Blade Patents (Class 399/350)
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Patent number: 12222669Abstract: One or more embodiments may be an image formation apparatus that may include: a roller attached to an apparatus main body to convey a medium; and a pivot member pivotable between a closed position and an open position relative to the apparatus main body. The pivot member includes: a cleaning member that is in contact with the roller to thereby remove adherents from the roller in a state where the pivot member is in the closed position; a first storage section provided to accommodate the adherents removed by the cleaning member; and a second storage section provided communicating with the first storage section through an opening. The pivot member is configured such that the removed adherents that is accommodated in the first storage section moves from the first storage section to the second storage section when the pivot member pivots from the closed position to the open position.Type: GrantFiled: November 9, 2023Date of Patent: February 11, 2025Assignee: Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.Inventor: Toshiyuki Totsuka
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Patent number: 12197161Abstract: A cleaning blade includes a tip end adapted to contact a photoconductor member. The tip end is formed of polyurethane having tan ? of greater than or equal to 0.35 under an environment of 23° C., a loss elastic modulus of greater than or equal to 5.59 MPa under an environment of 23° C., and a rebound resilience of less than or equal to 21% under an environment of 23° C.Type: GrantFiled: December 3, 2021Date of Patent: January 14, 2025Assignee: NOK CORPORATIONInventors: Junya Kamiyama, Yoichi Hagi, Kenji Sasaki, Satoshi Fukuoka, Satoshi Nakakita
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Patent number: 12189323Abstract: Provided is a cleaning blade including an elastic blade having a strip shape, and a supporting member supporting the elastic blade. The cleaning blade is configured to bring a leading end ridgeline portion of the elastic blade into contact with a cleaning target member that is moving, and remove a residual matter from a surface of the cleaning target member. At least a surface layer portion of the elastic blade including the leading end ridgeline portion is formed of a rubber having a hysteresis loss ratio of 15% or less.Type: GrantFiled: March 10, 2022Date of Patent: January 7, 2025Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.Inventors: Masahiro Ohmori, Keiichiro Juri
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Patent number: 12153372Abstract: A cleaning blade for cleaning a rotating body is provided. The cleaning blade includes: an edge layer having a tip portion that comes into contact with the rotating body; and a coating layer on the tip portion of the edge layer. The coating layer contains a first fluorine-based resin and a second fluorine-based resin incompatible with the first fluorine-based resin. The cleaning blade has a Martens hardness of from 0.5 to 3 N/mm2 at a position 20 ?m distant from a tip edge portion of the edge layer.Type: GrantFiled: January 27, 2022Date of Patent: November 26, 2024Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.Inventors: Masahiro Ohmori, Keiichiro Juri, Hideki Kimura
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Patent number: 12153371Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an electrophotographic photoreceptor that includes a conductive substrate and a photosensitive layer disposed on the conductive substrate, and does not contain lubricant particles in a region of 30% from a surface of an outermost surface layer with respect to a film thickness of the outermost surface layer or contains 5% by mass or less of the lubricant particles with respect to an entirety of the region, a charging device that charges a surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor, an electrostatic latent image forming device that forms an electrostatic latent image on the charged surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor, a developing device that develops the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor with a developer containing an electrostatic charge image developing toner to form a toner image, a transfer device that transfers the toner image to a surface of a recording medium, and a cleaning device that has a cType: GrantFiled: August 17, 2023Date of Patent: November 26, 2024Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.Inventor: Yoshiteru Yamada
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Patent number: 12135520Abstract: A belt cleaning blade has a contact site that comes into contact with at least a surface of a belt which is a member to be cleaned, in which the contact site is configured with polyurethane rubber including hard segments and soft segments, and in a cross section of the contact site, a ratio X of domains of the hard segments to a total area of the cross section is 14.9% or more and 25.1% or less, and a ratio Y of an area of domains of the hard segments having an area of 200 nm2 or more and 1,000 nm2 or less to a total area of the domains of the hard segments in the cross section is 17.8% or more and 46.5% or less.Type: GrantFiled: July 18, 2023Date of Patent: November 5, 2024Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.Inventors: Yusuke Watanabe, Daisuke Tano, Yoshiro Yamashita, Kenta Shingu
