Abstract: A cleaning device includes a cleaner that cleans a body to be cleaned, wherein the cleaner includes: an elastic member in which a contact portion in contact with the body to be cleaned is formed in an uneven shape continuous in a predetermined direction; and a support member that supports the elastic member, and the cleaner is configured so that a contact pressure of the elastic member to the body to be cleaned is constant in the predetermined direction.

Abstract: An evaluation device evaluates an image clarity of a print image. The evaluation device includes: an object that is projected onto a measurement surface of a recording medium; an illuminator that makes the object projected onto the measurement surface; an imager that images the measurement surface on which the object has been projected to obtain image data; and a hardware processor that, based on a distribution of parameters related to a brightness of the image data, quantifies a degree of the image clarity into a numerical value and defines the numerical value as an evaluation value of the image clarity.

Abstract: A cleaning device includes a cleaner that cleans a body to be cleaned, wherein the cleaner includes: an elastic member in which a contact portion in contact with the body to be cleaned is formed in an uneven shape continuous in a predetermined direction; and a support member that supports the elastic member, and the cleaner is configured so that a contact pressure of the elastic member to the body to be cleaned is constant in the predetermined direction.

Abstract: An evaluation device evaluates an image clarity of a print image. The evaluation device includes: an object that is projected onto a measurement surface of a recording medium; an illuminator that makes the object projected onto the measurement surface; an imager that images the measurement surface on which the object has been projected to obtain image data; and a hardware processor that, based on a distribution of parameters related to a brightness of the image data, quantifies a degree of the image clarity into a numerical value and defines the numerical value as an evaluation value of the image clarity.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a cleaning member formed by an elastic body, and a member to be cleaned in which toner added with an external additive adheres to a surface, and the toner is to be cleaned by the cleaning member being in contact with the surface, wherein the cleaning member has a protrusion disposed on a cleaning surface extending from a contact part with the member to be cleaned, and facing a side where the toner is to be cleaned, of the member to be cleaned.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus including: an image carrier that carries a toner image; a cleaner that contacts a surface of the image carrier and removes a toner, the cleaner being located at a first position during stop of rotation of the image carrier and located at a second position during rotation of the image carrier; a moving mechanism that moves the cleaner between the first position and the second position by moving the cleaner in a direction parallel to a rotation shaft of the image carrier while maintaining a contact state between the cleaner and the image carrier; and a hardware processor, in which the hardware processor starts to move the cleaner from the first position to the second position with the moving mechanism during stop of the rotation of the image carrier, and the hardware processor starts to rotate the image carrier during movement of the cleaner.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a cleaning member formed by an elastic body, and a member to be cleaned in which toner added with an external additive adheres to a surface, and the toner is to be cleaned by the cleaning member being in contact with the surface, wherein the cleaning member has a protrusion disposed on a cleaning surface extending from a contact part with the member to be cleaned, and facing a side where the toner is to be cleaned, of the member to be cleaned.

Abstract: A cleaning device scrapes off and removes toner that has adhered to a surface of a rotating photoreceptor, and includes: a cleaning member formed of an elastic body; a leaf spring member for pressing the cleaning member against the surface of the photoreceptor; and a support portion supporting the leaf spring member. The cleaning member is fixed to one end of the leaf spring member, and the other end of the leaf spring member is fixed to the support portion with a cushioning member formed of an elastic body interposed therebetween. The cushioning member is fixed to the other end of the leaf spring member by an adhesive.

Abstract: A cleaning device scrapes off and removes toner that has adhered to a surface of a rotating photoreceptor, and includes: a cleaning member formed of an elastic body; a leaf spring member for pressing the cleaning member against the surface of the photoreceptor; and a support portion supporting the leaf spring member. The cleaning member is fixed to one end of the leaf spring member, and the other end of the leaf spring member is fixed to the support portion with a cushioning member formed of an elastic body interposed therebetween. The cushioning member is fixed to the other end of the leaf spring member by an adhesive.

Abstract: A charger includes a charging roller and a support portion which rotationally supports the charging roller. The charging roller includes a first region which is opposed to the support portion and a second region which is not opposed to the support portion. The charging roller includes a conductive shaft, an end part cover portion which is in contact with and covers the conductive shaft in a portion corresponding to the first region and is in slide contact with the support portion, and a high-resistance coating which is in contact with and covers the conductive shaft in a portion corresponding to the second region and abuts on a charged object. An inner end portion of the end part cover portion is covered with the high-resistance coating, and a thickness of the high-resistance coating is equal to or greater than a thickness of the end part cover portion.

Abstract: A charger includes a charging roller and a support portion which rotationally supports the charging roller. The charging roller includes a first region which is opposed to the support portion and a second region which is not opposed to the support portion. The charging roller includes a conductive shaft, an end part cover portion which is in contact with and covers the conductive shaft in a portion corresponding to the first region and is in slide contact with the support portion, and a high-resistance coating which is in contact with and covers the conductive shaft in a portion corresponding to the second region and abuts on a charged object. An inner end portion of the end part cover portion is covered with the high-resistance coating, and a thickness of the high-resistance coating is equal to or greater than a thickness of the end part cover portion.

