JPH07140785A - Developing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a developing device capable of preventing the developer from scattering/leaking through the vicinity of the developer carrier having the possibility of causing various failures without increasing in the load torque to the device. CONSTITUTION:As for the regulation blade 34, the contact pressure of the contact part with the non image forming area counter part 33b is set so as to be lower than the contact pressure of the contact part with the image forming area counter part 33a. Thus, in the longitudinal end of the contact part 3d, the force for spreading the toner regulated by the contact part 3d to the longitudinal end of the developing roller 33 can be extremely weakened and the toner is prevented from spreading toward the longitudinal both end of the developing roller 33 by the contact part 3d. Moreover, the driving load for the developing roller 33 can be lightened and the load torque to the developing device can be reduced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a developing device used in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile, and a printer, which uses an electrophotographic process, and more specifically, to prevent scattering of a developer from the developing device. It is about improvement.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Scattering / leakage of a developer from a developing device, particularly from both end portions in the longitudinal direction of a developer carrying member, contaminates other units around and sometimes appears as image stains. Therefore, conventionally, various methods have been proposed to prevent the scattering of the developer from the developing device.

For example, a lower seal member that extends in the longitudinal direction of the developer carrying member and seals the lower part of the developer carrying member is provided at a position downstream of the developing area and upstream of the developer amount regulating member. Further, by providing a pair of side seal members for sealing the end portion in the longitudinal direction of the developer carrier at this end portion, it is possible to prevent the developer from scattering from the lower portion and both end portions in the longitudinal direction of the developer carrier. A developing device has been proposed (for example, see JP-A-62-192769 and JP-A-62-208072). As a developing device provided with a pair of side seal members for sealing the longitudinal ends of the developer carrier, the side seal members are provided on the developer housing so as to contact both ends of the developer carrier. Have been proposed (JP-A-62-19276).
No. 8). Further, it has been proposed that a side seal member is arranged so as to be sandwiched between a longitudinal end portion of a developer amount regulating member and a developer carrying member (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-19).
2770). Further, there has been proposed one in which a gap between a side seal member provided at both ends of a developer carrying member and a developer amount regulating member is filled with an elastic seal member (Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 1-164456). reference). Further, charging members are provided at both ends of the developer carrying member in the longitudinal direction,
By making the charge amount of the developer at the both end portions larger than that of the other developer by the charging member, it is possible to prevent the developer from scattering from both end portions in the longitudinal direction of the developer carrier. One has been proposed (see JP-A-63-98677). Further, the contact portion of the developer amount regulating member with respect to the developer carrying member has a predetermined shape, and both ends of the developer blocked by the regulating member on the developer carrying member in the longitudinal direction of the developer carrying member. It has been proposed that the developer is prevented from scattering from both ends in the longitudinal direction of the developer carrying member by restricting the movement of the developer carrier to the developer carrying member (Actual Kaihei 2-69).
348). Further, the diameter of both ends of the developer supply member corresponding to the non-image portions on both ends of the developer carrier excluding the contact portions of the developer amount controlling member is expanded to the outside, and the developer attached on both ends of the developer carrier is developed. It has been proposed to reduce the developer layer thickness to prevent the developer from scattering from both ends in the longitudinal direction of the developer carrying member (JP-A-1-27).
7868). In addition, a belt-shaped film that can strongly charge the developer is provided outside the development width of the developer carrying member, and mechanically and electrostatically preventing the developer from getting into the development width outside, the developer carrying is carried. It has been proposed to prevent scattering from both ends in the longitudinal direction of the body (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-187270). Further, it has been proposed that a member for covering the end area is provided outside both ends of the developer carrying member so as to prevent the developer carrying member from scattering from both ends in the longitudinal direction. No. 2-81546). Further, both ends of the developer carrying member are supported by a pair of positioning members, and an elastic seal member interposed between the pair of positioning members and each end of the developer carrying member is provided in the axial direction of the developer carrying member. By pressing and compressing, and by making the length of the developer amount regulating member in the longitudinal direction larger than the length of the developer carrying member in the longitudinal direction, it is possible to prevent scattering from both ends of the developer carrying member in the longitudinal direction. The above is proposed (see Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 64-30567). Further, it is proposed that a brush whose tip is in contact with the end face of the developer carrier is provided to prevent the developer from scattering from both ends in the longitudinal direction (Actual Publication No. 2-73655). See the bulletin).

