noise. A blade support mounting method and a process cartridge assembling method are provided.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of attaching a blade support and a method of assembling a process cartridge, which can secure the precision of attaching the blade and can easily perform the attachment.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for attaching a blade support suitable for recycling and a method for assembling a process cartridge.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of attaching a blade support and a method of assembling a process cartridge, which are remarkably improved in assemblability.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for attaching a blade support and a method for assembling a process cartridge, which are remarkably improved in disassembly.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for attaching a blade support and a method for assembling a process cartridge, which can efficiently disassemble a used process cartridge recovered from the market and which is suitable for recycling. .

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [First Embodiment] Next, a process cartridge according to a first embodiment of the present invention and an image forming apparatus using the process cartridge will be described with reference to the drawings.

{Overall Description of Process Cartridge and Image Forming Apparatus Equipped with It} First, the overall configuration of the image forming apparatus will be briefly described. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a sectional structure of a copying machine equipped with a process cartridge, which is an aspect of the image forming apparatus, FIG. 2 is an external view showing the copying machine with the tray opened, and FIG. 3 is a state with the tray closed. 4 is an explanatory view of a sectional structure of the process cartridge, FIG. 5 is an external view of the process cartridge, and FIG. 6 is an external view of the process cartridge in an inverted state.

This image forming apparatus A is, as shown in FIG.
The image information of the original 2 is optically read by the original reading unit 1, and the recording medium 4 loaded on the feeding tray 3 or manually inserted from the feeding tray 3 is conveyed by the conveying unit 5 to be a process cartridge B as a cartridge. The developer (hereinafter referred to as toner) image formed on the basis of the image information in the formed image forming portion is transferred onto the recording medium 4 by the transfer means 6, and the recording medium 4 is conveyed to the fixing means 7 to transfer the toner image. Is fixed and discharged to the discharge tray 8.

In the process cartridge B constituting the image forming section, the photosensitive drum 9 as an image bearing member is rotated, the surface thereof is uniformly charged by the charging means 10, and the reading means 1 reads from the exposure means 11. The exposed light image is exposed to form a latent image on the photosensitive drum 9, and the developing unit 12 forms a toner image corresponding to the latent image to visualize the latent image. After the transfer means 6 transfers the toner image onto the recording medium 4, the cleaning means 13 removes the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 9.

In the process cartridge B, the photosensitive drum 9 and the like are housed in a frame to form a cartridge.
The frame body is composed of an upper frame body 14 which is a first frame body and a lower frame body 15 which is a second frame body.

Next, the structure of each part of the image forming apparatus A and the process cartridge B mounted therein will be described in detail.

[Image forming apparatus] First, the image forming apparatus A
The configuration of each part of will be described.

(Document reading means) The document reading means 1 is a document 2
1. The document information is optically read, and as shown in FIG. 1, a document glass 1a for placing the document 2 is provided on the upper part of the apparatus body 16, and a document having a sponge 1b1 attached to the inner top surface thereof. A pressing plate 1b is attached on the original glass 1a so as to be openable and closable. The original glass 1a and the original pressing plate 1b are attached to the apparatus main body 16 so as to be slidable in the left-right direction in FIG.

On the other hand, a lens unit 1c is provided above the apparatus body 16 and below the original glass 1a,
A light source 1c1 and a short focus imaging lens array 1c2 are provided in the unit 1c.

As a result, the original 2 is placed on the original glass 1a with the original writing surface facing downward, the light source 1c1 is turned on, and the original glass 1a is slid in the left-right direction in FIG. Is exposed to the photosensitive drum 9 of the process cartridge B via the lens array 1c2.

(Recording Medium Conveying Means) Conveying means 5 conveys the recording medium 4 placed on the feeding tray 3 to the image forming portion and then to the grinding and fixing means 7. That is, a plurality of recording media 4 are placed on the feeding tray 3 or one recording medium 4 is manually inserted from the feeding tray 3, and the leading end of the recording medium 4 is fed to the feeding roller 5a and the friction thereof. Pad 5
Set so that it reaches the nip part of b and copy button A3
When is pressed, the feeding roller 5a is rotated to separate and feed the recording medium 4, and the pair of registration rollers 5c1 and 5c2 convey the recording medium 4 in accordance with the image forming operation. Then, the recording medium 4 after the image formation is conveyed to the fixing means 7 by the conveying belt 5d and the guide member 5e, and the discharge roller pair 5f1 and 5f2.
It is configured to be discharged to the discharge tray 8.

(Transfer Means) The transfer means 6 is for transferring the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 9 in the image forming section onto the recording medium 4, and the transfer means 6 of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. The transfer roller 6 is used. That is, the recording medium 4 is pressed against the photosensitive drum 9 of the mounted process cartridge B by the transfer roller 6, and a voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 9 is applied to the transfer roller 6. Thus, the toner on the photosensitive drum 9 is transferred to the recording medium 2.

(Fixing Means) Next, the fixing means 7 is for fixing the toner image transferred to the recording medium 4 by applying a voltage to the transfer roller 6, and as shown in FIG. The heat-resistant fixing film 7e is attached to the heating body 7c and the tension plate 7d held by the holder 7b.
Have been passed over. The tension plate 7d is biased by a tension spring 7f to apply tension to the fixing film 7e. A pressure roller 7g is pressed against the fixing film 7e at the heating member 7c, and the fixing film 7e is pressed against the heating member 7c by a force necessary for fixing.

The heating element 7c is a heat-resistant and electrically insulating holder 7b such as alumina or the like, or a holder 7b made of a composite member containing the same. 216 mm) and has a linear or pitted heat-generating surface made of, for example, Ta ₂ N, and further has a sliding protection layer on the surface, for example, Ta ₂ O.
Is formed. The bottom surface of the heating element 7c is smooth, and the front and rear ends thereof are rounded to allow the fixing film 7e to slide. The fixing film 7e is made of polyester as a base material and is heat-treated to have a thickness of, for example, about 9 .mu.m. The fixing film 7e is rotated clockwise by the rotation of the driving roller 7a.

When the recording medium 4 on which the toner image is transferred passes between the fixing film 7e and the pressure roller 7g,
The toner image is fixed on the recording medium 4 by applying heat and pressure.

A cooling fan 17 is provided in the apparatus body 16 in order to prevent heat from staying in the apparatus body due to heating of the fixing means 7 as described above. This fan 1
For example, 7 is rotated when a copy button (not shown) is turned on, and as shown by an arrow a in FIG. 1, an air flow that flows into the apparatus from the feeding port and flows out from the discharging port is generated. Each member including the cartridge B in the apparatus is cooled by the air flow so that heat is not stored in the apparatus.

(Recording Medium Feeding / Discharging Tray) As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the feeding tray 3 and the discharging tray 8 are rotated on the apparatus main body 16 in the direction of arrow b in FIG. 2 by shafts 3a and 8a, respectively. Attached so that the shafts 3b, 8a
Is configured to rotate in the direction of arrow c. Locking projections 3c and 8c are provided on both sides of the rotation tip of the trays 3 and 8, respectively.
Is configured to be locked in a locking groove 1b2 formed on the upper surface of the document pressing plate 1b.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the trays 3 and 8 are bent and the locking projections 3c and 8c are locked to the locking groove 1.
When locked to b2, the original glass 1a and the original pressing plate 1
b cannot slide. Therefore, the image forming apparatus A can be easily carried while holding the handle 16a.

(Density etc. Setting Button) The image forming apparatus A is provided with a density etc. setting button. To briefly explain this, in FIG. 2, first, A1 is a power switch, and this switch turns on and off the image forming apparatus. A2 is a density adjustment dial, which is used when performing basic density adjustment of the image forming apparatus. Then A
Reference numeral 3 denotes a copy button. When the copy button is pressed, the image forming apparatus is driven to start the copy operation. A4 is a copy clear button. If you press this, copy will be interrupted and
Various settings such as copy density are canceled. A5 is a number counter button, and the number of copies is set by pressing this button. A6 is an automatic density setting button. When this button is pressed, the density is automatically set when copying. Further, A7 is a density setting dial, and the operator appropriately turns the dial to adjust the density of the copy density.

{Process Cartridge} Next, the structure of each part of the process cartridge B mounted in the image forming apparatus A will be described.

The process cartridge B is equipped with an image carrier and at least one process means. Here, as the process means, there are, for example, a charging means for charging the surface of the image carrier, a developing means for forming a toner image on the image carrier, a cleaning means for removing the toner remaining on the surface of the image carrier, and the like. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the process cartridge B of this embodiment has a charging unit 10, a developing unit 12 containing toner (developer), and a cleaning unit around an electrophotographic photosensitive drum 9 which is an image carrier. 13 are arranged, and these are covered with a housing composed of upper and lower frame bodies 14 and 15 to integrally form a cartridge,
It is configured to be attachable to and detachable from the apparatus body 16.

The upper frame 14 is provided with a charging means 10, an exposing means 11, and a toner reservoir of a developing means 12, and the lower frame 15 is provided with a photosensitive drum 9, a developing sleeve of the developing means 12 and a cleaning means 13. It is provided. Next, the configuration of each part of the process cartridge B will be described in detail in the order of the photosensitive drum 9, the charging unit 10, the exposing unit 11, the developing unit 12, and the cleaning unit 13. 7 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of the process cartridge in which the upper and lower frame bodies are divided, FIG. 8 is an internal perspective explanatory view of the lower frame side, and FIG. 9 is an internal perspective explanatory view of the upper frame side.

(Photosensitive Drum) In the photosensitive drum 9 according to this embodiment, an organic photosensitive layer 9b is applied on the outer peripheral surface of a drum base 9a made of cylindrical aluminum having a thickness of about 1 mm to have an outer diameter of 2 mm.
It is configured as a 4 mm photosensitive drum 9. Then, by transmitting the driving force of a drive motor (not shown) to the flange gear 9c (see FIG. 8) fixed to one end of the drum 9, the photosensitive drum 9 is rotated in the arrow direction of FIG. 1 according to the image forming operation. Is configured.

During image formation, as the photosensitive drum 9 is rotated, the charging roller 1 in contact with the drum 9 is formed.
An oscillating voltage obtained by superposing a DC voltage and an AC voltage on 0 is applied to uniformly charge the surface of the photosensitive drum 9. At this time, in order to uniformly charge the surface of the photosensitive drum, the frequency of the AC voltage applied to the charging roller 10 must be increased.
When the frequency exceeds about 200 Hz, the so-called "charging sound" caused by the vibration of the photosensitive drum 9 and the charging roller 10 becomes large.

That is, when an AC voltage is applied to the charging roller 10, an attractive force due to an electrostatic force acts between the photosensitive drum 9 and the charging roller 10, and the mutual attractive force between the maximum value and the minimum value of the AC voltage is large. The charging roller 10 is elastically deformed and attracted to the photosensitive drum 9. Further, in the central portion of the AC voltage, the forces attracting each other become small, and the elastic force of the charging roller 10 causes the elastic force to recover from the photosensitive drum 9. Therefore, the photosensitive drum 9 and the charging roller 10 vibrate at twice the frequency of the applied AC voltage.
Further, when the charging roller 10 is attracted to the photosensitive drum 9, the rotation of the charging roller 10 is braked, and vibration due to stick-slip is generated as if the surface of the glass is wet with a finger. appear.

Therefore, in this embodiment, in order to reduce the vibration of the photosensitive drum 9, as shown in a sectional view of the drum of FIG. 10, a filling material 9 made of a rigid body or an elastic body is provided in the photosensitive drum 9.
d is provided. The material of the filler 9d may be a metal such as aluminum or brass, a ceramic such as cement or gypsum, or a rubber material such as natural rubber. It may be appropriately selected from the above in consideration of productivity, processability, weight effect, cost and the like.

The shape of the filling 9d is a cylinder or a cylinder, for example, about 100 mm larger than the inner diameter of the photosensitive drum 9.
The filler 9d having an outer diameter smaller by μm is inserted into the hollow drum substrate 9a and attached. That is, the gap between the drum base 9a and the filler 9d is set to 100 μm or less at the maximum, and the adhesive (for example, cyanoacrylate-based or epoxy resin-based) 9e is applied to the outer periphery of the filler or the inner periphery of the drum base 9a to fill the filler. 9d is inserted and attached in the drum base body 9a.

Here, the results of experiments conducted by the inventor of the present invention by changing the position of the filling material 9d within the photosensitive drum 9 and examining the relationship between the position of the filling material 9d and the sound pressure will be shown. In the experiment, as shown in FIG. 11, the process cartridge B was used in a room with a background noise of 43 dB.
The sound pressure was measured by placing the microphone M at a position 30 cm away from the front of the. The result is 80 g, as shown in FIG.
The sound pressure of the r filling was 54.5 to 54.8 dB at the center of the photosensitive drum 9 in the rotation axis direction, but the 40 gr filling was placed closer to the gear flange 9c side than the center of the photosensitive drum 9 in the rotation axis direction. The sound pressure reached the minimum value at the position shifted to the 30 mm position. From this result, it is found that it is more effective to mount the filling 9d in the photosensitive drum 9 at a position deviated to the gear flange 9c side. This is because both ends of the photosensitive drum 9 are supported via the gear flange 9c on one side, while they are supported on the other side via the bearing member 26 having no flange. This is because the structure is asymmetric with respect to the axial center position.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, the filler 9d is located closer to the drive gear side of the photosensitive drum 9 than the center c of the photosensitive drum 9 in the rotational axis direction, that is, the flange gear 9c. It is installed in a displaced position. still,
In the present embodiment, at a position deviated from the center c of the photosensitive drum 9 having an axial length L ₁ = 257 mm to L ₂ = 9 mm of the flange gear 9c, a solid aluminum member having a length L ₃ = 40 mm is used. 20 g to 60 g, preferably 35 g to 45 g, most preferably about 40 g of filler 9d
Is attached.

As described above, the filler 9d is filled in the photosensitive drum 9.
By providing the above, the photosensitive drum 9 can be stably rotated, and vibration accompanying the rotation of the photosensitive drum 9 during image formation can be suppressed. Therefore, even if the frequency of the AC voltage applied to the charging roller 10 is increased, the generation of charging noise can be suppressed to a low level.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, the ground contact 18a is brought into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 9, and the other end is connected to the drum ground contact pin 35a on the apparatus main body side. The drum 9 is electrically grounded by making contact with the drum 9. The ground contact 18a is in contact with the inner surface of the end of the photosensitive drum 9 opposite to the side where the flange gear 9c is provided. It is provided.

The ground contact 18a is made of stainless steel for spring, phosphor bronze for spring, etc., and is attached to the bearing member 26. To specifically describe the configuration, as shown in FIG. 13, the base portion 18a1 is provided with a locking hole 18a2 for press-fitting and locking the boss provided on the bearing member 26, and the base portion 18a1 has two locking holes 18a2. An arm portion 18a3 is provided, and further, each of the arm portions 18 is provided.
At the tip of a3, a hemispherical convex portion 18a4 protruding to the back surface side of FIG. 13 is provided.

When the bearing member 26 is attached to the photosensitive drum 9, the ground contact 18a causes the convex portion 18a4 to come into pressure contact with the inner surface of the photosensitive drum 9 by the elastic force of the arm portion 18a3.
At this time, since there are a plurality of locations (two locations) in contact with the photosensitive drum 9, reliability of the contact is improved, and since the hemispherical convex portion 18a4 is formed in the contact portion, the contact with the photosensitive drum 9 is made. Contact is stable.

Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 14, the length of the arm portion 18a3 of the ground contact 18a may be different. By doing so, the position where the hemispherical convex portion 18a4 contacts the photosensitive drum 9 is displaced in the circumferential direction, and for example, even if there is an axial flaw or the like on the inner surface of the photosensitive drum 9, both hemispherical convex portions are formed. The portion 18a4 does not ride on the scratched portion at the same time. Therefore, the earth contact becomes more reliable. However, when the length of the arm portion 18a3 is changed, the arm portion 18 when being pressed against the inner surface of the photosensitive drum 9 is changed.
Since the deformation amount of a3 is different, the contact pressure of each arm 18a3 may be different, but this can be easily corrected by changing the bending angle of the arm 18a3.

In the present embodiment, the ground contact 18a has the two arms 18a3 as described above, but the arms may be formed of three or more or the photosensitive drum. As shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, the arm portion 18a3 has only one arm (not bifurcated) as shown in FIGS. You may use the thing which does not have.

Here, if the contact pressure of the ground contact 18a against the inner surface of the photosensitive drum 9 is too weak, the hemispherical projection 18 is formed.
Since a4 cannot follow the minute irregularities on the inner surface of the photosensitive drum, contact failure is likely to occur, and sound is generated due to vibration of the arm portion 18a3. In order to prevent the contact failure and the vibration noise, it is necessary to increase the contact pressure. However, if the contact pressure is excessively increased, the hemispherical convex portion 18a4 is pressed against the inner surface of the drum when the image forming apparatus is used for a long time, and a scratch is generated on the inner surface of the drum. However, vibration may occur due to the hemispherical upper convex portion 18a4 rubbing on the scratch, which may cause poor contact or vibrating noise.

Taking these into consideration, the contact pressure of the drum ground contact 18a against the inner surface of the photosensitive drum is about 10 g to 2 g.
It is preferable to set it in the range of 00 g. That is, according to an experiment conducted by the present inventor, the contact pressure is about 10 g.
If it is below, contact failure is likely to occur due to the rotation of the photosensitive drum 9, and there is a possibility of causing radio wave interference to other electronic devices. Further, when the contact pressure is about 200 g or more, the inner surface of the photosensitive drum 9 is scratched at the contact sliding portion with the ground contact 18a when used for a long period of time, resulting in abnormal noise during rotation and poor contact. There was a fear.

The generation of the above-mentioned sound may not be completely removed because of the condition of the inner surface of the photosensitive drum 9 and the like.
By attaching the filler 9d to the photosensitive drum 9, vibration of the drum 9 can be reduced, or conductive grease is interposed in the contact sliding portion between the ground contact 18a and the inner surface of the drum. It is possible to more surely prevent the occurrence of the scratches and the poor contact.

The ground contact 18a is provided on the bearing member 26 on the side opposite to the filler 9d provided near the flange gear 9c.
Since it is attached to the, it can be easily attached.

