JPH08339140A - Device for removing image forming material form image carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To excellently remove an image forming material from an image carrier with a peeling material by removing the image forming material on the peeling material by mechanical scrape with a rubbing cleaning member and peeling with a rubbing cleaning member. CONSTITUTION: The image surface of toner T on a peeling belt 44 to which a releasing agent is applied is scraped by a cutter roller 53 consisting of plural rotary blades, to remove paper powder and fiber, a releasing agent composition, etc., stuck to the surface of a toner image and the height of the toner image on the peeling belt is uniformized. Then, the toner remaining on a transfer paper is transferred to a transfer roller 54 incorporating a heater 58 by contact therewith. The toner transferred to the transfer roller is completely removed by a fixed blade 55 and a cleaning blade 56.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier, which removes the image from the image carrier on which an image is formed by an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, a printer and a printing machine. More specifically, the present invention relates to an image forming substance removing device for removing an image forming substance from an image carrier that prevents deterioration of the performance of the image forming substance removing means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an image forming substance removing apparatus for removing an image forming substance such as a toner from a sheet as a recorded image holding member, a device shown in FIG. 1 has been proposed. .

In the apparatus for removing the image forming substance from the image carrier shown in FIG. 1, the transfer paper 10 as the image carrier on which the toner images housed in the stacked state are formed is separated and fed one by one. The unit 20 and the peeling liquid supply unit 3 for supplying the peeling liquid to the transfer paper 10 sent from the paper feeding unit 20.
0, a toner peeling unit 40 as a peeling unit that peels the toner from the transfer paper 10 to which the peeling liquid is supplied, a drying unit (not shown) that dries the transfer paper 10 from which the toner has been peeled, and a discharging unit. Transfer paper 1
And a paper receiving unit (not shown) for receiving 0.

In the apparatus for removing the image forming substance from the image carrier shown in FIG. 1, the toner on the transfer paper 10 on which the toner image is formed passes through the toner peeling unit 40 as follows. The transfer paper 10 is peeled off. That is, the transfer paper 10 sent from the paper feeding unit 20 is
The peeling liquid 31 is uniformly supplied to the surface on which the toner image is formed by the peeling liquid supply unit 30 (hereinafter referred to as the toner image surface), and is sent to the toner peeling unit 40. Then, in the toner peeling unit 40, the toner fixed to the transfer paper 10 is softened by the heat from the heating roller 45 and the backup member 46, and adheres to the surface of the peeling belt 44 which is the toner peeling material. Then, when the transfer paper 10 and the separation belt 44 are separated by the separation roller 43, the toner attached to the surface of the separation belt 44 is separated from the transfer paper 10.

The peeling belt 44 carrying the toner is endlessly moved by being supported by the belt supporting rollers 41 and 42 and conveyed to the belt cleaning section 50. In the belt cleaning unit 50, the peeling belt 44 passes between the contact portions of the belt supporting roller 42 and the rotating brush roller 51,
At this time, the toner on the peeling belt 44 is rubbed and scraped off by the rotating brush roller 51 rotating at high speed, and is stored in the toner collecting container 52 provided so as to surround the rotating brush roller 51.

[0006]

However, the apparatus for removing the image-forming substance from the image carrier having the above-mentioned structure has the following problems.

First, a metallic hard material is used for the brush provided on the rotating brush roller, and the hard brush is strongly pressed against the endlessly moving peeling belt surface to scrape the image forming substance from the peeling belt. I was dropping. For this reason,
The surface of the peeling belt is repeatedly pressed against a hard brush and scraped off, which shortens the life of the peeling belt.

Secondly, when the image carrier is a paper having weak paper fibers, the paper fibers also adhere to the peeling belt when the image forming substance is transferred onto the peeling belt with a strong adhesive force as described above. Will end up. When paper fibers are attached to the peeling belt together with the image forming substance, the cleaning efficiency of the image forming substance on the peeling belt is reduced due to the rubbing of the rotating brush roller. The body cannot be processed.

Thirdly, in order to improve the cleaning property,
Since it was necessary to rotate the rotating brush roller at a high speed, the image-forming substance scraped off by the rotating brush roller and the shavings of the peeling belt scatter to contaminate the inside of the apparatus.

