JPS6087382A - Cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To clean completely residual toner on a photosensitive body, and to prevent an image from being stained and to improve the picture quality by providing a grounding means between a blade or blade holder and a grounded body, and discharging the static electricity on the blade. CONSTITUTION:A conductive coupling member 28 is fitted on a conductive pin 12 provided to the blade holder, and its other end part is fitted onto a bush provided on the support shaft 3 of a photosensitive body 2. The pin 12 conducts to the support shaft 3, which is grounded through the frame 1, so the blade and blade holder are grounded. Therefore, the static electricity generated on the blade owing to the frictional contact with the photosensitive body 2 is discharged to the support shaft 3 to eliminate completely black stripes appearing on the image, thereby preventing an error in copying and improving the copy quality.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a cleaning device that is disposed near an image bearing member such as a drum-shaped photoreceptor and that cleans the image bearing member by scraping off toner on the image bearing member with a blade. Regarding equipment.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

This type of cleaning device uses an FV-P made of urethane rubber to scrape off residual toner adhering to the surface of an image bearing member such as a drum-shaped photoreceptor made of selenium. During operation, static electricity is generated at the tip of the blade that comes into direct contact with the image carrier. On the other hand, since the toner on the image carrier is in a charged state, not all of the toner falls, and some of the toner remains at the tip of the blade, or some of the toner flies further and is attracted to the holder.

The blade usually has a blade that rotatably supports it.
Supported by a holder, the user can take prints from the close-up camera. When the button is pressed to turn it on, it rotates to a position where it makes contact with the image carrier and is ready for cleaning operation. On the other hand, when a series of copy operations is completed, the blade is retracted to a position away from the image carrier.

Therefore, if the blade in the retracted position moves to the cleaning position and contacts the image carrier at the start of the next copy cycle, the blade will be attracted to the tip of the blade or the holder and remain. The toner deposited thereon often adhered to the circumferential surface of the image carrier, causing black streaks on the copy paper as an image during the first copy.

The support shaft of the image carrier itself is usually grounded via a frame, etc., but cleaning devices are generally not grounded to ground in order to eliminate wiring harnesses, and are designed to have a so-called electrically floating unit structure. As a result, the parts corresponding to the image carrier, including a part of the blade holder, become electrically charged.
Therefore, this causes the occurrence of so-called black streaks during copying as described above.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to completely clean the toner remaining on the image bearing member, and also to clean the so-called black toner during the next copy cycle. Eliminates image stains called streaks,
To provide a cleaning device capable of preventing copy mistakes and improving image quality.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a cleaning device according to the present invention, in which a grounding means is specially provided between the grade or blade holder and a grounding body that serves as a ground.
The grounding means is configured to dissipate static electricity on the blade that is generated as a result of contact during the cleaning operation.

Such blade means may include, for example, a conductive bottle provided on the pivot axis of the root holder 7, and a conductive connecting member that electrically connects the bottle and the support axis of the image carrier. The support shaft of the image carrier is configured as a grounding body.

According to the structure of the present invention, static electricity generated at the tip of the blade can be completely dissipated through the grounding means, so that the toner adhering to the blade or blade holder is dispersed and the next copying process is prevented. There are no problems such as black lines on the image during the cycle.

[Embodiments of the invention]

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

In the cleaning device of the present invention, which is generally shown in a perspective view in FIG. It is the axis of the body's axis of support. However, in Figures 4 and 5,
A photoreceptor 2 and its support shaft 3 are shown.

Between 1 m and 1 lb of both side plates of the frame 1, behind the photoreceptor 2 are a blade 4, a blade holder 5 that supports the blade, and a plurality of weight plates placed on the holder 5 to form a balancer. A side plate 6 is arranged, and both side plates 1
Moltoplane shield members 7 that form a shield between the blades 4 and the end faces of the blades 4 are arranged on the inner surfaces of the blades a, #1, and b, respectively.

Further, although it is not visible in FIG. 1, as seen in the exploded view in FIG. In Figure 2, it operates to continuously move rightward.

An operation unit 9 for rotating the grade and a gear drive unit 10 of the transfer screw 8 are arranged on the outside of one side plate 1a, and a bearing unit 1 of the transfer screw is placed on the outside of the other side plate 1b.
1st place is placed.

Grade 4rl: As shown in FIG. 4, the tip 4a in contact with the photoreceptor 2 is made of urethane rubber, and it is sandwiched between aluminum plates 4b on both sides. The blade holder 5 is made of a conductive metal plate such as iron, and both ends thereof are rotatably supported on corresponding side plates 1m and 1b.

A conductive pin 12 made of iron or the like is caulked to one end 51 and protrudes on the support axis of the holder 5 and the pivot axis of the pinch blade.

The connection between the holder 5 and the blade 4 is such that, as shown in FIG. The blade is integrally fixed to the holder 5 by passing the fixing screw 16 therethrough and screwing it into the lower grade 4 through the opening 13 of the holder 5.

On the other hand, long holes 12 are formed on both sides of the adjustment plate 14 along the longitudinal direction of the blade, and correspondingly, similar long holes 19 are formed on the blade 4 on both sides of the screw hole 18 of the screw 16. are formed, and adjustment screws 20 (only one of which is shown in the figure) are inserted into each elongated hole 12, screwed into the holder 5, and inserted into the elongated hole 19 below.