(Charging Means) The charging means is the photosensitive drum 9
In order to charge the surface of the device, a so-called contact charging method as disclosed in JP-A-63-149669 is used in this embodiment. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the charging roller 10 is rotatably provided on the inner surface of the upper frame 14 via the sliding bearing 10c. This charging roller 10 has a metal roller shaft 10b (for example, a conductive core metal such as iron or SUS) provided with an elastic rubber layer such as EPDM or NBR, and further provided with a urethane rubber layer having carbon dispersed on its peripheral surface. Or a metallic roller shaft covered with a urethane foam rubber layer in which carbon is dispersed. The roller shaft 10b of the charging roller 10 is a sliding bearing 10
It is attached by a bearing slide guide claw 10d of the upper frame 14 via c so as not to fall off, and is attached so as to be slightly slidable toward the photosensitive drum 9, and the roller shaft is moved toward the photosensitive drum 9 by a spring 10a. The charging roller 10 is configured to be urged to contact the surface of the photosensitive drum 9. In this charging means, the charging roller 10 is directly incorporated in the upper frame 14 via a bearing 10c.

When forming an image, the charging roller 10 is used.
Is rotated by the rotation of the photosensitive drum 9, and at this time, the surface of the photosensitive drum 9 is uniformly charged by applying the AC voltage to the charging roller 10 as described above.

The voltage applied to the charging roller 10 will be described in detail. Although the voltage applied to the charging roller 10 may be only the DC voltage, the DC voltage and the AC voltage are superimposed as described above in order to make the charging uniform. It is preferable to apply the generated oscillating voltage. Preferably, the uniform charging property is improved by applying to the charging roller 10 an oscillating voltage in which an AC voltage having a peak-to-peak voltage that is at least twice the charging start voltage when only the DC voltage is applied and the DC voltage are superimposed. (JP-A-63-1
49669, etc.). The oscillating voltage referred to here is a voltage whose voltage value changes periodically with time, and is 2 times the charging start voltage of the photosensitive drum surface when only a DC voltage is applied.
It is preferable to have a peak-to-peak voltage more than double, and the waveform is not limited to a sine wave, and may be a rectangular wave, a triangular wave, or a pulse wave, but from the viewpoint of charging sound, a sine wave that does not include harmonic components preferable. The AC voltage also includes, for example, a rectangular wave voltage formed by periodically turning the DC power supply on and off.

Power is supplied to the charging roller 10 as shown in FIG. 17, one end 18c1 of the charging bias contact 18c.
Is performed by pressing a contact pin for charging bias on the side of the apparatus main body, which will be described later, and the other end 18c2 of the contact 18c for charging bias is pressed against the metal roller shaft 10b to apply a voltage to the charging roller 10. Since the charging roller 10 is pressed to the right side in FIG. 17 by the contact point 18c having a spring property, the charging roller bearing 10c on the side opposite to the contact point 18c is provided with a stopper portion 10c1 bent in a hook shape. A stopper portion 10e hanging from the upper frame 14 is provided on the contact 18c side so that the charging roller 10 does not excessively move in the axial direction when the process cartridge B is dropped or vibrated.

When the charging roller 10 is incorporated in the upper frame body 14, the bearing 1 is first attached to the guide claw 10d of the upper frame body 14.
0c is supported and the roller shaft 10b of the charging roller 10 is fitted into the bearing 10c. By combining the upper frame body 14 with the lower frame body 15, as shown in FIG.
The charging roller 10 comes into pressure contact with the photosensitive drum 9.

The charging side bearing 10c of the charging roller 10
Uses a conductive bearing material containing a large amount of carbon filler, and is configured to supply power from the charging bias contact 18c to the charging roller 10 via the metallic spring 10a, and apply a stable charging bias. You can do it.

(Exposure Means) The exposure means 11 is provided on the surface of the photosensitive drum 9 which is uniformly charged by the charging roller 10.
The light image from the reading means 1 is exposed. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the upper frame 14 has a lens array 1c2.
11a for irradiating light from the photosensitive drum 9
Is provided. When the process cartridge B is removed from the main assembly A of the apparatus, if the photosensitive drum 9 is exposed to outside light through the opening 11a, the photosensitive drum 9 deteriorates. Therefore, a shutter member 11b is attached to the opening 11a, and when the process cartridge B is removed from the apparatus main assembly A, the shutter member 11b closes the opening 11a,
When mounted on the apparatus main body A, the opening 11a is opened.

The shutter member 11b is shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), it is configured to be bent in a V-shape in cross section, and is rotated with respect to the upper frame body 14 by the shaft 11b1 so that the bent portion is convex toward the outside of the cartridge. It is installed as possible. A torsion coil spring 11c is attached to the shaft 11b1, and when the process cartridge B is removed from the image forming apparatus A, the shutter member 11b closes the opening 11a by the bias of the spring 11c. I am configuring.

The outer surface of the shutter member 11b is shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), an abutment portion 11b2 is formed, and when the process cartridge B is mounted in the image forming apparatus A, an upper opening / closing cover 19 which is attached to the apparatus main body 16 so as to be opened and closed (see FIG. 1). ) Is closed, the projection 19a provided on the cover 19 abuts against the abutting portion 11b2, and the shutter member 11b rotates in the direction of arrow e in FIG. 18B to open the opening 11a.

When the shutter member 11b is opened and closed, the shape of the shutter member 11b is bent in a V-shaped cross section, and the abutting portion 11b2 is formed in the cartridge B.
Since the shutter member 11b is provided outside the outer shape of the process cartridge B and in the vicinity of the rotating shaft 11b1, the shutter member 11b is opened and closed above the outer shape of the process cartridge B as shown in FIGS. 4 and 18B. It hits the protrusion 19a of the cover 19. Therefore, even if the opening / closing angle of the shutter member 11b is small, the rotation destination of the shutter member 11b is surely opened, and the light from the lens array 1c2 located above is surely exposed.
When the process cartridge B is inserted into the main body of the apparatus, the cartridge B is radiated to the photosensitive drum 9 to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 9. It is not necessary to retreat from the shutter push-opening projection, and the stroke of the projection can be shortened, and the process cartridge B and the main body A can be downsized.

(Developing Means) Next, the developing means 12 will be described. This is to visualize the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 9 by the exposure with toner. Although the image forming apparatus A can be used with either magnetic or non-magnetic toner as a toner used for development, this embodiment shows an example in which a process cartridge B containing a magnetic toner as a one-component magnetic developer is mounted. ing.

The magnetic toner used for the development is a binder resin, such as polystyrene, a homopolymer of styrene such as polyvinyltoluene or a substitution product thereof, a styrene-propylene copolymer, a styrene-vinyltoluene copolymer, or styrene. -Vinylnaphthalene copolymer, styrene-ethyl acrylate copolymer, styrene-styrene copolymer such as styrene-butyl acrylate copolymer, polymethyl methacrylate, polybutyl methacrylate, polyvinyl acetate, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl butyral , Polyacrylic acid resin, rosin, modified rosin, tempel resin, phenol resin, aliphatic or alicyclic hydrocarbon resin,
Aromatic petroleum resins, paraffin wax, carnauba wax and the like can be used alone or in combination.

As the coloring material which can be further added to the magnetic toner, conventionally known carbon black, copper phthalocyanine, iron black and the like can be used.

As the magnetic fine particles contained in the magnetic toner, a substance that is magnetized when placed in a magnetic field is used.
Powders of ferromagnetic metals such as iron, cobalt and nickel, or alloys and compounds such as magnetite and ferrite can be used.

The developing means 12 for forming a toner image with the magnetic toner has a toner reservoir 12a for accommodating the toner as shown in FIG. 4, and a toner feeding mechanism for feeding the toner into the toner reservoir 12a. 12b is provided. Further, the toner sent out is configured so that the developing sleeve 12d having the magnet 12c therein is rotated to form a thin toner layer on the surface thereof. When the toner layer is formed on the developing sleeve 12d, friction between the toner and the developing sleeve 12d provides a triboelectric charge capable of developing the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 9. Further, the developing blade 12e presses against the surface of the developing sleeve 12d to regulate the toner layer thickness,
Are attached so as to face the surface of the photosensitive drum 9 with a gap width of about 100 to 400 μm.

The magnetic toner feeding mechanism 12b is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the feed member 12b1 made of polypropylene (PP), acrylobutadiene styrene (ABS), high impact styrene (HIPS), etc. can be reciprocated in the direction of arrow f along the bottom surface of the toner reservoir 12a. I am configuring. The feeding member 12b1 is formed to have a substantially triangular cross section, and the toner reservoir 1
It is composed of a plurality of rod-shaped members that are long in the direction of the rotation axis of the photosensitive drum (the front and back directions in FIG. 4) so as to scratch the toner on the entire bottom surface of 2a. It is configured as an integral member. Further, the feeding member 1
The number 2b1 is three, and the width of the reciprocating movement is set to be larger than the width of the base of the substantially triangular shape so as to eliminate the toner residue on the bottom surface. Further, a projection 12b6 is formed at one end of the arm member so as to prevent the feeding member 12b1 from being lifted or flung when assembled.

The feeding member 12b1 has a locking projection 12b4 formed at one end in the longitudinal direction, and the locking projection 12b4 is provided in the arm member 12b2 in a long hole 12b5.
The arm member 12b2 is rotatably locked to the upper frame 14 and is pivotally attached to the upper frame 14 about a shaft 12b3. The arm member 12b2 is provided outside the toner reservoir 12a. Connected with. Further, when the process cartridge B is mounted on the image forming apparatus A, a drive transmission means for transmitting a driving force is connected so as to swing the arm member 12b2 around the shaft 12b3 at a constant angle. ing. In addition, as shown in FIG.
The feed member 12b1 and the arm member 12b2 may be integrally made of a resin such as polypropylene or polyamide and can be bent at the connecting portion.

Therefore, when forming the image, if the arm member 12b2 is swung at a constant angle, the feeding member 12b1 is moved.
Moves reciprocally in the direction of arrow f along the bottom surface of the toner reservoir 12a as shown by the solid and broken lines in FIG. As a result, the toner near the bottom of the toner reservoir 12a is fed by the feeding member 12b1 toward the developing sleeve 12d. At this time, since the feeding member 12b1 has a substantially triangular cross section, the toner is gently fed along the inclined surface of the feeding member 12b1.

Therefore, the magnetic toner in the vicinity of the developing sleeve 12d is less likely to be agitated, and the toner layer formed on the surface of the developing sleeve 12d is less likely to deteriorate.

As shown in FIG. 4, a hanging member 12f1 is provided on the inner top surface of the lid member 12f of the toner reservoir 12a. The distance between the lower end of the hanging member 12f1 and the bottom surface of the toner reservoir is set to be slightly wider than the height of the triangular cross section of the toner feeding member 12b1. Therefore, the toner feeding member 12b1
Moves back and forth between the bottom surface of the toner reservoir and the hanging member 12f1,
At this time, even if the feeding member 12b1 tries to float from the bottom surface of the toner reservoir, it is regulated by the hanging member 12f1,
Lifting of the feed member 12b1 is prevented.

The image forming apparatus A according to this embodiment can also be equipped with a process cartridge containing non-magnetic toner. In this case, a toner feeding mechanism is provided so as to stir the non-magnetic toner near the developing sleeve 12d. It is configured to drive.

That is, when non-magnetic toner is used, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 9, the elastic roller 12g rotating in the same direction as the developing sleeve 12d conveys the non-magnetic toner in the toner reservoir 12a fed by the toner feeding mechanism 12h to the developing sleeve 12d. At this time, at the contact portion where the developing sleeve 12d and the elastic roller 12g come into contact with each other, the toner on the elastic roller 12g is frictionally charged by being rubbed against the developing sleeve 12d, and electrostatically adheres to the developing sleeve 12d. . Thereafter, as the developing sleeve 12d rotates, the non-magnetic toner attached to the sleeve 12d enters the contact portion between the developing blade 12e for forming a thin layer and the developing sleeve 12d, and when passing through the contact portion. Due to the rubbing of the two, a sufficient amount of triboelectrification is applied to the polarity for developing the electrostatic latent image. However, when the toner stays on the developing sleeve 12d, the toner is mixed with the toner newly supplied on the developing sleeve 12d and is sent to the contact portion with the developing blade 12e, where the developing sleeve 12d and the new toner exist. While the new toner is charged with a proper electric charge by being charged, the remaining toner is charged again with a proper electric charge. As they are received, they are overcharged.
The excessively charged toner has a stronger adhesive force with respect to the developing sleeve 12d as compared with the toner to which an appropriate electric charge is applied, which makes it difficult to use for development.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the non-magnetic toner feeding mechanism 12h is provided with a rotating member 12h1 in the toner reservoir 12a in the process cartridge containing the non-magnetic toner as shown in FIG. The stirring blade 12h2 is attached. When the non-magnetic toner cartridge is attached to the image forming apparatus A, drive transmission means for transmitting a driving force is connected so that the apparatus main body 16 rotates the rotating member 12h1 during image formation.

Thus, when an image is formed by mounting a cartridge containing non-magnetic toner, the stirring blade 12h2 largely stirs the toner in the toner reservoir 12a. For this reason, the toner in the vicinity of the developing sleeve 12d is also agitated and mixed with the toner in the toner reservoir 12a, the charged electric charge of the toner peeled from the developing sleeve 12d is dispersed, and the deterioration of the toner is prevented.

Next, the developing sleeve 12d on which the toner layer is formed and the photosensitive drum 9 are separated from each other by a small distance (about 300 μm in the process cartridge containing the magnetic toner).
The process cartridge containing the non-magnetic toner has a position of about 200 μm. Therefore, in this embodiment, a contact ring portion having an outer diameter larger than the outer diameter of the developing sleeve by the above distance is provided outside the toner layer forming region near both ends of the developing sleeve 12d in the axial direction, and the ring portion is a photosensitive drum. It is arranged so as to come into contact with the outside of the latent image forming area of No. 9.

Here, the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d
The positional relationship with and will be described. FIG. 20 shows the photosensitive drum 9.
The positional relationship between the developing sleeve 12d and the developing sleeve 12d
FIG. 22 (a) is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing the pressing method of d.
21 is a vertical sectional view showing an AA cross section of FIG. 20, and FIG. 21B is a vertical sectional view showing a BB cross section of FIG. 20.

As shown in FIG. 20, the developing sleeve 12d on which the toner layer is formed and the photosensitive drum 9 are separated by a very small distance (1
It is positioned so as to face each other with a distance of about 00 μm to 400 μm). At this time, the photosensitive drum 9 is a bearing member in which a rotary shaft of a flange gear 9c provided at one end of the photosensitive drum 9 is rotatably fixed to the lower frame body 15 by a rotary shaft 9f, and the other end of the photosensitive drum 9 is similarly fitted and fixed to the lower frame body 15. Bearing part 2 of 26
It is rotatably fixed by 6a. The developing sleeve 12d is located in the vicinity of both ends in the axial direction and outside the toner layer forming region, and a contact ring portion 12d1 having an outer diameter larger than the outer diameter of the developing sleeve 12d by the distance is fitted to the ring portion 12d1. Touches the outside of the latent image forming area of the photosensitive drum 9.

The developing sleeve 12d is located inside the abutment ring portions 12d1 near both ends in the axial direction, and is rotatably supported by the sleeve bearing 12i outside the toner layer forming region of the developing sleeve 12d. The reference numeral 12i is attached to the lower frame 15 so as to be slidable in the direction of arrow g in the figure. The sleeve bearing 12i has a protrusion extending rearward from the pressing spring 1
2j is attached to the lower frame 15 and is urged toward the photosensitive drum 9 side by being pressed by the wall of the lower frame 15. As a result, the contact ring portion 12d1 is moved to the photosensitive drum 9
, The distance between the developing sleeve 12d and the photosensitive drum 9 is always guaranteed, and the flange gear 9c of the photosensitive drum 9 is always secured.
Also, the driving force can be transmitted to the sleeve gear 12k of the developing sleeve 12d that meshes with the gear 9c.

Here, the slidable direction of the sleeve bearing 12i described above will be described with reference to FIG. First, from the driving side of the developing sleeve 12d, when the driving force is transmitted from the driving source of the apparatus main body 16 to the flange gear 9c, the flange gear 9c causes the sleeve gear 12k.
When the driving force is transmitted to, the meshing force is directed from the tangential direction of the meshing pitch circle of the flange gear 9c and the meshing pitch circle of the sleeve gear 12k by a pressure angle (20 ° in this embodiment). Therefore, the meshing force is directed in the arrow P direction (θ≈20 °) shown in FIG.
At this time, the rotation center of the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12
Sleeve bearing 1 in the direction parallel to the straight line connecting the center of rotation of d
When 2i is slid, when the meshing force P is decomposed into a component force Ps in the sliding direction and the horizontal direction and a component force Ph in the direction perpendicular to the sliding direction, the component force Ps in the sliding direction and the horizontal direction is shown in FIG. Thus, it faces away from the photosensitive drum 9. Therefore, the developing sleeve 12
On the driving side of d, the distance between the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d is easily changed by the meshing force of the flange gear 9c and the sleeve gear 12k, and the developing sleeve 12d
The upper toner does not move accurately to the photosensitive drum 9, and the developability is likely to deteriorate.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the flange gear 9c
Taking into account the transmission of the driving force from the sleeve gear 12k to the sleeve gear 12k, as shown in FIG.
The slidable direction of the sleeve bearing 12i (on the side where is attached) is in the arrow Q direction. That is, the angle ψ formed by the meshing force P between the flange gear 9c and the sleeve gear 12k and the slidable direction of the drive side sleeve bearing 12i is about 90.
The angle is set to 90 ° (92 ° in this embodiment). With this configuration, the component force Ps of the meshing force P in the sliding direction and the horizontal direction is almost eliminated, and in the case of the present embodiment, the component force Ps is a direction in which the developing sleeve 12d is slightly applied to the photosensitive drum 9 side. Acts on. In such a case, the developing sleeve 12d is pressed by the spring pressure α of the pressing spring 12j, the distance between the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d is kept constant, and accurate developing can be performed.

Next, the sliding direction of the sleeve bearing 12i on the non-driving side (the side on which the sleeve gear 12k is not attached) will be described.

On the non-driving side, unlike the driving side described above, no force can be received from others, so that the sliding direction of the sleeve bearing 12i is set to the center of the photosensitive drum 9 as shown in FIG. 21B. The sleeve 12d is made substantially horizontal with respect to the straight line connecting the centers thereof.

As described above, when the developing sleeve 12d is independently pressed against the photosensitive drum 9, the pressing angle of the developing sleeve 12d is changed between the driving side and the non-driving side.
Since the positional relationship between the developing sleeve 12d and the photosensitive drum 9 is always maintained properly, it is possible to perform accurate development.

