JPH08123285A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an image forming device capable of permitting the disassembly of a housing for the re-utilization or the recycle as materials with a reduced processing cost. CONSTITUTION: The image forming device is constituted that between the longitudinal end part of the cleaning blade 6a inside the housing H3 and H4, and the housing H4, the seal holder 13 attaching the blade end part seal 9 is fitted by engaging the snap 13a with the snap receptacle 13b of the fitting recessed part 20 of the housing 4, and moreover the seal holder 14 sticking the inlet seal end part seal 10 is fitted by engaging the snap 14a with the snap receptacle 14b of the fitting recessed part 21 of the housing 4, thus, the scattering of the toner at the end part of the inlet seal is prevented. At the time of the disassembly for the re-utilization of the housing, and the time of the recycle of the materials, the seal holder 13 and 14 together with the blade end part seal 9 and the inlet seal end part seal 10 are detached as one body from the housing 4, therefore the housing H3 and H4, without the adherence of a piece of adhesive tape or the like, can be re-used or made the material recycle with the reduced processing cost.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a facsimile, in order to prevent the quality of an image to be formed from being deteriorated by the scattering of toner, a gap between a housing and an end of a constituent unit housed in the housing is prevented. A seal member is adhesively disposed on the. FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a seal structure of an inlet portion of a cleaning device of a conventional image forming apparatus, and FIG.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a seal configuration of a cleaning blade portion of a conventional image forming apparatus.

As shown in FIG. 5, a cleaning device 6 is provided on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 8, and the cleaning device 6 contains the toner remaining on the peripheral surface of the rotating drum 8. A cleaning blade 6a for scraping and a toner discharging screw 7 for discharging the scraped toner are provided.

In this case, in order to prevent the toner scraped off by the cleaning blade and falling, from being scattered to the outside, at the inlet of the cleaning device 6 with respect to the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 8, the inlet seal holder 16 is provided. A film-like inlet seal 5 such as fixed polyurethane rubber or PET (polyethylene terephthalate) is directly attached to the resin housing 6A of the cleaning device 6 by an adhesive tape 15.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, resin housings 6B for holding the cleaning blade 6a are also provided at both ends of the cleaning blade 6a of the cleaning device 6.
On the other hand, the seal members S1 and S2 are adhesively arranged by means of adhesive sticks.

[0006]

By the way, recently, the idea of reusing resources has been incorporated into the production process of various products, and the materials of products that have reached the operating life have been reused. Also in this type of image forming apparatus, for example, the housings 6A and 6B are disassembled and reused or recycled as materials.

When the housing is reused or recycled as a material, in the conventional image forming apparatus, the inlet seal holder 1 having the inlet seal 5 attached thereto is used.
When the 6 or the sealing members S1 and S2 are peeled from the housing 6A or the housing 6B, the adhesive tape cannot be removed cleanly, and a small piece of the adhesive tape often sticks to the housing and remains. On the other hand, when recycling, there is a problem that the cleaning of the housing becomes complicated and the processing cost increases.

The present invention has been made in view of the present situation of disassembling and reusing the material of the image forming apparatus as described above, or recycling as a material, and its object is to reduce the processing cost and disassemble and re-use the housing. An object is to provide an image forming apparatus that can be used or recycled as a material.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is provided with a structural unit incorporated in a housing, and toner is scattered between an end of the structural unit and the housing. An image forming apparatus in which a seal member for preventing the above is disposed, wherein the seal member is adhered to a separation member of a housing body, and the separation member can be integrally separated from the housing body with the seal member. It is characterized in that it is engaged with the housing body.

[0010] Similarly, in order to achieve the above object, in the invention according to claim 2, in the invention according to claim 1, the seal member covers an engaging portion between the separating member and the housing body. It is characterized by that.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the seal member is bonded to the separating member of the housing which is separable from the housing body between the housing and the end of the constituent unit incorporated in the housing. Toner scattering from the unit to the outside is prevented. Also, when disassembling and reusing the housing, or recycling it as a material, by separating and removing the separating member from the housing body together with the sealing member, it can be reused as it is without containing foreign matter such as adhesive tape. Alternatively, a housing can be obtained in which the material can be recycled.

