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US 6,587,666 B2Granted
Process unit with cleaner and image forming apparatus comprising the same
AssigneesKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsTomoyuki Kato, Satoshi Itaya
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes a recording paper conveyor, a photosensitive drum, a charger, an exposure, a developer with toner, a transfer, and a cleaner. A process unit has the photosensitive drum and the cleaner in which a blade scrapes a residual toner from the drum, a paddle rotates to move the toner from the drum, and a scraper scraping the toner carried by the arm by its free end which is disposed radially outwardly and near to a rotation locus drawn by a radially directional outer end of an arm of the paddle during a rotation of the paddle.
Claims24
A process unit comprising:
- a photosensitive drum which is rotatable and has an outer circumferential surface on which toner is to be sticked;
- and
- a cleaner which removes toner sticking on the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum;
- wherein the cleaner includes:
- a blade which scrapes the toner sticking on the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum from the outer circumferential surface,
- a paddle having a rotation center and at least one arm projecting outward from the rotation center in a radial direction of the rotation center, said paddle being rotatable in a predetermined direction at a position near a toner scraping position of the blade on the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum, and said paddle cyclically moving the scraped toner scraped by the blade from the toner scraping position, and
- a scraper which is provided in a side of the paddle opposite to the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum, said scraper having a free end disposed radially outwardly and near to a rotation locus drawn by a radially directional outer end of the arm of the paddle during a rotation of the paddle, and said free end scraping the scraped toner carried by the arm of the paddle rotated to an opposite side during rotation of the paddle, and
- wherein the toner is magnetic and the arm of the paddle is made of a magnet.
5 more elements
A process unit comprising:
- a photosensitive drum which is rotatable and has an outer circumferential surface on which toner is to be sticked;
- and
- a cleaner which removes toner sticking on the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum;
- wherein the cleaner includes:
- a blade which scrapes the toner sticking on the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum from the outer circumferential surface,
- a paddle having a rotation center and at least one arm projecting outward from the rotation center in a radial direction of the rotation center, said paddle being rotatable in a predetermined direction at a position near a toner scraping position of the blade on the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum, and said paddle cyclically moving the scraped toner scraped by the blade from the toner scraping position, and
- a scraper which is provided in a side of the paddle opposite to the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum, said scraper having a free end disposed radially outwardly and near to a rotation locus drawn by a radially directional outer end of the arm of the paddle during a rotation of the paddle, and said free end scraping the scraped toner carried by the arm of the paddle rotated to an opposite side during rotation of the paddle, and
- wherein the toner is magnetic and the arm of the paddle comprises a magnet.
5 more elements
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a conveyor which conveys a recording paper;
- a photosensitive drum which rotates in a predetermined direction;
- a charger which charges an outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum;
- an exposure device which forms a desired electrostatic latent image on the charged outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum;
- a developing device which develops the electrostatic latent image by toner and forms a toner image;
- a transfer device which transfers the toner image formed on the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum to the recording paper conveyed by the conveyor;
- and
- a cleaner which removes toner sticking on the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum after the toner image is transferred from the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum to the recording paper conveyed by the conveyor,
- wherein the cleaner is provided adjacent to the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum, and the cleaner includes:
- a blade which scrapes the toner sticking on the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum from the outer circumferential surface,
- a paddle having a rotation center and at least one arm projecting outward from the rotation center in a radial direction of the rotation center, said paddle being rotatable in a predetermined direction at a position near a toner scraping position of the blade on the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum, and said paddle cyclically moving the scraped toner scraped by the blade from the toner scraping position, and
- a scraper which is provided in a side of the paddle opposite to the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum, said scraper having a free end disposed radially outwardly and near to a rotation locus drawn by a radially directional outer end of the arm of the paddle during a rotation of the paddle, and said free end scraping the scraped toner carried by the arm of the paddle rotated to an opposite side during rotation of the paddle, and
- wherein the toner is magnetic and the arm of the paddle is made of a magnet.
10 more elements
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a conveyor which conveys a recording paper;
- a photosensitive drum which rotates in a predetermined direction;
- a charger which charges an outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum;
- an exposure device which forms a desired electrostatic latent image on the charged outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum;
- a developing device which develops the electrostatic latent image by toner and forms a toner image;
- a transfer device which transfers the toner image formed on the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum to the recording paper conveyed by the conveyor;
- and
- a cleaner which removes toner sticking on the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum after the toner image is transferred from the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum to the recording paper conveyed by the conveyor,
- wherein the cleaner is provided adjacent to the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum, and the cleaner includes:
- a blade which scrapes the toner sticking on the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum from the outer circumferential surface,
- a paddle having a rotation center and at least one arm projecting outward from the rotation center in a redial direction of the rotation center, said paddle being rotatable in a predetermined direction at a position near a toner scraping position of the blade on the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum, and said paddle cyclically moving the scraped toner scraped by the blade from the toner scraping position, and
- a scraper which is provided in a side of the paddle opposite to the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum, said scraper having a free end disposed radially outwardly and near to a rotation locus drawn by a radially directional outer end of the arm of the paddle during a rotation of the paddle, and said free end scraping the scraped toner carried by the arm of the paddle rotated to an opposite side during rotation of the paddle, and
- wherein the toner is magnetic and the arm of the paddle comprises a magnet.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.