JPS5912473A - Cleaning device of electrophotographic copying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent toner staining by providing a beltlike blade which scrapes toner particles remaining on the surface of a photosensitive drum and a channel- shaped holder for clamping and holding one breadthwise end of the blade. CONSTITUTION:A cleaning device is equipped with the beltlike blade 11 for scraping toner particles remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum and the channel-shaped holder 112 for clamping and holding one breadthwise end of the blade 11. When the edge of the blade 11 is rugged against the surface of the photosensitive drum which rotates as shown by an arrow, the blade deforms elastically and almost linearly on the whole or deforms elastically a little bit less at both lengthwise ends than at the center. Consequently, even the toner particles remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor at both ends are scraped off securely and toner staining is prevented.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a cleaning device for an electronic copying machine.

An electronic copying machine uses a photosensitive drum, which is a metal drum with a photoconductor provided on its surface. In such an electronic copying machine, a photoreceptor is charged with -V and a light image is exposed to form an electrostatic latent image. The electrostatic latent image is developed with charged toner particles. The resulting toner image is then transferred to copy paper and fixed to obtain a copy image.

By the way, in such an electronic copying machine, some of the toner particles attached to the surface of the photosensitive drum during the development process are not transferred to the copy paper in the transfer process and remain.

Since the photosensitive drum cannot be used repeatedly in this state, it is necessary to remove the toner particles remaining on the surface. Various cleaning devices are used for this purpose.

As shown in FIG. 1, such a cleaning device includes a blade 1Q) which scrapes the surface of the photosensitive drum 2 and mechanically scrapes off toner particles. In this device, it is necessary to uniformly rub the surface of the photoreceptor drum 2 with the edge of the blade 1 and to prevent it from being damaged. For this purpose, as shown in Fig. 2, the blade 1 is made into a band shape from rubber or the like, and one end of this in the width direction is held in a channel-shaped holder 3 with a certain degree of freedom. (not shown)
It is supported by

However, in such a device, since the holding width of the holder 3 is uniform over the entire length, the degree of freedom at both ends of the blade 1 in the length direction is greater than that at the center. Therefore, when the edge of the blade 1 scratches the surface of the photoreceptor drum 2 rotating in the direction of arrow C in FIG. becomes larger than As a result, the 1.S particles remaining on both ends of the surface of the photoreceptor drum 2 cannot be reliably scraped off.
There was a drawback in that the 1-bo particles escaped along the deformation of both lengthwise ends of the route 1, resulting in 1-ner staining on both ends of the surface of the photoreceptor drum 2. This drawback was more pronounced as the blade 1 became longer.

As an improvement over this, there is one in which both lengthwise ends of the blade 1 are bent, as shown in FIG. This is because when the surface of the rotating photoreceptor drum 2 is struck, both ends in the length direction undergo relatively large elastic deformation and become almost straight as a whole, which causes the toner particles remaining at both ends to be This is intended to increase the amount of scraping. However, the disadvantage of such a device is that in normal conditions, both ends of the blade 1 in the length direction are bent, making it difficult to apply pressure evenly to the surface of the photoreceptor drum 2, making installation extremely troublesome. was there. Further, there is a drawback that toner particles tend to remain in the bent portion of the blade 1, and toner stains still occur.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides an electronic copying machine that can reliably scrape off toner particles remaining on both ends of the surface of a photoreceptor drum and that can be easily installed. The purpose is to provide a machine cleaning device.

In the present invention, the blade is formed into a strip, and the clamping width at both ends of the holder that clamps the blade is made larger than that at the center, thereby making the degree of freedom of the blade substantially uniform over the entire blade, thereby achieving the above-mentioned object. .

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to Examples.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the main parts of a cleaning device for an electronic copying machine. The blade 11 of this device is made of rubber or the like in a band shape.

One end of the blade 11 in the width direction is a V-shaped holder 12.
is held in place. The gripping portions 13 at both lengthwise ends of the holder 12 gradually become wider toward the ends. That is, the clamping width D1 of the clamping parts 13 at both lengthwise ends of the holder 12 is larger than that at the central part. As a result, the degree of freedom at both lengthwise ends of the blade 11 is equal to or slightly smaller than that at the center.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, when the edge of the blade 11 of this device rubs the surface of the photoreceptor drum 14 rotating in the direction of the arrow, the entire surface is elastically deformed approximately linearly or its length is Both ends in the width direction are elastically deformed slightly less than the center. Therefore, the toner particles remaining on both ends of the surface of the photoreceptor drum 14 are scraped off in the same way as those at the center, or are scraped off while being gathered toward the center. As a result, toner particles remaining on both ends of the surface of the photoreceptor drum 14 can be reliably scraped off.

As explained above, according to the present invention, since the blade is simply a strip, it is not evenly pressed against the surface of the photoreceptor drum.
Easy to install. Furthermore, since the blade does not have any bent portions where toner particles may remain, the toner particles can be reliably scraped off, and no dirt will be formed on both ends of the surface of the photoreceptor drum.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 shows the cleaning device 6° of a conventional electronic copying machine.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the blade, FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the drawbacks, and FIG. 4 is a front view of a part of the blade, showing another conventional example. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of essential parts of a cleaning device for an electronic copying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining its operation. 11...Blade 12...Holder 14...Photoconductor drum Application Fujipi [1 Tsukusu Co., Ltd. Representative Patent Attorney Aya Yu Yamauchi 1 Figure 4 Figure 447

Claims (1)

[Claims] It is equipped with a belt-shaped blade that scrapes toner particles remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor drum, and a channel-shaped holder that clamps and supports one end of the blade in the width direction, and the clamping width of both ends of the holder in the length direction is at the center. A cleaning device for an electronic copying machine, which is larger than the cleaning device for an electronic copying machine.