JPS6188290A - Cleaning member - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make the joining of a cleaning blade hard and maintain a cleaning function which is stable for a long period by making the surface of a support member rugged and increasing its surface area when the cleaning blade made of an elastic member is adhered to the support member. CONSTITUTION:Numbers of projections and recesses are formed in the faying surface between the support member and cleaning blade 2 by sand blast, chemical processing, etc., to increase the contacting area, and the elastic cleaning blade 2 is joined by using an adhesive. Consequently, the joining of the cleaning blade 2 is made hard.

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 member used in the cleaning device thereof. It is related to.

(Prior Art and Problems to be Solved) There is a problem with well-known image forming apparatuses that repeat the process of electrostatically forming a transferable toner image on the surface of a moving image carrier and then transferring this toner image to a transfer material. In order to obtain a stable image, it is essential to sufficiently remove the residual toner remaining on the carrier after transfer before starting the next process.

As the residual toner removal means, a number of methods have been proposed in the past, such as cleaning blades made of elastic materials such as urethane rubber, fur brushes, webs made of nonwoven fabric, etc.; Cleaning blades have an excellent toner removal function, and as image forming apparatuses tend to become smaller and more compact, cleaning blades have come into widespread use.

As mentioned above, the cleaning blade is made of an elastic material such as rubber, and is integrally attached to a support member made of a rigid material, and the support member is attached to the image forming apparatus or a cleaning device arranged thereon. Generally, the cleaning blade is attached to the image carrier, and the free edge of the cleaning blade is pressed against the image carrier to scrape off the toner on the surface of the image carrier.

FIG. 1A is a schematic side view showing a case where a cleaning device including such a cleaning member consisting of a cleaning blade and a support member is applied to a copying machine.

A charger 11 is provided around the image carrier (photoreceptor) 10 formed in a rotating cylinder shape to charge the photoconductive layer on the surface thereof. A lens array 12 that applies a light image to this to form an electrostatic a image
．． A developing device 13 for converting the latent image into a transferable toner image. A conveyance path 14 that supplies the transfer material to a transfer member provided with a transfer charger 15
etc. are arranged. Since these are conventionally well-known structures, further explanation of the image forming process using them will be omitted.

Transfer charger 15 when viewed in the traveling direction of the photoreceptor (direction of arrow A)
A cleaning device 16 is disposed downstream of the cleaning device 16, and a cleaning member 17 is attached to the cleaning device.

The cleaning blade 20 is provided integrally with a support member 30 attached to the housing of the cleaning device, and one edge of the cleaning blade 20 is in pressure contact with the surface of the photoreceptor 10.

As can be easily understood from such a configuration, since the cleaning blade 20 made of an elastic material is subjected to a force that causes it to be peeled off from the supporting member by the rotating photoreceptor, the bonding between the two is as short as possible. 2; If it is not hardened, it will cause gummy stains due to poor cleaning.

Conventionally, means for attaching the elastic material to the support member include using a second support member in addition to the support member, sandwiching the blade between the two and fixing the entire body with screws, or attaching an adhesive to the support member. Measures have been taken to bond the blade or to integrally mold the supporting member and the blade.

However, screw fixing is not preferable because the degree of suppressing deformation of the relatively flexible blade becomes uneven depending on the degree of %MC, which causes uneven pressure over the entire width direction of the photoreceptor.

However, methods that use adhesives or integral molding may affect the stability of the adhesive's adhesive strength, and mold-molded products are inevitably lacking in bonding strength between the two, making it difficult to quickly clean them. There was a risk that this could lead to a decline.

The present invention has been made in order to cope with the current situation, and it is possible to maintain stability over a long period of time by strengthening the bonding action between the support member made of a rigid material such as metal and the cleaning blade made of an elastic material such as rubber. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning member that can maintain a cleaning function.

(2) Structure of the invention (technical means 2 effect for solving the interlayer problem) In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, when the cleaning blade is bonded to the support member using, for example, an adhesive, both By substantially increasing the surface area of the support member at the contact surface, the bonding force is increased, thereby obtaining a cleaning blade that can withstand stable use over a long period of time.

(Description of Embodiments) FIG. 1B is an enlarged perspective view of a part of the structure of the cleaning member 17 shown in FIG. 1A, in which the cleaning blade 20 is joined to one edge of the support member 30 and integrated It is formed.

When such a leaning member is put into practical use, when a force in the direction of arrow B in the figure is applied to the blade and the blade tends to peel off, the force that opposes this will be the size of the area S1 + S2 + S of the part where the two are in direct contact. For example, when the same adhesive is used, the larger the bonding area, the stronger the bonding force.

FIG. 2A shows a contact surface between the support member 3 and the cleaning blade 2 in which a large number of irregularities are formed on the former surface by sandblasting, chemical treatment, etc., so that the contact area S'l+
S2+S3 as above s, + S2+ s3. ! : The rim is essentially a dog, and this increases the bonding force.

Further, in this embodiment, as can be seen from the end view shown in No. 2B2, the length of the support member 3 is made longer than that of the cleaning blade 2, and the end of the blade material is longer than the end of the support member by d. By doing so, a stronger bond can be obtained.

Such a configuration is especially useful when the support section is covered with blades.
It is suitable for integral molding as in Szt.

Fig. 33 shows another method of enlarging the surface value of the abutting surface, in which a large number of uneven strips 3a are formed in the part of the supporting part example 3 that the blade material 2 directly contacts. Furthermore, the contact area is being expanded.

(3) Effects of the Invention Since the present invention has the above-mentioned structural action, when the image bearing member is pressed against the image carrier and tends to peel off, the bonding force is large, so that a stable cleaning action can be achieved over a long period of time.
This greatly contributes to obtaining high-quality copies.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1A is a schematic side view of the main parts of the close-up camera, FIG. 1B is an enlarged perspective view of a part of the cleaning member used in the same, FIG. 2A is an enlarged perspective view of a part of the cleaning member according to the present invention, FIG. 2B is a side view of a portion of the same as above, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a portion of another embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a cleaning member in which a cleaning blade made of an elastic material is integrally joined to one edge of a support member made of a rigid material, the surface of the support member at the joint surface of the two is made uneven to increase the joint area. cleaning parts. (2) The cleaning member according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning blade is formed so as to protrude outward from both end surfaces of the support member when viewed in the longitudinal direction.