[0004]

As described above, various methods have been conventionally proposed in order to prevent the developer from scattering from both ends of the developer carrying member in the longitudinal direction. Sho 63-187270 and Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 2-81
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 546, the movement of the developer to the both ends is regulated by devising the way of applying the side seal member to the both ends of the developer carrier.

However, since the developer amount regulating member is in contact with the entire width of the developer carrying member, the developer regulated at the contact portion between the developer carrying member and the regulating member is the developer at the corresponding contact portion. It spreads toward both ends of the carrier in the longitudinal direction. When the developer spreads in the longitudinal end portion of the developer carrying member in this manner, the developer may leak or scatter from the end portion. When the developer leaks or scatters from the longitudinal end portion of the developer carrier, the developer may contaminate the inside of the image forming apparatus or the image, or the developer may be, for example, the rotating shaft of the developer carrier. Problems such as locking in the developer carrier by entering the bearing may occur.

Therefore, in the conventional developing device, the contact pressure of the developer amount regulating member, which is provided so as to extend to the longitudinal end portion of the developer carrier, with respect to the longitudinal direction of the developer carrier, By setting the contact pressure at the central portion in the direction to be higher than the contact pressure with respect to the developer bearing member, the developer regulated at the central portion in the longitudinal direction of the contact portion between the developer amount regulating member and the developer bearing member is set. The developer carrier is prevented from spreading to both ends in the longitudinal direction. However, with such a configuration, there is a problem that the load torque on the developing device increases because the longitudinal end portion of the regulating member is in contact with the developer carrier with a high contact pressure. .

Further, conventionally, in order to prevent the scattering and leakage of the developer from the lower portion of the developer carrying member, the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 208072, it is known to arrange a seal member extending in the longitudinal direction of the developer carrier so that its free end is in contact with the lower part of the developer carrier. However, the sealing member is, for example, the one disclosed in JP-A-62-208.
In the case of being composed of an elastic sheet as in the example of Japanese Patent Application No. 072, the seal member is deformed by the movement of the surface of the developer carrying member, so that the contact with the developer carrying member is uneven. As a result, there is a problem that the developer may be blown out of the developing device through the gap formed between the seal member and the developer carrying member. Therefore, in order to suppress the deformation of the seal member and maintain good sealing performance, for example, both longitudinal end portions of the seal member are pressed against the surface of the developer carrier, and the surface of the developer carrier moves. A method of making the seal member less likely to be deformed may be considered. However, with this structure, the seal member is pressed against the surface of the developer carrying member with a strong force, which causes a problem that the load torque on the developing device increases.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to perform development from the vicinity of a developer carrying member which causes various problems without increasing the load torque of the apparatus. It is an object of the present invention to provide a developing device capable of preventing the agent from scattering and leaking.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention of claim 1 is a developer carrier for holding and transporting a developer for converting a latent image into a visible image. A developer supply member, which is arranged so as to be in pressure contact with the developer carrying member, supplies the developer to the developer carrying member at a pressure contact portion with the developer carrying member, and an end portion of the developer carrying member. A developer amount regulating member which is arranged so as to abut, and regulates the developer supplied to the developer carrying member to a constant amount at a contact portion with the developer carrying member. In a developing device in which the length of the carrier in the longitudinal direction is set to be longer than the width of the developer supplied by the developer supplying member, the developer amount regulating member is located outside the developing region in the longitudinal direction of the developer carrier. The contact pressure on the edge is lower than the contact pressure on the developing area in the longitudinal direction of the developer carrier. It is characterized in that the set as. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the developing device according to the first aspect, a contact pressure control member for controlling the contact pressure of the developer amount regulating member with respect to the developer carrying member is provided in the developer amount regulating member. It is characterized by that. According to a third aspect of the present invention, a developer carrying member that holds and conveys a developer for making a latent image visible, and a developer carrying member that is arranged so as to be in pressure contact with the developer carrying member, are provided. And a developer supply member for supplying the developer to the developer carrying member at a pressure contact portion with the ends, and ends provided so as to be in close contact with the surface of the developer carrying member at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the developer carrying member. In a developing device having a partial seal member and an inlet seal member provided so that a free end thereof contacts the lower portion of the developer carrier, a free end of the inlet seal member is connected to the developer carrier and the end. And a surface of the portion of the inlet seal member that is sandwiched between the developer carrier and the end seal member, the surface being in contact with the developer carrier. The development of the portion not sandwiched between the developer carrier and the end seal member. Than the material of the surface in contact with the bearing member is characterized in that it has formed a material having a small friction coefficient.

