Image forming device having paper dust removing units

An image forming device comprising:

• an image forming section for forming an image on an image recording medium;
• a sheet transport path extending to the image forming section, the image recording medium being passed through the sheet transport path in a sheet feeding direction;
• a paper dust removing member positioned in confrontation with the sheet transport path and contactable with the image recording medium passing therethrough for removing paper dusts from the image recording medium;
• a scraping member in contact with the paper dust removing member for scraping off the paper dusts from the paper dust removing member, the paper dust removing member being supported rotatably in a normal direction equivalent to the sheet feeding direction and a reverse direction opposite to the normal direction;
• and
• a reverse transport preventive member disposed between a first contact position defined between the paper dust removing member and the image recording medium and a second contact position defined between the paper dust removing member and the scraping member for preventing the paper dusts released from the scraping member from being transported back toward the sheet transport path during the reverse rotation of the paper dust removing member.

An image forming device comprising:

• an image forming section for forming an image on an image recording medium;
• a first paper dust removing unit for removing paper dusts from the image recording medium to be supplied to the image forming section;
• a paper dust transport unit disposed lower than the first paper dust removing unit for transporting in a paper dust transporting direction the paper dusts falling down from the first paper dust removing unit;
• a regulation wall disposed at a part of the paper dust transport unit for regulating a flow of the paper dusts;
• and
• a paper dust deposit region disposed lower than the first paper dust removing unit, and a paper dust accumulating section positioned beside the paper dust deposit region in the widthwise direction of the image recording medium;
• and
• wherein the regulation wall comprises a wall section which separates the paper dust deposit region from the paper dust accumulating section, the paper dust deposit region receiving paper dusts falling down from the first paper dust removing unit, and the paper dust accumulating section accumulating therein the paper dusts transported by the paper dust transport unit from the paper dust deposit region, the wall section having a shape and dimension allowing the paper dusts to be fed from the paper dust deposit region to the paper dust accumulating section during the transportation of the paper dusts by the paper dust transport unit, but preventing the paper dusts from being moved from the paper dust accumulating section to the paper dust deposit region.

An image forming device for forming an image on an image recording medium, the device comprising:

• a sheet supply section comprising a sheet supply roller and a separation pad for nippingly supplying each image recording medium therebetween;
• an image forming section for forming an image on the image recording medium supplied from the sheet supply section;
• a sheet transport path extending from the sheet supply section to the image forming section and defining a sheet feeding direction;
• at least two paper dust removing units comprising
• a first paper dust removing unit disposed at a position beside the sheet transport path and contactable with the image recording medium for removing paper dusts from the image recording medium running in the sheet transport path toward the image forming section, and
• a second paper dust removing unit disposed at a position beside the sheet transport path and different from the position of the first paper dust removing unit with respect to the sheet feeding direction and also contactable with the image recording medium for also removing paper dusts from the image recording medium running in the sheet transport path toward the image forming section;
• and
• a paper dust accumulating section for congregately accumulating therein paper dusts removed by at least two paper dust removing units from the image recording medium and then released from the respective paper dust removing units.