JPH0844273A - Processing cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To promptly disassemble without damaging a member by displaying the order of disassembly at the time of disassembling the plural members on the members. CONSTITUTION:On the severally conspicuous place of the photosensitive drum 1 or the supporting frame in the end face side of the photorecepter drum 1, the developing unit 7 and the cleaning unit 4, the respective symbol 1 to 6 enclosing the order number showing the order of disassembly of respective member in a circle is assigned. Corresponding to the symbol, in disassembling the photoreceptor drum 1 unit assigned with the symbol 1, the processing cartridge is disassembled into the unit of cleaning unit 4 and the unit of the developing unit 7. Next, the electrifying roller 11 assigned with the symbol 2 is secondly disassembled. The disassembly of the cleaning blade 2 assigned with the symbol 3 comes third and the disassembly of the skew sheet 3 assigned with the symbol 4 comes fourth. Moreover, the developing sleeve 6 assigned with symbol 5 as the fifth and the developing blade 5 assigned with symbol 6 as the sixth is severally disassembled in that order.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a process cartridge used in a copying machine, a printer or the like using electrophotography.

[0002]

If the process cartridge is to be recycled, the used process cartridge must be disassembled in order to take out the necessary parts.

However, in general, the disassembler is often different from the manufacturer, and in this case, the process cartridges of various manufacturers are disassembled. Therefore, there is often no information transmitted in which order to disassemble the parts to reduce the loss of the parts. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5, when the used process cartridge is disassembled in the order of circled numbers, the cleaning blade 2, the charging roller 11, the photosensitive drum 1, and the squeeze sheet 3 are disassembled. Although the parts cannot be disassembled, the root fixing part of the cleaning blade 2 is removed and the cleaning blade 2 is moved in the direction of arrow a in the figure, so that the charging roller 11 that is disassembled second is damaged by the edge of the cleaning blade 2. .

As a result, the charging roller 11, which was intended to be effectively used as a recycled part, cannot be used.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the developing sleeve 6
If the developing sleeve 5 is released earlier, the surface of the developing sleeve 6 is damaged by the developing sleeve 5.

As a result, similarly, the developing sleeve 6, which was to be effectively used as a recycled part, is no longer usable.

Even if it happens that the process cartridge can be disassembled as described above, it takes a lot of observation time to find out how to disassemble the process cartridge without knowing how it is assembled. It takes a lot of time because it acts on the member and disassembles it without damaging it.

Furthermore, when disassembling the process cartridge, there are some parts that cannot be easily disassembled, and the process cartridge cannot be disassembled unless the disassembly order of such parts is known. This is no different from when the process cartridge is disposable.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in a process cartridge in which a plurality of members for electrophotographic process are assembled, the order of disassembling the members is shown. It is a cartridge.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a process cartridge is formed by totally assembling a photoconductor unit, a cleaning unit, a charging unit, a developing unit, etc., each of which is formed by partially assembling a plurality of members. Is a process cartridge according to the first invention.

[0011]

2. Description of the Related Art Some laser beam printers, to which electrophotography is applied, are provided with a main part for performing an image forming process as an integrated process cartridge. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the primary charger 1 is provided around the photosensitive drum 1.
1, a developing device 7 and a cleaning device 4 are arranged to provide a laser beam 12
The developing device 7 accommodates toner in a toner accommodating portion 14 adjacent to the developing portion including the developing sleeve 6 to form a process cartridge. Reference numeral 8 indicates the toner remaining inside the cartridge during its life. During image formation, the photosensitive drum 1 rotates in the direction of arrow 9 in the figure, is uniformly charged by the primary charger 11, and a latent image is formed by the laser beam 12 according to the image signal. The toner is made into a thin layer by the developing sleeve 6 and the developing blade 5 which are rotating in the direction of arrow 10 in the figure, is applied to the latent image to become a visible image, and is a transfer material supplied by a sheet feeding means (not shown). Is transcribed to. The residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 1 after the transfer is scraped off by the cleaning blade 2 and prevented from leaking by the squeegee sheet 3, and is stored in the cleaning device 4. If such an image forming process is repeated, the amount of toner in the developing device 7 decreases and it becomes unusable. Normally, the toner is replaced with a new one when there is no toner left in the toner storage unit 14. Since this process cartridge can be easily replaced by the user, it contributes to the reduction of the social cost of a service person traveling around.

