JPH0734439Y2 - Electrostatic recording device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to an electrostatic recording apparatus including a cleaning device that removes and removes toner remaining on a photosensitive drum after image transfer by a cleaning blade.

[Background of the invention]

The cleaning device of the electrostatic recording device converts the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum into a toner image by a developing device, transfers it to a recording sheet as a visible image, and then scrapes off the toner remaining on the drum surface with a blade, The scraped toner is guided to the toner container by the toner guide member located below the blade.

The container body of this cleaning device is arranged so as to face the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum, and it is naturally installed with a slight gap kept from the drum surface which is the rotating body.

On the other hand, the blade and the toner guide member housed in the container body are also attached with a slight gap between them and the inner side surface of the container body in order to maintain close contact and followability to the drum surface.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

Therefore, especially near the inner surface of the container body, part of the toner scraped off by the blade and the toner sent to the toner collector by the toner guide member scatters and flows out from the gap between the container body and the drum surface to record. There was a problem of soiling the paper and equipment.

To solve this problem, JP-A-59-34580 and JP-A-59-15126
In each of the 6 publications, it has been proposed to install a shielding member made of an elastic material at a key point, but it requires precision in its mounting position, or the rotation of the drum or the movement of the blade, etc. It gave a large load and was not practical.

As a result of solving this problem and improving the present invention, an electrostatic discharge device equipped with a cleaning device that effectively prevents toner from scattering and flowing out by using a shielding member that has a small friction resistance and can be easily attached. The purpose is to provide a recording device.

[Means for solving problems]

The above-mentioned object is an electrostatic recording apparatus including a cleaning device that removes and removes toner adhered on a photoconductor by a cleaning blade, wherein the cleaning device is at least a cleaning blade inside a container body opening facing the peripheral surface of the photoconductor. And a toner guide member for collecting the toner separated by the cleaning blade into the container body, the cleaning blade being sandwiched between both side plates of the container body and being pressed against the peripheral surface of the photoconductor, The toner guide member is a flexible member that is attached to the bottom of the container body below the cleaning blade, and the upper edge of the toner guide member is lightly contacted with the peripheral surface of the photoconductor, and both ends of the toner guide member are The part is a bent part that is bent inward, and the bent part is inside the both side plates of the container body. And configured to be accomplished by an electrostatic recording apparatus, characterized in that it comprises a cleaning device.

〔Example〕

 One embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic structure of an electrostatic recording apparatus, and copying of an original by the apparatus is performed as described below.

When a document is placed on the document table 1 and the copy button is operated, the document surface is illuminated by the exposure lamp 2A attached to the carriage 2 that slides in the horizontal direction. Mirrors 3A and 3B are attached to the movable mirror unit 3, and the image of the original is combined with the mirror 2B attached to the carriage 2 by sliding horizontally at a speed half that of the carriage 2. Is focused by the image pickup lens 4 and further imaged on the peripheral surface of the photoconductor drum 6 via the fixed mirror 5 for exposure scanning.

Since an electric charge is applied to the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 6 by the charger 7 in advance, an electrostatic latent image of the original image is formed by the above-mentioned exposure.

The electrostatic latent image is visualized by the developing device 8 as a toner image in accordance with the rotation of the photosensitive drum 6 (in the direction of the arrow), and becomes a toner image at the transfer pole 12 from the paper feeding cassette 9 via the feeding roller 10 and the feeding roller 11. It is transferred onto the fed recording paper.

The recording paper on which the toner image has been transferred is separated from the peripheral surface of the drum by the separating pole 13 and enters the fixing device 14 to melt and fix the toner, and then is discharged onto the discharge tray 16 outside the device through the discharge roller 15. .

On the other hand, the photosensitive drum 6 from which the recording paper has been separated is cleaned of residual toner by the cleaning device 17, and the cleaning process is started for a new image forming process in the next rotation cycle.

Further, the recording paper fed by manual feeding is sent from the paper feeding table 18 to the paper feeding roller 11 via the manual feeding conveying roller 19 and undergoes the image transfer through the same process as described above.

FIG. 2 shows a detailed structure of the cleaning device 17. 171 is a container body of the cleaning device 17, 172 is a cleaning blade as a cleaning member, and 173 is a blade holder to which the cleaning blade 172 is attached. The blade holder 173 is rotatably supported by a pair of front and rear support shafts 173A fixed to the inner surface of the container body 171, and is biased counterclockwise by the action of a pair of front and rear compression springs 173B. As a result, the cleaning blade 172 constantly presses its lower edge portion against the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 6 with a predetermined load.