Abstract: A photo conductor cleaning device removes substances adhered to a surface of a photo conductor which moves around the axis of rotation. The photo conductor cleaning device is equipped with a device main body, a tip blade, and a flexible supporting sheet metal plate which holds the tip blade and makes the tip blade contact with the photo conductor. The supporting sheet metal plate is fixed to the device main body by two fixing portions which are places at different locations, as seen from a cross section perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the photo conductor. The supporting sheet metal plate is supported at the both ends by the two fixing portions support.

Abstract: A cleaning device scrapes off and removes toner that has adhered to a surface of a rotating photoreceptor, and includes: a cleaning member formed of an elastic body; a leaf spring member for pressing the cleaning member against the surface of the photoreceptor; and a support portion supporting the leaf spring member. The cleaning member is fixed to one end of the leaf spring member, and the other end of the leaf spring member is fixed to the support portion with a cushioning member formed of an elastic body interposed therebetween. The cushioning member is fixed to the other end of the leaf spring member by an adhesive.

Abstract: A photo conductor cleaning device removes substances adhered to a surface of a photo conductor which moves around the axis of rotation. The photo conductor cleaning device is equipped with a device main body, a tip blade, and a flexible supporting sheet metal plate which holds the tip blade and makes the tip blade contact with the photo conductor. The supporting sheet metal plate is fixed to the device main body by two fixing portions which are places at different locations, as seen from a cross section perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the photo conductor. The supporting sheet metal plate is supported at the both ends by the two fixing portions support.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus having: an image supporting member; a developing device configured to supply a developer to the image supporting member to develop a latent image; a transfer member configured to transfer the developed image from the image supporting member to a transfer medium; a blade configured to remove the developer left on the image supporting member after transfer therefrom; a storing member located downstream from the transfer member and upstream from the blade, the storing member configured to temporarily store a part of the developer left after transfer therein; and a control unit. The storing member is controlled by the control unit to release the temporarily stored developer therefrom toward the image supporting member after a lapse of a predetermined time from when an image density of an image to be formed becomes lower than a predetermined value.

Abstract: An image forming device including a photoreceptor with a protective layer, a contact charger; and a metal cleaning blade, wherein the cleaning blade includes a first region and a second region facing the photoreceptor, the first region is of a predefined roughness, and J>h×(cos ?/sin ?)×d, where ? is an angle between the first region and a tangent plane of the second region, ? is an angle between the first region and a tangent line of the surface of the photoreceptor at a point of contact with the cleaning blade, h is an amount of depletion of the cleaning blade in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the photoreceptor at the point of contact when the surface of the photoreceptor travels a unit of distance, and d is a predicted total travel distance of the surface of the photoreceptor in a defined time period.

Abstract: An image forming device including a photoreceptor with a protective layer, a contact charger; and a metal cleaning blade, wherein the cleaning blade includes a first region and a second region facing the photoreceptor, the first region is of a predefined roughness, and J>h×(cos ?/sin ?)×d, where ? is an angle between the first region and a tangent plane of the second region, ? is an angle between the first region and a tangent line of the surface of the photoreceptor at a point of contact with the cleaning blade, h is an amount of depletion of the cleaning blade in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the photoreceptor at the point of contact when the surface of the photoreceptor travels a unit of distance, and d is a predicted total travel distance of the surface of the photoreceptor in a defined time period.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus having; an image supporting member; a developing device configured to supply a developer to the image supporting member to develop a latent image; a transfer member configured to transfer the developed image from the image supporting member to a transfer medium; a blade configured to remove the developer left on the image supporting member after transfer therefrom; a storing member located downstream from the transfer member and upstream from the blade, the storing member configured to temporarily store a part of the developer left after transfer therein; and a control unit. The storing member is controlled by the control unit to release the temporarily stored developer therefrom toward the image supporting member after a lapse of a predetermined time from when an image density of an image to be formed becomes lower than a predetermined value.

Abstract: A method applicable to an image forming apparatus with a lubricant to be applied to a surface of a photoreceptor for measuring surface roughness of the surface of the photoreceptor after lubricant application, the method including: a first step of measuring a surface profile of the photoreceptor and obtaining first data indicating the surface profile; a second step of generating second data on the basis of the first data, the second data indicating arithmetic mean roughness Ra within a predetermined range; and a third step of calculating a difference value ?Ra between second data before lubricant application and second data after lubricant application obtained by performing the first and second steps both before and after the lubricant is applied to the photoreceptor.

Abstract: In an image forming apparatus, when some of a plurality of image supporters which are preceded by another image supporter on an upstream side of the carrying direction are referred to as downstream side image supporters, a control section derives a toner supply amount for each of positions in a main-scanning direction for each of downstream side image supporters based on image data for the downstream side image supporters and image data for an upstream side image supporter, and thereafter generates patch image data that represents the derived toner supply amount, and the exposure section further scans each of the downstream side image supporters in the main-scanning direction with an optical beam modulated according to the patch image data generated by the control section.