JPH0633495Y2 - Cleaning device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a cleaning device in a copying machine.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of cleaning device is configured, for example, as shown in FIG. First, the cleaning unit 1 is arranged to face the photoconductor 2 at a downstream side position such as a transfer portion. Here, the cleaning unit 1 comprises a cleaning blade 5 and the like housed in a housing 4 which is slidably attached by means of a guide rail 3 formed along the axial direction of the photoconductor in the main body of the apparatus. Here, the housing 4 is formed by opening a portion facing the photoconductor 2, an inlet seal 6 is provided at an upstream position, and a toner collecting coil 7 is provided in an axial direction at an innermost lower end. .
Further, the cleaning blade 5 has a length corresponding to the axial length of the photoconductor 2, more specifically, at least a developing portion or more so as to surely scrape off the residual toner on the photoconductor 2. The tip thereof comes into contact with the surface of the photoconductor 2 in a pressed state, and is attached to a pressure lever 9 rotatable about a fulcrum 8. More specifically, a blade holder 10 is integrally provided on the upper surface of the cleaning blade 5 with an adhesive or the like, and a stepped screw 11 is fastened to the blade holder 10 and attached to the pressure lever 9. .

In such a configuration, when replacing or cleaning the cleaning blade 5, it is necessary to remove the cleaning blade 5 from the inside of the apparatus main body. In this case, first
After removing the positioning plate on one side of the apparatus main body, the housing 4 is pulled out along the guide rail 3 to the front side. That is, the photosensitive member 2 is pulled out in the axial direction. After pulling out the housing 4, this time, the pressure lever 9 is rotationally displaced by operating from the opening portion of the housing 4, and the stepped screw 11 is placed at the operable position.
Is loosened and the cleaning blade 5 is removed from the pressure lever 9.

However, according to such a conventional cleaning blade attachment / detachment method, the operation of the photoconductor 2 in the axial direction is involved, and since the cleaning blade 5 is in the longitudinal direction, the cleaning unit is placed around the copying machine when attaching / detaching. 1
Need free space for minutes. That is, there is a portion where the floor area cannot be used effectively. By the way, the size of the cleaning blade 5 is, for example, 950 mm in the longitudinal direction, 30 mm in the lateral direction, and 3 mm in thickness. Moreover, the stroke of the attaching / detaching operation is large and inconvenient. Furthermore, it is not only necessary to remove it, but also the stepped screw 11 must be removed, which is troublesome.

Purpose The present invention has been made in view of such a point, and it is a space-friendly state that does not require a special space for attaching and detaching the cleaning blade, and does not require removal of the stepped screw. The purpose is to obtain the device.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a cleaning device in which a cleaning blade rotatably supported about a fulcrum is provided facing a photoconductor, and a stepped screw is attached to the upper surface of the cleaning blade. A pressure lever that regulates the displacement of the cleaning blade in the axial direction of the photoconductor and is engageable and disengageable in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the photoconductor is provided at a position where the screw is engaged and disengaged from the stepped screw. A pressing member for restricting the displacement of the cleaning blade in the direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the photoconductor is provided.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. First, a schematic structure of a copying machine to which this embodiment is applied will be described with reference to FIG. A drum-shaped photosensitive member 16 is provided in the center of the copying machine body 15. On the other hand, on the upper side, there is provided a conveyor belt 18 or the like for conveying an original (not shown) inserted from the original table 17 in a turn, and the original is conveyed so that the original can be collected in a discharge tray 19 below the original table 17. The system is configured. Further, an optical system for projecting an image of the original document conveyed by the charging charger 20 and the conveying belt 18 around the photoconductor 16 (for example,
A converging optical transmitter lens array) 21, a developing device 22, a transfer / separation charger 23, and a cleaning unit 24 are sequentially provided. On the other hand, a transfer paper feed table 25 is provided below the paper discharge tray 19 and the like, and a substantially horizontal conveyance path A is set toward the transfer portion of the photoconductor 16. The transfer belt 26 and the fixing roller 27 are sequentially provided for the transfer sheet after the transfer.

The main body 15 of the copying machine is divided into an upper unit 15a and a lower unit 15b in a crocodile-like manner with the conveyance path A as a boundary, and the upper unit 15a side has a fulcrum 28 with respect to the lower unit 15b. It can be freely opened and closed.

Thus, the cleaning unit 24 in this embodiment is
The structure will be described with reference to FIG. First, a housing 29 having an opening on the side facing the photoconductor 16 is provided, an inlet seal 30 is provided at the most upstream position, and a toner recovery coil 31 for sending recovered toner to the side is provided at the lowest internal position. On the other hand, at the opening of the housing 29, there is provided a cleaning blade 32 whose tip is opposed to and in contact with the photoconductor 16. Here, the cleaning blade 32 is attached to a pressure lever 34 which is rotatable around a fulcrum 33. or,
A compression spring 35 is provided between the pressure lever 34 and the housing 29. As a result, the cleaning blade 32 is in pressure contact with the surface of the photoconductor 16. By the way, the cleaning blade 32 has a longitudinal direction in the axial direction of the photoconductor 16, and a blade holder 36 is integrally attached to the upper surface by adhesion or the like.

