JP3298701B2 - Process cartridge for image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a process cartridge for an image forming apparatus of an electrophotographic copying machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A process cartridge of an image forming apparatus which has at least an image carrier and a cleaning unit and is detachably mounted on an apparatus main body is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H4-110952.

[0003]

In the above-described process cartridge of the conventional image forming apparatus, since the cleaning unit is integrally attached to the process cartridge, the cleaning unit has a limited life and must be replaced. When the image carrier has to be used, there is a problem that even if the image carrier is still usable, the entire process cartridge must be discarded while the image carrier is still mounted, resulting in waste of cost.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems of the conventional image forming apparatus, and when the cleaning section has reached the end of its life and needs to be replaced, the entire process cartridge is mounted with the cleaning section mounted. An object of the present invention is to provide a process cartridge of an image forming apparatus which does not have to be discarded and thus does not waste money.

[0005]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a cleaning unit is detachably mounted on a cartridge body having an image carrier. In the process cartridge, the cartridge body is detachably installed in the image forming apparatus. The cleaning unit has a box body with an opening at the bottom and an upper lid provided on the upper side. A sleeve plate detachably attached to the provided opening is vertically provided, and a cleaning blade and a pressing member for pressing the cleaning blade against the image carrier are provided therein. A plurality of fitting concave portions are provided in the projecting portion, and a fitting convex portion selectively engaged with any of the plurality of fitting concave portions is provided on an upper surface of the cartridge body. By the engaging into one of the fitting recess of the part, it is characterized in that for displacing the cleaning blade in a position pressing different degrees with respect to the image bearing member. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the cleaning blade releases the pressing of the cleaning blade against the image carrier in a state where the cleaning unit is not installed in the cartridge body. The release mechanism has a release member whose lower part is rotatably attached to a support member attached to a sleeve plate provided on the back surface of the upper lid of the box of the cleaning unit, and the release member has an upper part thereof. Protrudes from the first opening of the upper lid of the box of the cleaning unit, and its tip is bent downward to form a hook. The hook is formed in the second opening of the upper lid of the box of the cleaning unit. The release member is always movable up and down by the pressing member.The cleaning unit is not installed in the cartridge body. The lowering member is located at a raised position in the second opening of the upper lid of the box body, and lowers the release member below the second opening against the lifting force of the pressing member. Is released, the release member is raised by the pressing member, so that the hooks are engaged with the back surface of the rim of the second opening.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a process cartridge in which a cleaning unit is detachably mounted on a cartridge body having an image carrier, and the cartridge body is detachably installed in an image forming apparatus. The cleaning unit has an opening at the lower side, an upper lid is provided at the upper side, and a box body is provided, and a sleeve plate detachably attached to an opening provided in the cartridge body is vertically provided on the upper lid of the box body, A cleaning blade and a pressing member that presses the cleaning blade against the image carrier are provided therein, and a plurality of fitting recesses are provided on an end protruding portion of an upper lid of a box of the cleaning unit,
Further, a fitting protrusion selectively provided to be engaged with any of the plurality of fitting recesses is provided on an upper surface of the cartridge body, and the fitting protrusion is engaged with any of the fitting recesses. The cleaning blade is displaced to a position where the degree of pressure contact with the image carrier is different. In this way, the cleaning unit is installed on the cartridge body, and is charged by the charging charger according to a known process.
The image carrier is uniformly charged to form a latent image by exposure, the latent image is visualized by a developing device, the toner is transferred to transfer paper, and the residual toner on the image carrier is then cleaned by a cleaning blade of a cleaning unit. The removed toner is collected by the waste toner collecting section, and after copying on a predetermined number of transfer papers in this way, the cleaning section needs to be replaced or maintenance work must be performed. Remove the cleaning section from the cartridge body and discard the cleaning section as necessary and replace it with a new cleaning section, or remove the cleaning blade from the cleaning section and replace it with a new cleaning blade, and clean the cleaning section. To the cartridge body. Further, by changing the contact position of the cleaning blade with respect to the image carrier, it is possible to cope with a change in cleaning conditions caused by a difference in development systems such as color development and negative / positive development. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the cleaning blade includes a release mechanism for releasing the pressure of the cleaning blade against the image carrier in a state where the cleaning unit is not installed in the cartridge body. The release mechanism has a release member whose lower part is rotatably attached to a support member attached to a sleeve plate provided on the back surface of the upper lid of the box of the cleaning unit, and the release member has an upper part thereof. The cleaning unit protrudes from the first opening of the top cover of the box, and its tip is bent downward to form a hook. The hook is formed in the second opening of the top cover of the cleaning unit box. The release member is constantly raised by the pressing member, and the hook is not attached to the cartridge. The lifting part is located at a raised position in the second opening of the upper lid of the box body, and after lowering the release member below the second opening against the lifting force of the pressing member, the pressing and lowering force on the releasing member Is released, the release member is raised by the pressing member, so that the hook portion is locked to the back surface of the rim of the second opening. In this way, when the cleaning conditions are changed due to the difference in the development system such as color development and negative / positive development, the position of the cleaning unit provided in the process cartridge body is displaced,
Thereby, the pressing force of the cleaning blade against the image carrier is adjusted. When the cleaning unit is not installed on the cartridge body, the release mechanism releases the pressure of the cleaning blade against the image carrier, and after the cleaning unit is installed on the cartridge body, the cleaning mechanism is operated by operating the release mechanism. Press on the carrier.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the first embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a process cartridge (hereinafter referred to as a cartridge).
The cartridge 1 has a cartridge body 3, and a cleaning unit 4 is detachably installed in an opening 5 provided in the middle of the cartridge body 3. A charging charger 7 is provided on the body 6 and above the body 6, and a waste toner collecting unit 8 is provided on the other side. The cleaning unit 4 is a box with an open bottom
A base end of a blade holder 18 is pivotally supported by a support pin 12 fitted into both sleeve plates 11 inside the box 10, and a cleaning blade 19 is attached to a free end of the blade holder 18.
And a pressing member 20 for pressing the cleaning blade 19 against the image carrier 6 is provided. A handle 15 is attached to the center of the upper lid of the box 10, and a cleaning unit 4 is provided at both ends of the upper lid.
When installed in the cartridge body 3, an overhang portion 13 supported on the top surface of the cartridge body 3 is provided. Pieces)
Are provided. Cartridge body 3
Two through holes 21 are provided on the top surface of the
A reference pin 22 that fits into the through hole 16 or 17 is provided.
Inside, a toner collecting blade 25 and a toner collecting mylar 26 are provided.