And, fourthly, it is difficult to manufacture the rotating brush roller with high precision, and therefore, at the time of high speed rotation,
It often makes non-uniform contact with the peel belt and emits noise. Further, since the load on the cleaning brush roller is large, a drive system including a motor for driving the cleaning brush roller becomes large in size, resulting in cost increase.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to perform an image holding process capable of accurately performing an image forming substance removing process regardless of the material of the image holding member. An apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from a body is provided.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, an apparatus for removing an image forming substance from an image carrier according to claim 1 is provided.
After the peeling material capable of exhibiting the adhesive force to the image forming substance adhered to the surface of the image carrier is brought into contact with the image forming substance on the surface of the image carrier, the image carrier and the peeling material are separated from each other. In an apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier, which is equipped with a peeling unit that separates the image-forming substance from the surface of the image carrier,
The image forming substance is in contact with the release material and has a relative linear velocity difference with the surface of the release material at the contact point with the release material, and a part of the image forming material on the release material is mechanically And the image forming substance on the release material that has passed through the contact point with the rubbing cleaning member and has a material capable of exerting a stronger adhesion force to the image forming substance than the above-mentioned release material. A peeling cleaning member for peeling the image-forming substance from the surface of the peeling material by separating from the peeling material after contact with It is characterized in that a peeling cleaning member regenerating means for removing is removed.

An apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier according to a second aspect is the same as the apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier according to the first aspect, wherein the peeling cleaning member and the peeling cleaning member reproducing member are the same. It is characterized in that a pressure contact means is provided which is provided on the support and presses the separation cleaning member to the surface side of the release material so as to be movable back and forth through the support.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier, wherein the removing member for removing an image-forming substance from the image carrier according to the first aspect sandwiches the release material and presses the release cleaning member. And a surface portion of at least one of the peeling cleaning member and the supporting member is made of an elastic material.

[0015]

According to the apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier of claim 1, the rubbing cleaning member is brought into contact with the surface of the release material having the image-forming substance removed from the surface of the image carrier, and the surface is slid. Rubbing, paper powder and paper fibers adhering to the surface of the image-forming substance, and, in the case of using a peeling liquid for facilitating the peeling of the image-forming substance from the surface of the image carrier, a peeling liquid composition, etc. The substance that inhibits the adhesiveness of the forming substance is removed. As a result, the peeling cleaning member can exert a stronger adhesive force to the image forming substance as compared with the case where the substance that inhibits the adhesiveness to the image forming substance is attached to the surface, and the peeling member and the peeling cleaning member The image forming substance remaining on the surface of the release material can be satisfactorily removed by pressing and separating the and.

Further, when the height of the image-forming substance attached to the surface of the release material is not uniform, the rubbing cleaning member makes the surface of the image-forming substance rub evenly. The uniform surface of the image-forming substance has improved adhesion to the peeling cleaning member when it comes into contact with the peeling cleaning member,
The peeling cleaning member favorably removes the image-forming substance remaining on the surface of the peeling material.

In the apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier according to a second aspect, the support provided with the peeling cleaning member reproducing member and the peeling cleaning member that moves back and forth toward the surface of the peeling material is the support. Even if the peeling cleaning member is moved through it, the positional relationship between the two does not change.
Therefore, the positional relationship precision between the peeling cleaning member and the peeling cleaning member regenerating member can be maintained, and the peeling cleaning member can be regenerated with high precision.