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Patent number: 12105460Abstract: A cleaning blade includes a contact layer that is in contact with a toner image carrier, and a support layer that joins to a support member, wherein the contact layer does not contain an inorganic filler, the support layer contains an inorganic filler having a thermal conductivity (?) of 30 W/mK or more, and the average particle diameter of the inorganic filler is in a range of 0.1 to 5.0 ?m.Type: GrantFiled: August 18, 2023Date of Patent: October 1, 2024Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.Inventors: Kunihiro Ogura, Yuya Sato, Shinichi Yabuki
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Patent number: 12092985Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a developer carrying member, and a cleaning member including an elastic blade and a regulating portion. When an average of a free length L1 [mm] of the elastic blade in the image bearing region in the widthwise direction of the elastic blade is an average free length L1a [mm], an average of a free length L2 [mm] of the elastic blade on an outside of the developing region in the widthwise direction of the elastic blade is an average free length L2a [mm], and an absolute value of a difference between the average free length L1a and the average free length L2a is a free length difference ?L [mm], the following relationships are satisfied: L2a?1.2×L1a, L2?L2a??L×0.2, and L1?L1a+?L×0.2.Type: GrantFiled: May 17, 2023Date of Patent: September 17, 2024Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Takao Yuasa, Ryo Nameki
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Patent number: 12061434Abstract: An image bearing member includes an agitation member and a sheet member. A sheet portion of an agitation member comes into contact with a second side surface of the blade member. When viewed from a rotation axis direction of a shaft portion of the agitation member, an imaginary line A connects a position of an end portion on a most upstream side of the second side surface in the rotation direction and an axial center position of the shaft portion, and an imaginary line B is orthogonal to the imaginary line A and passes through the position of the end portion on the most upstream side of the second side surface, and the free end of the sheet member is disposed at a position closer to the blade member than a position where a second line intersects with an outer circumferential surface of the image bearing member.Type: GrantFiled: February 9, 2023Date of Patent: August 13, 2024Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Shohei Ishio
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Patent number: 12001162Abstract: A cleaning blade for an intermediate transfer medium is provided. A cleaning target of the cleaning blade is an intermediate transfer medium. The cleaning blade includes an edge layer and a coating layer. The coating layer provided on a forefront end of the edge layer at which the edge layer contacts the intermediate transfer medium contains a first fluorine-based resin and a second fluorine-based resin incompatible with the first fluorine-based resin. The cleaning blade for an intermediate transfer medium has a Martens hardness of 0.5 N/mm2 or greater and 3 N/mm2 or less at a location having a distance of 20 ?m from a ridgeline of the forefront end of the edge layer.Type: GrantFiled: January 19, 2023Date of Patent: June 4, 2024Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.Inventors: Masahiro Ohmori, Keiichiro Juri, Takuya Akiyama
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Patent number: 11934138Abstract: A cleaning apparatus includes an endless belt configured to bear a toner image, a rotary member configured to be wound around by the belt, and configured to rotate integrally with the belt, a bearing configured to rotatably support the rotary member, a cleaning unit configured to come into contact with a surface of the belt and collect an adhering matter adhered onto the surface, an urging member configured to urge the cleaning unit toward the surface of the belt, and a support member configured from a single member and including a first supporting portion, a second supporting portion, and a third supporting portion. The first supporting portion rotatably supports the belt via the bearing and the rotary member. The second supporting portion pivotably supports the cleaning unit. The third supporting portion supports the urging member.Type: GrantFiled: October 5, 2022Date of Patent: March 19, 2024Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Atsushi Kawarago
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Patent number: 11892785Abstract: An inorganic compound particle supply member includes inorganic compound particles, and the Young's modulus of the inorganic compound particle supply member is lower than the Young's modulus of a supply object to be supplied with the inorganic compound particles.Type: GrantFiled: November 4, 2022Date of Patent: February 6, 2024Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.Inventors: Masato Ono, Masayuki Seko, Koichi Matsumoto, Daisuke Tanemura, Masato Furukawa, Hiroaki Tanaka, Yosuke Kubo, Shigeru Fukuda, Iori Nishimura
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Patent number: 11846900Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image forming portion, a belt unit including a cleaning unit and an opposing roller, and a swinging mechanism. The swinging mechanism includes a swingable member which is provided in a position different from a rotation center of the opposing roller while holding the opposing roller and the cleaning unit without changing a relative positional relationship between the opposing roller and the cleaning unit and which is swingable about a swing axis.Type: GrantFiled: October 18, 2022Date of Patent: December 19, 2023Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Yuki Kurosu
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Patent number: 11803142Abstract: According to one embodiment, an image forming apparatus includes a forming unit, a heating unit, a temperature sensor, and a driving unit. The forming unit is configured to attach toner to a recording medium to form an image on the recording medium. The heating unit is configured to heat the toner that is attached to the recording medium by the forming unit to fix the image to the recording medium. The temperature sensor is configured to detect a temperature of the heating unit. The vibration unit is configured to apply vibration to the temperature sensor in a waiting period in which the image formation by the forming unit is not executed and the heating control by the heating unit is executed.Type: GrantFiled: September 26, 2022Date of Patent: October 31, 2023Assignee: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Eiji Shinohara
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Patent number: 11796957Abstract: A cleaning blade includes a contact part coming into contact with a member to be cleaned, the contact part being constituted by a member containing polyurethane rubber produced by polymerizing at least a polyol component and a polyisocyanate component. The ratio (M100/Re) of 100% modulus (M100 [MPa]) to rebound resilience coefficient (Re [%]) of the member is 0.25 or more. The rebound resilience coefficient (Re [%]) of the member is less than 25%. The tensile stress at 23° C. and 200% strain of the member is 15 MPa or more.Type: GrantFiled: September 9, 2022Date of Patent: October 24, 2023Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.Inventors: Shota Oshima, Daisuke Tano
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Patent number: 11796939Abstract: A conveying device includes a conveying member that conveys a spray-receiving medium to be sprayed with pressure sensitive adhesive particles having a pressure-induced phase transition property, containing at least a binder resin, and having a sulfur content of 0.1 mass % or more and 0.5 mass % or less relative to an entirety of the pressure sensitive adhesive particles as measured by X-ray fluorescence; and a removing member that contacts the conveying member and removes the pressure sensitive adhesive particles remaining on the conveying member.Type: GrantFiled: May 6, 2021Date of Patent: October 24, 2023Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.Inventors: Yasuhisa Morooka, Naoki Ota, Masataka Kuribayashi, Takafumi Koide, Yusuke Fukuda, Katsuyuki Kitajima, Makoto Kamisaki, Tatsuhiro Igarashi, Shota Oshima, Yuma Kubo
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Patent number: 11789388Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a heating device, a rotator, and a blade. The heating device includes a heater extending in a direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction of a recording medium. The heater includes a heat generator and generates a larger heat amount at one end than at a center. The blade includes a rubbing portion extending in the direction. Both ends of the rubbing portion face both ends of the heater. The rotator and the blade are configured such that a friction force between the rotator and one end of the rubbing portion is smaller than a friction force between the rotator and the center of the rubbing portion in the direction.Type: GrantFiled: January 10, 2022Date of Patent: October 17, 2023Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.Inventors: Naohiro Kumagai, Tomoya Adachi, Yuusuke Furuichi
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Patent number: 11740570Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a developing case, a developing sleeve, a doctor blade, a first engaging section, and a second engaging section. The developing sleeve is supported by the developing case at both ends. The doctor blade includes both end portions in a longitudinal direction and a straight end face. The first engaging section is provided in the center in the longitudinal direction of the doctor blade. The second engaging section is provided in the developing case and engages with the first engaging section. One of the first engaging section and the second engaging section includes a shaft member having a predetermined axis. The other of the first engaging section and the second engaging section includes a recess including a pair of guide sections inclined with respect to the end face of the doctor blade.Type: GrantFiled: May 24, 2022Date of Patent: August 29, 2023Assignee: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Masayuki Kasukawa