In such a process cartridge, the photosensitive drum 1 is assembled so as to be rotatably supported by the above-mentioned housing, and the developing device 7 is unitized by assembling at least the developing sleeve 6 and the developing blade 5 in a single container. Then, the cleaning device 4 is assembled into a unit by assembling the cleaning blade 2 and the squishy sheet 3 into a single container, and the primary charger 11 is a roller-shaped or corona charger and is a unit attached to the housing. In the process cartridge, the above units are partially assembled, and then the process cartridge is assembled in a housing together with other members.

Most of such process cartridges were disposable. However, in recent years, as energy saving, resource saving, ecology, etc. have become a problem, serious consideration has been given to recycling process cartridges.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The embodiments corresponding to each claim are described in this description without distinction.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. The device configuration of all members and units is the same as that shown in the conventional example, the same functional parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted unless it is related to disassembly.

In FIG. 1, the photosensitive drum 1 and the photosensitive drum 1
A shaft supporting the shaft, a shaft joint part for mounting the process cartridge in the main body of the image forming apparatus and connecting the shaft and a drive part of the main body, a support frame having a bearing for supporting the shaft, etc. as a photosensitive drum unit. It is assembled.

The photosensitive drum 1 or the supporting frame (not shown) on the end face side of the photosensitive drum 1, the developing device 7, and the cleaning device 4
In a conspicuous place, the symbol ~ which encloses the ordinal number indicating the order of disassembling each member in a circle is attached. Numbers may be printed on the label as a method of displaying the symbol, but this is not limited to the label, and for example, it may be directly printed on the most prominent place of each unit, or stamped etc. May be In addition, the symbols used to mold each unit may be pre-molded with symbols.

First, when the photosensitive drum 1 unit indicated by this symbol is disassembled, the process cartridge is disassembled into a cleaning device 4 unit and a developing device 7 unit.

Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the charging roller 11 marked with a symbol is disassembled second. The third is the disassembly of the cleaning blade 2 with the symbol, and the fourth is the disassembly of the squi sheet 3 with the symbol. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the developing sleeve 6 marked with the fifth symbol is disassembled, and the developing blade 5 marked with the sixth symbol is disassembled in this order. As a result, each part was disassembled without damage, and if possible, it was effectively used as a recycled part, leading to energy saving and resource saving.

Further, as the second embodiment, what indicates the order of disassembling each unit is not limited to a numeral, but "i,
R, o may be characters of each country such as "---" or "A, B, C, D ---", or "red, orange, yellow, green ---".
May be color-coded.

[0021]

[Examples] In addition to the embodiments.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the process cartridge used for electrophotography or the like, the members or units constituting the process cartridge such as the photoconductor unit, the cleaning unit, the charger, the developing unit, etc. are disassembled. By displaying the order of time on each member and unit, rapid disassembly is possible without damaging the member.

As a result, it becomes possible to efficiently recycle the process cartridge, and it is possible to contribute to problems such as energy saving, resource saving, and the environment.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a partial cross-section of a process cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a partial cross section of the cleaning unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a partial cross-section of the developing device unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a conventional process cartridge.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of a conventional cleaning device.

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view of a conventional developing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 photosensitive drum 2 cleaning blade 6 developing sleeve 11 charging roller

Front page continued (72) Inventor Kazushige Sakurai 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A process cartridge in which a plurality of members for carrying out an electrophotographic process are assembled, wherein the process cartridges are shown in the order of disassembling at the time of disassembling. 2. The process cartridge comprises a photoconductor unit, a cleaning unit, a charging unit, a developing unit, etc., each of which is formed by partially assembling a plurality of members, and the order of disassembling upon disassembling is indicated in each unit. The process cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the process cartridge is a process cartridge.