In the apparatus for removing an image forming substance from an image carrier according to a third aspect of the present invention, at least one of the peeling cleaning member and the supporting member is formed of an elastic surface, so that a predetermined nip width is formed at a pressure contact portion between the two members. Is formed so that the contact time of the peeling cleaning member with the image forming substance on the surface of the peeling material can be secured to some extent. This enhances the efficiency with which the peeling cleaning member peels the image-forming substance from the peeling material. (Hereinafter, margin)

[0019]

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention is applied to an electrophotographic toner (hereinafter referred to as a toner) having a heat softening property as an image forming substance from a transfer paper as an image carrier on which an image is formed by a transfer type electrophotographic copying machine. A description will be given of an embodiment applied to an apparatus for removing an image forming substance from an image carrier for removing the above. The apparatus for removing the image-forming substance from the image carrier of this embodiment is the same as that shown in FIG.
The belt cleaning unit 50 shown in FIG. 2 is adopted in place of the belt cleaning unit 50 in the image forming substance removing device from the image carrier shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, a paper feeding unit 20 is a transfer paper 1 loaded on a paper feeding table 21 with a toner image surface facing downward.
0 is fed from the uppermost one by the feed roller 21, and only one transfer sheet 10 is sent out. The specific configuration and operation are the same as those of the paper feeding mechanism in the electrophotographic copying machine, and therefore detailed description will be omitted.

The peeling liquid supply unit 30 supplies to the transfer paper 10 a liquid 31 such as water or an aqueous solution containing a surfactant in order to improve the permeability of the transfer paper 10. In the illustrated example, a liquid container 32 for containing the liquid, and a coating roller provided so as to be partially submerged in the liquid in the liquid container 32 and pumping the liquid by rotation to supply it to the toner image surface of the transfer paper 10. 33, and a regulation roller 34 as a paper regulation member provided so as to face the coating roller 33 with the paper conveyance path interposed therebetween. This coating roller 3
A material having a liquid retaining property, for example, a roller made of a hydrophilic porous material, a sponge, or a roller made of an elastic body such as rubber or a rigid body such as metal can be used as 3.

The toner peeling unit 40 is provided with a peeling belt 44 as a peeling material wound around a plurality of belt supporting rollers 41, 42 and 43, and a heating member provided so as to be in pressure contact with each other with the peeling belt 44 interposed therebetween. A heating roller 45 with a built-in lamp 45 ′, a backup member 46 with a built-in heating lamp 46 ′, and a belt cleaning unit 50 that removes toner from the surface of the peeling belt 44 are provided. At least the surface of the peeling belt 44 is formed of a material having an adhesive force to the softened toner that is larger than the adhesive force between the surface of the transfer paper 10 and the toner. For example, the belt itself is made of a metal material such as aluminum, copper or nickel, or polyethylene terephthalate (P
ET) and other polymeric materials.

Of the supporting rollers that support the peeling belt 44, the supporting roller around which the peeling belt portion is wound after passing through the pressing portion that presses the transfer paper 10 by the heating roller 45 and the backup member 46 (hereinafter, separation roller). The roller 43 is adapted to perform the curvature separation of the transfer paper 10 from the peeling belt 44 by rapidly changing the moving direction of the peeling belt 44 around it. Also,
The peeling belt 44 is driven by a support roller (hereinafter referred to as a belt driving roller) 41 so that the surface of the peeling belt 44 moves endlessly.

The heating roller 45 and the backup member 46b serve to bring the toner image surface of the transfer paper 10 into close contact with the peeling belt 44 and heat the toner adhered to the transfer paper 10 to soften it.

The belt cleaning unit 50 is
The toner is removed from the peripheral surface of the belt and is stored in the toner collecting container 52.

In this embodiment, the belt cleaning section 50 is constructed as shown in FIG. The belt cleaning unit 50 will be described later in detail.

In the above-mentioned structure, the transfer paper 10 sent from the paper feeding unit 20 is uniformly supplied with the liquid to the toner image surface by the peeling liquid supply unit 30, and is sent to the toner peeling unit 40. In the toner peeling unit 40, the toner adhered to the transfer paper 10 is softened by heating from the heating roller 45 and the backup member 46, and the peeling belt 44
Adhere to the surface. When separating the transfer paper 10 and the peeling belt 44 around the separating roller 43, the peeling belt 4
The toner adhering to the surface is separated from the transfer paper 10, and the toner is removed from the transfer paper 10. The transfer paper 10 from which the toner has been removed is dried by the drying unit and discharged to the paper receiving unit.