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Patent number: 11630411Abstract: The present invention is aimed at providing an electrophotographic cleaning blade that has excellent chipping resistance and can exhibit excellent cleaning performance. This cleaning blade is provided with an elastic member that includes a polyurethane and a support member that supports the elastic member, and cleans the surface of a member to be cleaned that is moving, by bringing a part of the elastic member into contact with the surface of the member to be cleaned. The average value of the elastic modulus of the elastic member obtained when measured using SPM is at least 15 MPa and not more than 470 MPa, and the coefficient of variation thereof is not more than 6.0%.Type: GrantFiled: May 27, 2022Date of Patent: April 18, 2023Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Arihiro Yamamoto, Syoji Inoue, Masahiro Watanabe, Toshirou Uchida, Youhei Ikeda, Masanori Yokoyama, Hisao Kato, Saki Sudo, Tomoya Kawakami, Masaaki Kimura
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Patent number: 11604431Abstract: A cleaning component that cleans an image holding section having a high-hardness surface layer, the cleaning component including: a plate-shaped cleaning member coming into contact with a surface of the image holding section, in which a portion of the cleaning member coming into contact with the surface of the image holding section has 100% modulus equal to or more than 7 Mpa and rebound resilience equal to or less than 30%, as physical properties.Type: GrantFiled: October 4, 2021Date of Patent: March 14, 2023Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.Inventor: Noriaki Kojima
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Patent number: 11556071Abstract: An electrostatic charge image developing carrier includes a magnetic particle and a coating resin layer that covers the magnetic particle, and an amount of the coating resin layer that is peeled off from the magnetic particle when the carrier dispersed in water is irradiated with ultrasonic waves, relative to a coating amount of the coating resin layer before ultrasonic irradiation, is 800 mass ppm or more and 2,000 mass ppm or less, and a difference between an initial coating amount of the coating resin layer of a carrier having no travel history and a coating amount of the coating resin layer of a carrier having a travel history and being taken out from an electrostatic charge image developer, relative to the initial coating amount of the coating resin layer, is 0 mass ppm or more and 3,000 mass ppm or less.Type: GrantFiled: August 9, 2021Date of Patent: January 17, 2023Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.Inventors: Takuro Watanabe, Kazutsuna Sasaki, Yosuke Tsurumi, Yasuo Kadokura, Karin Sakai
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Patent number: 11507012Abstract: 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.Type: GrantFiled: April 13, 2022Date of Patent: November 22, 2022Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.Inventors: Yoshiki Nakane, Ken Nakano
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Patent number: 11467529Abstract: A cleaning device includes a cleaning blade, a supporting portion, a housing, and a blade pressing spring. The blade pressing spring includes a first coil portion formed of a single wire material and provided between the supporting portion and the housing so as to capable of being expanded and contracted, a second coil portion provided between the supporting portion and the housing so as to be capable of being expanded and contracted, and a connecting portion connecting the first coil portion and the second coil portion. The first coil portion and the second coil portion are disposed side by side with respect to a direction crossing a center axis direction of the first coil portion.Type: GrantFiled: August 13, 2021Date of Patent: October 11, 2022Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Atsushi Endo
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Patent number: 11454898Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: an image carrier having a first rotation axle, a charging roller having a second rotation axle, a conductive member to contact a surface of the image carrier, a gap size acquisition device, and a gap adjustment device. The charging roller is disposed adjacent to the image carrier in a non-contact manner across a gap to charge the image carrier. The gap size acquisition device acquires a size of the gap. The gap adjustment device adjusts a distance between the first rotation axle and the second rotation axle based on information from the gap size acquisition device to maintain the size of the gap within a predetermined range.Type: GrantFiled: June 22, 2020Date of Patent: September 27, 2022Assignee: HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.Inventors: Yoichi Yoshida, Yasuyuki Ishii, Koichiro Takashima