The cleaning blade 32 is detachably attached to the pressure lever 34 with a stepped screw 37. Here, the stepped screw 37 has a threaded portion 37a that is fastened to the blade holder 36 and a rounded stepped portion 37b having a larger diameter than the threaded portion 37a. A hemispherical projection 37c is also formed on the.
Further, the pressure lever 34 has a stepped portion 37b of the stepped screw 37.
A notch 34a is formed so as to engage with and disengage from. The notch 34a is formed by opening in the direction B orthogonal to the axial direction of the photoconductor 16 (that is, the lateral direction of the cleaning blade 32), and its width matches the diameter of the step 37b. The size is set to As a result, the step 37b
When the notch 34a is engaged with the notch 34a, the movement of the cleaning blade 32 in the axial direction of the photoconductor (the blade longitudinal direction) is restricted. On the other hand, the engagement between the stepped portion 37b and the cutout portion 34a is not restricted in the blade width direction, but can be engaged and disengaged in this direction. Further, a leaf spring 38 serving as a pressing member is fixed to the upper surface of the pressure lever 34 with a screw 39. The leaf spring 38 is formed in a substantially L-shape, and the pressing lever 34
It is attached so as to cover and shows elasticity. Here, the leaf spring 38 is formed in such a state that it can also cover the protrusion 37c of the stepped screw 37, and the protrusion 37 corresponds to the protrusion.
An elongated hole 38a having a size with which c can be engaged is formed. The long hole 38a is formed such that the width in the short side direction of the blade corresponds to the diameter of the protrusion 37c and is long in the long side direction of the blade.
As a result, the movement of the cleaning blade 32 in the lateral direction B is restricted when the protrusion 37c and the elongated hole 38a are engaged with each other. The long hole 38 formed in the leaf spring 38
When a is simply punched out, the edge portion of the sheet metal may bite into the protrusion 37c and may not smoothly enter the elongated hole 38a. Therefore, in practice, it is formed by drawing as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4. The edge portion of the sheet metal is formed to be in the R state.

In such a configuration, in the mounted state, the notch 34a of the pressure lever 34 is engaged with the step portion 37b of the stepped screw 37 to restrict the movement of the cleaning blade 32 in the longitudinal direction, and the protrusion 37c is provided. The long hole 38a of the leaf spring 38 is engaged to restrict movement of the cleaning blade 32 in the lateral direction. Thus, the tip of the cleaning blade 32 is pressed against the surface of the photoconductor 16 under the urging force of the compression spring 35 while being positioned with respect to the pressure lever 34, and a predetermined cleaning effect is exhibited.

Then, consider a case where the cleaning blade 32 is detached and replaced. In such a case, first, the upper unit 15a is opened and the photoconductor 16 is removed. As a result, the portion where the photoconductor 16 is present becomes a space. In this state, the tip of the leaf spring 38 is gripped, and the leaf spring 38 is pushed up and displaced in the direction indicated by the arrow C in FIG. Here, since it is the leaf spring 38, it is elastically displaced as shown by an imaginary line. As a result, the leaf spring 38
The long hole 38a of the is removed from the protrusion 37c. In this state, there is nothing that restricts the movement of the blade in the lateral direction B. Therefore, if the cleaning blade 32 is pulled in the lateral direction B as it is, the stepped portion 37b moves along the cutout portion 34a and comes out. Removed from 34. That is, the cleaning blade 32 is detached from the pressure lever 34 while the blade holder 36 and the stepped screw 37 are integrated. When installing the cleaning blade 32, the reverse procedure may be performed.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the cleaning blade 32 can be attached / detached by the operation in the blade width direction. Particularly, according to this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning blade 32 can be attached and detached by an operation from the copy operation surface side where the original table 17 and the like are present. Therefore, it is not necessary to secure a large space around the main body 15 of the copying machine for attaching and detaching the cleaning unit. In addition, the stroke for attaching and detaching the blade is short, and the operability is good. This also improves the attachability / detachability because the stepped screw 37 does not have to be removed when attaching / detaching.

Effect This invention mounts a stepped screw on the upper surface of the cleaning blade, and restricts the displacement in the blade longitudinal direction at the position where it engages with the stepped screw, but provides a pressure lever that can be engaged and disengaged in the blade short direction. In addition, since the pressing member that is engaged with and disengaged from the stepped screw to restrict the displacement in the blade width direction is provided, the pressing member is operated to disengage from the stepped screw when the cleaning blade is attached or detached. As a result, the blade can be attached / detached by operating in the blade lateral direction, there is no need to secure a wasteful empty space corresponding to the blade longitudinal direction, and the stepped screw removal operation is not required when attaching / detaching the blade. It has good operability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical side view showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the entire copying machine, FIG. 3 is a plan view of a part of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional side view showing a conventional example. 16 ... Photoconductor, 32 ... Cleaning blade, 33 ... Support point, 34
... Pressure lever, 34a ... Notch, 37 ... Stepped screw, 37b ... Step, 37c ... Projection, 38 ... Leaf spring (pressing member)

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A cleaning device provided with a cleaning blade rotatably supported about a fulcrum so as to face a photosensitive member. A stepped screw is attached to the upper surface of the cleaning blade, and a position where the stepped screw is engaged. Is provided with a pressure lever that regulates the displacement of the cleaning blade in the axial direction of the photoconductor and is engageable and disengageable in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the photoconductor. A cleaning device provided with a pressing member for restricting displacement in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction.