Drum cleaning method and apparatus for electrostatography
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorToyokazu Satomi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The entire surface of a photoconductive drum is developed with a toner substance after imaging, and a copy sheet is fed into contact with the drum for transfer of the toner image thereto. If the copy sheet is smaller than the maximum image area of the drum, toner from the portion of the drum outside of the edges of the copy sheet will be transferred to transfer and separating rollers and the like to contaminate the same if not removed. The invention provides a brush which slidably contacts the exposed back surface of the copy sheet and the portion of the drum outside the edges of the copy sheet to remove the toner from this portion prior to separating the copy sheet from the drum.
Claims30
A method of electrostatography comprising the steps of:
- a. radiating a light image onto a photoconductive member to produce an electrostatic image thereon;
- b. applying a toner substance to the photoconductive member to develop the electrostatic image into a toner image;
- c. pressing a copy sheet against the photoconductive member to transfer the toner image to the copy sheet;
- d. producing relative sliding movement between the photoconductive member and a brush in such a manner that the brush slidably contacts an exposed back surface of the copy sheet and a portion of the photoconductive member external of the copy sheet to remove toner substance from said portion;
- and
- e. separating the copy sheet from the photoconductive member.
An electrostatographic apparatus comprising:
- a photoconductive member;
- imaging means for radiating a light image onto the photoconductive member;
- developing means for applying a toner substance to the photoconductive member;
- feed means for feeding a copy sheet into contact with the photoconductive member;
- brush means for slidably contacting an exposed back surface of the copy sheet and a portion of the photoconductive member external of the copy sheet;
- and
- separator means for separating the copy sheet from the photoconductive member.
A method of electrostatography comprising the steps of:
- a. radiating a light image onto a photoconductive member to produce an electrostatic image thereon;
- b. applying a toner substance to the photoconductive member to develop the electrostatic image into a toner image;
- c. pressing a copy sheet against the photoconductive member to transfer the toner image to the copy sheet, said copy sheet being smaller than the maximum image area of the photoconductive member so that a portion of the photoconductive member external to the copy sheet is not contacted by the copy sheet;
- d. producing relative sliding movement between the photoconductive member and a brush in such a manner that the brush slidably contacts an exposed back surface of the copy sheet and said portion of the photoconductive member external of the copy sheet to remove toner substance from said portion;
- and subsequently,
- e. separating the copy sheet from the photoconductive member.
An electrostatographic apparatus comprising:
- a photoconductive member;
- imaging means for radiating a light image onto the photoconductive member;
- developing means for applying a toner substance to the photoconductive member;
- feed means for feeding a copy sheet into contact with the photoconductive member, said copy sheet being smaller than the maximum image area of the photoconductive member so that a portion of the photoconductive member external to the copy sheet is not contacted by the copy sheet;
- brush means for slidably contacting an exposed back surface of the copy sheet and said portion of the photoconductive member external of the copy sheet to remove toner substance from said portion;
- and
- separator means for separating the copy sheet from the photoconductive member after said brush means has slidably contacted said exposed back surface of the copy sheet and said portion of the photoconductive member external of the copy sheet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.