Then, by loosening the fixing screw 16 and the adjusting screw 20, the blade 4 can be moved and adjusted in the longitudinal direction relative to the holder 5 within the length range of the elongated hole 12°19. By tightening the screws 16 and 20, the grade 4 is once again fixed integrally to the holder 5. This adjustment plate 1
The elongated hole 17 and the adjustment screw 20 on the grade 4 serve to determine the adjustment range of the blade 4 and to guide the precise longitudinal movement of the grade 4. FIG. 6 is an enlarged plan view of section A in FIG. 1 showing this adjustment portion.

Incidentally, grade 4 has a structure in which the blade 4 is screwed to the holder 5 at various locations through bevel holes formed on the holder 5 side, as seen in FIG.

Bolt 21 on holder 5 (only one shown in the figure)
) Heavy plates 6 are stacked and fixed, and as shown in FIG. It acts as if it is pressed against a surface. Therefore, this pressing force can be adjusted by adjusting the weight of the heavy plate 6.

Next, the operation section 9 will be explained. A blade rotation lever 2 is attached to a conductive pin 12 protruding outward from the side plate 1'a.
2 is fixed with screws, and a solenoid pivotally connected to a shaft 23 protruding from the side plate IIL of the bent free end L1 of the lever 22 is actuated and engaged with one arm 24a of the lever 24.

A spring 25 for biasing the lever 24 counterclockwise in FIG. 5 is suspended between the other arm 24b of the lever 24 and the side plate 1a, and is held in the position shown in the drawing by a stone holder 26. ing. When the lever 24 is in the position shown,
The blade 4 is located at a retracted position away from the surface of the photoreceptor 2,
No copy operation is being performed.

Although not shown, when the copying machine's print button is pressed to start copying, the solenoid biases the lever 24 clockwise against the spring 25.
The blade 4 also rotates clockwise following the arm 24a of the blade 24 due to the action of the heavy plate 6, and moves the blade 4 to the contact position with the photoreceptor 2 (FIG. 4). Even if the lever 24 rotates further, the lever 23 is stopped at the position where the blade 4 contacts the photoreceptor 2 and is separated from the arm 24h of the lever 24.

In the present invention, a conductive bushing 27 made of iron or the like is fitted into the conductive pin 12 provided on the holder 5, and a conductive connecting member 28 made of iron plate or the like is fitted onto the bushing 22. At the same time, the other end of the connecting member 28 is fitted into the support shaft 3 of the photoreceptor 2 with a conductive bushing 2 made of iron or the like.
9. In addition, bush 27
is fitted into the hole 30 of the side plate 1a in a non-rotatable state to rotatably support the pin 12. Further, the bush 29 similarly rotatably supports the support shaft 3 of the photoreceptor, and these bushes 29
22°29 also serves as a bearing.

Therefore, the pin 12 is electrically connected to the support shaft 3 of the photoreceptor through the connecting member 28, and since the support shaft 3 itself is grounded to the ground via the frame 1 etc., the support shaft 3 can be used as a grounding body. , the pin 12, the serpentine blade 4, and the blade holder 5 are in a grounded state. Therefore, due to direct contact with the photoconductor 2, the digrade 4 and holder 5
All of the static electricity generated above can be released to the support shaft 3 side of the υ photoreceptor by means of grounding means such as the -/12 connecting member 28.

Therefore, the residual toner is not adsorbed on the blade or the grade holder that is separated from the photoreceptor after the cleaning operation is completed, and can be sufficiently dropped downward and collected. Therefore, when the blade contacts the photoreceptor again during the next copy cycle, it does not deposit toner on the photoreceptor and therefore does not cause problematic black streaks on the image.

In the embodiment, the blade and the grade holder are grounded to the support shaft of the photoreceptor, but they may be grounded directly to the frame. Further, in the embodiment, the bottle 12 was provided integrally with the holder 5, but
It may be provided on the blade 4, or alternatively, the blade itself may be made of a more conductive material and grounded directly to the frame or the like, and is not limited to the embodiments.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, even the unit of the cleaning device which is normally not grounded to the frame can be actively connected to the grounding body such as the support shaft of the image carrier by the grounding means of the present invention. Since it is grounded, static electricity generated on the grade or grade holder can be immediately dissipated, completely eliminating black streaks that appear on images, which has been a problem in the past, and eliminating copy errors. At the same time, effects such as improved copy quality can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of the cleaning device of the present invention with the photoreceptor removed; FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the cleaning device shown in FIG. 1;
Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the blade operating section and grounding means, Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in Fig. 1, Fig. 5 is a right side view of Fig. 1, and Fig. 6 is a FIG. 1 is an enlarged plan view of part A in FIG. 2... Photoreceptor, 4... Blade, 5... Blade holder, 12... Conductive bottle, 14... Adjustment plate, 28... Conductive connecting member.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a cleaning device that is disposed near the image carrier and that scrapes off toner on the image carrier with a blade to clean the image carrier, the blade or the blade holder that supports the blade is grounded. A cleaning device characterized in that a grounding means is provided between the blade or the blade holder and the grounding body so that static electricity generated on the blade during a cleaning operation is dissipated through the grounding means. (2) The grounding means includes a conductive pin provided on a pivot axis of a holder that rotatably supports the grade, and a conductive connecting member that connects the pin and the support shaft of the image carrier in a conductive state. Good, the cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the support shaft of the image carrier serves as a grounding body.