[0010]

In the invention of claim 1, the developer on the developer supplying member is supplied from the developer supplying member to the developer carrying member at the pressure contact portion between the developer supplying member and the developer carrying member. It is carried on a carrier. Then, the developer carried on the developer carrying member is made into a thin layer having a predetermined thickness by controlling the excess developer by the developer amount regulating member at the contact portion with the developer amount regulating member. Here, the contact pressure of the developer amount regulating member with respect to the end portion outside the developing region in the longitudinal direction of the developer carrier is set to be lower than the contact pressure with respect to the developing region in the longitudinal direction of the developer carrier. Since it has been
At the end portion outside the development area, the force for spreading the developer regulated by the contact portion toward the end portion in the longitudinal direction of the developer carrier can be made extremely weak. In the invention of claim 2, the contact pressure control member provided on the developer amount regulating member can easily control the contact pressure of the developer amount regulating member with respect to the developer carrier. According to the invention of claim 3, the free end portion of the inlet seal member is configured to be sandwiched between the developer carrier and the end seal member, and the developer carrier of the inlet seal member and the end seal member. The surface of the portion sandwiched between the member and the developer carrier is brought into contact with the portion of the developer carrier not sandwiched between the developer carrier and the end seal member. Since it is formed of a material having a smaller friction coefficient than the surface material, it is possible to prevent an excessive pulling force from being applied to the inlet seal member even if the surface of the developer carrying member moves.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a developing device adopted in an electrophotographic copying machine (hereinafter referred to as a copying machine) which is an image forming apparatus will be described below. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a copying machine according to this embodiment. In this copier,
The image of the document 13 placed on the document table 12 is read by the reading unit 9, and the data is read by the image processing unit 1.
Sent to 0. The surface of the photoconductor 1 as a latent image carrier, which is rotationally driven in the direction of arrow A in the figure, is uniformly charged by the charger 2. Then, the image processing means 1 is formed on the surface of the photoconductor 1.
Based on the data from 0
A latent image corresponding to the image No. 3 is formed. The latent image on the photoconductor 1 is made into a toner image by supplying toner as a developer from a developing roller 33 as a developer carrying member of the developing device 3 at a portion facing the developing device 3. This toner image is transferred by the transfer / conveyance means 4 onto, for example, a transfer paper (not shown) conveyed by the registration roller 5 at a timing. The transfer paper on which the toner image has been transferred is conveyed by the transfer / conveyance means 4, and when passing through the fixing device 8, the toner image is fixed and discharged to the outside of the machine. Here, the untransferred toner remaining on the photoconductor 1 after the toner image is transferred is scraped off from the photoconductor 1 by the cleaning brush roller 61 of the cleaning unit 6 and collected by the cleaning unit 6. The surface of the photoreceptor 1 after cleaning is
The static elimination lamp 7 eliminates the residual charge.

Next, the developing device 3 according to this embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the developing device 3. The developing device 3 is provided with a toner storage portion 3a that stores non-magnetic toner (hereinafter referred to as toner). The toner containing portion 3a is provided with agitating / conveying members 31a and 31b which are rotationally driven in a direction of an arrow D in the figure and agitate and convey the toner. An opening 3b is formed in the developing device 3 at a position facing the photoconductor 1, and the opening 3b is made of a conductive material to which a predetermined bias voltage is applied.
A developing roller 33 is provided as a developer carrier that is driven to rotate in the direction of arrow B (counterclockwise) in the figure. The developing roller 33 is rotationally driven in the direction of arrow C in the drawing, and a supply roller 32 as a developer supplying member made of an elastic foam material is in pressure contact with the developing roller 33. Further, in the rotating direction of the developing roller 33, an elastic material is formed on the surface of the developing roller 33 on the downstream side of the pressure contact portion 3c with the supply roller 32 and on the upstream side of the opening portion 3b, and one end portion of the developing device is formed. Regulation blade 3 as a developer amount regulation member fixed to the casing
The free ends of 4 are in contact.