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Patent number: 11442396Abstract: A cleaning blade includes a blade member including a ridgeline portion. The ridgeline portion contains polyrotaxane. A sheet conveyance roller includes a core and a surface layer. The surface layer contains polyrotaxane.Type: GrantFiled: January 6, 2021Date of Patent: September 13, 2022Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.Inventors: Kazuhiko Watanabe, Hiroshi Nakai, Masahiro Ohmori
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Patent number: 11397399Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a developing device that supplies a toner to the image carrier, and a cleaning member. The cleaning member includes a blade that contacts the image carrier and applies a pressure onto the image carrier. The blade has two ends that are bent in a direction toward the image carrier, wherein the blade forms cleaning angles with the image carrier at the two ends of the blade, that are smaller than cleaning angles formed with the image carrier in other portions of the blade.Type: GrantFiled: May 19, 2020Date of Patent: July 26, 2022Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.Inventor: Wonkook Kim
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Patent number: 11262670Abstract: An electrophotographic blade to be brought into contact with a contact member, comprises a plate spring, and a resin layer that covers at least a part of a surface of the plate spring to form a contact region that comes into contact with a contact member. In the state where one of ends of the plate spring is fixed, a length (L) from the fixed end to the another end is 5 mm to 20 mm, and a force needed to displace the another end by 1 mm is 5 N/m to 100 N/m. The resin layer satisfies the requirements: (1) the thickness of the resin layer is 0.05 mm to 2.00 mm, (2) the tan ? value of the resin layer in the range of 5° C. to 40° C. is 0.05 to 0.70, and (3) the elastic modulus of the resin layer is 1.0 to 60.0 MPa.Type: GrantFiled: April 2, 2021Date of Patent: March 1, 2022Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Kenichi Mochizuki, Ryosuke Takayama, Takahiro Miyazawa
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Patent number: 11188020Abstract: There is provided a method of producing a blade for cleaning a toner image retainer, the method including: binding an abutting layer that abuts against the toner image retainer and a supporting layer that supports the abutting layer, wherein the maximum value D of a difference between a first loss tangent at 1 Hz and a second loss tangent at 100 Hz of the blade that includes the abutting layer and the supporting layer satisfies the formula: 0.2?D?0.7, wherein the maximum value D is a maximum value of a difference between the first loss tangent and the second loss tangent at temperatures within a range of 0° C. to 50° C.Type: GrantFiled: April 6, 2021Date of Patent: November 30, 2021Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.Inventors: Kunihiro Ogura, Yukio Hosoya, Taiki Amemiya, Teruo Sasaki
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Patent number: 11173519Abstract: The present application discloses a method for making a rubber blade. The method includes applying a first coating composition and a second coating composition in separate steps on at least a part of a surface of a polyurethane elastic substrate; and solidifying the first coating composition and the second coating composition by ultraviolet light irradiating to form a hardened layer on the surface of the polyurethane elastic substrate. The first coating composition includes an isocyanate-group-terminated polyisocyanate and a first solvent. The second coating composition includes a first monomer, a photoinitiator, and a second solvent. The first monomer is at least one of an acrylate monomer and a methacrylate monomer each having an reactive hydroxyl group. The isocyanate group of the polyisocyanate is reacted with the reactive hydroxyl group of the first monomer to generate a urethane group to form a polyurethane acrylate. The present application also discloses a rubber blade.Type: GrantFiled: August 24, 2019Date of Patent: November 16, 2021Assignee: SHENZHEN FANCY CREATION INDUSTRIAL LIMITEDInventors: Hua Zhu, Hua Yang, Feng Hua, Hongnan Li, Naoyuki Ohmori
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Patent number: 11089185Abstract: A cleaning apparatus for cleaning a detection device having a detection surface includes a cleaning unit provided with a cleaning member for performing a cleaning and configured to perform a wipe-off cleaning in a state where the cleaning member is in contact with the detection surface, a drive unit configured to press the cleaning member onto the detection surface, a detection unit configured to detect a force with which the cleaning member presses the detection surface, and a control unit configured to, while controlling the drive unit based on a result of the force detection by the detection unit to control the force, drive the cleaning unit to perform the wipe-off cleaning.Type: GrantFiled: September 13, 2019Date of Patent: August 10, 2021Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Akihiko Sakamaki