Reference numeral 174 denotes a toner conveying member installed at the bottom of the container body 171. The thrust generated by the rotation of the spiral surface of the toner conveying member 174 collects the residual toner separated and dropped by the cleaning grade 172 into the toner container connected to the container body 171.

Reference numeral 175 denotes a shielding member of the container body 171 which is formed of a soft and highly flexible sponge material or the like, and is attached to the side edge portion of the container body 171 facing the drum peripheral surface. When the shielding member 175 is installed on the drum surface of the cleaning device 17, the shield member 175 receives pressure contact of the drum surface to elastically deform, thereby closing the gap between the container body 171 and the drum surface and peeling off by pressure contact of the cleaning blade 172. The scattered residual toner is prevented from leaking to the outside of the container body 171.

Reference numeral 176 is a toner guide member, which is an elastic thin plate such as P
It is formed of ET base. Reference numeral 177 is a guide holder for supporting the toner guide plate, which is a container body.
171 It is fixed at the position facing the drum peripheral surface at the bottom. As a result, the upper edge of the toner guide member 176 slightly presses the drum surface immediately below the pressing position of the blade 172, and prevents the dropped toner from leaking from the gap between the container body 171 and the drum surface. At the same time, the toner is efficiently conveyed to and collected by the toner conveying member 174 without locally accumulating in the container body 171.

Further, the residual toner separated from the drum surface is prevented from scattering and entering the upper part of the container body 171 by pressure bonding of the flexible cover plate 177 provided in the blade holder 173.

FIG. 3 shows the structure and mounting state of the toner guide member 176.

The toner guide member 176 according to the present invention has a bent portion 176A whose end portion is bent so as to form an obtuse angle, and is attached and fixed to the guide holder 177 and attached to the container body 171. .

The bent portion 176A is located outside the side end of the cleaning blade 172, and is very lightly pressed against the inner surface of the container body 171.

On the other hand, the side edge portion 171A of the container body 171 facing the drum surface has a sponge portion 175 that closes the gap between the container body 171 and the drum surface.
A bristling member 175B, which is in contact with the cleaning blade 172, is provided with a shielding member 175 in which A and a bristling portion 175B are integrated, and is located above the bent portion 176A of the toner guide member 176.

As a result, in the cleaning device 17, the residual toner separated from the drum surface by the cleaning blade 172 does not leak to the outside from the container body 171 but drops onto the toner guide member 176 and slides off its inclined surface to dissipate. Without being conveyed to the toner conveying member 174.

A long-bristle seal material 179 is attached to the inner surface of the container body 171 facing the blade holder 173 in a state of being slightly in contact with the blade holder 173 to prevent toner from wrapping around the upper part of the container body 171. Has been done.

[Effect of device]

The present invention is to realize a cleaning device that can efficiently collect the residual toner removed from the photosensitive drum by the cleaning blade without leaking to the outside of the container by a very simple improvement of the toner guide member. Therefore, the inside of the recording paper and the recording apparatus is always kept clean, and the electrostatic recording signal which can obtain a copied image with excellent image quality is provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an electrostatic recording apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a cleaning apparatus used in the apparatus, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of essential parts thereof. 6 ... photosensitive drum, 8 ... developing device 17 ... cleaning device, 171 ... container main body 172 ... cleaning blade 174 ... toner conveying member, 175 ... shielding member 175A ... sponge part, 175B ... flocking Part 176 …… Toner guide member, 176A …… Bent part 179 …… Seal material

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An electrostatic recording apparatus comprising a cleaning device for removing adhered toner on a photoconductor (6) by a cleaning blade (172), wherein the cleaning device faces the peripheral surface of the photoconductor (6). Inside the opened container body (171), at least the cleaning blade (172) and the cleaning blade (1
And a toner guide member (176) for collecting the toner peeled off by the container body (171) inside the container body (171).
It is sandwiched between both side plates of 1) and pressed against the peripheral surface of the photoconductor (6), and the toner guide member (176) can be attached to the bottom of the container body (171) below the cleaning blade (176). The toner guide member (17
The upper edge of 6) is lightly abutted on the peripheral surface of the photoconductor (6), and both ends of the toner guide member (176) are bent parts (176A) bent inward. (176A) is an electrostatic recording apparatus comprising a cleaning device configured to contact the inside of both side plates of the container body (171).