Electrophotography – Cleaning of imaging surface – Having handling of removed material
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-12
2001-04-17
Moses, Richard (Department: 2852)
Electrophotography
Cleaning of imaging surface
Having handling of removed material
C430S125320
Reexamination Certificate
active
06219523
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that recovers residual toner left on an image carrier after transferring a developer image on an image receiving medium and a developer recovery method in an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A device using a magnetic roller as a cleaning means to remove and recover residual toner left on a photosensitive drum after transferring an image at an image forming apparatus of an electro-photographic system has been disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent No. 5-289594. However, for this cleaning means according to a magnetic brush roller, it is required to supply proper bias voltage between a photosensitive drum and the magnetic brush roller in order to get the good cleaning property.
On the other hand, there is an image forming apparatus using such a cleaning unit
1
as shown in FIG.
1
as a cleaning means to scrape off residual toner from the surface of a photosensitive drum with a cleaning blade.
The cleaning unit
1
has a carry-out paddle
6
made of a magnetic material for feeding waste toner scraped with a cleaning blade
3
to a recovery auger
4
that conveys waste toner toward a recovery box.
The cleaning unit
1
using this type of carry-out paddle
6
, that is made of a magnetic material, has a film-shaped peeling member
7
that contacts a blade portion of the carry-out paddle
6
and peels off waste toner adhered to the carry-out paddle
6
to the recovery auger
4
side, and whenever the blade portion
6
a
of the carry-out paddle
6
is rotated, the peeling member
7
is brought in contact with tile blade portion
6
a
and peels waste toner therefrom.
Therefore, during the cleaning, the peeling member
7
is brought in contact with the blade portion
6
a
whenever the carry-out paddle
6
is rotated and the contacting sound and vibration tend to be produced and furthermore, the peeling member
7
is subject to the abrasion by the contact with the carry-out paddle
6
Therefore, for an image forming apparatus that is installed in an office and demanded to be kept in a calm and satisfactory environment, it is demanded to reduce noise and vibration of its cleaning unit as could as possible, and a cleaning unit capable of certainly feeding waste toner that is scraped with a cleaning blade to a recovery unit is demanded so that more higher cleaning effect can be obtained.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a calm and good environment without causing noises and vibrations around an image forming apparatus installed in an office, etc. without generating noises and vibrations.
Another object of the present invention is to maintain the high cleaning property by feeding waste toner scraped by a cleaning blade certainly to the recovery auger side up to the life end of the cleaning unit.
According to the present invention, an image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming a developer image on an image carrier using magnetic developer; transferring means for transferring the developer image formed on the image carrier onto an image receiving medium; and cleaning means for scraping residual toner left on the image carrier into a container by a developer removing means after passing the transferring means, for conveying the scraped residual toner to the residual toner recovery position from the position facing the image carrier in the container by a developer carry-out means comprising a roller shaped magnetic member, and for peeling off the residual toner from the surface of the image carry-out means by a peeling means opposing to the developer carry-out means at the recovery position through a gap leaving a thin layer of the magnetic developer is provided.
Further, according to the present invention, a developer recovery method of an image forming apparatus comprising the steps of: a charging step for charging the surface of the image carrier to a prescribed potential; an exposing step for exposing and scanning the charged surface of the image carrier and forming an electrostatic latent image; a developing step for forming a developer image by feeding a magnetic developer to the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the image carrier; a transferring step for transferring the developer image formed on the image carrier on an image receiving medium; a scraping step for scraping residual developer left on the image carrier in a container after the transferring step is completed; a conveying step for conveying the residual developer scraped in the container to the residual developer recovery position from the position facing the image carrier by the magnetic developer carry-out roller in the container; and a peeling step for peeling the residual developer from the surface of the developer carry-out roller by a peeling means facing the developer carry-out roller through a gap at the recovery position leaving the thin layer of the magnetic developer is provided.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4891679 (1990-01-01), Saijo
patent: 4972233 (1990-11-01), Yamazaki et al.
patent: 5376997 (1994-12-01), Yamato et al.
patent: 5543906 (1996-08-01), Kanda
patent: 5-289594 (1993-11-01), None
Foley & Lardner
Moses Richard
Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
LandOfFree
Image forming apparatus and developing agent recovery method... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Image forming apparatus and developing agent recovery method..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Image forming apparatus and developing agent recovery method... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2555149