Metal working – Method of mechanical manufacture – Disassembling
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-30
2002-04-02
Bryant, David P. (Department: 3726)
Metal working
Method of mechanical manufacture
Disassembling
C029S426100, C399S165000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06363600
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of removing a photosensitive belt of a printing apparatus from rollers of a belt unit for repair or replacement.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, as shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, a printing apparatus such as a printer or copier is comprised of a frame
10
having a belt passage
11
, a belt unit
20
, a developing device
30
, a transfer roller
41
and a fixing roller
42
. The belt unit
20
includes rollers
21
,
22
and
23
, and a photosensitive belt
25
circulating around the rollers
21
,
22
and
23
.
During printing, a toner image is formed on one surface of the circulating photosensitive belt
25
by the developing device
30
, the toner image is transferred and fixed on a sheet of paper
1
passing through between the transfer roller
41
and the fixing roller
42
, and the image is printed on the sheet of paper
1
. On the other hand, when so-called lateral slip occurs, i.e., the photosensitive belt
25
looped around the rollers
21
,
22
and
23
circulates in a slightly oblique direction with respect to the rollers
21
,
22
and
23
and does not circulate in a perpendicular direction with respect to the rollers
21
,
22
and
23
, the photosensitive belt
25
moves in a direction which increases the tension of the photosensitive belt
25
along a lengthwise direction of the rollers
21
,
22
and
23
, and consequently the quality of print is lowered. Therefore, in general, a printer is provided with a sensor (not shown) for detecting lateral slip of the photosensitive belt
25
, and a steering device which corrects the lateral slip by slanting at least one of the rollers
21
,
22
and
23
with respect to the others based on the signal from the sensor. Such a steering device is known in the field of the art, those of various configurations are presently used, and an example of those is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,241.
In such a printer, when the performance of the photosensitive belt
25
looped around the rollers
21
,
22
and
23
deteriorates, the photosensitive belt
25
must be removed from the rollers
21
,
22
and
23
through the belt passage
11
of the frame
10
so that it can be replaced with a new one.
In removing the photosensitive belt
25
from the rollers
21
,
22
and
23
, any one roller
21
is moved toward the other rollers
22
and
23
as shown by the imaginary line in
FIG. 1
so that the tension applied to the photosensitive belt
25
for smooth circulation of the photosensitive belt
25
can be removed, and the photosensitive belt
25
can be freed from the rollers
21
,
22
and
23
. After the roller
21
is moved to the position shown in phantom in FIG. I and the tension of the photosensitive belt
25
is relieved, the photosensitive belt
25
looped around the rollers
21
,
22
and
23
is removed from the rollers
21
,
22
and
23
through the belt passage
11
of the frame
10
. When a new photosensitive belt is looped around the rollers
21
,
22
and
23
, the roller
21
is moved back to the position shown by the solid line in
FIG. 1
, and applies tension to the new photosensitive belt
25
.
However, in the above-described method, since the space between the belt passage
11
and the belt unit
20
is very narrow, it is difficult for a worker to directly remove the photosensitive belt
25
by inserting a hand through the belt passage
11
, and, in addition, since the rollers
21
,
22
and
23
are heated to a high temperature, the worker may suffer a burn while removing the photosensitive belt
25
from the rollers
21
,
22
and
23
.
In view of the above, a belt receiving cartridge is used to insert the belt into the belt passage by first receiving the belt in the belt receiving cartridge, and then to cause the belt to be removed through the belt passage by taking out the belt receiving cartridge, or to remove the photosensitive belt from the rollers by using a separate removing means. However, in the method using the belt receiving cartridge or the separate removing means as described above, there is a problem in that the belt removal is complicated. In addition, there is a problem in that when the belt receiving cartridge or the separate removing means is inserted into or removed from the frame through the belt passage, the belt receiving cartridge or the separate removing means may touch and damage the rollers.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To solve the above problems, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a method of removing a photosensitive belt of a printing apparatus from rollers, which is improved so that the photosensitive belt can be easily removed from the rollers without causing damage to the rollers even when a separate removing means is not used.
Accordingly, to achieve the above objective, there is provided a method of removing a photosensitive belt of a printing apparatus by removing the photosensitive belt, which is looped and circulating around a plurality of rollers in a tensioned state in the printing apparatus, through a belt passage provided at the frame of a printing apparatus including the steps of: circulating the photosensitive belt with at least one roller slanted with respect to the other rollers so that the photosensitive belt moves laterally in a lengthwise direction of the rollers and a portion part of the photosensitive belt is projected through the belt passage; and removing the photosensitive belt completely from the rollers by pulling the portion of the photosensitive belt which is projected through the belt passage.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5479241 (1995-12-01), Hou et al.
patent: 6052548 (2000-04-01), Yamamoto
patent: 0608124 (1994-07-01), None
patent: 0 699 968 (1996-03-01), None
European Search Report dated Apr. 2, 2001.
Patent Abstracts of Japan vol. 009, No. 308 (p-410) Dec. 4, 1985 JP 60-140286 Jul. 25, 1985.
Bryant David P.
Cozart Jermie E.
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