JPS58217983A - Replacing method of image carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the surface of an image carrier from being flawed by installing the image carrier fitted with a protection cover as it is in a device, and then putting a picture forming device in operation and separating and carrying out the cover from the image carrier automatically. CONSTITUTION:When a drum after use is replaced by the drum with the protection sheet, a cleaner 16 and a developing device 7 are rotated to a dotted-line position and then the drum is drawn out of a drum shaft 20 and taken out of the device. A tape 3 for the filling of the protection cover 2 of a new drum is peeled off and the new drum is inserted along the drum shaft 20. At this time, a paper feed cassette C is not loaded and the power source is turned on to perform normal copying operation. Consequently, the protection sheet 2 is separated electrostatically by a destaticizing charger 12 and carried out automatically through a conveyor belt 13 and a fixation device 14. Then, the cleaner 16 and developing device 7 are pressed against the surface of the drum 1 as shown by a solid line.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for replacing an image bearing member such as a photosensitive drum for electrophotography, in particular, by inserting a drum with a protective sheet cover, and transferring the sheet to an existing separating means in a copying machine, for example. The present invention relates to a method of peeling and discharging using a method.

Traditionally, when replacing a used drum with a new one,
New drums had to be attached to the equipment after they had been removed from the drum to provide protection from light and to protect the drum surface from damage. When inserting the drum, there are many cases where the drum comes into contact with the device and is damaged, and the operator had to perform this work with extreme caution.

Furthermore, depending on the photoreceptor, charges may accumulate after a certain amount of exposure, which may have an adverse effect on latent image formation during subsequent copying operations, so the operation must be carried out quickly.

Therefore, in the present invention, an image carrier such as a drum is installed into an apparatus with the protective cover attached, and then, by operating the image forming apparatus, this cover is automatically peeled off from the image carrier and removed from the apparatus. The purpose of this project is to provide a new method for replacing drums that can be used to discharge wastewater.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a copying machine to which the present invention is applied and a drum is mounted.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 indicates a photosensitive drum, which rotates in the direction of the arrow. 4 is an image exposure lamp, 6 is a short focus lens array,
5 is a charger. As a result, the surface of the citram 10 is uniformly charged, and then imagewise exposure is performed by the lamp 4 and the lens array 6 to form a latent image. Further, numeral 7 is a developing device, by which the latent image of the above-mentioned disease is visualized. On the other hand, the transfer material 10 is fed from the cassette in synchronization with the 10 rotations of the drum, and the transfer charger 11
The developed image on the drum surface is electrostatically transferred, and then this transfer material 10 is electrostatically separated by a discharger 12. The transfer material 10, with the unfixed toner image on it, is conveyed by a conveyor belt 16 to a fixing device 14, and after the toner image is fixed, it is discharged onto a paper discharge tray 15. Note that the toner remaining on the drum surface is scraped off by the cleaner 16 to prepare for the next process.

Now, in such a copying machine, the cleaner 16 is generally pressed against the drum surface, but when replacing the drum,
A pressure release mechanism such as a mechanism that rotates around the shaft 17 and is released to the dotted line position is permanently installed.

Further, normally, the developing device 7 is divided into those that are in contact with the drum 1, and those that are not in contact with the drum 1 at all, and those that are of the contact type usually have a pressure release means like the above-mentioned cleaner. This example shows a mechanism for pushing or releasing the developing device 7 from the rear around the shaft 9. That is, when the bottle 18 presses the developing device 7 against the drum 1, the developing device, such as the positioning tool 4 (not shown) for the drum and sleeve, comes into contact with the drum surface at the position indicated by the solid line. Then, when the bottle 1B is turned to the dotted line position, the developing unit 7 rotates around the shaft 8 (; ), and at the dotted line position, the center of gravity aligns with the moving direction (comes to the mating position) and is stably released from the drum 1. be done.

Next, general examples of drums inserted into the copying machine are shown in FIGS. 2 and 6.

Figures 2 and 6 show the new drum with a protective sheath-like cover. In the figure, the drum body is 1,
The cover is shown as 2. This cover 2 is light-shielding and is shorter than the length of 10 rotations of the drum, so both ends of the cover 2 are seamed with tape or the like. 3 is the seaming tape. This cover 2 is As mentioned above, it is a sheet of film, paper (black paper), etc. that protects the drum 1 and has a light-shielding property, and its thickness is such that it does not come into contact with the charger wire etc. when inserted into the machine together with the drum 2. It is something.

Next, the procedure for replacing the used drum with the drum with the protective sheet shown in FIGS. 2 and 5-1 in the above-described copying machine will be described.

(1,) First, the cleaner press pin 19 is rotated around the shaft 17 to the dotted line position to release the cleaner 160 from the drum 1.

(2) Similarly, the pin 1 is rotated about the shaft 9 to the dotted line position to release the pressure contact with the developing unit 70 door a1.

(3) For the above operations, cleaner 16 and developing device 7
Make sure that it is firmly away from the drum surface.

(4) Pull out the drum 1 from the drum shaft 20 fixed to the main body (in this example, it can be pulled out toward the front in the drawing) and take it out of the apparatus.

Now that the used drum has been removed, the next step is to install a new drum into the device.

(5) First, remove the tape 3 sealing the protective cover 2 of the drum 1.

(6) Insert this new drum 1 into a predetermined loading position within the device along the drum shaft 20.

(7) Remove the paper feed Rikishitto G.

(8) Turn on the power of the device, press the copy button (not shown), and perform a normal copy operation. As a result, the protective sheet 2 is electrostatically separated by the discharger 12 and automatically discharged via the conveyor belt 16 and the fixing device 14. As described above, the new Dotsum 1 was replaced and was installed in the device without being exposed to heat or being damaged.
The protective cover 2 is automatically peeled off and ejected by a completely normal copying operation.

(9) Return the pin 19 to its original position again, and press the cleaner 16 and developer 7 against the drum surface. (10) Load the paper feed cassette C into the main body of the apparatus.

Now that all the work is complete, you can start copying.

Next, another embodiment will be shown.

Although the above example uses the discharger 12 as the separating means, copying machines using other separating means can also be used by pushing the drum into the device with the haze protective sheet attached, and then automatically removing the sheet. It can be removed at any time. An example is shown in FIG. This is an enlarged view of the transfer separation section, and shows the case where the separation belt 21 is used. The alternative means are the same as the previous example (1
) to (5)1'' are the same, so (6) and subsequent steps will be explained.

(6) Insert the new drum with sheet along the shaft 20.

At this time, manually rotate the drum a little and set the sheet 6 (bell).
Hook it on 21. (Set the seat so that it passes under the belt.) (7) The rest is exactly the same as above.

It should be noted that when a separating claw is used as the separating means, the same is true as above, and if the end of the sheet 6 is hooked to the claw, the sheet is automatically peeled off and discharged by normal copying operation.

In the above embodiments, a photosensitive drum was shown as an example of an image carrier, but the present invention is not limited to this, and may be an insulated drum, for example, or is not limited to a drum. But it's also fine if it's an endless belt.

As described above, in the present invention, the image carrier can be installed into the apparatus with the protective sheet attached, so that the image carrier is not damaged during insertion. For example, in the case of a photoreceptor drum, the image carrier is not exposed to light before it is mounted, so
There is no adverse effect on subsequent image quality. Furthermore, since this sheet can be automatically peeled off and ejected during normal copying operations, there is no need for the operator to insert his/her hand into the main body of the device and remove the sheet.
When rinsing the sheet, there is no chance of accidentally touching the surface of the image carrier, damaging or staining the image carrier.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a copying machine to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the drum, FIG. 6 is a side view thereof, and FIG. 4 is a side view of another embodiment. In the figure, l 5ees/photosensitive drum, 2...,
・Protective cover, 12..0.Discharger, 170.Fist/shaft,
21...Separation belt applicant: Canon Co., Ltd. agent, Gi Marushima - Shimoki 56, BA

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a method for replacing an image carrier used in an image forming apparatus, a protective cover is wrapped to protect the surface of the image carrier, and a new image carrier is attached to the apparatus, and then the apparatus is operated. A method for replacing an image carrier, characterized in that the protective cover is peeled off from the image carrier by a separating means within the apparatus and carried out.