JPS60158478A - Cleaning mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To remove surely a residual toner and to obviate damaging the surface of a photosensitive body by making a holding member which holes a blade rotatable in a horizontal direction and making both ends of the holding member independently movable in forward and backward directions. CONSTITUTION:A cleaning mechanism 13 is constituted of a blade 18 of which the tip contacts with the surface of a photosensitive drum 11, a holding member 19 which holds the blade 18, a supporting member 20 which supports the member 19 at one central point, a frame body 21 enclosing the blade 18, the member 19 and the member 20, etc. The member 19 holding the blade 18 is made rotatable in a horizontal direction and both ends of the holding member are made independently movable forward and backward, by which the residual toner is surely removed and the surface of the photosensitive body is kept free from damage.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Subject of the Invention] The present invention relates to a cleaning mechanism for an electrophotographic copying machine, and relates to a cleaning mechanism suitable for reliably removing residual toner adhering to the surface of a photoreceptor drum without damaging the photoreceptor drum. Regarding the mechanism.

[Background of the invention]

Conventionally, various types of cleaning mechanisms using blades have been proposed for electrophotographic copying machines. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the tip of a resilient blade 1 is pressed against the photoreceptor drum 2 in a direction opposite to the rotating direction of the photoreceptor drum 2, and the toner 3 remaining on the photoreceptor drum 2 is removed. There is a so-called counter blade cleaning method in which scraping is performed with the tip of the blade 1, or as shown in Figure 2, a blade 1 with elasticity is used.
There is a method called a trailing blade cleaning method in which the tip of the blade is pressed against the photoreceptor drum 2 in the same direction as the rotational direction of the photoreceptor drum 2 to scrape off the toner 3 remaining on the photoreceptor drum 2. There are intermediate ones shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 4.

In all of the above, the blade 1 is always connected to the photosensitive drum 2.
The tip of the blade 1 is pressed against the photosensitive drum 2 in the same or opposite direction to the rotational direction of the drum, and when the power is turned off, the tip of the blade 1 is separated from the photosensitive drum 2 by means such as a solenoid. If pressure is applied in a certain direction, a cleaning effect can be expected, but there is a drawback that the surface of the photoreceptor drum is likely to be damaged. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, in the conventional holding means for the blade 1, the position of the holder 4 is fixed, and the holder 4 rotates at most about one point in parallel to the photoreceptor drum axis. Regardless of the state of sliding contact between the photosensitive drum 2 and the blade 1, the blade 1 is pressed against the surface of the photosensitive drum 2 with the same pressure.

Therefore, depending on the setting condition of the blade 1, the surface of the photoreceptor drum 2 may be damaged, and after many years of use, parts of the blade 1 and the surface of the photoreceptor drum 2 may appear where they do not come into contact, and residual parts of the photoreceptor drum 2 (・There are disadvantages such as the glue solidifying.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning mechanism that reliably removes residual 1-toner adhering to the surface of a photoreceptor drum and does not damage the surface of the photoreceptor drum. purpose.

[Summary of the invention]

The gist of the present invention is that, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a holding member for holding a blade is rotatable in a horizontal direction;
In addition, by making both ends of the holding member independently movable in the front-back direction, all vertical and front-back or diagonal deviations of the photoreceptor drum are absorbed, and the tip of the blade is always kept uniform.
The point is that it is brought into contact with the surface of the photoreceptor tram at a pressure of 7.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a cleaning mechanism constituting an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 7(a) and (b) are perspective views for explaining the present invention, and FIG. 7(a) is a The relationship between the photosensitive drum 11 and the blade 18 is shown, and FIG. 7(b) is a perspective view of the blade 18 seen from the opposite direction to FIG. 7(a). FIG. 8 is a plan view with a part of the frame omitted. In the figure, around the photoreceptor drum 11, a paper feed guide 12,
A cleaning mechanism 13, a charger 14, a transfer corona discharger 15, etc. are arranged, and a paper feed guide 1 is arranged from a registration roller to a paper feed guide 1.
The copy paper 17 sent through the photosensitive drum 1
The visible toner image formed on the transfer corona discharger 15
The image is transferred by a roller 16 and sent to a fixing device (not shown).