The slidable direction of the sleeve bearing 12i on the driving side may be set substantially parallel to the straight line connecting the center of the photosensitive drum 9 and the center of the developing sleeve 12d, as in the non-driving side. That is, as described in the above-mentioned embodiment, on the driving side, the component force P of the meshing force between the flange gear 9c and the sleeve gear 12k in the sliding direction of the sleeve bearing 12i is P.
Since a force acts in the direction in which the developing sleeve 12d is separated from the photosensitive drum 9 by s, this component force Ps is used in this embodiment.
In order that the developing sleeve 12d can be pressed against the above, the pressing force by the driving side pressing spring 12j may be set larger than the non-driving side by the component force Ps. That is,
Developing sleeve 12d of pressure spring 12j on the non-driving side
When the pressure on the P _1, the driving side pressing spring 1
If the pressing force P ₂ of 2j is set to P ₂ = P ₁ + Ps, the developing sleeve 12d is always subjected to an appropriate pressing force to ensure a constant distance from the photosensitive drum 9.

(Cleaning Unit) Next, the cleaning unit 13 is for removing the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 9 after the toner image on the photosensitive drum 9 is transferred onto the recording medium 4 by the transfer unit 6. As shown in FIG. 4, the cleaning means 13 is in contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum 9, and a cleaning blade 13a for scraping off the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 9, and the blade for scooping the scraped off toner. Squi sheet 1 located below 13a and in contact with the surface of photosensitive drum 9
3b and a waste toner reservoir 13c for storing the scooped waste toner.

Here, the mounting method of the squeeze sheet 13b will be described. The sheet 13b is attached to the mounting surface 13d of the toner reservoir 13c with a double-sided tape. At this time, the waste toner reservoir 13c is made of a resin material and has some irregularities and small deformations. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 23, the double-faced tape 13e is simply attached to the mounting surface 13d, and the squeeze sheet 1 is attached to the tape 13e.
The waviness x may occur at the leading edge of the sheet 13b (contact portion with the photosensitive drum 9) only by attaching 3b.
When the squeeze sheet 13b has a waviness x at its tip, the sheet 13b does not adhere to the surface of the photosensitive drum 9,
The toner scraped off by the cleaning blade 13a cannot be reliably scooped.

Therefore, when attaching the squi sheet 13b, as shown in FIG. 24 (a), the attachment surface 13d at the lower part of the toner reservoir is pulled downward by the pulling tool 20 to be bent by elastic deformation, and in this state, the squi sheet 13b is attached.
It is conceivable that by releasing the curvature after attaching, the tension is applied to the tip of the squi sheet 13b to prevent the undulation.

However, in the process cartridge B which has been downsized in recent years, the squi sheet 1
Since the dimension of the mounting surface 13d of 3b is also small, if the squeeze sheet 13b is attached with the mounting surface 13d being curved, as shown in FIG.
Both sides 13b1 of the lower end of b protrude from the mounting surface 13d and project downward. If the squi sheet 13b projects below the mounting surface 13d, the recording medium 4 may be caught by the squi sheet 13b that projects, as is apparent from the sectional view of FIG.

When the squeeze sheet 13b is attached with the mounting surface 13d curved, as shown in FIG. 24 (a), the double-sided tape 1 is applied from below the squeeze sheet 13b.
3e overflows. Therefore, in this state, FIG.
As shown in (b), the application tool 21 is used to remove the squishy sheet 13.
When "b" is pressed against the double-sided tape 13e, the protruding tape 13e sticks to the sticking tool 21, and
As shown in (c), the double-sided tape 13e may be peeled off from the mounting surface 13d when the sticking tool 21 is removed, which may cause a mounting failure of the squi sheet 13b.

Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
By this, the mounting surface 13d is made to have substantially the same shape as the curved shape by pulling. That is, the sheet width is formed such that the central portion in the sheet longitudinal direction is wider than both end portions. This allows the curved double-sided tape 13e to be attached to the squi sheet 13b when the squi sheet 13b is attached.
No longer sticks out. In addition, the pulling by the pulling tool 20 is removed, and as shown in FIG.
When the curve of 3d is released and tension is applied to the upper end of the scooping sheet 13b, the lower end of the sheet does not project downward from the mounting surface 13d. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the recording medium 4 from being caught by the squi sheet 13d and the mounting failure of the squi sheet 13d as described above.

In consideration of the simplification of processing of the squi sheet 13d and the life of the processing tool, it is desirable that the lower end shape of the squi sheet 13d be linear. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 26, the lower end of the seat may be linearly configured such that the central portion in the seat longitudinal direction is wider than the both end portions in accordance with the amount of bending of the mounting surface 13d.

Further, in this embodiment, when the squishe sheet mounting surface 13d is curved, the squeeze sheet mounting surface 13d is pulled by the tension tool 20, but as shown in FIG. Of course, the squisheet mounting surface 13d may be curved by pressing the upper portion with the pressing tool 20a.

Further, in this embodiment, the squeegee sheet mounting surface 13d is formed below the waste toner reservoir 13c, but the squeegee sheet 13b is attached to a mounting surface such as a metal plate which is a member different from the waste toner reservoir 13c. Waste toner reservoir 13c
The same effect can be obtained even with a configuration that is incorporated in.

(Upper and Lower Frame) Next, the process cartridge B
The upper and lower frames 14 and 15 constituting the housing will be described. On the side of the lower frame 15, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, in addition to the photosensitive drum 9, a developing sleeve 12d and a developing blade constituting a developing means 12 are provided. 12e, and further cleaning means 13 are provided. On the other hand, on the upper frame 14 side, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 9, a charging roller 10, a toner reservoir 12a constituting the developing means 12, and a toner feeding mechanism 12b are provided.

In order to connect the upper and lower frames 14 and 15, the upper frame 14 has four pairs of locking claws 14a in the longitudinal direction.
Are formed integrally with the upper frame 14 at substantially equal intervals, and the lower frame 15 has a locking opening 1 for locking the locking claw 14a.
5a and the locking projection 15b are integrally molded with the lower frame body 15. Therefore, when the upper and lower frame bodies 14 and 15 are forcibly fitted and the locking claw 14a is locked to the locking opening 15a and the locking projection 15b, the upper and lower frame bodies 14 and 15 are coupled. In order to secure this combined state, a locking claw 15c and a locking opening 15d are provided in the vicinity of both longitudinal ends of the lower frame 15 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 9, locking openings 14b and locking claws 14 for locking the locking claws 15c and the locking openings 15d are provided near both ends in the direction.
c is provided.

When each member constituting the process cartridge B is divided into the upper and lower frames 14 and 15 as described above, it is necessary to position the member with respect to the photosensitive drum 9, for example, the developing sleeve 12d or the developing blade 12e. By disposing the cleaning blade 13a and the like on the same frame body (the lower frame body 15 in this embodiment), it is possible to accurately position each member and to easily assemble the process cartridge B. .

As shown in FIG. 8, the lower frame 15 of this embodiment is provided with a fitting recess 15n near one end of the frame. As shown in FIG. 9, the upper frame body 14 is fitted into the fitting recess 15n near the one end portion of the frame body at a substantially intermediate position between the locking claws 14a. A fitting convex portion 14h is provided to be fitted.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the lower frame 15 of this embodiment is provided with a fitting projection 15e near the two corners of the frame and a fitting recess 15f near the other two corners. is there. Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the upper frame body 14 is provided with a fitting concave portion 14d for fitting the fitting convex portion 15e near the two corners of the frame body. The fitting recess 15 is provided near the corner.
A fitting convex portion 14e for fitting f is provided.

Therefore, when the upper and lower frame bodies 14 and 15 are joined together, the fitting protrusions 14h provided on the upper and lower frame bodies 14 and 15,
By fitting 14e and 15e into the fitting recesses in 15n, 15f, and 14d, the two frames 14 and 15 are firmly connected, and if the upper and lower frames 14 and 15 are twisted in the combined state. Also, the combined state will not be displaced.

The position of the fitting convex portion and the position of the fitting concave portion are not limited to the above-mentioned positions, and may be set to other positions as long as they can be prevented from being displaced with respect to the twisting force with respect to the combined upper and lower frame bodies 14 and 15. It may be provided.

Further, as shown in FIG.
A protective cover 22 is attached which is rotatable about a shaft 22a. The protective cover 22 is biased in the direction of arrow h in FIG. 9 by a torsion coil spring (not shown) attached to the shaft 22a, and when the process cartridge B is removed from the image forming apparatus A, As shown in FIG. 4, the photosensitive drum 9 is configured to be covered.

That is, in order to transfer the developing toner to the recording medium 4, the photosensitive drum 9 has a lower frame 15 as shown in FIG.
It is configured so as to be exposed from the opening 15g formed in the above and to face the transfer roller 6. However, when the process cartridge B is removed from the image forming apparatus A, if the photosensitive drum 9 is exposed, the photosensitive drum 9 is exposed to external light and deteriorates, and dust and the like on the drum 9 are exposed. Will be attached. Therefore, when the process cartridge B is removed from the image forming apparatus A, the protective cover 22 closes the opening 15g to protect the photosensitive drum 9 from external light and dust. When the process cartridge B is attached to the image forming apparatus A, the protective cover 22 is rotated by a rotation mechanism (not shown) so that the photosensitive drum 9 is exposed through the opening 15g as shown in FIG.

Further, as is apparent from FIG. 1, the lower surface of the lower frame 15 also serves as a guide for conveying the recording medium 4, but this lower surface has a central guide portion 15h2 with respect to both side guide portions 15h1. It is formed so as to have a step (FIG. 6). The step of the central guide portion 15h2 is slightly wider than the postcard size width (about 100 mm) of about 10 mm.
2 mm to 120 mm (about 107 m in this embodiment)
(set to about m) and a depth of about 0.8 mm to 2 mm. As a result, the central guide portion 15h2 has a wider transport space for the recording medium 4, and when a thick and strong postcard, business card, envelope, or the like is used as the recording medium 4, these thick recording media 4 are used as the lower frame. There is no risk of jamming by hitting the guide surface of 15. Further, when thin plain paper or the like having a postcard size width or more is used as the recording medium 4, the recording medium 4 is guided by the both side guide portions 15h1 of the lower frame body 15, so that the recording medium 4 is conveyed without rising. Become.

Here, the lower surface of the lower frame 15 which functions as a recording medium conveyance guide will be described more specifically. As shown in FIG. 28, the both-side guide portions 15h1 are in _a state of being bent by a dimension of about La = 5 to 7 mm with respect to the tangential direction X at the nip position N between the photosensitive drum 9 and the transfer roller 6. Since the both side guide portions 15h1 are the lower surface of the lower frame body 15 configured to have the space necessary for supplying the developing sleeve 12d and the toner to the sleeve 12d, they are determined to obtain appropriate developing conditions. The position of the developing sleeve 12d is determined, and when the developing sleeve 12d is brought closer to the nip tangential direction X, the lower frame 15 becomes thin, which causes a problem in the strength of the process cartridge B.

Further, the lower end position 13f of the cleaning means 13
Configured to have a distance L _{b =} about 3~5mm that does not interfere with the cleaning blade 13a and scooping sheet 13b and the like are determined by the required placement for constituting the cleaning means 13, the recording medium 4 to be conveyed to be described later There is.
In this embodiment, the angle β between the perpendicular line from the rotation center of the photosensitive drum 9 shown in FIG. 28 and the line connecting the rotation centers of the photosensitive drum 9 and the transfer roller 6 is set to 5 to 20 °.

Therefore, a step having a depth L _c = 1 to 2 mm is provided only in the central guide portion 15h2, and the portion is brought closer to the nip tangential direction X, so that the strength of the lower frame body 15 is not impaired, and postcards, etc. Thick and stiff recording medium 4
Is designed to be carried smoothly. Note that the thick and strong recording medium 4 is a business card, an envelope, etc. even under general specification conditions of the image forming apparatus, and is almost narrower than the postcard size. Therefore, a central guide having a step is provided. If the width of the portion 15h2 is made slightly wider than the postcard size, there will be no practical problem.

Further, on the outer surface of the lower frame body 15, regulation projections 15i projecting downward are provided on both sides in the longitudinal direction and outside the guide area of the recording medium 4. The protrusion amount of the protrusion 15i with respect to the guide surface of the recording medium 4 is set to about 1 mm. Therefore, even if the process cartridge B is slightly lowered for some reason during image formation, the restriction protrusion 15i
Comes into contact with the lower guide member 23 (see FIG. 1) of the apparatus body 16, and further downward movement is restricted. Therefore, the recording medium 4
A space of at least 1 mm is secured between the lower guide member 23 and the outer surface guide portion of the lower frame body 15 as a transport path of
The recording medium 4 is conveyed without jamming.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the outer surface of the lower frame 15 is formed with an escape recess 15j for the registration roller 5c2. Therefore, the process cartridge B is connected to the image forming apparatus A.
When it is mounted on, the registration roller 5c2 can be mounted close to it, and the size of the entire apparatus can be reduced.

(Assembly Structure of Process Cartridge) Next, assembling of the process cartridge B having the above structure will be described. Referring to FIG. 29, the lower frame 15 first has a fixed malt plane (product name) for preventing toner leakage at the end of the developing means 12 and the end of the cleaning means 13.
A toner leak prevention seal S made of rubber is attached with double-sided tape. Even if the toner leak prevention seal S is not of a fixed shape, a recess is formed in a portion to which the seal is attached, and a liquid substance that is solidified and becomes an elastomer is injected into the recess to attach the toner leak prevention seal. You can

The blade support member 12e1 having the developing blade 12e attached thereto and the blade support member 13a1 having the cleaning blade 13a attached thereto are attached to the lower frame 15 by screws 24a and 24b, respectively. At this time, in the present embodiment, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 29, the blade supporting members 12e1 and 13a are arranged so that the screws 24a and 24b can be screwed in the same direction.
The blade mounting surface of No. 1 is configured to be parallel or substantially parallel.
Therefore, when the process cartridge B is mass-produced, the screwing of the developing blade 12e and the cleaning blade 13a can be continuously performed by an automatic machine or the like.
As a result, a space for a screw rotating driver or the like is secured to improve the assemblability of the blades 12e and 13a, and the molds can be simplified in structure by aligning the mold-removing directions of the housings to reduce the cost.

The developing blade 12e and the cleaning blade 13a may be fixed to the lower frame 15 with an adhesive 24c, as shown in FIG.
You may make it adhere | attach and attach by 24d.
Also in this case, if the bonding can be performed from the same direction, as in the case of screw fixing, the developing blade 1
2e and the cleaning blade 13a can be continuously attached by an automatic machine or the like.

After attaching the blades 12e and 13a as described above, the developing sleeve 12d is attached to the lower frame 15. Next, the photosensitive drum 9 is attached to the lower frame 15. Therefore, in this embodiment, the developing blade supporting member 12e
1 and the cleaning blade support member 13a1 on the side facing the photosensitive drum, and outside the longitudinal image forming region (region C in FIG. 32) of the photosensitive drum 9, the guide members 25a, 25 are provided.
b is attached (in this embodiment, the guide member 2
5a and 25b are integrally formed with the lower frame body 15). The distance L between the guide members 25a and 25b is set to be larger than the outer diameter D of the photosensitive drum 9.

For this reason, after the blades 12e and 13a attached to the lower frame 15 are attached to the photosensitive drum 9, as shown in FIG. 31, guide members 25a and 25b are provided near the both ends in the longitudinal direction (image forming area). It can be attached at the end while guiding (outside). That is, the photosensitive drum 9 is attached to the lower frame body 15 while slightly bending the blade 13a, slightly releasing the developing sleeve 12d, and rotating.

If the members such as the blades 12e and 13a are attached after the photosensitive drum 9 is first attached to the lower frame 15, the surface of the photosensitive drum 9 may be damaged when the blades 12e and 13a are attached. I have something to do. In addition, there is a problem in that it is not possible to perform an inspection such as a measurement of a contact pressure on the photosensitive drum 9 or a mounting position of the developing blade 12e or the cleaning blade 13a during assembly. Further, in the initial state where there is no toner on both blades 12e, 13a, a lubricant is applied to prevent torque increase and blade turning due to close contact with photosensitive drum 9 and developing sleeve 12d in the initial state. It must be carried out before mounting on 15, but at this time there is a problem that inconvenience such as slipping off of the lubricant during assembly is likely to occur.
In this respect, the inconvenience can be solved by incorporating the photosensitive drum 9 at the end as in the present embodiment.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the inspection such as the measurement of the mounting position can be performed with the developing means 12 and the cleaning means 13 mounted on the frame body, and further, the image at the time of assembling the photosensitive drum can be obtained. It is possible to prevent scratches and dents in the formation area. Further, with the developing means 12 and the cleaning means 13 attached to the frame, it is possible to apply a lubricant to them, and therefore the lubricant can be prevented from falling off, and the developing blade 12e, the developing sleeve 12d, and the cleaning blade. There is an effect of preventing torque increase and blade flipping due to the close contact between 13a and the photosensitive drum 9.

In this embodiment, the drum guide members 25a and 25b are integrally formed with the lower frame body 15. However, as shown in FIG. 33, the photosensitive drums are located at both longitudinal ends of the blade support members 12e1 and 13a1. Outside the image forming area of 9,
The protrusions 12e2 and 13a2 integral with the blade supporting members 12e1 and 13a1 may be provided or another guide member may be attached so as to function as a guide member when the photosensitive drum 9 is incorporated.

After the developing sleeve 12d, the developing blade 12e, the cleaning blade 13a, and the photosensitive drum 9 have been assembled in the lower frame body 15 as described above, the bearing member as shown in the perspective view of FIG. 34 and the sectional view of FIG. 26 is attached and one end of the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d is pivotally supported. The bearing member 26 is made of a slide resistant material such as polyacetal, and has a drum bearing portion 26a fitted to the photosensitive drum 9, a sleeve bearing portion 26b fitted to the outer surface of the developing sleeve 12d, and an end of the D-cut magnet 12c. The D-cut hole portion 26c into which the portion is fitted is integrally molded. Alternatively, the sleeve bearing portion 26b may be the developing sleeve 12
It may be configured to be fitted to the outer surface of the sleeve bearing 12i that slides on the outer surface of d, or to be fitted to the slide surface 15Q of the lower frame body 15 that is fitted to the outer surface of the sleeve bearing 12i.