According to the invention of claim 2, in addition to the operation of the invention of claim 1, since the seal member covers the engaging portion between the separating member and the housing body, the separating member and the housing are separated from each other. The toner does not enter the engaging portion, and the separation member to which the seal member is adhered is attached to and detached from the housing body without soiling the hands with the toner.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a sealing structure of a cleaning blade portion of this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a sealing structure of a cleaning blade portion of this embodiment, and FIG. 3 is an inlet portion of a cleaning device of this embodiment. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the seal structure, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing the structure of the main part of this embodiment.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
A photoconductor drum 8 on which a latent image of an original image is formed is provided, and a charger 1 and a cleaning blade 6 for uniformly charging the photoconductor drum 8 with respect to the peripheral surface of the photoconductor drum 8.
a and a toner discharge screw 7, a cleaning device 6 for cleaning the photoconductor drum 8, a transfer device 4 for transferring the toner image formed on the photoconductor drum 8 onto a transfer sheet, and a latent image formed on the photoconductor drum 8. A developing device 3 for developing a toner image to form a toner image and an exposing device 2 for exposing the photosensitive drum 8 to form a latent image corresponding to the original image are arranged in this order counterclockwise.

The developing device 3 is housed in the housing H1, the exposing device 2 and the charger 1 are mounted in the housing H2, and the cleaning device 6 is housed in the housings H3 and H4. In the cleaning device 6, the cleaning blade 6a is used. Is attached to the housing H3, and the housing H3
Is fixed to the housing H4. The housing H1 and the housing H2, the housing H2 and the housing H3, and the housing H3 and the housing H4 are connected to each other at adjacent portions.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning blade 6a attached to the housing H3.
Is fixed to the housing H4 via the housing H3, and the blade end seals 9 are detachably attached to the housing H4 at both end positions in the longitudinal direction of the cleaning blade 6a. In this case, as shown in FIG. 1, a seal holder 13 having a snap 13a is provided, and a sponge-like blade end seal 9 such as polyurethane foam is attached to the seal holder 13.
However, they are adhered with double-sided adhesive tape. The blade end seal 9 is arranged so as to be in contact with the photosensitive drum 8 during the cleaning operation.

The housing H4 is provided with a fitting recess 20 into which the seal holder 13 to which the blade end seal 9 is adhered is fitted, and a snap receiver 13b is formed on the bottom surface of the fitting recess 20. The blade end seal 9 is formed to be larger than the seal holder 13, and when the snap 13a is engaged with the snap receiver 13b and the seal holder 13 is fitted into the fitting recessed portion 20, toner is applied to the engaging portion. Are not allowed to enter.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
In order to prevent scattering of toner scraped off and dropped by the cleaning blade 6a, polyurethane rubber or P
The inlet seal 5 formed in a film shape by ET is attached to the inlet seal holder 16, and the inlet seal holder 16 is fixed to the housing H4. In this case, as shown in FIG. 3, the inlet seal 5 is adhered to the inlet seal holder 16 with a double-sided adhesive tape, and engaging holes 16a are formed at both ends of the inlet seal holder 16 in the longitudinal direction. By engaging the fitting hole 16a with the engaging piece 17a formed in the housing H4, the inlet seal holder 16 to which the inlet seal 5 is adhered can be easily attached to and detached from the housing H4. is there.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the inlet seal 5
The inlet seal end seals 10 are attached between the inlet seal 5 and the housing H4 at both ends in the longitudinal direction. In this case, as shown in FIG.
A seal holder 14 provided with is provided with a sponge-like inlet seal end seal 10 made of foamed polyurethane or the like by means of a double-sided adhesive tape.

The housing H4 is formed with a fitting recess 21 into which the seal holder 14 to which the inlet seal end seal 10 is adhered is fitted, and a snap receiver 14b is formed on the bottom surface of the fitting recess 21. . The inlet seal end seal 10 is formed larger than the seal holder 14, and the snap 14a is engaged with the snap receiver 14b.
When the seal holder 14 is fitted into the fitting recess 21, toner is prevented from entering the engaging portion.

The operation of this embodiment having such a configuration will be described. With respect to the photosensitive drum 8 rotating in the clockwise direction,
The charger 1 uniformly charges the image, and the exposure device 2 exposes the original image, so that an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the original image is formed on the photosensitive drum 8. When the electrostatic latent image portion formed on the photoconductor drum reaches the position of the developing device 3, toner is supplied from the developing device 3 to the photoconductor drum 8, and the latent image formed on the photoconductor drum 8 becomes a toner image. To be visualized.

In the case of a full color copying machine, yellow,
Development is performed a plurality of times by using magenta and cyan toners, respectively, and a toner image corresponding to the original image is formed on the photosensitive drum 8. Then, the toner image is transferred to the transfer device 4.
When it reaches the position, the transfer device 4 transfers the toner image on the photosensitive drum 8 to a transfer sheet (not shown).