In this embodiment, the cleaning unit 4 is inserted into the opening 5 of the cartridge body 3, and the through holes 16 formed in the projecting portions 13 at both ends of the upper lid of the box 10 of the cleaning unit 4.
Or 17 is a reference pin provided on the top surface of the cartridge body 3.
When the reference pin 22 is fitted into the through hole 16 when the reference pin 22 is fitted into the through hole 16, the cleaning blade 19 is strongly pressed against the image carrier 6 in the state shown in FIG. When fitted, the cleaning blade 19 is weakly pressed against the image carrier 6 in the state shown in FIG. 5, and a screw (not shown) fitted in the through hole 21 of the cartridge body 3 in this state. The cleaning unit 4 is mounted on the cartridge body 3 by screwing into the fixing screw hole 14. Then, the image carrier 6 is charged by the charger 7 in accordance with a known process.
Is uniformly charged to form a latent image by exposure 9, the latent image is visualized by the developing device 2, the toner is transferred to the transfer paper, and then the residual toner on the image carrier 6 is cleaned by the cleaning unit 4. The removed toner is collected by the waste toner collecting unit 8 by the toner collecting blade 25 and the toner collecting mylar 26. By changing the pressing force of the cleaning blade 19 against the image carrier 6 as described above, it is possible to cope with a change in cleaning conditions caused by a difference in development systems such as color development and negative / positive development.

When the cleaning unit 4 needs to be replaced or maintenance work is performed after copying a predetermined number of transfer sheets as described above, the cleaning unit 4 is connected to the cartridge body 3. Remove the screw, remove the cleaning unit 4 from the cartridge body 3, and if necessary, discard the cleaning unit 4 and replace it with a new cleaning unit 4. Alternatively, remove the cleaning blade 19 from the cleaning unit 4 and replace it with a new cleaning blade 19. Or the cleaning unit 4 is installed in the cartridge body 3 as described above.