Therefore, the bearing portion 26a is fitted into the end portion of the cylindrical photosensitive drum 9, the end portion of the magnet 12c is fitted into the D cut hole portion 26c, and the developing sleeve 12d is fitted into the bearing portion 26b. The bearing member 26 is fitted on the side surface of the lower frame 15 and provided so as to be slidable in the drum direction as described above.
Support 2d. The bearing member 26 is provided with a ground contact 18a as shown in FIG. 34. When the bearing member 26 is fitted into the photosensitive drum 9, the ground contact 18a is attached.
Contacts the aluminum drum base 9a of the photosensitive drum 9 (see FIG. 10). Further, the bearing member 26
Is attached with a bias contact 18b. When the bearing member 26 is attached to the developing sleeve 12d, the contact 18 is
Conductive member 1 in which b is in contact with the inner surface of the developing sleeve 12d
It comes in contact with 8d.

Thus, the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 1 are
By axially supporting 2d and the bearing member 26, which is a single component, the mounting position accuracy of both members 9 and 12d can be improved, and the number of components can be reduced to facilitate the assembly and reduce the cost. You can

Further, by positioning the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d or the magnet 12c with one member, the photosensitive drum 9 and the magnet 12c can be positioned with high accuracy, so that the photosensitive drum 9 can be positioned. The magnetic force on the surface can be kept constant, and high-definition images can be obtained.

The bearing member 26 is provided with a drum ground contact 18a for grounding the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 1.
Development bias contact 1 for applying a bias to 2d
By providing 8b, miniaturization of parts is effectively performed,
It is also possible to effectively reduce the size of the process cartridge B.

Further, the bearing member 26 is provided with a supported portion for positioning the process cartridge B in the main assembly of the image forming apparatus when the process cartridge B is mounted in the main assembly of the image forming apparatus. The position can be set accurately.

Further, as apparent from FIGS. 5 and 6, the bearing member 26 is formed with a drum shaft portion 26d which is a U-shaped convex portion projecting outward, and the shaft portion is formed as described later. When the process cartridge B is attached to the apparatus main body 16 by 26d, the process cartridge B is supported by the shaft support member 34 to position the process cartridge B. In this way, the photosensitive drum 9
The bearing member 26 that directly supports the process cartridge B
In order to perform positioning when mounting the
Positioning can be performed accurately without picking up processing accuracy and assembly error of other members.

Further, as shown in FIG. 35, the other end of the magnet 12c is received by a recess inside the sleeve gear 12k, and the outer diameter of the magnet 12c is formed slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the recess. Therefore, on the sleeve gear 12k side, the magnet 1
2c is held with play, and is held on the lower side by its own weight of the magnet 12c, or is biased and held to the blade supporting member 12e1 side by the magnetic force of the magnet 12c by the blade supporting member 12e1 made of a magnetic sheet metal such as zinc coat. .

As described above, the sleeve gear 12k and the magnet 12 are
By providing the c with play, it is possible to reduce the friction torque between the magnet 12c and the sleeve gear 12k that rotates and slides, and to suppress the torque of the process cartridge itself.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 31, the charging roller 10 is rotatably attached to the upper frame 14, the shutter member 11b and the protective cover 22 are attached, and the toner feeding mechanism 12b is attached. And toner reservoir 12
A cover film 28 having a tear tape 27 shown in FIG. 36 is attached to the opening 12a1 for sending the toner from the a to the developing sleeve 12d to close the opening 12a1, and the lid member 12f is welded to the inside of the toner reservoir 12a. The toner is stored in the container and the toner reservoir 12a is closed.

As shown in FIG. 36, the tear tape 27 provided on the cover film 28 adhered to the opening 12a1 has one end (the left end in FIG. 36) to the other end in the longitudinal direction of the opening 12a1. (Right end portion in FIG. 36), the other end portion is folded back and is projected outward along the handle portion 14f formed at the side end portion of the upper frame body 14.

Next, the upper frame body 14 and the lower frame body 15 are mutually locked by the locking claws and the locking openings described above, so that both frame bodies 14,
The process cartridge B is assembled by coupling 15 together.
At this time, as shown in FIG. 37, the tear tape 27 has the handle portion 14 f of the upper frame body 14 and the handle portion 1 of the lower frame body 15.
It is exposed from between 5k. Therefore, when using a new process cartridge B, the grip portions 14f and 15k are
The tear tape 27 exposed from the cover is pulled and the tear tape 27 is peeled from the cover film 28 to open the opening 12a.
1 is opened to allow the toner in the toner reservoir 12a to move toward the developing sleeve 12d, and then the toner is loaded in the image forming apparatus A.

As described above, the tear tape 27 is attached to the upper and lower frame members 1.
The tape 27 can be easily exposed when the upper and lower frames 14 and 15 are assembled by being configured to be exposed from between the grip portions 14f and 15k of the screws 4 and 15. Further, the grip portions 14f and 15k are used when the process cartridge B is attached to and detached from the apparatus main body, and even when the operator forgets to remove the tear tape 27, the grip portions are attached when the cartridge is mounted. The presence of the tape makes it easier to notice the existence of the tape 27.
Further, the color of the tear tape 27 is more noticeable than the colors of the frames 14 and 15, for example, when the frame is black, the tear tape 27 is white or yellow to improve the visibility. It is also possible to reduce forgetting to pull out.

If the handle portion 14f of the upper frame body 14 is provided with, for example, a "U" -shaped guide rib or the like so that the tear tape 27 can be temporarily fixed, when the upper and lower frame bodies 14, 15 are joined together, The tear tape 27 can be reliably and easily exposed at a predetermined position.

The process cartridge B in which the upper and lower frames 14 and 15 are combined has the recess 15j for the registration roller 5c2 formed on the outer surface of the lower frame 15 as described above, and as shown in FIG. In addition, the process cartridge B can be easily held by placing a finger on the recess 15j. Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
When the process cartridge B is held by hand, anti-slip ribs 14i are provided on the portions where the process cartridge B can be held, so that the process cartridge B can be easily held. Further, since the registration roller 5c2 is provided in the lower frame 15 of the process cartridge B as described above, there is an advantage that the apparatus main body 16 can be made thinner.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the recess 15j is provided along the vicinity of the locking claw 14a and the locking opening 15b which are the connecting portions of the two frames 14 and 15, so that the recess 15j is formed. When the user holds the process cartridge B by placing his finger on the finger, the gripping force acts in the locking direction to cause the locking claw 14 to move.
The engagement between a and the engagement opening 15b becomes reliable.

Here, the assembly and shipping line of the process cartridge B will be described with reference to FIG. 39 (a).
The lower frame body 15 in which each component is incorporated into the lower frame body 15 and incorporated
(For example, the positional relationship between the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d) is performed. Then, the lower frame body 15 and the upper frame body 14 in which parts such as the charging roller 10 are incorporated are combined to assemble the process cartridge B, and a comprehensive inspection of the entire cartridge B is carried out before shipment. Become.

(Mounting Structure of Cartridge) Next, a structure for mounting the process cartridge B in the image forming apparatus A will be described.

As shown in FIG. 40, the upper opening / closing cover 19 of the image forming apparatus A is provided with a loading member 29 having a fitting window 29a conforming to the outer shape of the process cartridge B. 14f and 15k are inserted into the fitting window 29a and mounted. At this time, the guide protrusion 31 formed on the process cartridge B is guided by a guide groove (not shown) formed on the opening / closing cover 19, and the lower portion of the cartridge is guided by a guide plate 32 whose tip is bent in a key shape. Is inserted.

As shown in FIG. 40, the process cartridge B is provided with a protrusion 30 for preventing erroneous mounting, and the fitting window 29a has a recess 29 into which the protrusion 30 can be inserted.
It is formed in a shape having b. Here, the protrusion 30
4 or the position where the protrusion 30 is provided is shown in FIG.
0 and FIG. 41, for example, the process cartridges filled with the toner having the developing sensitivity suitable for the image forming apparatus A are made different, and the protrusions are different even if the process cartridges having different developing sensitivity are mounted. Three
0 is caught in the fitting window 29a and cannot be mounted. Therefore, erroneous mounting of the process cartridge B is prevented, and unclear image formation by toners having different developing sensitivities is prevented. Not limited to the developing sensitivity, it is possible to prevent the mounting of the process cartridge using, for example, different types of photosensitive drums.

Further, since the concave portion 29b and the protrusion 30 are provided at the positions which come to the front side when the process cartridge is mounted, when the operator mistakenly attempts to mount the process cartridge, the protrusion 30 is inserted into the loading member 29. You can easily see that you are caught in. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a situation in which the image forming apparatus A or the process cartridge B is damaged by an operator trying to forcefully push in the process cartridge B as in the related art.

Next, after inserting the process cartridge B into the fitting window 29a of the opening / closing cover 19, the opening / closing cover 1
9 is closed, the rotary shaft 9f of the photosensitive drum 9 protruding from one side of the upper and lower frames 14 and 15 is interposed by the bearing 46a, and the rotary shaft 12d2 of the developing sleeve 12d is moved by the slide bearing 46.
b and the bearing 46c (see FIG. 35), respectively.
It is supported by the shaft support member 33 shown in FIG. On the other hand, the drum shaft portion 2 of the bearing member 26 attached to the other side of the photosensitive drum 9
6d (see FIG. 35) is supported by the shaft support member 34 shown in FIG.

At this time, the protective cover 22 rotates to expose the photosensitive drum 9, and the drum 9 comes into contact with the transfer roller 6 of the image forming apparatus A. Further, in the process cartridge B, a contact 18a for drum ground contacting the photosensitive drum 9 and a contact 18b for developing bias contacting the developing sleeve 12d.
Further, the charging bias contact 1 which is in contact with the charging roller 10.
8c is provided so as to be exposed from the lower surface of the lower frame 15, and the contacts 18a, 18b, and 18c are the drum grounding contact pin 35a, the developing bias contact pin 35b, and the developing bias contact pin 35b on the apparatus main body 16 side shown in FIG. It is pressed against the charging bias contact pin 35c.

As shown in FIG. 42, the contact pins 35a, 35b and 35c are provided with a drum ground contact pin 35a and a charging bias contact pin 35c on the downstream side of the conveyance of the recording medium 4 with the transfer roller 6 interposed therebetween. A developing bias contact pin 35b is arranged upstream of the transfer roller 6 in the conveyance direction of the recording medium 4. Accordingly, the contacts 18a, 18b, 18c provided on the process cartridge B are also matched to this, and as shown in FIG. 43, the drum grounding contact 18a and the charging bias contact are located downstream of the photosensitive drum 9 in the recording medium conveyance direction. 18c is disposed, and the developing bias contact 18b is provided upstream of the photosensitive drum 9 in the recording medium conveyance direction.
Are arranged.

The arrangement of the electrical contacts of the process cartridge B will be described below with reference to FIG. Incidentally, FIG.
Reference numeral 1 designates a photosensitive drum 9 and respective electric contacts 18a, 18b, 18
FIG. 6 is a plan view of a lower view schematically showing the positional relationship with c.

Now, as shown in FIG. 51, the photosensitive drum 9
On the same side with respect to the longitudinal direction of the flange gear 9c
On the side opposite to the side where the contacts are provided.
b, 18c are arranged, and the photosensitive drum 9
The developing bias contact 18b is arranged on one side (developing means 12 side) where is located, and the drum grounding contact 18a and the charging bias contact 18c are arranged on the other side (cleaning means 13 side). The drum ground contact 18a and the charging bias contact 18c are arranged side by side on a substantially straight line. The developing bias contact 18b is arranged slightly outside the photosensitive drum 9 in the longitudinal direction from the position where the drum ground contact 18a and the charging bias contact 18c are provided. The drum ground contact 18a, the developing bias contact 18b, and the charging bias contact 18c are arranged in this order away from the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 9. Further, the area of the developing bias contact 18b is larger than the area of the drum ground contact 18a and the area of the charging bias contact 18c. In addition, the photosensitive drum 9
Of the developing bias contact 18b outside the position where the arm portion 18a3, which is a drum inner surface contact integral with the drum grounding contact 18a, is in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 9 in the longitudinal direction. , The contact for drum ground 1
8a and the charging bias contact 18c are arranged.

As described above, the process cartridge which is attachable to and detachable from the image forming apparatus and the electric contact between the apparatus main body are
By positioning and abutting against the process cartridge body, it is possible to improve the positional accuracy of the device body contact point and the process cartridge contact point and prevent contact failure. By providing it on the non-driving side, the shape and size of the device main body side contact portion can be simplified.

Furthermore, by providing the contact position of the process cartridge inside the outer shape of the process cartridge, it is possible to prevent foreign matter from adhering to the contact portion, rusting of the contact due to this, or deformation of the contact due to external force.

Further, among the electrical contacts, the developing bias contact is provided at a position closer to the developing device than the photoconductor, and the grounding contact and the charging bias contact of the photoconductor are provided at positions on the cleaning means side. The inner electrode shape can be simplified and the process cartridge can be downsized.

Although each size of this embodiment is shown as an example, the present invention is not limited to this and can be appropriately selected. (1) Distance between photosensitive drum 9 and drum ground contact 18a (X1) → about 6.0 mm (2) Distance between photosensitive drum 9 and charging bias contact 18c (X2) → about 18.9 mm (3 ) Distance between photosensitive drum 9 and developing bias contact 18b (X3) → about 13.5 mm (4) Horizontal length of charging bias contact 18c (Y1) → about 4.9 mm (5) Charging bias contact 18c Vertical length (Y2) → about 6.5 mm (6) Horizontal length of the contact 18a for drum ground (Y3) → about 5.2 mm (7) Vertical length of the contact 18a for drum ground (Y4) → about 5. 0 mm (8) Horizontal length of the contact 18b for developing bias (Y5) → about 7.2 mm (9) Vertical length of the contact 18b for developing bias (Y6) → About 8.0 mm (10) Diameter of the flange gear 9c ( Z1) → About 28.6 mm (1 1) Diameter of gear 9i (Z2) → about 26.1 mm (12) Width of flange gear 9c (Z3) → About 6.7 mm (13) Width of gear 9i (Z4) → About 4.3 mm (14) Number of Teeth of Flange Gear 9c → 33 Teeth (15) Number of Teeth of Gear 9i → 30 Teeth The flange gear 9c and the gear 9i will now be described. The gears 9c and 9i are helical gears, and the gear 9c
When the driving force is received from the main body side, the photosensitive drum 9 mounted with play on the lower frame 15 receives the thrust force in the gear 9c direction.

The gear 9c is used for a black image cartridge using magnetic toner. When this black image cartridge is mounted on the main body of the apparatus, the gear 9c
Is engaged with a gear on the apparatus main body side to receive the transmission of a driving force for rotating the photosensitive drum 9, and at the same time, the developing sleeve 1
The developing sleeve 12d is rotated by meshing with a gear provided in 2d. The gear 9i meshes with a gear connected to the transfer roller 6 on the main body side to rotate the transfer roller. At this time, the rotational load on the transfer roller 6 is not so great.

The gear 9i is used in a color image cartridge using non-magnetic toner. When this color image cartridge is mounted on the apparatus main body, the gear 9c meshes with the gear on the apparatus main body side to receive the transmission of the driving force for rotating the photosensitive drum 9. And gear 9i
Rotates the transfer roller 6 by meshing with a gear connected to the transfer roller 6 on the main body side, and rotates the developing sleeve 12d by meshing with a gear provided on the developing sleeve 12d for non-magnetic toner.

The gear 9c has a larger diameter, a wider width, and a larger number of teeth than the gear 9i. Even if the load applied to the gear 9c is large, the driving force is transmitted and the photosensitive drum 9 is moved. The developing sleeve 12d for magnetic toner can rotate more reliably by transmitting a large driving force while rotating more reliably.

As shown in FIG. 43, the contact pins 35a to 35c have a structure in which the contact pins 35a to 35c are attached to the holder cover 36 so as not to fall off and project therefrom, and the holder cover 36 is attached. The wiring pattern and the contact pins 35a to 35c are electrically connected by a conductive compression spring 38. Also, the contact pin 35
Among the contacts 18a to 18c that are in pressure contact with the a to 35c, the charging bias contact 18c is formed in an arc shape so that the upper support cover 19 has a curvature on the rotation fulcrum 19b side. This is the open / close cover 19 with the process cartridge B attached.
When closing in the direction of the arrow R around the rotation fulcrum 19b, the charging bias contact 18c is closest to the fulcrum 19b and has the smallest radius of gyration associated with the rotation of the opening / closing cover 19.
Good contact with the contact pin 35c is achieved.

(Positioning Structure) When the process cartridge B is mounted and the opening / closing cover 19 is closed, the distance between the photosensitive drum 9 and the lens unit 1c and the photosensitive drum 9 are set.
Positioning is performed so that the distance between the original glass 1a and the original glass 1a is always constant. Next, the positioning configuration will be described.

As shown in FIG. 8, positioning protrusions 15m are formed in the vicinity of both longitudinal ends of the lower frame 15 to which the photosensitive drum 9 is attached, and these protrusions 15m are formed as shown in FIG. When the upper frame body 14 is connected, it penetrates through a through hole 14g formed in the upper frame body 14 and projects upward.

Further, as shown in FIG. 44, the lens unit 1c accommodating the lens array 1c2 for reading the original 2 is slightly rotatable about the shaft 1c3 on the upper opening / closing cover 19 for mounting the process cartridge B. And is attached so as to urge it downward in FIG. 44 by the pressing spring 39. Therefore, the process cartridge B is attached to the upper opening / closing cover 19,
When the cover 19 is closed, the lower surface of the lens unit 1c contacts the positioning protrusion 15m of the process cartridge B as shown in FIG. As a result, when the process cartridge B is mounted in the image forming apparatus A, the distance between the lens array 1c2 provided in the lens unit 1c and the photosensitive drum 9 provided in the lower frame body 15 is accurately positioned.
The optical image obtained by optically reading the original 2 is the lens array 1c2.
The surface of the photosensitive drum 9 is accurately irradiated via the.

Further, in the lens unit 1c, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, a positioning piece 40 is provided, and the piece 40 is configured to slightly project from the through hole 19c of the upper opening / closing cover 19 to the upper part of the cover. As shown in FIG. 46, the positioning piece 40 is provided so as to slightly project on both sides of the document reading slit. Therefore, when the process cartridge B is attached to the opening / closing cover 19 and the cover 19 is closed to form an image, the positioning protrusion 15m of the lower frame body 15 comes into contact with the lower surface of the lens unit 1c as described above, and the original glass 1a. When the document moves, the original glass 1a moves so as to ride on the positioning piece 40. As a result, the document 2 placed on the document glass 1a
Then, the distance from the photosensitive drum 9 provided on the lower frame 15 is always constant, and the photosensitive drum 9 is accurately irradiated with the reflected light from the original 2.

