Electrophotography – Internal machine environment – Particle or contaminant control
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-24
2001-01-16
Pendegrass, Joan (Department: 2852)
Electrophotography
Internal machine environment
Particle or contaminant control
C399S350000, C399S360000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06175701
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, and in particular, to cleaning blades for simultaneously removing non-transferred toner from an OPC (Organic Photoconductive) drum and a charging roller after a toner image is developed from an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the OPC drum by a developing roller and transferred onto a recording paper sheet.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,216 for a Cleaning Blade Assembly For Electrophotography Apparatus to Surti discloses a cleaning apparatus for cleaning toner from a photosensitive drum. The cleaning apparatus contains a blade for scraping residual toner off the photosensitive drum and a housing for storing toner that has been scraped off the photosensitive drum. The reference makes no mention of a charging roller or a method or apparatus for scrapping toner from a charging roller.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,013 for an Image Forming Apparatus Provided With Contact-Type Charger And Controller For Cleaning Charger to Matsushita et al. discloses; a charging member that can be cleaned of toner. However, the charging member is not in the form of a roller but is in the form of a blade.
What is needed is a blade for cleaning a charging roller in addition to a blade for cleaning a photoconductive drum in an electrophotographic apparatus. The blade for cleaning the charging roller cleans toner that was not transferred to the sheet of paper and has avoided the cleaning operation of the photoconductive drum. What is also needed is a frame that contains both blades and a housing for storing waste toner scraped off the photoconductive drum.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To overcome the above earlier problem, an object of the present invention is to provide cleaning blades in an image forming apparatus, for removing non-transferred toner remaining on an OPC drum and a charging roller after a transferring process.
Another object of the present invention is to provide cleaning blades in an image forming apparatus, for removing non-transferred toner remaining an OPC drum and a charging roller to thereby increase image quality.
It is still another object to provide a charging roller with a cleaning blade.
It is yet another object to provide a single frame that contains the two blades, one for cleaning the photoconductive drum and one for cleaning the charging roller, wherein the frame also contains a waste reservoir for storing waste toner scraped by the first blade off the photoconductive drum.
To achieve the above objects, there is provided an electrophotographic image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus includes an OPC drum for forming in image, a charging roller for applying a high voltage to the OPC drum, a developing roller for supplying toner to the OPC drum, a doctor blade for regulating of a toner layer to a predetermined thickness on the developing roller, a supply roller for supplying the toner to the developing roller, an agitator for supplying the toner to the supply roller, a first cleaning blade formed on a portion of a predetermined frame at a side of the OPC drum, for scraping non-transferred roller on the OPC drum after a transferring operation, and a second cleaning blade formed on another portion of the frame above the first cleaning blade, at a side of the charging roller, for completely scraping non-transferred toner which avoids the cleaning operation of the first cleaning blade. Thus, high quality image can be obtained by preventing non-transferred toner- caused contamination of the OPC drum.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4947216 (1990-08-01), Surti
patent: 5168309 (1992-12-01), Adachi et al.
patent: 5608499 (1997-03-01), Tanaka
patent: 5617194 (1997-04-01), Morishita et al.
patent: 5640663 (1997-06-01), Hirai et al.
patent: 5799229 (1998-08-01), Yokoyama et al.
patent: 5812917 (1998-09-01), Iwata et al.
patent: 5873013 (1999-02-01), Matsushita et al.
patent: 3-100676 (1991-04-01), None
patent: 7-20692 (1995-01-01), None
Bushnell , Esq. Robert E.
Pendegrass Joan
Samsung Electronics Co,. Ltd.
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