Next, the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 8 is scraped off by the cleaning blade 6a of the cleaning device 6, and the scraped toner is discharged by the toner discharging screw 7 to perform a cleaning operation. By this cleaning operation, the toner scraped off and dropped by the cleaning blade 6a is received by the inlet seal 5 and is not scattered to the outside. Further, at the end portion of the inlet seal 5 in the longitudinal direction, the inlet seal end portion seal 10 prevents the toner from scattering laterally from the end portion of the inlet seal 5 in the longitudinal direction.

Further, of the toner scraped off by the cleaning blade 6a, it is accumulated on the blade edge,
Move toward the end along the cleaning blade 6a,
Some toner drops at the end position, but when such toner moves in the end direction, the blade end seal 9 prevents the toner from falling from the end of the cleaning blade 6a.

By the way, in this embodiment, when the device reaches the operating life, the housing is disassembled and reused or recycled as a material, the inlet seal 5 is used.
The inlet seal holder 16 to which the
The housing H4 can be easily
Can be attached and detached from.

Further, the seal holder 13 to which the blade end seal 9 is adhered receives the snap 13a.
3b, the seal holder 14 can be easily attached to and detached from the housing H4, and the seal holder 14 to which the inlet seal end seal 10 is adhered is easily attached to and detached from the housing H4 by removing the snap 14a from the snap receiver 14b. be able to.

Therefore, in this embodiment, in this way, the housing H3 on which no foreign matter such as an adhesive tape is attached,
H4 can be obtained by a simple operation, and these can be reused or recycled as a material.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the inlet seal holder 16 to which the inlet seal 5 is adhered is provided with the engaging hole 16a.
To the housing H4 by simply engaging with the engaging piece 17a, the seal holder 13 to which the blade end seal 9 is adhered, the snap 13a to the snap receiver 13b, and the housing H4 easily. Attach the seal holder 14 to which the inlet seal 10 and the end seal 10 are attached, and
4a is engaged with the snap receiver 14b so that the housing H4
The seal holder 1 that is easily attached to the
3, 14 and the inlet seal holder 16 to the housing H
It can be easily separated from 4.

By mounting the seal holders 13 and 14 and the inlet seal holder 16 in the housing H4, the toner is prevented from scattering from the longitudinal end portion of the inlet seal 5 and the longitudinal end portion of the cleaning blade 6a. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the toner from scattering to the outside and provide an image forming apparatus capable of forming a high quality image.

Further, by separating the seal holders 13 and 14 and the inlet seal holder 16 from the housing H4, housings H3 and H4 free of foreign matter such as adhesive tape are obtained, and these housings H3 and H4 are obtained.
It is possible to reuse or recycle 4 as a material while reducing the processing cost. In this case, the blade end seal 9 covers the engagement part between the seal holder 13 and the fitting recess 20, and the inlet seal end seal 10 covers the engagement part between the seal holder 14 and the fitting recess 21. Since the toner does not enter the fitting recesses 20 and 21, the operator's hands are prevented from getting dirty when the seal holders 13 and 14 are separated.

[0031]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the seal member is bonded between the end portion of the constituent unit incorporated in the housing and the housing to the separating member that is separable from the housing main body so that the constituent unit is exposed to the outside. Since toner scattering is prevented, high-quality images can be formed without toner scattering, and at the time of disassembling and reusing the housing or recycling the material, the separating member is separated and removed from the housing body together with the seal member. As a result, it is possible to reuse the material or to recycle the material without containing the foreign matter such as the adhesive tape and reducing the processing cost as it is. According to the invention of claim 2, in addition to the effect obtained by the invention of claim 1, since the seal member covers the engaging portion between the separating member and the housing body, the separating member and the housing are separated from each other. The toner does not enter the engaging portion, and the operator's hand is prevented from being soiled with the toner when the separating member is integrally attached to and detached from the housing body together with the seal member.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a seal configuration of a cleaning blade portion according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a seal configuration of a cleaning blade portion of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a seal structure of an inlet portion of the cleaning device of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a main part of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a seal configuration of an inlet portion of a cleaning device of a conventional image forming apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a seal configuration of a cleaning blade portion of a conventional image forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 developing device 4 transfer device 5 inlet seal 6 cleaning device 6a cleaning blade 8 photoconductor drum 9 blade end seal 10 inlet seal end seal 13, 14 seal holder 13a, 14a snap 13b, 14b snap receiver 20, 21 fitting recess H1 to H4 housing

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A constitutional unit incorporated in a housing, wherein between the end of the constitutional unit and the housing,
An image forming apparatus provided with a seal member for preventing toner scattering, wherein the seal member is adhered to a separating member of a housing body, and the separating member can be integrally separated from the housing body with the seal member. An image forming apparatus, wherein the image forming apparatus is engaged with the housing body. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the seal member covers an engaging portion between the separating member and the housing body.