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US 4,607,947 AGranted
Contact fixing and cleaning method and apparatus
AssigneeOce-Nederland B.V.
InventorsHendrik Ensing, Jacobus H. M. Peulen
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AssigneeOce-Nederland B.V.
InventorsHendrik Ensing, Jacobus H. M. Peulen
Estimating the term…
In a contact fixing system in which a heat-softened toner image is fixed onto a sheet material by being pressed against the sheet material in a nip between the peripheral surfaces of two circulating fixing members, such as rollers pressing one against the other or a roller pressing against an image carrying belt, residues of the toner of an image and paper dust are removed from the surface of a fixing member in a cleaning zone beyond the fixing nip by moving in rolling contact with that surface a circulating cleaning surface, such as a roller surface, to which the toner adheres preferentially and which has a multiplicity of spaced-apart perforations formed therein and so disposed that with continued movements of the cleaning surface through the cleaning zone a toner layer formed on the cleaning surface is repeatedly pressed thin and excess toner present in it is displaced to the perforations for discharge through them into a cavity inside the cleaning member.
A method of removing residues of heat-softened toner and paper dust from the surface of a circulating image fixing member, such as a roller or a belt, that is moved repeatedly through an image fixing zone in which said surface and the surface of a second such circulating fixing member press one against the other to fix a heat-softened toner image being carried into said zone onto a sheet material being passed therethrough between the two surfaces, which method comprises:
In a contact fixing apparatus for fixing images of heat-softenable toner onto sheet material, including a circulating image contacting fixing member and a circulating second fixing member, said members having respective peripheral surfaces that press one against the other in and move together through a contact fixing zone to fix a heat-softened toner image being carried into said zone onto a sheet material being passed therethrough in the nip between said surfaces, means for removing residues of heat-softened toner and paper dust from said surface of a said fixing member, comprising in a contact cleaning zone of the path of the said fixing member surface a circulating cleaning member having a peripheral surface to which said toner will adhere preferentially rather than to said fixing member surface, said cleaning member surface contacting said fixing member surface in and being movable with it through said cleaning zone to collect residues from it and press them into a toner layer carried on said cleaning member surface, and said cleaning member surface having a multiplicity of spaced-apart perforations therein which are so disposed that on repeated movements of said cleaning member surface with said fixing member surface through said cleaning zone said toner layer while being continually pressed thin has excess material present in it displaced from it into said perforations.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.