In the developing device 3 having the above structure,
The toner in the toner container 3a is agitated and conveyed by the stirring and conveying members 31a, 31.
It is sent to the supply roller 32 by b and the supply roller 3
2 supported on the surface. The toner carried on the supply roller 32 is supplied onto the developing roller 33 by the electrostatic force due to frictional charging caused by the peripheral speed difference between the supplying roller 32 and the developing roller 33 at the contact portion 3c with the developing roller 33. The toner supplied onto the developing roller 33 is regulated by the contact portion 3d with the regulating blade 34 to control the surplus toner to form a uniform toner layer. The layered toner adheres to the surface of the photoconductor 1 due to the potential difference between the developing roller 33 and the latent image on the photoconductor 1 to form a toner image.

By the way, in the developing device 3, the photosensitive member 1 has an image forming area at the center in the longitudinal direction thereof and a non-image forming area at both ends in the same direction. Then, as shown in FIG. 3A, the length of the developing roller 33 in the longitudinal direction is set to be longer than the length of the image forming area of the photoconductor 1 in the same direction, and the central portion (hereinafter referred to as the image forming area facing portion). 33a) faces the image forming area of the photoconductor 1 and both ends thereof (hereinafter, referred to as non-image forming area facing portions 33b) are arranged so as to face the non-image forming area of the photoconductor 1. There is. Further, as shown in the figure, the length of the supply roller 32 in the longitudinal direction is set to be the same as the length of the image forming area of the photoconductor 1 in the same direction, and the developing roller 33 faces the image forming area facing portion. It is arranged so as to be in pressure contact with 33a. Further, as shown in FIG.
The length of 4 in the longitudinal direction is set to be slightly shorter than the length of the developing roller 33 in the same direction.

Conventionally, when the regulation blade 34 is in contact with the developing roller 33 with a uniform contact pressure over the entire width, the toner regulated by the contact portion 3d as shown in FIG. 4B is generated. The contact portion 3d spreads toward both longitudinal end portions of the developing roller 33, and, for example, the spread toner may scatter or leak from both longitudinal end portions of the developing roller 33. When the toner scatters or leaks from both ends of the developing roller 33 in the longitudinal direction as described above, the toner contaminates the inside of the copying machine or the image, or enters the bearing of the rotary shaft of the developing roller 33 and enters the developing roller 33.
Occasionally, problems such as locking the

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the toner regulated by the contact portion 3d is applied to the developing roller 3 at the contact portion 3d.
In order to prevent the above-mentioned problem caused by spreading toward both ends of the developing roller 33 in the longitudinal direction, the contact pressure of the portion of the regulating blade 34 that contacts the non-image forming area facing portion 33b of the developing roller 33 (hereinafter, end portion). The contact pressure) is set to be lower than the contact pressure of the portion of the developing roller 33 that contacts the image forming area facing portion 33a (hereinafter referred to as the center contact pressure). Specifically, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3B, the end contact pressure is set to 10 g / c.
The center contact pressure was set to be about 30 g / cm or less.

As a result, at the end of the contact portion 3d between the developing roller 33 and the regulating blade 34 in the longitudinal direction, the supply roller 32 supplies the image forming area facing portion 33a of the developing roller 33 with the corresponding contact. The force for spreading the toner regulated by the portion 3d to the longitudinal end portion of the developing roller 33 can be made extremely weak, and the toner regulated by the corresponding contact portion 3d can be reduced as shown in FIG. 4A. Thus, it is possible to prevent the developing roller 33 from spreading toward both end portions in the longitudinal direction, and thus it is possible to prevent the above-mentioned problems. Further, compared with the conventional case where the regulation blade 34 is in contact with the developing roller 33 with a uniform contact pressure over the entire width, the driving load on the developing roller 33 can be reduced, and the load torque of the developing device 3 can be reduced. Can be achieved.