For this reason, the information written on the original 2 is optically read and the photosensitive drum 9 is accurately exposed.
This enables high-quality image formation.

(Drive Transmission Structure) Next, the image forming apparatus A
The transmission of the driving force to the photosensitive drum 9 of the process cartridge B mounted on will be described.

The process cartridge B is connected to the image forming apparatus A.
When mounted on the main body 1 of the photosensitive drum 9,
It is described above that the shaft support member 33 on the 6 side is supported. As shown in FIG. 47, the shaft support member 33 is integrally formed with a support portion 33a of the drum rotation shaft 9f and an abutting portion 33b of the sleeve rotation shaft 12d2. An overlap portion (L _D = 1.8 mm in this embodiment) 33c is formed on the upper portion of the drum supporting portion 33a so as to prevent the mounted drum rotation shaft 9f from floating upward. is doing.

Further, the drum rotation shaft 9f has the support portion 33a.
When supported by the sleeve rotation shaft 12d2, the sleeve rotation shaft 12d2 abuts on the sleeve abutting portion 33b,
Prevents the car from falling down. Further, when the upper opening / closing cover 19 is closed, the positioning protrusion 15p of the lower frame 15 protruding from the upper frame 14 of the process cartridge B comes into contact with the abutting portion 19c provided on the opening / closing cover 19.

Therefore, when the driving gear 41 on the apparatus main body 16 side is driven to transmit the driving force to the flange gear 9c of the photosensitive drum 9 meshing with the gear 41, the process cartridge B is centered around the drum rotation shaft 9f. A reaction force of 47, which tends to rotate in the direction of arrow i, is generated. However, the sleeve rotation shaft 12d2 hits the sleeve abutment portion 33b,
Moreover, since the positioning projection 15p of the lower frame body 15 protruding from the upper frame body 14 contacts the abutting portion 19c, the rotation of the process cartridge B is restricted.

The lower surface of the lower frame 15 functions as a guide for the recording medium 4 as described above. However, since the lower frame 15 abuts against the apparatus main body and is positioned as described above, the photosensitive drum 9 is positioned. The positional relationship between the transfer roller 6 and the guide portions 15h1 and 15h2 of the recording medium 4 is accurately maintained, and the recording medium 4 is conveyed and the image is transferred accurately.

When transmitting the driving force, the developing sleeve 12d is urged downward not only by the rotational reaction force of the process cartridge B but also by the reaction force when the driving force is transmitted from the flange gear 9c to the sleeve gear 12j. It At this time, if the sleeve rotation shaft 12d2 does not abut the abutting portion 33b, the developing sleeve 12d is always urged downward during image formation.
May be displaced downward, and the lower frame body 15 to which the developing sleeve 12d is attached may be deformed. In this respect, in the present embodiment, the above-mentioned inconvenience does not occur because the sleeve bearing 12d2 abuts the abutting portion 33b during image formation.

As shown in FIG. 20, the developing sleeve 12d is biased to the photosensitive drum 9 by a spring 12j via a sleeve bearing 12i. At this time, the sleeve bearing 12i may be configured to be slidable as shown in FIG. This holds a bearing 12m for receiving the rotating shaft 12d2 by a bearing holder 12n, and the bearing holder 12n has a long hole 12 through which the bearing 12m can slide.
n1 is provided and configured. By doing so, as shown in FIG. 49, the bearing holder 12n is supported by abutting against the sleeve abutment portion 33b of the shaft support member 33, and in this state, the bearing 12m can slide in the direction of the arrow in the range of the elongated hole 12n1. It is a thing. In this embodiment, the inclination angle of the abutting portion 33b (shown by θ in FIG. 47) is about 40 °.

Even if the developing sleeve 12d is not supported by the tip of the sleeve shaft, as shown in FIGS. 52 (a) and 52 (b), the lower end of the sleeve bearing 52 and the lower frame member abutting against the lower end of the sleeve bearing 52 are supported. The lower part of 15 may be received by the receiving portion 53 provided in the apparatus main body.

In this embodiment, the flange gear 9c of the photosensitive drum 9 and the drive gear 41 for transmitting the driving force to the flange gear 9c.
As shown in FIG. 47, the engagement with and the vertical line from the center of rotation of the flange gear 9c is such that the line connecting the center of rotation of the flange gear 9c to the center has a slight angle α (about 1 ° in this embodiment). It is configured so that it only shifts counterclockwise. The driving force transmission direction F from the drive gear 41 to the flange gear 9c is upward.
Originally, the angle α can be prevented from being lifted by a downward force by setting the angle α to 20 ° or more, but in this embodiment, it is set to about 1 °.

By setting the angle α to about 1 ° in this way, when the upper opening / closing cover 19 is rotated and opened in the direction of arrow j to remove the process cartridge B from the image forming apparatus A, the flange gear 9c is driven by the drive gear. It becomes possible to smoothly disengage without being caught by 41.
Further, when the drive transmission direction F is directed upward as described above, the drum rotation shaft 9f is pushed upward and tends to come off from the drum supporting portion 33a, but in the present embodiment, the overlapping portion 33c is formed on the supporting portion 33a. Therefore, the drum rotation shaft 9f does not come off from the drum support portion 33a.

(Recycling Structure) The process cartridge B having the above structure is configured to be recyclable. Next, the recycling structure will be described. Generally, conventional process cartridges are discarded when the toner is used up. However, in order to protect the earth resources and the natural environment, the process cartridge B according to the present embodiment, when the toner in the toner reservoir 12a is used up, the upper and lower frames 14, 15 are used.
The toner is stored in the toner reservoir 12a again and can be reused.

That is, the locking claw 14a and the locking opening 15 connecting the upper and lower frames 14 and 15 shown in FIGS. 4, 8 and 9 are connected.
a, the locking claws 14a and the locking projections 15b, the locking claws 14c and the locking openings 15d, and the locking claws 15c and the locking openings 14b are released to release the upper and lower frame bodies 14,
15 can be disassembled. This unlocking is performed by using the used process cartridge B as shown in FIG. 50, for example.
Is set on the disassembly tool 42, the rod 42a is projected, and the locking claw 14a is pushed to easily carry out. Further, even if the disassembling tool 42 is not used, it can be disassembled by pushing the locking claws 14a, 14c, 15c.

After the upper and lower frames 14 and 15 are disassembled as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 as described above, the waste toner adhering to the inside of the cartridge is removed by blowing air or the like for cleaning. At this time, since the photosensitive drum 9, the developing sleeve 12d, or the cleaning unit 13 is a member that is in direct contact with the toner, a large amount of waste toner is attached. On the other hand, since the charging roller 10 is a member that does not come into direct contact with the toner, the amount of waste toner attached is small. Therefore, cleaning of the charging roller 10 can be performed more easily than cleaning of the photosensitive drum 9, the cleaning unit 13, etc., but in the present embodiment, the charging roller 10 includes the photosensitive drum 9 provided on the lower frame 15 and developing. Since the upper frame 14 is provided separately from the sleeve 12d and the cleaning means 13, the upper frame 14 divided from the lower frame 15 can be easily cleaned.

As shown in FIG. 39 (b), this disassembly line divides the upper and lower frame bodies 14, 15 as described above, disassembles and cleans the upper and lower frame bodies 14, 15 separately, and then the upper frame body 14
In this case, the charging roller 10 and the like, and in the lower frame 15, the photosensitive drum 9, the developing sleeve 12d, the developing blade 12e.
It is easy to disassemble and clean each component level such as the cleaning blade 13a.

After cleaning the waste toner and the like, as shown in FIG. 9, a cover film 28 is attached to the opening 12a1 to close the opening 12a1, and the toner filling port provided on the side surface of the toner reservoir 12a. Then, new toner is filled in and the filling port is covered with the lid 12a2. The upper and lower frames 14 and 15 are connected to the locking claw 14a and the locking opening 1 described above.
5a, the locking claw 14a and the locking projection 15b, the locking claw 14c and the locking opening 15d, and the locking claw 15c and the locking opening 14b, respectively, to connect the two frame bodies 14 and 15. As a result, the process cartridge B can be used again.

When the upper and lower frames 14 and 15 are reconnected, the locking claw 14a, the locking opening 15a, and the locking claw 14a.
The locking projections 15b and the like are locked, but it is conceivable that the locking between the locking claw and the locking opening becomes difficult when the number of times the process cartridge B is reused increases. Therefore, in this embodiment, screw grooves are provided near the four corners of the frame. That is, the fitting recess 1 of the upper frame body 14 shown in FIGS.
4d, the fitting convex portion 14e, and the lower frame body 15 fitted with these
A thread groove is formed through the fitting protrusion 15e and the fitting recess 15f. Accordingly, even if the locking by the locking claws becomes difficult, the upper and lower frame bodies 14 and 15 are coupled to each other so that the fitting convex portion and the fitting concave portion are fitted to each other, and the screw is screwed into the screw groove. This makes it possible to firmly connect the two frame bodies 14 and 15. {Image Forming Operation} Next, an operation when the process cartridge B is mounted on the image forming apparatus A to form an image will be described.

The original 2 is set on the original glass 1a shown in FIG. 1, and the recording medium 4 is set on the feeding tray 3. Next, when a copy button (not shown) is pressed, the light source 1c1 is turned on and the original glass 1a is moved to the left and right in FIG. 1 above the image forming apparatus to optically read the information described in the original.

On the other hand, the feeding roller 5a and the pair of registration rollers 5c1 and 5c2 rotate in synchronization with the above-mentioned reading to convey the recording medium 4 to the image forming section. Then, the photosensitive drum 9 rotates in the direction of arrow d in FIG. 1 in synchronization with the conveyance timing of the pair of registration rollers 5c1 and 5c2, the drum 9 is uniformly charged on the drum surface by the charging means 10, and the reading is performed. The optical image read by the means 1 is exposed on the photosensitive drum 9 through the exposing means 11 to form a latent image.

Simultaneously with the formation of the latent image, the developing means 12 of the process cartridge B is driven and the toner feeding mechanism 12b is driven to remove the toner in the toner reservoir 12a from the developing sleeve 1.
The developing sleeve 12 that rotates in addition to being fed in the 2d direction
A toner layer is formed on d. A voltage having the same polarity as the charging polarity of the photosensitive drum 9 and substantially the same potential is applied to the developing sleeve 12d to develop the latent image on the photosensitive drum 9 with toner. The toner image on the photosensitive drum 9 is transferred to the recording medium 4 by conveying the recording medium 4 between the photosensitive drum 9 and the transfer roller 6 and applying a voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the toner to the transfer roller 6. .

The photosensitive drum 9 onto which the toner image has been transferred rotates in the direction of arrow d, and the cleaning blade 13a scrapes off and removes the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum, and the squeeze sheet 13b removes the waste toner reservoir 13
Collect to c.

On the other hand, the recording medium 4 on which the toner image is formed as described above is conveyed to the fixing means 7 by the conveying belt 5d, and heat and pressure are applied in the fixing means 7 to fix the toner on the recording medium 4. And then discharge rollers 5f1,5
The recording medium 4 is discharged to the discharge tray 8 by f2. In this way, the document description information is recorded on the recording medium 4.

[Other Embodiments] In the above-described first embodiment, the developing blade 12e and the cleaning blade 13a as the components are screwed by the screws 24a and 24b. However, as shown in FIG. The insertion protrusions 43a and 43b formed at both ends of the developing blade 12e and the cleaning blade 13a in the longitudinal direction are attached to the apparatus main body 1
When the developing blade 12e and the cleaning blade 13a are forcibly fitted into the fitting portions 44a and 44b of No. 6 and attached to the lower frame 15, the fitting protrusions 43a,
A screw hole 45 for screwing the blades 12e, 13a may be provided near 43b, and a screw hole 45 corresponding to the screw hole may be provided on the apparatus body 16 side. (still,
Instead of the fitting protrusions 43a and 43b, protrusions such as half punches and circular bosses may be provided near both ends of the blades 12e and 13a in the longitudinal direction).

In this way, the process cartridge B is recycled and repeatedly used, and the blade 12
When the fitting portions of e and 13a become loose, both blades 12e and 13a can be firmly fixed with screws.

Further, in the above-described first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 29, in order to incorporate the photosensitive drum 9 into the lower frame body 15 lastly, the outer side of the photosensitive drum 9 is more than the distance L between the drum guide members 25a and 25b. An example in which the diameter D is made small is shown. In this configuration, as shown in FIG.
Even when the photosensitive drum 9 is incorporated in the drum guide member 2
If the outer diameter D of the photosensitive drum 9 is made smaller than the distance L between the 5a and 25b, and the photosensitive drum 9 is incorporated at the end,
As in the first embodiment described above, there is no risk of scratching the surface of the photosensitive drum 9. In FIG. 54, parts having the same functions as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals,
The upper frame body 14 and the lower frame body 15 have a locking projection 47 a and a locking hole 47.
It is to be locked with b and to be connected by a screw 48.

Further, in the above-described first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 35, the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d are supported by the bearing member 26, but the flange gear 9c is provided at one end of the photosensitive drum 9 in the rotation axis direction. When the transfer roller gear 49 is provided and the transfer roller gear 49 is provided at the other end, it may be configured as shown in FIG. In this case as well, parts having the same functions as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals.

In FIG. 55, the flange gear 9c and the transfer roller gear 49 are fixed to both ends of the photosensitive drum 9 by adhesion or caulking, and the bearing member 26 is positioned by the protrusion 49a of the transfer roller gear 49. It is pivotally supported by 26a. In this case, in order to ground the photosensitive drum 9, a drum ground plate 50 having a contact portion bent in a "V" shape at the center is internally fixed inside the photosensitive drum 9,
A drum ground shaft 51 fitted in a hole formed in the center of the transfer roller gear 49 is always in contact with the drum ground plate 50 at its tip. The drum earth shaft 51 is made of a conductive metal such as stainless steel,
9 is also made of a conductive metal such as phosphor bronze or a stainless steel plate. When the process cartridge B is mounted in the image forming apparatus A, the head portion 51a of the drum ground shaft 51 is supported by the shaft supporting member 26 of the apparatus main body. At this time, the head portion 51a of the drum ground shaft 51 comes into contact with the drum ground contact pin on the apparatus main body side to form a drum ground. Even in this case, the positional accuracy of the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d and the like can be enhanced by the bearing member 26, which is a single component for both the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d, as in the first embodiment.

Further, the process cartridge B according to the present invention
Not only when forming a single color image as described above,
It can be suitably applied to a cartridge which is provided with a plurality of developing means 12 and forms an image of a plurality of colors (for example, a two-color image, a three-color image or a full-color image).

As the developing method, various known developing methods such as a two-component magnetic brush developing method, a cascade developing method, a touchdown developing method and a cloud developing method can be used.

As for the structure of the charging means, the so-called contact charging method was used in the above-described first embodiment, but a tungsten wire conventionally used as another structure is provided with a metal shield such as aluminum around the three sides, Positive or negative ions generated by applying a high voltage to the tungsten wire are moved to the surface of the photosensitive drum 9,
As a matter of course, it is also possible to use a configuration in which the surface of is uniformly charged.

Incidentally, as the contact charging means, in addition to the roller type, a blade type (charging blade), a pad type,
Block type, rod type, wire type and the like may be used.

Further, as a method of cleaning the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 9, the cleaning means may be constituted by using a blade, a fur brush, a magnetic brush or the like.

The above-mentioned process cartridge B is provided with, for example, an electrophotographic photosensitive member as an image carrier and at least one of process means. Therefore, as the mode of the process cartridge, in addition to the embodiment described above, for example, the image carrier and the charging means are integrally made into a cartridge, which can be attached to and detached from the apparatus main body. The image carrier and the developing means are integrally formed into a cartridge, which can be attached to and detached from the main body of the apparatus. The image carrier and the cleaning means are integrally made into a cartridge so that it can be attached to and detached from the apparatus main body. Further, there is one in which an image carrier and two or more of the above-mentioned process means are combined into an integrated cartridge, which can be attached to and detached from the apparatus main body.

The cleaning target includes, for example, a transfer roller or a fixing roller in addition to the photosensitive drum.

Further, although the electrophotographic copying machine is exemplified as the image forming apparatus in the above-mentioned embodiments, the present invention is not limited to this, and other image forming apparatuses such as a laser beam printer, a facsimile machine, a word processor, etc. It is also possible to use for.

Here, the transmission of the driving force to the photosensitive drum 9 described above will be described more specifically. As shown in FIG. 56, the driving force is transmitted from the driving motor 54 attached to the apparatus main body 16 through the gear trains G _{1 to} G ₅ to the driving gear G ₆
The driving force is transmitted to the driving gear G ₆ and the flange gear 9 c of the process cartridge B are meshed with each other, and the rotational force is applied to the photosensitive drum 9. The driving force of the motor 54 is the driving force from the gear G ₄ to the gear train G ₇ ~G ₁₁ is transmitted, the rotation force to the feeding roller 5a is transmitted. Further, the driving force of the motor 54 is from the gear G ₁ to the gears G ₁₂ and G ₁₃
It is transmitted to the drive roller 7a of the fixing means 7 via.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 57 and 58, the flange gear 9c which is the first gear and the gear 9i which is the second gear.
Are integrally formed with each other, and a part of both gears 9c and 9i is exposed from the opening 15q of the lower frame 15. When the process cartridge B is attached to the image forming apparatus A, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 9, the drive gear G ₆ meshes with the gear flange 9 c of the photosensitive drum 9, and the gear 9 i integral with the gear 9 c meshes with the gear 55 of the transfer roller 6. 59. In FIG. 59, the solid line part shows the parts on the apparatus main body side, and the two-dot chain line part shows the parts on the cartridge side.

The gear 9c and the gear 9i have different numbers of teeth, and as described above, when a cartridge for recording a black image with magnetic toner is mounted and when a color image other than black is recorded with non-magnetic toner. The rotational speed of the developing sleeve 12d is different from that when the cartridge is mounted. That is, when a cartridge for recording a black image using magnetic toner is mounted, as shown in FIG. 60 (a), the gear 12k of the developing sleeve 12d meshes with the gear 9c. When a cartridge for recording an image of a color other than black using non-magnetic toner is mounted, as shown in FIG. 60 (b), the gear 12k of the developing sleeve 12d meshes with the gear 9i to cause the development. The rotational force is transmitted to the sleeve 12d.