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Patent number: 11048202Abstract: A sheet conveyance apparatus includes a conveyance portion including a rotary member, and a counter member, a first contact member, a second contact member, and a contacting and separating mechanism. The contacting and separating mechanism causes the second contact member to separate from the surface of a rotary member of a conveyance portion when the rotary member rotates in the first direction, and causes the second contact member to abut against the surface of the rotary member when the rotary member rotates in a second direction opposite to the first direction.Type: GrantFiled: April 11, 2019Date of Patent: June 29, 2021Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Naoki Hayashi
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Patent number: 10942482Abstract: A method for manufacturing a blade for electrophotographic devices and a blade for electrophotographic devices are provided. The method includes: an impregnation step of impregnating, from the surface of at least a part of a blade-shaped substrate containing urethane rubber, with a blocked isocyanate in which an isocyanate group is blocked with a blocking agent, wherein the part includes a portion that comes into contact with a mating member; and a curing step of dissociating the blocking agent from the blocked isocyanate impregnated into the substrate in the impregnation step, and then curing the released isocyanate in the substrate to form a cured portion in at least the part of the substrate including the portion that comes into contact with the mating member. In the method, the isocyanate released from the blocked isocyanate includes an aromatic isocyanate.Type: GrantFiled: July 8, 2020Date of Patent: March 9, 2021Assignee: Sumitomo Riko Company LimitedInventors: Shimpei Miyagawa, Yoshihiro Saito
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Patent number: 10942468Abstract: An optical scanning device (30) includes a first elastic member (51) fixed to a bottom wall of a casing (31) and compressed by a lower surface of an image forming lens (36) and the bottom wall to close a gap between the lower surface of the image forming lens (36) and the bottom wall, and a second elastic member (52) fixed to a lid member (37) and compressed by an upper surface of the image forming lens (36) and the lid member (37) to close a gap between the upper surface of the image forming lens (36) and the lid member (37).Type: GrantFiled: October 16, 2017Date of Patent: March 9, 2021Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.Inventor: Hiroyuki Tomioka
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Patent number: 10871741Abstract: A cleaning device that cleans a surface of an image holding unit capable of holding an image formed using an image forming material includes: a cleaning tool that is movable along an intersecting direction intersecting with a moving direction of the image holding unit and cleans the surface of the image holding unit when placed in a contact position where the cleaning tool is in contact with the surface of the image holding unit; and a guiding unit that guides the cleaning tool so that the cleaning tool moves from a non-contact position where the cleaning tool is not in contact with the image holding unit to the contact position for cleaning the surface of the image holding unit, wherein when the image holding unit is moved, the cleaning tool placed in the contact position cleans the surface of the image holding unit.Type: GrantFiled: August 30, 2019Date of Patent: December 22, 2020Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.Inventor: Keiichiro Sato
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Patent number: 10859963Abstract: An image forming apparatus including an image bearer and a cleaning blade is provided. The cleaning blade comprises an elastic member configured to contact a surface of the image bearer to remove toner particles remaining thereon. The elastic member comprises a substrate and a surface layer comprising a cured product of a curable composition and a siloxane compound. The surface layer is disposed on at least a part of a lower surface of the substrate. The surface layer has a hardness gradient in which a Martens hardness HM measured using a nanoindenter decreases from a surface of the surface layer toward the lower surface of the substrate in a thickness direction, and the Martens hardness HM measured in a region extending from a vicinity of the surface (with a load of 1 ?N) to a deepest part in the thickness direction (with a load of 1,000 ?N) ranges from 2.5 to 32.5 N/mm2. The toner has a tensile breaking force F of from 200 to 450 gf (from 1.96 to 4.Type: GrantFiled: March 18, 2020Date of Patent: December 8, 2020Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.Inventors: Shinya Nakayama, Keiichiro Juri, Yuka Aoyama, Hiroshi Yamada