Further, in the developing device 3, when the developing roller 33 is configured so that nothing comes in contact with the end portion in the longitudinal direction of the developing roller 33, the toner accommodating portion 3a and the opening portion 3b have the developing roller 33.
The longitudinal end portion and the developing device side plate inner wall surface facing the end portion are communicated with each other through a gap, for example, the stirring / conveying members 31a, 3
It is possible to prevent the problem that the toner floating in the toner containing portion 3a is scattered to the outside through the gap due to the stirring by 1b.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, a foaming elastic member as a contact pressure control member is provided below the portion of the regulating blade 34 facing the non-image forming area facing portion 33b of the developing roller 33. The member 35 is provided, and the elastic force of the foamed elastic member 35 suppresses the deflection of the regulation blade 34, so that the end contact pressure of the regulation blade 34 is reduced to 10 mm.
It is set to g / cm or less.

Next, other components of the developing device 3 according to this embodiment will be described. FIG. 6A shows X in FIG. 3A.
FIG. 6B is a sectional view in the direction of the arrow X-Y, and FIG. 6B is a sectional view in the direction of the arrow YY in FIG. In the developing device 3 according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, the developing roller 3 is provided on the downstream side of the opening 3b in the rotation direction of the developing roller 33.
3, an inlet seal 36 is provided on the upstream side in the same direction of the pressure contact portion 3c between the supply roller 32 and the supply roller 32, extending over the entire area of the developing roller 33 in the longitudinal direction, and having a free end contacting the surface of the developing roller 33. Has been. The inlet seal 36 according to this embodiment is made of an extremely thin (t = 0.3 or less) polyurethane material. Further, an end seal 37 is provided so as to be in close contact with the surface of the non-image forming area facing portion 33b of the developing roller 33 on the downstream side of the opening 3b in the rotation direction of the developing roller 33. The end seal 37 has a function of scraping off the toner that is not used for development and remains on the surface of the non-image forming area facing portion 33b of the developing roller 33 from the surface. Both longitudinal ends of the entrance seal 36 are sandwiched between the surface of the non-image forming area facing portion 33 b of the developing roller 33 and the end seal 37.

Here, conventionally, if excessive tension is applied to the inlet seal 36 by the rotation of the developing roller 33, the inlet seal 36 is easily deformed, and if the inlet seal 36 is deformed, the contact with the developing roller 33 becomes non-uniform. There is a problem that toner may be blown out of the developing device 3 through a gap formed between the entrance seal 36 and the developing roller 33. Therefore, in this embodiment, in order to prevent the above-mentioned problem caused by the excessive pulling force applied to the entrance seal 36 by the rotation of the development roller 33, the surface of the non-image forming area facing portion 33b of the entrance roller 36 of the development roller 33 is prevented. The friction coefficient of the surface of the portion sandwiched between the end seal 37 and the end seal 37 (that is, the free ends at both ends in the longitudinal direction) in contact with the surface of the developing roller 33 is
It is configured to have a friction coefficient lower than that of a portion of the portion which is not sandwiched between the surface of the developing roller 33 and the end seal 37 (that is, a free end portion of the central portion in the longitudinal direction) which comes into contact with the surface of the developing roller 33. There is. Here, as a method of lowering the surface friction coefficient of the inlet seal 36, a method of attaching a Teflon-based or polyimide-based tape to the inlet seal 36 or coating a fluorine-based resin on the surface of the inlet seal 36 can be mentioned. . (Hereafter, margin)

By doing so, it is possible to prevent an excessive pulling force from being applied to the entrance seal 36 even if the developing roller 33 rotates. Therefore, even if the developing roller 33 rotates, the entrance seal 36 can be prevented from being deformed, and the entrance seal 36 always contacts the developing roller 33 uniformly.
It is possible to prevent the occurrence of the problem that the toner is blown out of the developing device 3. Further, the developing roller 3 of the entrance seal 36
Since the friction coefficient of the contact portion with respect to 3 is low, the developing roller 3
The driving load on the developing device 3 can be reduced, and the load torque of the developing device 3 can be reduced.

Further, in the developing device 3 according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4A, the toner on the image forming area facing portion 33a of the developing roller 33 is transferred to the non-image forming area facing portion 33b. Even if the toner is spread a little and is scraped off the surface of the developing roller 33 by the end seal 37 and the entrance seal 36, the scraped toner is not pressed by the end seal 37 of the entrance seal 36 (image formation of the developing roller 33). (Part that contacts the area facing portion 33a)
Of the toner, and a part of the accumulated toner is caused by the rotation of the developing roller 33 and the entrance seal 36 and the developing roller 33.
And the wedge-shaped portion 3e formed by the entrance seal 36 and the developing roller 33.
The toner pool shown in FIG. 6A does not grow and leak from the developing device casing.