According to the above construction, the liquid is supplied to the transfer paper 10 to which the toner adheres, and the toner is peeled off while the liquid permeates the interface of the transfer paper 10 with the toner, so that the paper fiber is damaged. The toner can be removed without

Next, with reference to FIG. 2, an example of the structure of the belt cleaning unit 50 according to the embodiment of the present invention, which can clean the peeling belt 44, will be described.

FIG. 2 shows a main part according to the embodiment of the present invention. The belt cleaning unit 50 according to the present exemplary embodiment includes a cutter roller 53 as a rubbing cleaning member including a plurality of rotary blades, a transfer roller 54 as a peeling cleaning member having a heater 58 built therein, and a transfer roller 5.
4, a fixed blade 55 and a cleaning blade 56, which are members of a peeling cleaning member regenerating unit that removes the toner T on the toner 4, and a toner container 52 that encloses the belt cleaning unit and stores the toner powder removed from the peeling belt 44. Is equipped with.

The cutter roller 53 has a rotating shaft in the longitudinal direction, and four rotating blades are provided on the shaft in a cross-sectional shape so as to extend radially, and the tip of the rotating blade supports the belt drive roller 41 and the belt. The toner image surface of the peeling belt 44 between the roller 42 and the roller 42 is in contact. A backup roller 57 made of a soft member is provided at a position where it comes into contact with the cutter roller 53 via the peeling belt 44.

The transfer roller 54 is made of a material whose surface has a stronger toner adhesion force than the material of the surface of the peeling belt 44. For example, when the peeling belt 44 is made of PET, the surface of the transfer roller 54 is PC, P
Synthetic resin such as PS, PEEK, PI, or SUS, A
Any of the metals such as L can be used.

A flat swing arm 59 is swingably provided in the toner recovery container 52 by having one end thereof supported by a pin 60.
Further, the transfer roller 54 is rotatably supported. In addition, the fixed blade 55 is attached to the swing arm 59 so that the tip of the swing arm 59 contacts the surface of the transfer roller 54 on the upstream side in the rotation direction.
However, the cleaning blade 56 is fixed to the downstream surface so that the tip of the elastic body is in pressure contact. Then, the other end of a spring 61 as a pressure contact member, one end of which is fixedly installed in the apparatus, is attached to the end of the swing arm 59 which is not supported by the pin 60, and the transfer roller 54 is attached by this spring 61. , But is pressed against the belt support roller 42 via the peeling belt 44, and forms a nip portion P between the transfer roller 54 and the peeling belt 44. The surface of the transfer roller 54 moves along with the surface of the peeling belt 44 at the nip P due to the upper machine configuration.

The cleaning process of the toner image adhered on the peeling belt 44 will be described. First, the peeling belt 4
The toner image surface of No. 4 reaches the contact position with the cutter roller 53. Here, the rotary blade of the cutter roller 53 rotates at a high speed in the direction opposite to the conveying direction of the peeling belt 44 at the contact portion with the peeling belt 44, scrapes off the upper portion of the toner image, and adheres to the upper portion of the toner image. The paper powder, the paper fibers, the release liquid composition, etc. are removed and the height of the toner T image on the release belt 44 is made uniform.

The toner T image subjected to the above processing by the cutter roller 53 is conveyed to the nip portion P with the transfer roller 54. Here, the transfer roller 54 in the nip portion P
The surface temperature is controlled to be not lower than the softening temperature of the toner T and not higher than the melting temperature thereof and not higher than the heat-resistant temperature of the peeling belt 44 and the transfer roller 54 by controlling the temperature of the internal heater 58 by a temperature control means (not shown). ing. And
The toner T image surface of the peeling belt 44 is softened by receiving the above temperature by being in contact with the transfer roller 54 at the nip portion P for a predetermined time, and receives the toner from the peeling belt 44 from above the peeling belt 44 under a predetermined pressure. Strong transfer roller 54
Transferred to the surface.

After passing through the nip P, the softened toner T transferred to the transfer roller 54 is conveyed to the contact position with the fixed blade 55 by the rotation of the transfer roller 54, and contacts the tip of the fixed blade 55. Most of it is scraped off from the surface of the transfer roller 54. Further, the toner T remaining on the transfer roller 54 is conveyed to a pressure contact position with the cleaning blade, and is pressed against the tip of the cleaning blade to be completely removed.

