Image forming apparatus
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorYoung-Min Kim
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An image forming apparatus having a main body, a cover for opening and closing a portion of the main body, a laser scanning unit for irradiating a laser light on a photosensitive drum disposed at a developing device, a exposing hole which is formed at a side of the developing device to exposing a surface of the photosensitive drum to the light from the laser scanning unit and a protecting plate for covering the exposing hole to protect the exposing hole from-external light when the cover is opened, thereby preventing the photosensitive drum to be exposed to natural light and maintaining the photosensitive drum in an optimum operational state.
Claims14
An image forming apparatus, comprising:
- a main body;
- a cover for opening/closing a portion of the main body;
- a laser scanning unit for irradiating a laser light on a photosensitive drum disposed at a developing device;
- a exposing hole which is formed at a side of the developing device to exposing a surface of the photosensitive drum to the light from the laser scanning unit;
- and
- a protecting plate for covering the exposing hole to protect the exposing hole from external light when the cover is opened, wherein the developing device is provided with a supporting portion which is engaged with the protecting plate, and the cover is formed with an operational protrusion to rotate the protecting plate and thus expose the exposing hole, wherein the protecting plate is formed with a supporting protrusion which is engaged with the supporting portion, and the supporting protrusion has a returning spring for returning the protecting plate when an external force exerted by the operational protrusion is eliminated.
An image forming apparatus, comprising:
- a cover for opening and closing a main body of said image forming apparatus;
- a developing device comprising a photosensitive drum on which images are formed and then transferred to sheets of recording medium;
- a laser scanner unit illuminating said photosensitive drum through an exposing hole, forming said images on said photosensitive drum;
- and
- a plate for covering said exposing hole automatically when said cover of said image forming apparatus is opened, wherein said plate comprises a spring that causes said plate to cover said photosensitive drum absent external pressure from said cover.
A method for protecting an image on a photosensitive drum of an image forming apparatus, comprising the steps of:
- illuminating a photosensitive drum via a laser scanning unit located inside said image forming apparatus;
- and
- opening a cover to said image forming apparatus, said photosensitive drum and said laser scanning movement remaining stationary during said opening step automatically causing a plate to cover said photosensitive drum at a location on said drum where light from said laser scanning unit exposes a portion of said photosensitive drum preventing light external to said image forming apparatus from illuminating said photosensitive drum.
An image forming apparatus, comprising:
- a laser scanning unit irradiating laser light on a photosensitive drum disposed in a developing device;
- a exposing hole disposed over a surface of said photosensitive drum to enable light from said laser scanning unit to irradiate and form an image on said photosensitive drum;
- a protecting plate capable of covering said exposing hole;
- and
- a cover that rotates open to expose said laser scanning unit, said photosensitive drum and said protecting plate, said laser scanning unit, said photosensitive drum and said protecting plate being stationary as said cover opens and closes, said protecting plate automatically covering said exposing hole when said cover is opened prohibiting light and dust from reaching said photosensitive drum when said cover is opened, said protecting plate automatically uncovering said exposing hole when said cover is closed.
An image forming apparatus, comprising a cover and a main body, said cover being able to open and close onto said main body, said cover being hingedly attached to said main body, said main body comprising:
- a toner storing portion;
- a developing device;
- a photosensitive drum, said photosensitive drum receiving toner from said toner storage unit;
- a laser scanning unit exposing, through an exposing hole, toner disposed on said photosensitive drum;
- and
- a protecting plate covering said exposing hole protecting said photosensitive drum from foreign material and unwanted light when said cover is rotated open from said main body.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.