The second embodiment shown in FIG. 6 has a release mechanism for releasing the pressure of the cleaning blade 19 against the image carrier 6 when the cleaning unit 4 is not installed on the cartridge body 3. In this release mechanism, a lower portion of a release member 27 is attached to the blade holder 18, an upper portion of the release member 27 protrudes from the first opening 28 of the box 10 of the cleaning unit 4, and a distal end portion 29 thereof is bent downward. When the tip portion 29 is lowered against the tension of the spring 20 and the hook portion 31 at the tip is inserted into the second opening 28 of the box body 10 and released, the hook portion 31 becomes a dotted line. As shown in the drawing, the second opening 28 is engaged with the back surface of the edge. In this state, the cleaning unit 4 is attached to the cartridge body 3.
The cleaning blade 19 is not abnormally deformed at the time of installation, and the cleaning blade 19 is not turned up at the time of activation due to the abnormal deformation. Release the lock of 31 and raise it to the solid line position.
Is pressed against the image carrier 6.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a cleaning unit is detachably mounted on a cartridge body having an image carrier, and the cartridge body is detachably mounted on an image forming apparatus. In a process cartridge that can be installed, the cleaning unit has a box body with an opening at the bottom and an upper lid on the top, and is detachably attached to the opening on the cartridge body on the back of the upper lid on the box body. A cleaning plate and a pressing member for pressing the cleaning blade against the image carrier are provided inside the sleeve plate, and a plurality of fittings are provided on the end protruding portion of the upper lid of the box of the cleaning unit. A concave portion is provided on the upper surface of the cartridge body with a fitting convex portion which is selectively engaged with any of the plurality of fitting concave portions, and the fitting convex portion is attached to any of the fitting concave portions. By doing so, the cleaning blade is displaced to a position where the degree of pressure contact with the image carrier is different, so when the cleaning unit has reached the end of its life and needs to be replaced, it is not necessary to dispose of the entire process cartridge with the cleaning unit attached. In this way, there is an effect that the cost is not wasted in this way, and by changing the contact position of the cleaning blade with the image carrier by a simple operation, the difference between the development systems such as color development and negative / positive development can be obtained. Thus, there is an effect that it is possible to easily cope with a change in cleaning conditions caused by the change. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the cleaning blade includes:
The cleaning unit has a release mechanism for releasing the pressure of the cleaning blade against the image carrier when not installed in the cartridge body, and the release mechanism is provided on a sleeve plate provided on the back surface of the upper lid of the box of the cleaning unit. A release member rotatably mounted at a lower portion to a support member attached to the cleaning member. The hook portion is formed to be able to move up and down in the second opening of the upper lid of the box of the cleaning portion, and the release member is always given a rising tendency by the pressing member. In the state where the cleaning unit is not installed in the cartridge body, the hook is at the raised position in the second opening of the upper cover of the box of the cleaning unit, and the release member is pressed by the lifting force of the pressing member. After lowering the inside of the second opening to a position lower than that, when the pressing and lowering force against the releasing member is released, the releasing member is raised by the pressing member, and the hook is attached to the back surface of the rim of the second opening. The cleaning unit is locked, and thus the cleaning unit is installed in the cartridge body while the pressing of the cleaning blade against the image carrier is released by the release member in a state where the cleaning unit is not installed in the cartridge body. There is an effect that the blade is not abnormally deformed and the cleaning blade is not turned up at the time of startup due to the abnormal deformation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional front view of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which the cleaning unit is removed.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a cleaning unit according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view at one position of the cleaning blade according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory view at another position of the cleaning blade according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional front view of a main part of a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Process cartridge 2 Developing device 3 Cartridge main body 4 Cleaning part 5 Opening 6 Image carrier 10 Box 11 Sleeve plate 12 Support pin 13 Projection part 14 Screw hole 16 Through hole 17 Through hole 19 Cleaning blade 20 Press member 21 Through hole Hole 22 Reference pin 27 Release member 28 First opening 29 Tip 30 Second opening 31 Hook

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-62-287265 (JP, A) JP-A-57-67974 (JP, A) JP-A-55-88087 (JP, A) JP-A-63-1987 138379 (JP, A) Japanese Utility Model Showa 64-51942 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model Showa 64-29667 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model Showa 64-55959 (JP, U) (58) Field surveyed (Int. ^7, DB name) G03G 21/16 - 21/18 G03G 21/10 G03G 15/00 550

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A cleaning unit is detachably mounted on a cartridge body having an image carrier, and the cartridge body is a process cartridge detachably installed in an image forming apparatus. It has a box body provided with an upper lid, and a sleeve plate detachably attached to an opening provided in the cartridge body is vertically provided on a back surface of the upper lid of the box body, and a cleaning blade and this cleaning blade are provided inside. Is provided on the image carrier, and a plurality of fitting recesses are provided on an end protruding portion of an upper lid of the box of the cleaning unit, and any one of the plurality of fitting recesses is provided on an upper surface of the cartridge body. A fitting protrusion that is selectively engaged is provided, and the cleaning blade is attached to the image carrier by engaging the fitting protrusion with any of the fitting recesses. The process cartridge of the image forming apparatus pressure degree that is equal to or be displaced in different positions. 2. The cleaning blade according to claim 1, further comprising a release mechanism for releasing the pressure of the cleaning blade against the image carrier when the cleaning unit is not installed in the cartridge body. A lower part is rotatably attached to a support member attached to a sleeve plate provided on the back surface of the upper lid, and the upper part of the release member is opened from the first opening of the upper lid of the cleaning unit box. In addition to the protrusion, the tip is bent downward to form a hook. The hook is vertically movable into the second opening of the upper lid of the box of the cleaning unit. When the cleaning portion is not installed in the cartridge body, the hook portion is in the rising position in the second opening of the upper cover of the box of the cleaning portion. After lowering the release member against the lifting force of the pressing member and lowering the inside of the second opening to a position lower than the second opening, the release member is lifted by the pressing member, and the hook is released. The process cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the portion is configured to be engaged with a back surface of an edge of the second opening.