[0024]

According to the invention of claim 1, at the end portion of the developer amount regulating member outside the developing area, the developer regulated by the abutting portion is disposed at the end portion in the longitudinal direction of the developer carrier. Since the force to spread to the side can be made extremely weak, it is possible to prevent the developer from moving to the longitudinal end portion of the developer carrier, and thus the scattering of the developer from the longitudinal end portion of the developer carrier. This has the effect of preventing leakage. Further, the contact pressure of the developer amount regulating member with respect to the end portion of the developer amount regulating member outside the developing region is set to be lower than the contact pressure with respect to the developing region in the longitudinal direction of the developer carrier. Therefore, there is an effect that the load torque of the developing device can be reduced as compared with the case where the developer amount regulating member is uniformly in contact with the entire width of the developer carrier in the longitudinal direction. According to the invention of claim 2, the contact pressure control member provided on the developer amount regulating member can easily control the contact pressure of the developer amount regulating member with respect to the developer carrying member. There is an effect that the contact pressure with respect to the longitudinal end portion of the developer carrier can be easily set to an optimum pressure capable of preventing the developer from moving. According to the invention of claim 3,
Since it is possible to prevent an excessive tensile force from being applied to the inlet seal member even if the surface of the developer carrier moves, it is possible to suppress the deformation of the inlet seal member and maintain the developer sealing property stably and satisfactorily. This has the effect of preventing scattering and leakage of the developer. Further, since the frictional resistance of the inlet seal member to the developer carrier can be reduced by the material of the surface of the inlet seal member that contacts the developer carrier, the load torque of the developing device can be reduced. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electrophotographic copying machine according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the developing device in FIG.

FIG. 3A is an explanatory diagram of a relationship between longitudinal lengths of main members of the developing device. (B) is explanatory drawing about the contact pressure of the regulation blade with respect to the developing roller.

FIG. 4A is an explanatory diagram of lateral spreading of toner in the developing device of this embodiment. (B) is explanatory drawing about the lateral spreading of the toner in the conventional developing device.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a foam elastic member.

6A is a sectional view taken along line XX in FIG. 3A. (B) is sectional drawing of the YY line arrow direction in the figure.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Developing Device 32 Supply Roller 33 Developing Roller 33a Image Forming Area Opposing Part 33b Non-Image Forming Area Opposing Part 34 Control Blade 35 Foaming Elastic Member 36 Entrance Seal 37 End Seal

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Naoki Iwata 1-3-3 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A developer carrying member which holds and conveys a developer in order to visualize a latent image, and a developer carrying member which is arranged so as to be in pressure contact with the developer carrying member. A developer supply member for supplying the developer to the developer carrier at a pressure contact portion, and the developer supplied to the developer carrier, the end portion of which is arranged to abut the developer carrier. And a developer amount regulating member that regulates a constant amount at a contact portion with the developer carrying member, wherein the length in the longitudinal direction of the developer carrying member is longer than the developer supply width by the developer supplying member. In the developing device set as described above, the contact pressure of the developer amount regulating member with respect to the end portion outside the developing region in the longitudinal direction of the developer carrier is in contact with the developing region in the longitudinal direction of the developer carrier. A developing device characterized by being set to be lower than the pressure. 2. The contact amount control member for controlling the contact pressure of the developer amount regulating member with respect to the developer carrying member is provided in the developer amount regulating member. Development device. 3. A developer carrying member which holds and conveys a developer in order to visualize a latent image, and a developer carrying member which is arranged so as to be in pressure contact with the developer carrying member. A developer supply member for supplying the developer to the developer carrier at a pressure contact portion, and an end seal provided so as to be in close contact with the surfaces of the developer carrier at the longitudinal ends of the developer carrier. In a developing device having a member and an inlet seal member provided so that a free end of the inlet seal member is in contact with a lower portion of the developer carrier, a free end of the inlet seal member is sealed to the developer carrier and the end seal. A surface of the inlet seal member that is in contact with the developer carrier of the portion sandwiched between the developer carrier and the end seal member,
A developing device, which is made of a material having a friction coefficient smaller than that of a material of a surface which is not sandwiched between the developer carrying member and the end seal member and which is in contact with the developer carrying member.