During transfer, there is no problem if all the toner in the visible toner image formed on the surface of the photoreceptor drum 11 is transferred to the copy paper 17, but in reality, toner remains on the photoreceptor drum 11. This residual toner is removed by a cleaning mechanism 13.

The cleaning mechanism 13 includes a blade 18 whose tip is in contact with the surface of the photoreceptor drum 11, a holding member 19 that holds the blade 18, a support member 20 that supports the holding member 19 at a central point, and these blades 18, Holding member 19
, a frame body 21 that encloses the support member 20, and the like.

The blade 18 is a resilient plate-like body made of synthetic rubber such as urethane, nitrile, silicone, or natural rubber, and its tip is in contact with the surface of the photoreceptor drum 11, and its rear end is connected to a holding member 19 made of a plate-like body. It is fixed to the front part with adhesive or the like. The support member 20 is also made of a plate-like member, and is rotatably connected to the holding member 19 at the center with a screw 22. An engagement piece 20 is provided on the rear end side of the support member 20.
a and 20b are integrally formed with the support member 20 with a notch, and the notch formed by the engagement pieces 20a and 20b and the support member 20 has a cutout that engages with the engagement pieces 20a and 20b. The tip of the guide 23 that guides the support member 20 is fitted,
The support member 20 is guided in the front-rear direction while supporting both ends thereof. The shape of the guide 23 is bent in a lateral shape, and is supported so as to be able to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise around support members 26 and 27, and the distal end is connected to the engaging pieces 20a and 20b as described above. It fits into a notch formed with the support member 20, and has two protrusions 23a and 23b at the rear end.
is provided. The frame 2 is attached to the projections 23a and 23b.
The other ends of springs 24 and 25, which have one end engaged with the protrusions 21a and 21b of 1, are engaged with each other.

With the above configuration, if the axis of the photoreceptor drum 11 is offset for some reason as shown by the dotted line in FIG. direction, and moves back and forth as shown by arrows B and C against or due to the elasticity of the springs 24, 25 that bias the guide 23. That is, even if the central axis of the photoreceptor drum 11 deviates up and down, back and forth, or diagonally, the support member 20 can be moved back and forth or diagonally by the guide 23, and the holding member 19 can be moved clockwise or counterclockwise around the screw 22. Rotate clockwise.

Therefore, the entire surface of the tip of the blade 18 fixed together with the holding member 19 at the front end of the support member 20 is always in contact with the surface of the photoreceptor drum 11 evenly and with a constant pressure. The toner remaining on the blade is reliably removed, and there is no fear that the surface of the photoreceptor drum 11 will be scratched.111 [Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the cleaning mechanism according to the present invention cleans the entire surface of the tip of the blade uniformly. Since the toner is always in contact with the photoreceptor drum with a certain pressure, it has an extremely excellent effect of being able to reliably remove the toner remaining on the photoreceptor drum surface without damaging the photoreceptor drum surface.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 4 are diagrams showing a schematic configuration of a conventional cleaning mechanism, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a contact state between a photosensitive drum and a blade of a conventional cleaning mechanism, and FIG. 6 is an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7(a) is a side view of the cleaning mechanism forming the
and FIG. 7(b) is a perspective view for explaining the present invention. FIG. 8 is a partially omitted plan view. In the figure, 11... Photosensitive drum, 12... Paper feed guide, 13... Cleaning mechanism, 14... Charger, 1
5... Transfer corona discharger, 16... Roller, 17
... Transfer paper, 18... Blade, 19... Holding member, 20... Supporting member, 21... Frame, 22...
・Screw, 23...Guide, 24.25...Spring, 2
6.27...Supporting member.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A blade cleaning mechanism that uses a blade to remove toner adhering to the surface of a photoreceptor drum, the blade having a tip in contact with the surface of the photoreceptor drum, a holding member that holds the blade, and a support member that supports the holding member; The guide includes a guide that guides the supporting member in the front and back direction at both ends and urges the holding member toward the photoreceptor drum, and the holding member and the supporting member are pivotally connected to each other approximately in the center so as to be freely rotatable. A cleaning mechanism characterized by: