JPH0334766Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field This invention relates to a cleaning device that removes residual toner on a photoreceptor using a cleaning member such as an elastic blade.

Conventional technology Conventionally, in such a cleaning device,
As shown in FIG. 6, a thin plate-shaped sealing member e is provided between the lower opening of the housing d and the photoreceptor b,
The tip of this sealing member e is pressed against the surface of the photoreceptor b with enough force to prevent the toner remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor b from being scraped off, and the toner scraped off from the photoreceptor b leaks from the gap between the housing d and the photoreceptor b. Instead, they were collected inside the housing d.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, if only such a thin plate-shaped sealing member e is provided, the scraped toner accumulates and gradually presses the sealing member e against the photoconductor a, causing the elasticity of the sealing member e to deteriorate. Not only was the toner remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor b scraped off, but the photoreceptor a was also damaged.

Means for Solving the Problems Therefore, the present invention provides a sealing member with a long side 16a.
and a short side 16b that is folded back at a folded part 16c at the tip of the long side 16a.One end of this seal member is attached to the lower end of the housing, and the folded part 16c is attached to the surface of the photoreceptor. The short side 16b is provided so as to protrude inward from the housing.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described. In the figure, 1 is a photoconductor of an electronic copying machine, and 2 is a main body of a cleaning device that removes untransferred toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor 1 after the transfer process. A cleaning member 4 made of an elastic body and having a regular polygonal cross section is rotatably housed. The cleaning member 4
A plurality of edges 4a, 4b are formed at the corners, and these edges 4a, 4b are formed as it rotates.
4b is in contact with the surface of the photoconductor 1 at an interference depth of 0.3 to 0.6 mm with the photoconductor 1, and at the first edge 4a, untransferred toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor 1 and paper separated from the paper are removed. In addition to scraping off powder etc., the subsequent edge 4b scrapes off toner etc. that could not be removed with the first edge 4a. Further, both ends of the rotating shaft 4c to which the cleaning member 4 is attached are connected to both side plates 3b of the housing 3.
A rotary shaft 4 is rotatably supported through a bearing 5 and protrudes outward from the housing 3.
A ratchet gear 7 is attached to one end of the gear c via a one-way clutch 6. The end of a ratchet pawl 8 is engaged with the ratchet gear 7 by a tension spring 14. The base end of the ratchet pawl 8 is pivotally connected to the upper end of the swing link 10 by a pin 11, together with an operating portion 9a of a drive means 9 such as a solenoid. Swing link 10
is rotatably supported on a support shaft 12 at its intermediate portion, and a tension spring 13 is stretched on the lower end side for biasing the drive means 9 in a direction opposite to the operating direction of the drive means 9. The ratchet gear 7 is intermittently rotated as follows.

That is, when the driving means 9 is energized at the start of copying, the operating portion 9a moves to the right, and accordingly the ratchet pawl 8 rotates the ratchet gear 7 clockwise one pitch. Since the ratchet gear 7 is connected to the rotating shaft 4c via the one-way clutch 6, the cleaning member 4 rotates via the rotating shaft 4c from the position shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 1 to the position shown by the solid line in the direction of the arrow in the figure. Then, the edges 4a and 4b provided at the corners come into contact with the surface of the photoreceptor 1, making it ready for cleaning. Note that the number of teeth of the ratchet gear 7 is set in advance to be twice the number of teeth of the corner of the cleaning member 4.

On the other hand, during copying, the cleaning member 4 is in the solid line position in FIG. 1 to remove residual toner on the surface of the photoreceptor 1, and when copying is finished, the drive means 9 is energized again, so the ratchet gear 7 is rotated by one pitch. As a result, the cleaning member 4 enters the standby position shown in phantom lines in FIG. 1, and the edges 4a and 4b are separated from the surface of the photoreceptor 1.

Thereafter, it will be intermittently rotated to the cleaning position and standby position each time copying starts and ends.

Note that the intermittent rotation of the cleaning member 4 may be performed by a Geneva gear or a pulse motor.

On the other hand, a seal member 16 is provided at the lower part of the opening of the housing 3 to prevent toner from leaking from the gap 15' between the photoreceptor 1 and the housing 3. The sealing member 16 is made by bending an elastic thin plate made of mylar film or the like with a thickness of 0.1 to 0.2 mm into a substantially L-shape so that the long side 16a is longer than the short side 16b.
The tip of the long side 16a is fixed near the opening 3a of the housing 3, and the folded portion 16c is pressed against the surface of the photoreceptor 1 due to the elasticity of the long side 16a. Further, the short side 16b is installed so as to face in the opposite direction to the photoconductor 1, and the short side 16b closes the gap 15 between the housing 3 and the sealing member 16, and the short side 16b is a cleaning member. 4, the edge 4a of the cleaning member 4 during rotation;
4b are touching, and these edges 4
Toner and the like adhering to the short side 16b are scraped off by a and 4b.

Note that the seal member 16 has a long side 16a and a short side 1.
6b may be formed separately, and one end side of these long side 16a and short side 16b may be bonded together as shown in FIG.

17 in the figure is the edge 4 of the cleaning member 4.
An edge cleaner 18 removes toner adhering to surfaces a and 4b, and a valve blade 18 closes a space between the upper opening of the housing 3 and the cleaning member 4.

Effects of the Invention As described in detail above, in this invention, the sealing member 16 is provided at the lower part of the opening of the housing 3 so that the folded part 16c contacts the surface of the photoreceptor 1. Even if the removed toner is pressed against the sealing member 16, the two sides 16a and 16b of the sealing member 16 support this pressing force, so the sealing member 16 is strongly pressed against the photoreceptor 1 and the photoreceptor 1 is Problems such as surface damage can be eliminated. In addition, a gap 1 is generated between the housing 3 and the long side 16a of the seal member 16 at the short side 16b of the seal member 16.
5' is closed to prevent toner from entering the gap 15', the elasticity of the sealing member 16 is impaired by the toner entering the gap 15', thereby reducing the sealing effect. Problems can also be resolved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of this invention, in which Fig. 1 is a sectional view of the cleaning device, Fig. 2 is an enlarged side view of the sealing member, Fig. 3 is a side view showing another embodiment of the sealing member, and Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the cleaning device. The figure is a side view showing the driving part of the cleaning member, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the same, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the conventional device. 1 is a photoreceptor, 3 is a housing, 3a is an opening,
4 is a cleaning member, 15 is a gap, 16 is a sealing member, 16a and 16b are each side, and 16c is a folded portion.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] A housing, a cleaning member disposed within the housing for scraping off residual toner on the photoreceptor, and a cleaning member provided in a gap between the lower end of the housing and the photoreceptor; A cleaning device for an electrophotographic copying machine including a sealing member for collecting residual toner scraped off by the member into the housing, wherein the sealing member has a long side 16a and a long side 16a.
a short side 16b that is folded back at a folded part 16c at the tip of the seal member, and the folded part 1 of the long side 16a of the seal member
6c is attached to the lower end of the housing, the folded portion 16c is pressed against the surface of the photoreceptor, and the short side 16b is provided so as to protrude inward of the housing. A cleaning device for electrophotographic copying machines featuring features.