JPH068608Y2 - Cleaning device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention makes the tip of an upper blade for peeling residual toner contact the surface of a photoconductor, and a lower blade is provided upstream of the upper blade in the rotational direction of the photoconductor. Cleaning device in which the tip side of the toner is brought into contact with the toner and the toner separated by the upper blade is sent to the collecting device side by a rotation collecting member that rotates in a direction opposite to the photoconductor on the side facing the photoconductor. Regarding the improvement of.

[Conventional technology]

An example of a conventional cleaning device will be described with reference to FIG.

1 is a photoconductor configured to rotate in the direction of arrow A, 2
Is a charging device, 3 is a transfer device, 4 is a separating device, and 5 is a cleaning device.

The cleaning device 5 is configured as follows. That is, 6 is a housing having an opening 6a on the side facing the photoconductor 1 over substantially the entire width of the photoconductor 1 in the width direction. Reference numeral 7 is a shaft provided in parallel with the rotation shaft 1a of the photoconductor 1, and is configured to be rotatable in either forward or reverse directions by a solenoid (not shown). Reference numeral 8 is an upper blade attachment member fixed to the shaft 7, and 9 is an upper blade made of an elastic material such as urethane rubber. The tip of the upper blade 9 contacts the surface of the photoconductor 1 only when the solenoid is turned on to remove the toner T remaining on the surface, and is separated from the surface by a predetermined size when the solenoid is turned off. It is configured as follows.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a lower blade that is provided on the upstream side of the upper blade 9 in the rotation direction of the photoconductor 1, and is made of, for example, a sheet having elasticity such as a thermoplastic sheet, and its tip side 10a has a predetermined contact pressure with the surface of the photoconductor 1. The toner T removed from the surface by the upper blade 9 is received by the lower blade 10 and guided in the direction of the roller 12 described later. 11 is the lower end of the lower blade 10
It is a lower blade attachment member that holds 10b.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a roller as a rotation recovery member that sends the toner T removed from the surface of the photoconductor 1 by the upper blade 9 to the recovery device side, and is made of, for example, a sponge, and its rotation axis 12a is parallel to the rotation axis 1a of the photoconductor 1. And is configured to rotate in the direction opposite to the photoconductor 1 (shown by an arrow B in the figure) on the side facing the photoconductor 1. A toner recovery tank 13 as a recovery device has an opening 13a on the side facing the roller 12.

Thus, the toner T removed from the surface of the photoconductor 1 by the upper blade 9 falls toward the lower blade 10 and rolls.
Adhere to 12 surfaces. Then, the toner T that has reached the opening 13a of the toner recovery tank 13 by the rotation of the roller 12 in the direction of the arrow B is stored in the toner recovery tank 13 through the opening 13a.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the above configuration, the copy paper P that has undergone a predetermined transfer by the transfer device 3 may not be separated from the photoconductor 1 by the separation device 4 and may enter the housing 6 together with the photoconductor 1. In this case, the copy paper P is the arrow A on the photoconductor 1.
By the rotation in the direction, as shown in FIG. 5, the tip comes into contact with the lower end of the upper blade 9 to cause a flexure T, and the flexure T presses the tip part 10a of the lower blade 10 against the roller 12. At this time, since the roller 12 is rotating in the direction of the arrow B, the tip 10a is caught by the roller 12 and largely bent as shown in FIG.

In this way, the lower blade 10, which is once wound around the roller 12 and deformed, cannot be used thereafter since the contact pressure or the like on the surface of the photoconductor 1 is not completely restored even if the deformed portion is corrected. is there.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned matters. The purpose of the present invention is to prevent the copy paper from being separated in the housing along the surface of the photoconductor because the copy paper is not completely separated by the separating device. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning device that prevents the lower blade from being caught in the rotation collecting body even when the lower blade is pushed in and receives the pressure of the copy paper.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the cleaning device according to the present invention is provided with a member between the lower blade and the rotary recovery member for restricting the bending of the tip of the lower blade with a slight gap from the lower blade. There is a feature in the point.

[Action]

According to the above configuration, as shown in FIG. 3, the copy paper P enters the housing 6 and the lower blade 10 rotates the recovery member 12.
Even if it is pressed in the direction, the back surface of the lower blade 10 comes into contact with the member 14 for restricting the tip bending, and the extreme bending is prevented.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. Incidentally, the same members as those of the conventional one are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, 14 ... Is a lower blade 10 and a roller.
A tip bending control member for the lower blade (hereinafter referred to as a control member) provided between the lower blade 12 and the lower blade 12, which is made of, for example, plastic and is integrally formed with the lower blade mounting member 11.

G is a slight gap formed between the lower blade 10 and the regulating member 14, and the size of the gap is such that the copying paper P after transfer has the photoconductor 1
When the tip portion 10a of the lower blade 10 is pressed toward the roller 12 side by the copy paper P as it enters the housing 6 along, the tip portion 10a bends in a natural state without being sharply bent. It only has to be the size necessary for.

K is a space formed between the regulating members 14 and is a passage for moving the toner T removed from the surface of the photoconductor 1 by the upper blade 9 to the downstream side (roller 12 side).

Thus, in the above structure, if the separation device 4 does not sufficiently separate the copy paper P, the copy paper P after transfer is the photoreceptor 1
The lower blade 10 by penetrating into the housing 6 along the surface of
Even if the lower blade 10 is pressed against the roller 12 side, only the tip portion 10a located above the lower blade 10 by the regulating member 14 ... It is only displaced to (see Fig. 3).

Therefore, unlike the conventional example shown in FIG. 6, the lower blade 10 is not wound around the roller 12 and is largely bent toward the roller 12 side.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and for example, the regulating members 14 ... May be those that regulate bending of the tip end portion 10a of the lower blade 10, so that a rod-shaped member or a toner flow passage is provided. You may comprise by the plate-shaped member which formed. Further, in the above embodiment, the roller 12 made of sponge is used as the member for sending the toner to the collecting device side, but a brush roller may be used or a plate member may be rotated.

[Effect of device]

As described above, in the present invention, the member for restricting the bending of the tip of the lower blade is provided between the lower blade and the rotary recovery member with a slight gap between the lower blade and the housing. Even if the lower blade is pressed toward the roller by the copy paper that has entered the inside, it is possible to prevent the lower blade from being caught by the rotation collecting body. Further, in the present invention, since only the regulating member is provided, the structure is simple and the cost is low.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a sectional view, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an essential part, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view for explaining an operation. FIGS. 4 to 6 show a conventional example, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are cross-sectional views for explaining the drawbacks of the prior art. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Photosensitive member, 5 ... Cleaning device, 9 ... Upper blade, 10 ... Lower blade, 12 ... Rotating collecting member, 13 ... Collecting device, 14 ... Restricting member, T ... Toner.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A tip of an upper blade for removing residual toner is brought into contact with the surface of the photoconductor, and a tip side of the lower blade is brought into contact with the upstream side of the photoconductor in the rotational direction of the photoconductor.
In a cleaning device in which the toner separated by the upper blade is sent to the collecting device side by a rotation collecting body that rotates in the opposite direction to the photosensitive body on the side facing the photosensitive body, the toner is rotated and collected by the lower blade. A cleaning device characterized in that a member for restricting bending of the tip of the lower blade is provided between the body and the body with a slight gap from the lower blade.