According to the above construction in which the cleaning of the peeling belt 44 is performed in two steps using the cutter roller 53 and the transfer roller 54, the height of the toner T adhering to the surface of the peeling belt 44 is made uniform by the cutter roller 53. In addition, since the adhesion of the transfer roller 54, which can exert a strong adhesive force to the toner T on the peeling belt 44, to the toner T is increased, the cleaning efficiency of the peeling belt 44 by the transfer roller 54 can be improved, and the peeling belt 44 can be improved. The upper toner T can be removed well.

When the toner T image is adhered from the transfer paper 10 to the surface of the peeling belt 44 with a strong adhesive force, the toner T
Since the paper powder, the paper fibers, the peeling liquid composition, and the like entwined with the toner can be removed by the cutter roller 53, the transfer roller 54 can exert a strong adhesive force to the toner T, and the transfer roller 54 causes the toner on the peeling belt 44 to adhere. It is possible to surely remove T without leaving it. In particular, even when the transfer paper 10 on which the toner removal processing is performed has a weak fiber quality and paper fibers that reduce the cleaning efficiency of the peeling belt 44 easily adhere to the peeling belt 44, the peeling belt 44 is satisfactorily cleaned. Therefore, the toner removing process can be favorably performed regardless of the quality of the transfer paper 10.

Further, as compared with a method in which a hard brush is strongly pressed against the peeling belt 44 to scrape off the toner T from the peeling belt 44, the peeling belt 44 is less worn and the life of the peeling belt 44 can be extended.

According to the above arrangement, the cleaning of the peeling belt 44 is performed by pressing the cutter roller 53, which is a rotary blade, against the peeling belt 44 and rotating the cleaning roller, and then the transfer roller 54.
Since the toner T remaining on the peeling belt 44 is peeled off by two steps, the cutter roller 53 is removed from the cutter roller 53 as compared with the conventional case where the toner on the peeling belt 44 is cleaned only by the rotating brush roller. The required removal amount of the toner T is small, and the degree of freedom in setting the shape, material, rotational speed, etc. of the cutter roller 53 increases. Therefore,
Compared with the case where the toner is removed only by the rotating brush roller having the brush-shaped tip, the peeling belt 4 has these shapes.
The toner scraped off from No. 4 can be configured so as not to scatter, and the driving force of the cutter roller 53 can be made relatively small, and the cost can be reduced by downsizing the drive system such as the motor.

Since the cutter roller 53 can be manufactured more accurately than the rotating brush roller, the contact pressure between the cutter roller 53 and the peeling belt 44 when the cutter roller 53 is rotated in contact with the peeling belt 44 is compared. It is possible to reduce the noise generated by uneven contact with the peeling belt 44.

Since the transfer roller 54, the fixed blade 55 as a reproducing member of the transfer roller 54, and the cleaning blade 56 are provided on the swing arm 59 for positioning, the transfer roller 54 and the fixed blade are positioned. Since the positional relationship accuracy between the transfer roller 54 and the cleaning blade 56 can be maintained and the reproduction of the transfer roller 54 can be performed with high accuracy, the toner adhesion force of the transfer roller 54 can be maintained, and the toner removal process can be performed accurately and Can be done powerfully.

Next, a structure for more efficiently cleaning the toner T image on the peeling belt 44 will be described. For this purpose, the transfer roller 54 or the belt support roller 4 that is in pressure contact with the transfer roller 54 via the peeling belt 44.
At least one surface of 2 is formed of a member made of an elastic material, and when the peeling belt 44 and the transfer roller 54 are in contact with each other at a desired pressure, the distance of the nip portion P has a desired length. As described above, the rollers are pressed against each other. With the above configuration, the heating temperature of the transfer roller 54 can be set to a lower temperature,
The toner T image can be accurately transferred from the peeling belt 44, and the cleaning efficiency of the peeling belt 44 can be improved.

