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US 8,275,301 B2Granted
Cleaning device, method of manufacturing the cleaning device, and process unit and image forming apparatus using same
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorsKazuhiko Watanabe, Yoshiki Hozumi, Takeshi Saitoh
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cleaning device including a cleaning blade configured to clean a surface of a cleaning target that is moving. A leading edge which is formed between lower and leading surfaces of the cleaning blade is obtuse-angled with respect to the lower surface and is in contact with the surface of the cleaning target during use. The leading surface of the cleaning blade is curved outward when the cleaning blade is not in contact with the cleaning target.
Claims10
An apparatus for manufacturing a cleaning blade from an elastic sheet, comprising:
- a cutter to cut the elastic sheet in a predetermined cutting direction;
- a cutting table including a first table and a second table each having a support surface to support the elastic sheet, the first and second tables being relatively rotatable around a table rotating shaft, the table rotating shaft being disposed in parallel with the cutting direction;
- a cutter shifter to shift the cutter in a thickness direction of the elastic sheet and the cutting direction;
- and
- a fixer to fix the elastic sheet to the support surfaces of the first and second tables,
- wherein a leading edge of the cleaning blade formed between lower and leading surfaces of the cleaning blade is obtuse-angled, and the leading surface is curved outward when the leading edge is not in contact with a cleaning target.
3 more elements
A method of manufacturing a cleaning blade, comprising:
- fixing an elastic sheet on a first support surface of a first table and a second support surface of a second table, the first and second tables being relatively rotatable around a table rotating shaft, the table rotating shaft being disposed in parallel with a predetermined cutting direction;
- shifting a cutter in a thickness direction of the elastic sheet and the cutting direction so that the cutter is located in a cutting starting position, the cutting starting position being immediately above a leading surface of the first table;
- and
- shifting the cutter in a thickness direction of the elastic sheet and the cutting direction so that the cutter cuts the elastic sheet from the cutting starting position.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.