As described above, the gear 9c has a larger diameter, a wider width, and a larger number of teeth than the gear 9i. Even if the load applied to the gear 9c is large, the gear 9c receives the driving force. The photosensitive drum 9 is rotated more reliably, and a large driving force is transmitted to the developing sleeve 12 for magnetic toner.
d is rotated more reliably.

Next, the developing blade 12e and the cleaning blade 13a are attached to the apparatus main body 16 as shown in FIG.
A preferred example of the blade will be described for the case where the blade is forcibly fitted and fitted into the fitting portions 44a and 44b. The cleaning blade 13a will be described below, but the same applies to the developing blade 12e.

As shown in the perspective explanatory view of the cleaning blade 13a and the fitting portion 44b of FIG. 61 and the front explanatory view of FIGS. 62 and 63, the lower portions of the fitting protrusions 43b formed at both longitudinal end portions of the blade supporting member 13a1 are arranged. The taper portion 43b1 is formed by obliquely notching, and the device main body 16
Taper part 4 in which the upper part of the fitting part 44b of
4b1 is formed. Therefore, both the tapered portions 43b1 and 44b when the fitting protrusion 43b is fitted into the fitting portion 44b.
When 1 is in meshing contact, it can be smoothly sandwiched.

Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 63, the fitting projection 4
When 3b is fitted into the fitting portion 44b, the lower end 43b2 of the protrusion 43b abuts against the lower end 44b2 of the fitting portion 44b,
This defines the amount of invasion of the cleaning blade 13a. Therefore, the taper portion 4 is attached to the fitting protrusion 43b.
When 3b1 is provided, it is preferable that the substantially horizontal lower end 43b2 serving as the position reference is left.

When the blade supporting member 13a1 is fitted, the fitting protrusion 43b is fitted into the fitting portion 44b as described above.
However, in the case of automatic assembly, as shown in FIG. 64, the lower frame body 15 is pulled in the direction of the arrow by a tool (not shown) to be elastically deformed and the space between both fitting portions 44b is widened. Then, as shown in FIG. 65, the blade supporting member 13a1 is fitted between the fitting portions 44b. The fitting work at this time is carried out extremely smoothly by the tapered portions 43b1 and 44b1 as described above. Next, when the pulling by the tool is stopped, the deformation of the lower frame body 15 is elastically restored as shown in FIG. 66, and the fitting protrusions 43b are locked and fitted into both the fitting portions 44b. Further, both fitting portions 44b are pressed in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 66 to ensure the locked state. It can be easily assembled in this way.

Further, the same effect can be obtained even if the fitting protrusion 43b is not provided with the oblique taper portion 43b1 but the lower part of the fitting protrusion 43b is formed in an arc shape having a curvature as shown in FIG. 67, for example. Can be done.

Further, as shown in FIG. 68, the fitting protrusion 43b.
Even if the lower corner of the taper portion 43b1 formed in the above is taken and rounded, the fitting into the fitting portion 43b can be smoothly performed. Also, the taper portion 43
Even if the lower portion of the fitting protrusion 43b is simply rounded without providing b1, the fitting property is improved to some extent.

Further, FIG. 69 shows a taper portion 43b1 of the blade supporting member 13a1 to which a PTFE tape 13a3 or the like is attached so that the tape can be smoothly fitted into the fitting portion of the apparatus main body, and FIG. 70 shows the taper portion 13b.
1. Lubricating silicone oil and general grease 1
3a4 or the like is applied to improve the slipperiness of the portion so that it can be smoothly fitted into the fitting portion of the apparatus main body.

When the tape 13a3 is attached or oil or the like is applied, it is not necessary to provide the taper portion 43b1 on the fitting protrusion 43b, but the tape is provided on the lower end 43b2 serving as a positioning reference in order to improve the mounting accuracy. Be careful not to stick or apply oil, etc.

64, 65 and 71 to 75.
The method of attaching the blade will be described in detail with reference to.

When the blade supporting member 13a1 is fitted, the fitting protrusion 43b is fitted into the fitting portion 44 as described above.
Although it may be forcibly inserted into b, FIG. 64 and FIG.
Also, as shown in FIGS. 71 to 75, automatic assembly may be performed using the tools 56 and 57.

That is, first, as shown in the schematic plan view of FIG. 71A and the schematic front view of FIG.
Is mounted on the cartridge support base 60 and is a frame for supporting the blade support member 13a1.
The hook portion 56a of the tool 56 is locked to b. The hook portion 56a is connected to a cylinder 56b, and a pump 56c is connected to the cylinder.

Therefore, the hook portion 56a is fitted into the fitting portion 44.
After locking to b, the pump 56c is operated to increase the distance between the facing fitting portions 44b by about 2 kgf to 6 k.
A force of gf is applied to widen the gap between the facing fitting portions 44b by about 0.5 mm to 2 mm. As a result, the space between the fitting portions 44b is widened as shown in FIG. 64, and in this state, the fitting projection 43b of the blade 13 is fitted into the fitting portion 44b as shown in FIG.
It can be easily inserted in between. Incidentally, the fitting work at this time is performed by the taper portions 43b1 and 44b as described above.
The fitting of both is extremely easily performed by b1.

Now, after the blade 13 has been fitted, FIG.
2, as shown in FIG.
Apply force to narrow the gap. The tool 57 used in this embodiment is a toggle clamp tool, which is a plate member 57a.
A locking hook portion 57a1 is provided at one end portion, and a fixed portion 57c is fixed to a rising portion 57b formed at the other end. This fixed portion 57c has a fulcrum 57d1,
57d2, 57d3 and 57d4, the arm 57e,
A handle 57f and a working arm 57g are pivotally attached. Therefore, the hook portion 57a is locked to the outside of the one fitting portion 44b, and the locking hole 57a is provided at a predetermined position of the plate member 57.
2 is locked to the protrusion 15m of the lower frame body 15. In this state, when the handle 57f is rotated in the arrow direction of FIG. 72 (a), the action arm 57g is rotated, and as shown in FIG. 72 (b), the action portion 57g1 pushes the outside of the fitting portion 44b in the arrow direction. Then, a force is applied by the engagement of the hook portion 57a and the pressing of the action portion 57g1 so as to narrow the interval between the facing fitting portions 44b. In this embodiment, the force is about 1 kg.
By adding f to 4 kgf, the fitting portion 44b facing each other
The space between them is narrowed by about 0.1 mm to 1.5 mm.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 73, the abutment portion 44b3 of the fitting portion 44b abuts the abutment portion 58 of the blade support member 13a1 (see the perspective view of the cleaning blade in FIG. 74), and the lower frame body The positional accuracy of the blade support member 13a1 with respect to 15 is ensured. Also, both fitting portions 44b
The fitting protrusion 43b is locked and fitted into the. In this state, if the screw 59 is screwed into the screw hole 45 and the blade 13a is fixed, the accuracy of the mounting position of the blade 13a is improved.

Further, the lower frame 15 made of plastic is
The synthetic resin is injected and molded in the mold, and after cooling, the mold is disassembled and taken out. However, the fitting portion 44b is opened depending on conditions such as the temperature of the mold, the temperature at which the resin is injected, and the pressure. It may be deformed. However, even if such deformation occurs, the abutting portion 44b3 of the fitting portion 44b is pressed so as to abut against the abutting portion 58 of the blade 13a as described above, so that the deformation is corrected and the component size is increased. The accuracy can be increased. Therefore, the cleaning blade 13a attached to the lower frame body 15 comes into uniform pressure contact with the photosensitive drum 9 also attached to the lower frame body 15 in the entire longitudinal direction. Similarly, the mounting position of the scooping sheet 13b or the like mounted on the lower frame body 15 can be accurately ensured.

Further, the lower frame 15 is moved by the tool 57 as shown in FIG.
By receiving the force for narrowing the gap between the fitting portions 44b from the direction of arrow X in (b), the lower surface of the lower frame body receives the force as shown by the arrow Y for bending outward. Therefore, when the process cartridge B is held by hand as shown in FIG. 38, if the lower frame body 15 has a small thickness, the lower surface of the frame body is easily bent inward, and in an extreme case, the lower frame body 15 is Although there is a possibility that the sleeve 12d may be damaged by coming into contact with the developing sleeve 12d, the bending of the lower frame 15 is prevented by applying a force so that the lower surface of the frame is bent outward of the cartridge as described above. You can Therefore, the wall thickness of the lower frame 15 is reduced, and the developing sleeve 12d is attached to the lower frame 15.
It is possible to provide the process cartridge B in close proximity to the inner surface of the process cartridge B, and it is possible to reduce the size and weight of the process cartridge B.

Although the above description shows an example in which the cleaning blade 13a is attached, the developing blade 12e
Also when attaching, it is possible to attach similarly using the tools 56 and 57. In this embodiment, when the developing blade 12e shown in FIG. 75 is attached, the blade fitting portion formed in the lower frame is brought into contact with the contact portion 12e3 of the blade supporting member 12e1. Here, the developing blade support member 12e1 is provided with a regulating plate 12e4 which is bent in a dogleg shape, and when the regulating plate 12e4 sends the toner in the toner reservoir 12a to the developing sleeve 12d or the developing sleeve 12d. This prevents the toner layer attached to the toner from entering the space (see FIG. 4) formed by the outer wall of the container of the toner reservoir 12a and the developing blade supporting member when the sleeve 12d rotates.

The cleaning blade 13a is attached to the lower frame 15 as described above, and then the developing blade 12 is attached.
Attach e. Then, the developing sleeve 12d is attached, and finally, the photosensitive drum 9 is attached and assembled.

In this way, the gap between the lower frame fitting portions facing each other is narrowed by the tool 57, and the fitting portions are brought into contact with both ends in the longitudinal direction of the blade supporting members 13a1 and 12e1 of the cleaning blade 13a and the developing blade 12e. Therefore, it is preferable that the blade support member has a rigidity higher than that of the fitting portion. Therefore, it is preferable that the lower frame 12 is made of plastic and the blade support members 13a1 and 12e1 are made of metal (for example, iron) sheet metal as in the present embodiment. As the material of the lower frame body 12, polystyrene, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polyphenylene oxide, polyphenylene ether or the like can be preferably used.

In this embodiment, the blades 13a and 12e are also used.
Although an elastic blade made of urethane rubber is used as the blade, when the blades 13a and 12e are made of a material having a high rigidity such as metal, the lower frame fitting portion is not a blade support member but the blade 13a, You may make it contact 12e.

In the above-described embodiment, after the blade supporting member is locked to the locking portion, a force is applied in the direction of narrowing the interval between the opposing frames, so that the frame member receives a force so as to bulge outward. Therefore, even if the frame is thin, it is difficult for the frame to bend when it is held by hand, and for example, the developing sleeve can be prevented from coming into contact with the frame.

Further, when a force is applied in the direction of narrowing the gap between the frames, the blade support is made to abut against both ends in the longitudinal direction, so that even if the frame is deformed due to bending or the like, the blade mounting position is Can be easily secured.

Further, regarding the mounting structure of the cleaning blade 13a and the developing blade 12e, FIG.
Description will be made with reference to FIG. 81. Since the blades 13a and 12e have the same mounting structure in each embodiment described below, the mounting structure of the developing blade 12e will be described below.

As shown in the figure, the developing blade 12e is provided with convex portions 62n1 at both longitudinal ends thereof.
A taper portion 62n2 narrowing downward is formed in the lower part of 1.

On the other hand, the blade support portion 6 is provided on the housing.
6, 67 are provided. The support portions 66, 67 are made of an elastically deformable material and are elastically deformable in the direction of arrow B in the figure. In addition, the support portions 66, 67
Is a hollow interior, reference surfaces 66a and 67a are provided at the lower end, and pressing portions 66b and 67b are provided at the upper end. The supporting members 66 and 67 are provided at intervals of the length of the blade 12n in the longitudinal direction, and the interval between the reference surfaces 66a and 67a and the pressing portions 66b and 67b is the vertical direction of the convex portion 62n1 of the blade 62n. It is constructed slightly shorter than the length.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 76 (B), when the blade 62n is press-fitted in the direction of arrow A in the figure, the taper portion 62n1 abuts against the pressing portions 66b and 67b, and the blade support portions 66 and 67 are viewed in the direction of arrow B. Elastically deforms in the direction.
When the lower end of the convex portion 62n1 hits the reference surfaces 66a and 67a, the blade supporting portions 66 and 67 are moved to the position shown in FIG.
When it is pressed from the outside in the direction of arrow C as shown in (C),
The upper end of the convex portion 62n1 is press-fitted and fixed to the pressing portions 66b and 67b (the hatched portion in FIGS. 76C and 76D is the press-fitting portion D), and the blade 62n is securely attached.

As described above, the blade supporting portions 66 and 67 are elastically deformed and the blade 62n is press-fitted to easily attach the blade. In addition, since it is not necessary to use screws, it is possible to reduce the number of parts and reduce costs.

Second Embodiment Still another embodiment shown in FIG.
Shown in (A) and (B). In this embodiment, press-fitting whites 66c and 67c are provided on the inner surfaces of the blade supporting parts 66 and 67 (in this embodiment, three press-fitting whites 66c and 67c are provided).
It is configured to press-fit while cutting c · 67c.
The press-fitting slots 66c and 67c are provided at one place or at a plurality of places according to the size of the blade protrusion 62n1.

With the configuration as described above, it is possible to reduce the pressure input when attaching the blade 12e, improve the workability, and improve the assemblability.

[Third Embodiment] In the above-described embodiment, an example in which a press-fitting white is provided on the blade supporting portions 66 and 67 in order to reduce the pressure input of the blade 12e has been shown. Shown at 78. 78A is a plan view,
78 (B) is a sectional view taken along line JJ of FIG. 78 (A).

In this embodiment, the blade supporting portions 66 and 67
Are provided with tapered portions 66d and 67d (67d is not shown). The tapered portions 66d and 67d are formed so that the opening is larger than the width of the blade convex portion 62n1 and is smaller than the width of the blade convex portion 62n1 toward the inner portion.

As a result, when the blade 12n is attached, the blade convex portion 62n1 is moved to the tapered portions 66d, 6
7d, and the pressure input can be made smaller than in the first embodiment.

[Fourth Embodiment] FIG. 79 shows still another embodiment.
Shown in (A) and (B). 79A is a plan view and FIG. 79B is a K-K view of FIG. 79A, and only one blade support portion 66 is shown in the drawing.

In this embodiment, the blade convex portion 62n1 is provided with the fitting hole 62n3, and the blade supporting portions 66, 67 (67).
(Not shown) is provided with hinge portions 66e and 67e, and when the blade convex portion 62n1 is press-fitted, the hinge portion 66e
e and 67e are elastically deformed, and a protrusion 66 formed at the tip thereof
f · 67f is fitted in the fitting hole 62n3.

By doing so, the blade 12
It is possible to minimize the pressure input when the e is press-fitted and fixed, and to confirm the positioning when the blade 12e is press-fitted. Therefore, the assembly workability is further improved. still,
When the blade convex portion 62n1 is press-fitted as in the above-described embodiment, if the blade support portions 66 and 67 are shaving while being press-fitted, the blade 12e can be fixed more securely.

Still another embodiment is shown in FIGS. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 80, one of the blade protrusions 62n1 is fitted into and supported by the blade support 66, and the other protrusion 6
2n1 is press-fitted into the blade supporting portion 67 to elastically deform and attach the supporting portion 27 in the arrow direction. With this configuration, when the blade convex portion 62n1 is press-fitted, the inner surface of the blade supporting portion is scraped only on one side, and the assemblability is improved.

Further, in FIG. 81, one of the blade convex portions 62n1 is fitted and supported by the blade supporting portion 66. A screw hole 62n4 is drilled in the other convex portion 62n1, and a screw hole 67 is drilled in the screw hole 62n4 and the blade supporting portion 67.
g together and support with screws. By doing so, unlike the conventional case, the screwing can be provided on only one side, the number of parts can be reduced, and the assembling workability can be improved.

In the above-described embodiment, the blades 12e and 13 are
An example in which the cleaning means having the a attached thereto or the developing means is integrally formed as a cartridge with the photosensitive drum has been shown.
The blade mounting structure according to each of the above-described embodiments can be similarly applied to an image forming apparatus in which a photosensitive drum and a cleaning unit or a developing unit are mounted in the apparatus main body.

In each of the above-described embodiments, an example in which both the developing blade 2n and the cleaning blade 13a are attached with the same structure is shown. However, both blades 12e and 13a are attached.
Even if only one of them is mounted as in the above-described embodiments, the assembling property is improved as compared with the conventional mounting structure.

Next, the above-mentioned cleaning blade 13
a and the blade support member 13a1 will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 82 to 88.

FIG. 82 is a plan view of the blade supporting member 13a1 and the cleaning blade 13a which are integrally formed,
FIG. 83 is a side view thereof. As described above, the cleaning blade 13a is made of polyurethane rubber having a rubber hardness of 60 ° to 73 °, more preferably 62 ° to 68 ° (JIS A hardness). The blade supporting member 13a1 is preferably made of cold rolled steel plate (SECC) having a thickness of 1.0 mm to 1.6 mm, more preferably 1.2 mm in thickness and a flatness of 0.08 or less in consideration of strength and bending accuracy. The support member 13a1 has a bending angle β of 90 ° ≦ β <165 ° (FIG. 83). The both 13a and 13a1 are integrally formed of sheet metal and polyurethane rubber via an adhesive 13a6. At this time, the edge portion 13a5 of the polyurethane rubber 13a is cut by a cutter (not shown) to obtain smoothness. Further, as described above, the support member 13a1 of the present embodiment has the protrusion 43b as a protrusion protruding in the longitudinal direction from the support portion 13a7 that supports the blade 13a made of polyurethane rubber. In addition, this protrusion 4
The lower end 43b2 of 3b is the edge portion 13 of the blade 13a.
It is almost parallel to a5. Therefore, when the support member 13a1 is attached to the frame body 15a, the lower end 43b2 is attached to the frame body 15a.
The edge portion 13a5 of the blade 13a is accurately positioned by abutting the lower end 44b2 on the a side and positioning. Therefore, the edge portion 13a5 of the blade 13a
Can evenly contact the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 9. Further, 45 is a screw hole as a mounting hole,
By storing screws with screws 59, the supporting member 13a
1 is fixed to the frame 15a. In addition to the screw reservoir,
For example, a dowel (same material as that of the frame 15a) may be provided on the frame 15a side, and the hole 45 may be fitted into the dowel and then heat caulked.

