Electrically conductive fibers
AssigneeXerox Corporation
InventorJoseph A. Swift
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Electroconductive fibers with electrically conductive filler suffused through or coated upon the surface of the filamentary polymer substrate and being present inside the filamentary polymer substrate as a uniformly dispersed phase adhered to the polymer substrate in an annular region located at the periphery of the filament and extending inwardly along the diameter thereof, wherein the electroconductive fibers are suitable for miniature cleaning brushes for an image forming apparatus are disclosed.
Claims28
A miniature cleaning brush, wherein said brush has a small diameter and comprises fine diameter electroconductive fibers comprising a filamentary polymer substrate with finely divided electrically conductive filler particles suffused through the filamentary polymer substrate and which filler particles are present within the filamentary polymer substrate as a uniformly dispersed phase adhered to the polymer substrate in an annular region located at the periphery of the fiber and extending inwardly along the diameter thereof, wherein said electrically conductive particles are present in an amount sufficient to render the electrical resistance of the fibers to be from about 1.times.10.sup.3 ohms/cm to about 1.times.10.sup.12 ohm/cm, and wherein said miniature brush has a fiber fill density of from about 60,000 to about 350,000 fibers per square inch.
A miniature cleaning brush for use in an image forming apparatus, wherein said brush has a small diameter and comprises fine diameter electroconductive fibers comprising a filamentary polymer substrate with finely divided electrically conductive filler particles suffused through the filamentary polymer substrate and being present within the filamentary polymer substrate as a uniformly dispersed phase adhered to the polymer substrate in an annular region located at the periphery of the filament and extending inwardly along the diameter thereof, wherein said electrically conductive particles are present in an amount sufficient to render the electrical resistance of the fibers to be from about 1.times.10.sup.3 ohms/cm to about 1.times.10.sup.12 ohm/cm, and wherein said miniature brush has a fiber fill density of from about 60,000 to about 350,000 fibers per square inch.
An image forming apparatus for forming images on a recording medium comprising:
- a charge-retentive surface to receive an electrostatic latent image thereon;
- a development component to apply toner to said charge-retentive surface to develop said electrostatic latent image to form a developed image on said charge retentive surface;
- a transfer component to transfer the developed image from said charge retentive surface to a substrate;
- and
- a cleaning component for removing residual toner and debris from said charge-retentive surface after the developed image has been transferred thereon, said cleaning component comprising a miniature cleaning brush having a small diameter for use in said image forming apparatus comprising fine diameter electroconductive fibers, wherein said fibers comprise a filamentary polymer substrate having finely divided electrically conductive filler particles suffused through the filamentary polymer substrate and being present inside the filamentary substrate as a uniformly dispersed phase independent of the polymer substrate in an annular region located at the periphery of the filament and extending inwardly along the length thereof, wherein said electrically conductive particles are present in an amount sufficient to render the electrical resistance of the fiber from about 1.times.10.sup.3 ohm/cm to about 1.times.10.sup.12 ohm/cm, and wherein said miniature brush has a fiber fill density of from about 60,000 to about 350,000 fibers per square inch.
A miniature cleaning brush, wherein said brush has a small diameter and comprises fine diameter electroconductive fibers comprising a filamentary polymer substrate with finely divided electrically conductive filler particles suffused through the filamentary polymer substrate and being present inside the filamentary polymer substrate as a uniformly dispersed phase adhered to the polymer substrate in an annular region located at the periphery of the filament and extending inwardly along the diameter thereof, wherein said electrically conductive particles are present in an amount sufficient to render the electrical resistance of the fiber to be from about 1.times.10.sup.3 ohms/cm to about 1.times.10.sup.12 ohms/cm, wherein said brush has a diameter of from about 0.2 to about 1.25 inches, said fibers have a diameter of from about 5 to about 38 microns and a fineness of from about 0.1 to about 11 denier and an average pile height of from about 0.1 to about 20 mm, wherein said filamentary polymer is nylon 6 and said filler is carbon black.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.