JPS6173177A - Cleaning member - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a cleaning blade provided with an edge having a good linearity by placing a glass material in a part corresponding to a surface related to a formation of the edge welded by pressure to an image carrying part, so that the surface is made to abut on the glass material and formed. CONSTITUTION:A supporting member 5b of a cleaning blade is fixed into a metallic mold divided into two, a fluid-like blade material is charged and solidified into a cavity formed so as to contain its one end part, and a cleaning member whose supporting member 5b has been attached as one body to a blade 5a is formed. Subsequently, a plate-shaped glass material 2 is placed and formed in the metallic mold which abuts on the surface of the side related to a formation of a pressure welding edge, of the blade material. As for the cleaning blade formed in this way, that which is extremely excellent in a plane property of at least one surface related to the formation of the edge welded by pressure to an image carrying body is obtained. In this way, in case when said cleaning blade is used for a cleaning device of an image forming device, a uniform pressure welding by a good straight line of its edge can be executed, and a good cleaning effect is obtained.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (1) Purpose of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) This invention relates to an image forming apparatus that utilizes an electrostatic transfer process such as an electrophotographic copying machine or a printer, and particularly to a cleaning device used therein. It concerns the blade.

(Prior Art and Problems to be Solved) Image forming apparatuses have been well known in the past, including the step of forming a transferable toner image on the surface of a moving image carrier and transferring the image to a transfer material.

In such an image forming apparatus, after the transfer process is completed,
Before starting the next process, it is essential to sufficiently remove residual toner that does not contribute to transfer but remains on the surface of the image carrier (to obtain a stable, high-quality image), and for this purpose, it is used as a residual toner cleaning member. Cleaning blades made of elastic materials such as urethane rubber have been widely used since they have an excellent toner removal function, are simple in construction, and are compact.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the main parts showing a case where such a leaning blade is applied to a copying machine equipped with a rotating cylindrical image carrier. A cleaning device 11 is disposed close to the rotating cylindrical photoreceptor 10 and extends in the axial direction of the photoreceptor.

As is well known, around the photoreceptor, there is a charger that charges the surface photoconductive layer, an exposure section that forms an electrostatic charge on the charger, and a toner that applies toner to the latent image to make it visible. A developing device, a transfer portion for transferring a toner image onto a transfer material, and the like are provided, but since these are not directly related to the invention, a description thereof will be omitted.

Residual toner remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor without being transferred to the transfer material at the transfer site reaches the cleaning device 11 by the photoreceptor rotating in the direction of the arrow in the figure.

The illustrated cleaning device includes a casing 13 that is arranged close to and parallel to the photoreceptor, and a cleaning member 12 that includes a cleaning blade 12a made of an elastic material and a support member 12b made of a rigid material that supports the cleaning blade 12a. is attached, and the free edge of the cleaning blade comes into pressure contact with the surface of the photoreceptor to scrape off residual toner.

Residual toner is removed by scooping sheath 414 attached to the casing.
i (it passes through and reaches the cleaning blade, is scraped off by this, is guided to a scooping sheet, and is further discharged to the outside of the cleaning device by the screw conveyor 15).

As can be readily understood, in such a cleaning device using a cleaning blade, the edge of the blade can be pressed uniformly over the entire bottom width direction of the photoreceptor 10 (perpendicular to the plane of the paper). This basically requires that the edges be formed as straight as possible.

Looking at the enlarged view of a part of the cleaning blade 12a shown in FIG. 4, in order for the edge 12c to be formed in a straight line, two adjacent surfaces 12d,
It is easy to understand that the flatness of 12e must be good.

In this case, the flatness of the surface 12e is determined by the cutting accuracy of the cutter and is likely to be maintained relatively well, but the flatness of the surface 12d
The flatness of the cleaning blade is normally determined by the conditions in which the cleaning blade is manufactured, and good flatness is not always obtained.

Cleaning blades have conventionally been manufactured by centrifugal molding or mold molding. The former involves injecting fluid blade material into a hollow rotating cylinder with its axis of rotation horizontally, deflecting it against the inner surface of the cylinder, and solidifying it.
A cylindrical sheet is formed, cut into appropriate sizes, and used as a cleaning blade.

At this time, the surface on the rotation center side of the cylinder is
Although it is used as a d-plane, in reality it has not been easy to obtain sufficient flatness with a good yield due to irregular movement of the material during the bottom shape or the influence of the application of a mold release agent.

In the mold bottom mold method, a fluid material is injected into the entire mold cavity and solidified, but in this case, the flatness of the blade surface 12d naturally depends on the flatness of the inner surface of the mold. Therefore, there was a limit to the flatness of the mold surface using conventional methods such as polishing and plating.

The present invention has been made in view of the drawbacks of the conventional means, and the present invention improves the flatness of the surface of the cleaning blade, particularly the surface related to the formation of the pressing edge on the image carrier, and improves the flatness of the surface of the cleaning blade. It is an object of the present invention to provide a leaning member that can be pressed as uniformly as possible during body ingestion.

(2) Structure of the invention (technical means and effects for solving the problem) In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, when manufacturing a cleaning member by injecting and solidifying a fluid blade material into a mold, A glass material is disposed at a portion corresponding to a surface related to the formation of an edge that presses against the image carrier, so that the surface is formed in contact with the glass material.

With this configuration, the flatness of the blade surface involved in edge formation is improved, and a cleaning blade having edges with good straightness can be obtained.

(Description of Examples) FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a cleaning blade according to the present invention and a mold formed therein. A cleaning blade support member 5b is fixed in a metal mold that is divided into two parts, and a fluid blade material is injected into a space formed to include one end of the support member 5b and solidified to form a blade 5a. A cleaning member is formed to which the support member 5b is integrally attached.

Note that the reference numeral 4 is a sealing material.

In such a device, a plate-shaped glass material 2 is placed and molded in a mold that abuts the surface of the blade material on the side related to the formation of the pressure contact edge.

FIG. 2 shows another molding means, in which a pair of glass materials 6a are arranged in parallel with a small gap.

Blade material is injected between 6b and solidified to form a sheet-like blade material.

After molding, the blade material is cut to an appropriate size and adhered to a supporting member to complete the Krim member.

The above table shows the surface roughness of blades manufactured by the various manufacturing methods described above, and it can be seen that the flatness of blades manufactured by the uninvented blade is much better than that of known blades.

Therefore, the edge straightness and cleaning function are significantly improved by using a material with good flatness.

(3) Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above explanation, the cleaning blade according to the present invention has an extremely excellent flatness of at least one surface related to the formation of the edge that presses against the image carrier. Therefore, when used in a cleaning device of an image forming apparatus, uniform pressure contact is possible due to the good straightness of the edges, and a good scouring effect can be obtained.

Further, since the glass material used for molding can be easily replaced and is inexpensive, it is possible to always provide a cleaning blade of uniform quality without fear of increasing costs.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 and 2 are a cross-sectional view and a partial perspective view of a mold used to manufacture the blade according to the present invention, and Figure 3 is a main part of a copying machine showing the action of the cleaning blade. Schematic side view. FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view of a part of the cleaning blade. 1 a + 1 b...Mold, 2...Glass material, 3
...Cleaning member, 5a...Cleaning blade, 5b...Supporting member

Claims (1)

[Claims] A cleaning member used in a cleaning device of an image forming apparatus, wherein at least one surface adjacent to an edge of a cleaning blade that presses against an image carrier is formed in contact with a surface of a glass material during molding.