In the present embodiment, the mounting hole 45 is provided in the area of the protruding portion 43b. That is, the center of the hole 45 is arranged at a position away from the side end Q of the supporting portion 13a7 of the supporting member 13a1 in the longitudinal direction by a distance P, and the radius r of the mounting hole 45 is set to be smaller than the distance P ( r <P). To give a specific example, the diameter φ of the hole 45 is about 3.2 mm (r = about 1.6 mm) (in this embodiment,
It shows the most preferable size when the screw 59 (FIG. 73) having a diameter of 2.6 mm is used to store the screw, and the hole diameter may be 2.7 mm to 3.6 mm), and P is about 3.
8 mm, steel plate thickness 1.2 mm, blade 13a
A polyurethane rubber having a thickness of about 1.7 mm and a JISA hardness of 65 ° ± 3 ° was used as Also, S = about 13.0 m
m, T = about 9.7 mm, U = about 10.2 mm, R
₁ = about 2.2 mm, R ₂ = about 4.8 mm, R ₃ = about 2.0 mm, R ₄ = 4.5 mm.

Incidentally, S is the distance from the lower end 43b2 of the blade supporting member 13a1 to the edge portion 13a5 of the blade 13a, and T is the distance from the lower end 43b2 to the bent portion i.

By arranging the entire region of the hole 45 in the region of the protrusion 43b, in other words, by providing the region R ₁ · R ₂ · R ₃ especially around the hole 45, the following effects can be obtained. was gotten.

By providing the region R ₁ , the hole 45
When the screws are stored or heat-crimped, some distortion occurs in the steel plate due to the tightening torque and heat, but the distortion does not affect the blade edge 13a5, and sufficient cleaning performance can be secured.

By providing the regions R ₂ and R ₃ ,
When the hole 45 is opened, some distortion occurs in the steel plate,
This distortion is used for positioning of the lower end 4
Since the support member 13a1 can be accurately attached to the predetermined position of the frame pair 15a without affecting the 3b2 and the side end 43b3, sufficient cleaning performance can be secured.

In the above description, the case where the mounting holes are round holes has been described as an example, but the same relationship may be satisfied even for long pores (see FIGS. 63 to 70 and 74). preferable. Therefore, like the support member shown in the present embodiment, when one end is provided with a round hole and the other end is provided with a long pore, only the round hole provided at one end should satisfy the above relationship. If so, a corresponding effect can be obtained. Incidentally, in this embodiment, the long diameter of the long pores is about 4.5 mm, and the short diameter is about 3.2 m.
m.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the long pores are also arranged so as to satisfy the same relation as the above-mentioned round hole, and the entire area of this long and narrow hole is provided in the projecting portion area. Incidentally, the length of the protruding portion on the long pore side is about 9 mm to 10 mm.

Further, in the above-mentioned structure, a plurality of samples in which the length U of the protruding portion 32b was changed within the range of 4 mm to 22 mm were prepared, and the mounting accuracy of the S portion when mounted on the frame 15a was measured. The result is shown in FIG. The lower region shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 84 is the region where the mounting accuracy without causing any practical problems is obtained, and the protrusion 43
If the length (U) of b is within the range of 5 mm to 20 mm,
It was found that sufficient mounting accuracy was obtained.

This is because the length (U) of the protruding portion 43b is 5 m.
If smaller than m, the lower end 43b2 as a positioning reference
Becomes shorter, the positioning accuracy with respect to the frame body 15a cannot be sufficiently obtained when it is attached to the frame body 15a, and conversely, when U is larger than 20 mm, the length of the lower end 43b2 becomes long. The support member 13a1
It is considered that it is difficult to obtain sufficient linearity of the lower end 43b2 when manufacturing the.

Next, the thickness and angular relationship between the support member 13a1 and the blade 13a will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

First, with reference to FIG. 83, the size of each part of the integrally formed support member 13a1 and blade 13a will be described. Note that FIG. 83 is a schematic side view, and the support member 13a is attached to the photosensitive drum 9 in order to facilitate understanding.
1 and the blade 13a are shown enlarged. (1) Bending angle (β) of the support member 13a1 is about 115
Degree (2) Length (h1) of the vertical portion h of the support member 13a1
Approximately 15.5 mm (3) Length of bent portion i of support member 13a1 (i1)
Approximately 7.5 mm (4) Thickness of support member 13a1 (t) Approximately 1.2 mm (5) Virtual penetration amount of blade 13a with respect to photosensitive drum 9 (b) Approximately 0.7 to 1.3 mm (6) Blade 13a Width of the tip surface c of the blade (blade 13a
Thickness of the tip of the blade) (c1) about 1.7 mm (7) length of the vertical surface d of the blade 13a (d1) about 1.5 mm (8) length of the inclined surface k of the blade 13a (k1) about 5. 0 mm (9) Length of flat surface v on the root side of the blade 13a (v1)
Approximately 2.0 mm (10) Length of flat surface (contact surface) m of blade 13a (m1) Approximately 9.5 mm (11) From tip surface c of blade 13a to support member 13a
Length of free end j up to 1 tip (j1) about 7.5 mm (12) Thickness of root of blade 13a (e) about 2.
6 mm (13) Thickness of one end side of the engagement portion of the blade 13a with the support member 13a1 (f) About 0.8 mm (14) Thickness of the other end side of the engagement portion of the blade 13a with the support member 13a1 ( g) Approximately 0.8 mm (15) Set contact angle (α) of the blade 13a with respect to the photosensitive drum 9 (the tangent line at the intersection of the photosensitive drum 9 and the tip of the blade 13a and the flat surface m of the blade 13) Angle) about 23 to 25 degrees (16) Edge portion 13a5 of the blade 13 that abuts the photosensitive drum 9 and the rear end i2 of the bent portion i of the support member 13a1.
The angle (θ) formed by the straight line l1 connecting the line and the flat surface m (contact surface) is about 18 degrees (17) The length of the blade 13a in the longitudinal direction is about 240.
mm First, in the above-described embodiment, a straight line l1 (see FIG. 83) connecting the apex (edge portion 13a5) formed by the tip surface c of the elastic blade 13a and the flat surface m and the rear end i2 of the bent portion i of the support member 13a1. An angle θ formed by the alternate long and short dash line) and the flat surface m will be described. As described above, in this embodiment, this angle θ is set to about 18 degrees.

The condition of this angle θ will be described. First, in order to satisfactorily clean the small-diameter toner, it is possible to increase the contact pressure of the blade 13a with respect to the photosensitive drum 9. This means increasing the virtual new insertion amount b of the edge portion 13a5 of the blade 13a with respect to the photosensitive drum 9 shown in FIG. When the contact pressure is increased, the frictional force F between the surface of the blade 13a and the surface of the drum 9 becomes higher (FIG. 85). Therefore, the blade 13a that originally cleaned the toner while repeating a minute stick-slip with the rotation of the drum 9 further increases the “chatter” at the tip of the blade due to the stick-slip, and the supporting member 13a1 itself also increases. It starts to vibrate. Therefore, in the conventional example, such a vibration of the support member 13a1 causes "chattering" of the blade tip.
Was promoted, and a strange sound was generated (for example, a strange sound was generated when θ = 16 degrees or less). In this case, the angle β is generally 90 ° + the set contact angle γ of the blade 13a, and β>
It is 90 °.

In order to solve the above problems, the applicant of the present invention paid attention to the relationship between the contact pressure of the blade 13a and the sheet metal strength. First, the length of the free end j of the blade 13a is
The contact pressure and the space of the cleaning device are set to about 6 mm to 9 mm. Therefore, the applicant of the present application paid attention to the origin θ of such a condition and conducted an experiment. When the θ is set to 18 ° or more, even if the blade 13a is set to the required contact pressure, the supporting member 13a1 itself It turned out that the noise can be prevented without vibrating. This will be described below.

First, the strength of the support member 13a1 (sheet metal) is
Assuming that the length j1 of the free end portion j of the blade 13a is substantially constant, the length h1 of the vertical portion h of the support member 13a1.
It is determined by the ratio of 1 to the length i1 of the bent portion i. Therefore, in the present embodiment, this relationship is considered in consideration of a slight change in the free end portion j1 and the blade tip edge portion 13a5 and the support member 13a.
The angle θ is defined by the straight line connecting the curved rear end portion i2 of No. 1 and the flat surface m (contact surface) of the blade 13a.

Here, setting θ = 18 ° or more means
Either decrease the angle β or increase the bending portion i,
On the contrary, it is possible to shorten the vertical portion h. In any case, the strength of the support member 13a1 itself can be increased. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, even if the blade contact pressure is increased to increase the stick-slip at the blade tip, the strength of the support member 13a1 is increased to forcefully suppress the vibration. It was Therefore, the support member 13a1 does not generate vibration and noise is eliminated. Here, the larger the angle θ is, the better, and the larger the angle θ is, for example, the longer the bent portion i is, the larger the size of a single cleaning blade is. The device itself becomes large. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the upper limit of the angle θ is set to 22 degrees or less, and the size of the cleaning device as a single cleaning blade is reduced.

Further, considering the strength of the support member 13a1, it is preferable that the lengths of the vertical portion h and the bent portion i satisfy the relationship of f> n · g (n ≧ 0.38). If this relationship is satisfied,
Further satisfactory vibration-free strength can be obtained. In this case, it is preferable that the relationship of n <1 is satisfied so that the device does not become larger than necessary as described above. If the relationship of f> n · g is satisfied, the length of f can be shortened as the length of g is shortened. Therefore, the individual lengths f and g of the support member 13a1 can be shortened. Therefore, the flatness can be increased. Therefore, the blade 13a can be set with high accuracy, and further downsizing can be realized.

More specifically, it is preferable that the vertical portion h of the support member 13a1 and the free end portion j of the blade 13a satisfy the relationship of 2≤h≤2.2j.

Here, the vertical portion h is defined to be 2 or more by
The adhesive width 13a6 between the support member 13a1 and the blade 13a needs to be at least 2 mm regardless of the length of the free end j (in consideration of peeling strength), and it is necessary to specify 2.2j or less. This is because the flatness extremely deteriorates as the size increases.

When the above conditions are satisfied, the cleaning blade 13a and the supporting member 13a which are compact and lightweight are realized.
1 can be obtained. Further, good cleaning was achieved even when the contact pressure of the blade 13 with respect to the photoconductor drum 9 was increased and when small-sized toner was used without causing noise.

The experimental results are shown below.

The length j of the free end satisfies the above condition.
1 = 7.5 mm, vertical portion length h1 = 15.5 mm, bending portion length i1 = 7.5 mm, bending angle β = 115 °,
With the angle θ = 18 °, the cleaning blade in which the blade 13a and the support member 13a1 are integrally formed is raised in contact pressure with respect to the photoconductor drum 9 above the normal contact pressure, and then in a normal environment, a small particle size is obtained. When 4000 sheets were subjected to a durability test with the above-mentioned apparatus using the toner, no abnormal noise was generated even from the initial stage, and the cleaning performance was good.

On the other hand, the length i1 of the bent portion i is set to 5.
When set to 5 mm, the angle θ = 15 °. When the same experiment was performed with such a cleaning blade,
From the beginning, a few hundreds of sheets of noise continued to be generated.

Normally, carbon fluoride or the like is applied as a lubricant to the tip of the blade. However, the fact that the noise does not occur after a few hundred sheets of noise means that a large amount of toner is present in the blade. It is considered that this is because the edge portion 13a5 accumulates and the lubricity is increased.

In order to increase the strength of the support member 13a1, it is possible to consider a measure to increase the thickness of the support member 13a1. However, for example, if the thickness t of the support member is 1.5 m
If it is m, the flatness at the time of manufacturing is inferior.

In the above description, in the case of the toner of small particle size, the example in which the frictional force F is increased and the noise is generated by increasing the blade contact pressure has been described. The diameter toner is not limited to this. For example,
Since the frictional force F is greatly influenced by the matching of the friction coefficient and the resistance between the surface of the image bearing member and the contact surface of the blade,
Since there is a possibility that the noise will be sufficiently generated in the cleaning of the toner having a normal particle diameter even with a low contact pressure, even in this case, the noise can be prevented if at least the conditions of the present invention are satisfied.

As described above, the angle θ formed by the straight line connecting the edge portion of the blade that contacts the image carrier and the rear end portion of the supporting member that is bent and the contact surface is 18 ° or more 22
By setting the temperature at or below °, without increasing the size of the support member,
It is possible to increase the strength of the support member and prevent noise generation.

Next, using FIGS. 83 and 85 to 88,
The thickness relationship of the blade 13a will be described.

In the present embodiment, the thickness of the blade 13a at each location satisfies the relations of c1 <e≤2c, f> g and c1> d. Here, c1: width c1 of the tip surface c of the blade 13a (blade 1
Thickness of tip of 3a) e: thickness of root of blade 13a d: length of vertical surface d of blade 13a f: thickness of flat surface m side of engaging portion of blade 13a with support member 13a1 g: Due to the thickness of the engaging portion of the blade 13a with the support member 13a1 on the side of the inclined surface k, the configuration of the blade integrally formed with the conventional support member generally has a relationship of c1 <d, g> f, 2c1 <e. Met.

The conditions of the embodiment to which the present invention is applied will be described step by step. First, by satisfying the condition of c1 <e, stress concentration on a part of the blade 13a is prevented and permanent deformation is suppressed as much as possible. Furthermore, e ≦ 2c1 and f>
By satisfying the condition of g, the curing shrinkage of the rubber is suppressed as much as possible, and the parallelism in the longitudinal direction of the edge portion 13a5 due to the contraction is made as accurate as possible. Thereby, the parallelism of the edge portion 13a5 can be improved. Further, even if only the parallelism is improved, it is insufficient for cleaning the small particle size toner, and it may not be possible to clean the toner smaller than the average particle size. Therefore, in the present embodiment, as a method for improving the cleaning, it has been realized to increase the contact pressure of the blade 13a with respect to the photosensitive drum 9 by the above-described configuration. That is, as described above, c1> d. As a result, the rigidity of the blade 13a can be improved, and the so-called curl phenomenon in which the tip of the blade 13a is moved in the rotational direction of the photosensitive drum 9 can be prevented. This is probably because the rigidity of the blade 13a in the longitudinal direction could be improved by setting the shape of the blade tip to be c1> d as described above.

Now, the so-called flip-up phenomenon will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 85, the blade 13a has a vertical reaction force N received from the photosensitive drum 9 and the drum 9a.
The frictional force F between the blade 13a and the blade 13a, and the combined reaction force R of the normal force N and the frictional force F act. Therefore, if the contact pressure is increased, N is increased and F is further increased, which may cause a so-called curl (reversal) phenomenon in which the tip of the blade 13a is moved in the rotation direction of the drum 9. However, in this embodiment, as described above, the blade 13a
Since the rigidity of was improved, it was possible to prevent the occurrence of this turning-over phenomenon.

Further, in the present embodiment, the above-mentioned configuration allows
The amount of permanent deformation could be reduced. This will be described below.

The table shown in FIG. 86 is a comparison of the permanent deformation amount of rubber with respect to the blade penetration amount b of the above-mentioned conventional blade shape and the above-described embodiment of the present invention.
That is, the blade 13a was brought into contact with the photosensitive drum 9 with an invasion amount of 0.8 mm and 1.1 mm, and was left in pressure contact for 5 days at a room temperature of 45 ° C. as an accelerating mode. It is the result of measuring the deformation amount). As is clear from this table, the conventional blade shape has a permanent deformation rate of about 10%. However, in the blade shape of the example to which the present invention was applied, the permanent deformation rate was about 5% under the same conditions. According to this embodiment, it is possible to improve the rigidity of the tip portion (due to c> d) and the elastic force on the flat surface (abutting surface) side that abuts the support member 13a1 (due to f> g). It seems to be a tame.

By using the toner having a small particle diameter in the blade shape of the present embodiment, the process cartridge as shown in FIG.
When the durability of 000 sheets was performed in a normal environment, the cleaning property such as damage to the image bearing member 1 was good and there was no particular problem.

Further, in the present invention, the case of the toner having a small particle diameter has been described, but the present invention is not limited to the toner having a small particle diameter, the blade 5 is hard to be turned over, permanent deformation is suppressed as much as possible, and the blade edge is suppressed. Improving the parallelism of is very effective in cleaning toner of normal particle size, not only improving the performance of a single blade,
It has an effect on the long-term stability of the process cartridge and further the image forming apparatus itself.

In the blade shape, the length d1 of the d portion needs to be at least 1 mm. The reason is,
This is because the blade tip is cut in order to accurately form the edge 13a5 after rubber molding. That is, at the time of cutting, the d portion is pressed and the cutter is run in the longitudinal direction from the blade contact surface side to cut, so that at least 1 mm is required as the pressing portion. If the cut part cannot be pressed directly, the edge part 13
There is a possibility that a5 may not be cut accurately.

In order to further reduce the amount of permanent deformation, the overall blade shape according to the above conditions is designed to be thicker. If the contact pressure is designed to be high even if the intrusion amount b is small, the permanent deformation rate is determined by the blade shape, so that the permanent deformation amount can be further reduced.

Next, the contact angle when this embodiment is used will be described.

In addition to the above-mentioned respective elements, the contact angle at the blade tip is an element necessary for maintaining a high cleaning performance stably. Here, as shown in FIG. 87, the contact angle means a tangent line at a point (edge portion) 13a5 where the blade tip 13a5 and the surface of the photosensitive drum 9 contact each other, and 0 from the contact point 13a5 along the blade contact surface m. The angle β formed by a line connecting the point y and the contact point x separated by 0.5 mm. That is, it means the contact angle with the photosensitive drum 9 at the tip of the blade. The contact angle was determined by actually contacting the blade 13a with a certain amount of penetration b into the photosensitive drum 13a, and observing it with a microscope from the cross-sectional direction.

