Cleaning device, and process unit and image forming apparatus including the cleaning device

A cleaning device, comprising:

• an elastic blade whose tip is contacted with a surface of a rotated member in such a manner as to counter the rotated member to remove particles of a toner on the rotated member;
• and
• a holder configured to support the elastic blade, wherein
• a nip formed by a tip of longitudinal end portions of the blade and the surface of the rotated member has a first nip width in a rotation direction of the rotated member, and a nip formed by a tip of a central portion of the blade and the surface of the rotated member has a second nip width, wherein the first nip width is less than the second nip width, and
• a pressure per unit area applied to the tip of the central portion of the blade contacted with the surface of the photoreceptor, and a pressure per unit area applied to the tip of each of the end portions of the blade contacted with the surface of the photoreceptor are not less than 3.0 MPa.

A cleaning device, comprising:

• an elastic blade whose tip is contacted with a surface of a rotated member in such a manner as to counter the rotated member to remove particles of a toner on the rotated member;
• and
• a holder configured to support the elastic blade, wherein
• a nip formed by a tip of longitudinal end portions of the blade and the surface of the rotated member has a first nip width in a rotation direction of the rotated member, and a nip formed by a tip of a central portion of the blade and the surface of the rotated member has a second nip width, wherein the first nip width is less than the second nip width, and the first nip width and the second nip width are not greater than 40 μm.