In the apparatus for removing an image forming substance from the image carrier having the above structure, an endless belt is used as the peeling belt 44, but a roller or drum type may be used. Although the transfer roller 54 has a roller shape, it may have an endless belt shape.
Further, the transfer roller 54 is configured so as to be pressed into contact with the peeling belt 44 so as to be rotated, but a driving force may be applied to the transfer roller 54 to rotate the peeling belt 44 at high speed or at low speed.

[0045]

According to the apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier of claim 1, after the substance which impairs the adhesion to the peeling cleaning member adhering to the surface of the image-forming substance is removed by the rubbing cleaning member. Since the peeling cleaning member removes the image-forming substance remaining on the surface of the peeling material, the peeling cleaning member can exert a strong adhesive force to the image-forming substance and remove the image-forming substance remaining on the surface of the peeling material. It can be reliably removed. Further, when the height of the image-forming substance adhered to the surface of the peeling material is not uniform, the rubbing cleaning member makes the surface of the image-forming substance uniform so that the image-forming substance adheres to the peeling cleaning member. After improving the property, the peeling cleaning member is brought into close contact with the image-forming substance to remove the image-forming substance remaining on the surface of the release material, so that the image-forming substance remaining on the surface of the release material can be surely removed. You can Therefore, the image forming substance removing process can be accurately performed regardless of the material of the image holding member and the adhesion state of the image forming substance on the image holding member.

According to the apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier of claim 2, the peeling cleaning member and the peeling cleaning member regenerating member are supported by the support provided with the peeling cleaning member and the peeling cleaning member regenerating member. Since the positional relationship of the peeling cleaning member is accurately reproduced and the peeling cleaning member is accurately regenerated, the adhesion of the peeling cleaning member to the image forming substance can be maintained, and the image forming substance removing process is performed accurately and strongly. be able to.

According to the apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier of claim 3, a predetermined length is formed at the pressure contact portion between the peeling cleaning member and the supporting member, and the image-forming substance is peeled off on the surface of the peeling material. Since the contact time of the cleaning member is secured to some extent, the peeling efficiency of the peeling cleaning member is increased, and the image forming substance removing process can be performed accurately and strongly even when the heating temperature of the transfer member is low.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a conventionally proposed apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the main part of the apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Transfer Paper 20 Paper Feed Unit 30 Stripping Liquid Supply Unit 31 Stripping Liquid 40 Toner Stripping Unit 41 Belt Drive Roller 42 Belt Support Roller 44 Stripping Belt 50 Belt Cleaning Section 51 Rotating Brush Roller 52 Toner Collection Container 53 Cutter Roller 54 Transfer Roller 55 Fixed Blade 56 Cleaning blade 58 Heater 59 Swing arm 60 Pin 61 Spring P Nip part T Toner

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image holding member after a release material capable of exerting an adhesive force to an image forming substance attached to the surface of the image holding member is brought into contact with the image forming substance on the surface of the image holding member. An image forming substance removing device from an image carrier, comprising a peeling means for separating the image forming substance from the surface of the image carrier by separating the image forming substance from the image forming substance. And a rubbing cleaning member that has a relative linear velocity difference with the surface of the release material at the contact point with the release material and mechanically removes a part of the image forming substance on the release material. Separating from the release material after contacting with the image-forming substance on the release material that has a material capable of exerting a stronger adhesion force to the substance than the release material and has passed the contact point with the rubbing cleaning member A peeling cleaning member for peeling the image-forming substance from the surface of the peeling material, An apparatus for removing an image forming substance from an image carrier, comprising: heating means for heating the surface of the peeling cleaning member; and peeling cleaning member regenerating means for removing the image forming substance adhering to the peeling cleaning member. 2. The apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier according to claim 1, wherein the peeling cleaning member and the peeling cleaning member reproducing member are provided on the same support, and the peeling is performed via the support. An apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier, which is provided with a press-contact means for press-contacting a cleaning member to the surface side of a release material so that the cleaning member can move back and forth. 3. The apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier according to claim 1, further comprising: a support member which sandwiches the release material and is brought into pressure contact with the release cleaning member, and at least one of the release cleaning member and the support member. An apparatus for removing an image forming substance from an image carrier, characterized in that the surface part of the is formed of an elastic material.