FIG. 88 shows the result of comparing the relationship between the contact angle of the blade tip and the blade penetration amount b between the conventional blade shape described above and the blade shape in the present invention described above. According to the study of the applicant of the present application, the range in which the cleaning performance is stably maintained is 6 ° ≦ β ≦ 16 °. Further, considering various vibrations and the eccentricity of the photosensitive drum 9, it is preferably 8 °. ≦ β ≦ 14 ° is preferable. Based on this, when comparing the shape of the conventional blade and the shape of this embodiment, it is understood that the contact allowable range determined by the penetration amount b is wider in this embodiment than in the conventional example. For example, as shown in FIG. 88, the blade tip contact angle is β = 6
In order to hold in the range of 16 ° to 16 °, the blade penetration amount is 0.5 mm to 1.03 mm in the conventional type (0.53 m in the range).
m). On the other hand, in the above-described present embodiment, 0.6 mm to 1.26 mm (0.66 in range)
It is understood that it is sufficient to suppress the range to (mm). Therefore, the setting range of the intrusion amount b could be expanded. Therefore, when the setting range of the intrusion amount b is wide, the assembling property is improved and the total cost can be reduced. Further, when the setting range of the penetration amount b is the same as the conventional type, the range of the blade tip contact angle can be narrowed, the cleaning property can be stably maintained for a long period of time, and the reliability can be increased. .

When the blade member shown in FIGS. 82 and 83 is incorporated into the process cartridge B and an image forming apparatus A performs a durability test on about 4,000 sheets under a normal environment, damage to the photosensitive member, etc. Good cleaning performance was maintained without causing

[0280] Also, as a precaution, in the above explanations,
The case where the frictional force is increased by increasing the blade contact pressure in the case of the small particle size toner has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to the case of the small particle size toner. Regardless of the conditions of the present invention, it is included in the present invention. This is because it is clear that the effects of the present invention as described above can be obtained if the above conditions are satisfied.

As described in detail above, according to the cleaning blade and the supporting member described in the above embodiment, downsizing can be realized, and the positioning accuracy can be improved when the cleaning blade and the cleaning device are attached to the process cartridge or the cleaning device. It is possible to provide a blade member that can reduce the amount of permanent deformation, prevent bunching (reversal), produce no noise, and can maintain good performance for a long period of time. .

[0282]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
Blade support when attaching the blade member to the frame
The support slopes provided at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the body are
Contact the fitting parts provided at both ends of the frame in the longitudinal direction,
Bend the fitting part in the direction to widen the space between the fitting parts, and
After that, the fitting protrusion provided on the blade support,
Attaching the blade member by locking with the fitting part
Can be facilitated. Because the support slope
Fits into the blade member smoothly.
The bent and bent fitting part returns to its original state and
This is because it is locked to the fitting portion. Furthermore, after that,
A force is applied in the direction of narrowing the gap between the fitting parts, and the fitting is performed.
The frame abutment part and the blade support
The blade support is brought into contact with the provided support contact portion.
Positioning the holding body in the longitudinal direction,
By fixing the support to the frame, the blade member
The mounting position accuracy of can be improved. Why
, Applying force in the direction that narrows the gap between the fitting parts.
Then, by correcting the deformation of the fitting portion, the blade support
Can be moved to the correct position and fixed.
is there.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall cross-sectional explanatory view of a copying machine equipped with a process cartridge.

FIG. 2 is an external view of the copying machine with the tray opened.

FIG. 3 is an external view of the copying machine with the tray closed.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional explanatory diagram of a process cartridge.

FIG. 5 is an external view of a process cartridge.

FIG. 6 is an external view illustrating a process cartridge inverted.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional explanatory view in which the upper and lower frame bodies of the process cartridge are divided.

FIG. 8 is an internal perspective explanatory diagram of a lower frame side of the process cartridge.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory perspective view of the inside of the upper frame side of the process cartridge.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional explanatory diagram of a photosensitive drum.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a charging sound measurement state.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of measurement results of charging noise with respect to the position of the filling material.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a contact for drum ground.

FIG. 14 is an illustration of another embodiment of the contact for drum grounding.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of an example using a drum ground that is not bifurcated.

FIG. 16 is a perspective explanatory view of an embodiment using a drum ground that is not bifurcated.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing a mounting configuration of a charging roller.

FIG. 18A is a perspective explanatory view of an exposure shutter, FIG.
Is a cross-sectional explanatory diagram.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram of a non-magnetic toner feeding structure using a stirring blade.

FIG. 20 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing a positional relationship between the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d and a method of pressing the developing sleeve 12d.

21A is a vertical sectional view showing an AA cross section in FIG. 12A, and FIG. 21B is a vertical sectional view showing a BB cross section in FIG. 12A.

FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram of a pressing force applied to the developing sleeve bearing.

FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram showing a state where the upper end of the squishe is wavy.

FIG. 24 (a) is an explanatory view of a state where the double-sided tape protrudes from the lower end of the squi sheet, and FIGS. 24 (b) and (c) are explanatory diagrams of a state where the sticking tool is attached to the protruding double-sided tape.

FIG. 25 (a) is an explanatory view showing a state in which a squis sheet having a curved lower end is attached to a curved mounting surface, and FIG. 25 (b) is a state in which the curvature of the mounting surface is released and tension is applied to the upper end of the squi sheet. FIG.

FIG. 26 is an explanatory diagram in which the central portion of the lower end of the squishy sheet is formed linearly wide.

FIG. 27 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment in which the squishe sheet mounting surface is pressed and curved.

FIG. 28 is an explanatory diagram of guiding the recording medium on the lower surface of the lower frame.

FIG. 29 is an explanatory diagram of a state in which the photosensitive drum is finally incorporated.

FIG. 30 is an explanatory diagram of an example in which a developing blade and a cleaning blade are attached.

FIG. 31 is an explanatory cross-sectional view of assembling the process cartridge.

FIG. 32 is an explanatory diagram showing a mounting position of a guide member when the photosensitive drum of the process cartridge is incorporated.

FIG. 33 is a structural explanatory view in which a drum guide is provided at the end of the blade supporting member.

FIG. 34 is an explanatory diagram of how the bearing members of the photosensitive drum and the developing sleeve are attached.

FIG. 35 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing a state of the photosensitive drum and the developing sleeve with the bearing member attached.

FIG. 36 is an explanatory diagram of a cover film and a tear tape.

FIG. 37 is an explanatory diagram showing that the tear tape is exposed from the handle.

FIG. 38 is an explanatory diagram showing a state where the process cartridge is held by hand.

FIG. 39A is an explanatory diagram of a process cartridge assembly and shipping line, and FIG. 39B is an explanatory diagram of a process cartridge disassembly cleaning line.

FIG. 40 is an explanatory diagram of a state in which the process cartridge is attached to the image forming apparatus.

41 is an explanatory diagram of an example in which the different process cartridge illustrated in FIG. 24 is mounted.

FIG. 42 is an explanatory view of the arrangement of three contacts provided on the apparatus body.

FIG. 43 is a structural explanatory view of three contacts.

FIG. 44 is an explanatory diagram of a positioning configuration of a lower frame body and a lens unit.

FIG. 45 is an explanatory view of a positioning configuration of a lower frame body and a document glass.

FIG. 46 is an explanatory diagram showing a mounting position of a positioning piece.

FIG. 47 is an explanatory diagram of a relationship between a drum rotation shaft and a sleeve rotation shaft and these shaft support members, and a driving force transmission direction of a driving gear to a flange gear of the photosensitive drum.

FIG. 48 is a perspective view of an embodiment in which the developing sleeve is made to slide easily.

FIG. 49 is a perspective view of an embodiment in which the developing sleeve is made to slide easily.

FIG. 50 is an explanatory diagram of a case where the connection between the upper frame body and the lower frame body is released.

FIG. 51 is an explanatory diagram of gears and electric contacts attached to the photosensitive drum.

FIG. 52 is an illustration of another embodiment for receiving the developing sleeve.

FIG. 53 is a structural explanatory view in which each blade can be fixed with a screw in the structure in which the developing blade and the cleaning blade are fitted to the apparatus main body.

FIG. 54 is an explanatory diagram of another embodiment in which the photosensitive drum is finally incorporated.

FIG. 55 is an explanatory diagram of another embodiment of the bearing member that supports the photosensitive drum and the developing sleeve.

FIG. 56 is a structural explanatory diagram of transmission of driving force from the drive motor of the apparatus body to each member.

FIG. 57 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a flange gear attached to the photosensitive drum and an integral gear are exposed from the lower frame.

FIG. 58 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a flange gear attached to the photosensitive drum and an integral gear are exposed from the lower frame.

FIG. 59 is an explanatory diagram of a drive train on the apparatus main body side and a gear train showing drive transmission to the photosensitive drum and the transfer roller.

FIG. 60 is an explanatory diagram showing that the drive transmission structure to the developing sleeve is different between the magnetic toner and the non-magnetic toner.

FIG. 61 is a perspective view illustrating a portion where a cleaning blade is fitted.

FIG. 62 is a front explanatory view before a cleaning blade is fitted.

FIG. 63 is a front view showing a cleaning blade inserted.

FIG. 64 is an explanatory diagram of a process of fitting and assembling the cleaning blade.

FIG. 65 is an explanatory diagram of a cleaning blade fitting and assembling process.

FIG. 66 is an explanatory diagram of a cleaning blade fitting and assembling process.

FIG. 67 is an explanatory diagram of an example in which the fitting protrusion of the cleaning blade is formed in an arc shape.

FIG. 68 is an explanatory diagram of an example in which the lower corners of the tapered portion are taken so as to have a rounded shape.

FIG. 69 is an explanatory diagram of an example in which a tape is attached to the taper portion.

FIG. 70 is an explanatory diagram of an example in which oil or the like is applied to the tapered portion.

71A and 71B are explanatory views of a state in which a tool is used to widen the space between the fitting portions of the lower frame in order to incorporate the cleaning blade.

72 (A) and 72 (B) are explanatory views of pressing using a tool so as to narrow the space between the fitting portions of the lower frame body.

FIG. 73 is an explanatory view showing a state where the fitting portion of the lower frame member is in contact with both end portions in the longitudinal direction of the blade supporting member of the cleaning blade.

FIG. 74 is a perspective view of a cleaning blade.

FIG. 75 is a perspective view illustrating a developing blade.

FIGS. 76 (A) to (D) are configuration explanatory views for attaching the developing blade.

77 (A) and (B) are explanatory views of an embodiment in which a developing blade supporting portion is provided with a press-fitting margin.

78 (A) and (B) are explanatory views of an embodiment in which the developing blade support portion is tapered.

79 (A) and (B) are configuration explanatory views for fitting and supporting the tips of the developing blade convex portions.

FIG. 80 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment in which only one end of the developing blade is press-fitted into the blade supporting portion.

FIG. 81 is an illustration of an example in which only one end of the developing blade is screwed.

FIG. 82 is a plan view of the blade support member and the cleaning blade which are integrally formed.

83 is a side view of the blade support member and the cleaning blade shown in FIG. 82. FIG.

FIG. 84 is a graph showing the relationship between the length of the protrusion of the support member in the longitudinal direction and the length from the lower end of the protrusion to the blade tip.

FIG. 85 is a schematic diagram showing a force acting on the blade.

FIG. 86 is a table showing permanent deformation amounts.

FIG. 87 is a schematic diagram showing contact angles.

FIG. 88 is a graph showing the relationship between the contact angle and the penetration amount b.

[Explanation of symbols]

A Image forming apparatus B Process cartridge 1 Original reading means 1a Original glass 1b Original pressing plate 1b1 Sponge 1b2 Locking groove 1c Lens unit 1c1 Light source 1c2 Short focus image forming lens array 1c3 Axis 2 Original 3 Feed trays 3a, 3b Axis 3c Stop projection 4 Recording medium 5 Conveying means 5a Feeding roller 5b Friction pads 5c1 and 5c2 Registration roller 5d Conveying belt 5e Guide members 5f1 and 5f2 Discharging roller 6 Transfer means 7 Fixing means 7a Driving roller 7b Holder 7c Heating body 7d Tension plate 7e Fixing Film 7f Tension spring 7g Pressure roller 8 Discharge trays 8a, 8b Shaft 8c Locking protrusion 9 Photosensitive drum 9a Drum base 9b Organic photosensitive layer 9c Flange gear 9d Filler 9e Adhesive 9f Rotating shaft 9i Gear 10 Charging means 10a Spring 10b Roller shaft 10c sliding Receiver 10c1 Stopper portion 10d Slide guide claw 10e Stopper portion 11 Exposure means 11a Opening portion 11b Shutter member 11b1 Shaft 11b2 Abutment portion 11c Torsion coil spring 12 Developing means 12a Toner reservoir 12a1 Opening 12a2 Filling port lid 12b Toner feeding mechanism 12b1 Feeding member 12b2 Arm member 12b3 Shaft 12b4 Locking projection 12b5 Long hole 12c Magnet 12d Developing sleeve 12d1 Ring abutting portion 12d2 Rotating shaft 12e Developing blade 12e1 Blade supporting member 12e2 Projecting portion 12f Lid member 12f1 Hanging member 12g Elastic roller 12h Non-magnetic toner feeding mechanism 12i Sleeve bearing 12j Spring 12k Sleeve gear 12m Bearing 12n Bearing holder 12n1 Long hole 13 Cleaning means 13a Cleaning blade 13a1 Blade support Material 13a2 Projection 13a3 Tape 13a4 Oil 13b Squeeze sheet 13c Waste toner reservoir 13c1 Partition plate 13d Mounting surface 13e Double-sided tape 13f Lower end 14 Upper frame 14a Locking claw 14b Locking opening 14c Locking claw 14d Fitting recess 14e Fitting convex 14f Handle part 14g Through hole 14h Fitting convex part 14i Anti-slip rib 15 Lower frame body 15a Locking opening 15b Locking projection 15c Locking claw 15d Locking opening 15e Fitting convex part 15f Fitting concave part 15g Opening 15h1 Both sides Guide portion 15h2 Central guide portion 15i Control protrusion 15j Escape recess 15k Handle 15m Positioning protrusion 15n Fitting recess 15p Positioning protrusion 15q Opening 16 Device body 16a Handle 17 Cooling fan 18a Drum ground contact 18a1 Base 18a2 Locking hole 18a3 Arm 18a4 hemispherical convex portion 18b present Bias contact 18c Charging bias contact 18c1 One end 18c2 Other end 18d Conductive member 19 Upper opening / closing cover 19a Projection 19b Rotation fulcrum 19c Abutment 20 Tension tool 20a Press tool 21 Sticking tool 22 Protective cover 22a Shaft 23 Lower guide member 24a, 24b Screws 24c, 24d Adhesives 25a, 25b Drum guide member 26 Bearing member 26a Bearing portion 26b Bearing portion 26c D cut hole portion 26d Drum shaft portion 26a Drum shaft portion 27 Tear tape 28 Cover film 29 Loading member 29a Fitting window Numeral 29b Recess 30 Protrusion 31 for preventing incorrect mounting Guide ridge 32 Guide plate 33 Shaft support member 33a Drum support portion 33b Sleeve abutment portion 33c Overlap portion 34 Shaft support member 35a Drum ground contact pin 35b Development bias contact pin 35c Charging bias Contact pin 36 Holder cover 37 Electrical board 38 Conductive spring 39 Pressing spring 40 Positioning piece 41 Drive gear 42 Disassembly tool 42a Rods 43a, 43b Fitting protrusion 43b1 Tapered part 43b2 Lower ends 44a, 44b Blade fitting part 44b1 Tapered part 44b2 Lower end 45 Screw hole 46a bearing 46b slide bearing 46c bearing 47a engaging protrusion 47b engaging hole 48 bis 49 transfer roller gear 49a projection 50 drum grounding plate 51 drum grounding shaft 51a head portion 52 sleeve bearing 53 receiving unit 54 drives the motor 55 transfer roller gear _G 1 ~G ₁₃ Gear S Toner Leakage Prevention Seal M Microphone

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (31) Priority claim number Japanese Patent Application No. 5-31175 (32) Priority date January 28, 1993 (January 28, 1993) (33) Country of priority claim Japan (JP) (72) Inventor Etsuichi Sasako 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Kazunori Kobayashi 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Shinya Noda 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Kazumi Sekine 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Ikemoto Achievement: 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Takeo Shoko 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Adachi Tokyo Ohta Kushitamaru 3-30-2 Canon Inc. (56) Reference JP-A-4-85579 (JP, A) JP-A-62-165670 (JP, A) JP-A-2-131252 (JP, A) Kaihei 3-256058 (JP, A) Actually open 62-140560 (JP, U) Actually open 61-128663 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G03G 21 / 00 G03G 21/10-21/12 G03G 15/08-15/08 507 G03G 15/00 550 G03G 21/16-21/18

Claims (9)

(57) [Claims] 1. A blade member mounting method for mounting a blade member having an elastic blade and a blade support body for supporting the elastic blade to a frame, wherein the length of the blade support body is long when the blade member is mounted to the frame. The support inclined portions provided at both ends in the direction contact the fitting portions provided at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the frame to bend the fitting portions in a direction of widening the gap between the fitting portions, and thereafter, , The fitting protrusion provided on the blade support is locked to the fitting portion, and then, a force is applied in a direction of narrowing the interval between the fitting portions,
The blade support body is positioned in the longitudinal direction by bringing the frame contact portion provided in the fitting portion into contact with the support body contact portion provided in the blade support body to position the blade support body. A method for attaching a blade member, comprising fixing the blade member to the frame. 2. The elastic blade is a cleaning blade that scrapes off residual toner of an electrophotographic photosensitive member used in an image forming apparatus in a state where the blade member is attached to the frame. The method for attaching a blade member according to item 1. 3. The elastic blade regulates a toner layer thickness in a developing sleeve for forming a toner image on an electrophotographic photosensitive member used in an image forming apparatus with the blade member attached to the frame. The blade member mounting method according to claim 1, wherein the blade member is a developing blade. 4. The method for attaching a blade member according to claim 1, wherein the blade support is fixed to the frame by screwing. 5. The blade member attaching method according to claim 1, wherein a jig is used to apply a force to the frame in a direction to reduce a space between the opposing frames. . 6. The blade member attaching method according to claim 1, wherein the support inclined portion has a tapered shape. 7. The blade member attaching method according to claim 1, wherein the support inclined portion has a rounded shape. 8. The taper portion is provided in the fitting portion with which the support inclined portion abuts when the blade member is attached to the frame. 7. A method for attaching a blade member according to any one of 7 above. 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the frame is provided in a process cartridge that can be attached to the main body of the image forming apparatus, and the frame has an electrophotographic photosensitive member. Any one of the blade member mounting methods of.