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Patent number: 10852686Abstract: A cleaning device has: a cleaning frame; a cleaning member which, after transfer through contact with an image bearing member, removes a developer remaining on the image bearing member; and a sheet member having flexibility and coming into contact with the image bearing member at an upstream side of a contact position between the cleaning member and the image bearing member in the rotation direction of the image bearing member. An external additive is an inorganic salt having a charging polarity on the positive side with respect to the developer, and work functions ?(S), ?(A), ?(T) of the sheet member, the external additive and the developer satisfy 0?|?(A)??(S)|<0.57; and ?(A)<?(T).Type: GrantFiled: December 16, 2019Date of Patent: December 1, 2020Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Takayuki Kanazawa, Shuhei Tokiwa
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Patent number: 10838322Abstract: A toner conveying device includes a case, a conveying screw, a film member and a supporting member. The conveying screw conveys a toner stored in the case in a predetermined direction inside the case. The film member includes a base part elongated in an axial direction of the conveying screw as a longitudinal direction and a plurality of protruding pieces formed so as to protrude in one direction intersecting the longitudinal direction from the base part, and has flexibility. The supporting member includes an attaching part elongated in the axial direction as the longitudinal direction to which the film member is attached, and an axis part being in parallel to the longitudinal direction. The film member and the supporting member are disposed at an upper side of the conveying screw so that the protruding pieces come into contact with the conveying screw, and are rotatable around the axis part.Type: GrantFiled: October 29, 2019Date of Patent: November 17, 2020Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.Inventors: Hirofumi Tsuji, Masahiro Ueno
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Patent number: 10809658Abstract: A cleaning blade includes an elastic material, a first surface, a second surface and an end surface. The end surface includes a first region and a second region provided on opposite sides of the first region. The elastic material of the cleaning blade has indentation elastic modulus E0 [MPa] of 3 or more and 20 or less, and indentation elastic modulus E1 [MPa] of the end surface in the first region is (E0+1) or more and 40 or less. Dynamic hardness DH1 [mN/?m2] of the first region is 0.10 or more and 0.20 or less, dynamic hardness DH2 [mN/?m2] of the second region is 0.15 or more and 0.50 or less, and a difference (DH2?DH1) is 0.05 [mN/?m2] or more. A difference in thickness between the end surface in the first region and the end surface in the second region is 25 ?m or less.Type: GrantFiled: July 9, 2019Date of Patent: October 20, 2020Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Shingo Hirota
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Patent number: 10705477Abstract: A cleaning blade includes a contact part coming into contact with a member to be cleaned, the contact part being configurated by a member containing polyurethane rubber produced by polymerizing at least a polyol component, which contains over 50 mol % and 75 mol % or less of 1,4-butanediol relative to the entire polyol components, with a polyisocyanate component. The ratio (M100/Re) of 100% modulus (M100 [MPa]) to rebound resilience coefficient (Re [%]) is 0.25 or more. The rebound resilience coefficient (Re [%]) is 25% or more.Type: GrantFiled: September 30, 2019Date of Patent: July 7, 2020Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.Inventors: Daisuke Tano, Tomoo Matsushima, Yosuke Tsutsumi
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Patent number: 10684585Abstract: The disclosure provides a cleaning blade having a blade portion. The blade portion has a blade tip equipped with an edge constituted by a ridge line between the tip surface the blade portion and a blade surface arranged near a photosensitive drum. The blade portion satisfies the following expressions: a?50 ?m, and 0.1?b/a?0.6 where, when the blade portion is viewed along blade longitudinal direction with the edge in sliding contact with the photosensitive drum for measurement rotating in one direction, a represents a maximum amplitude of the edge which vibrates with the rotation of the photosensitive drum for measurement, and b represents a maximum amplitude when a position separated from the edge by 200 ?m on the blade surface of the blade tip vibrates with the oscillation of the edge.Type: GrantFiled: September 12, 2019Date of Patent: June 16, 2020Assignee: Sumitomo Riko Company LimitedInventors: Shimpei Miyagawa, Toshihiko Arata
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Patent number: 10585366Abstract: Provided is an image forming apparatus including an image bearer capable of bearing a toner image, where a latent image is formed on the image bearer, a developing unit configured to develop the latent image formed on the image bearer with a toner, and a cleaning unit including a blade-shaped elastic body, where the elastic body is brought into contact with a surface of the image bearer, wherein a friction coefficient Ft/Fn between the image bearer and the elastic body is 0.85 or greater but 1.1 or less, and self-excited vibration WRFt(LMH) of shear force of the elastic body in a LMH band is 1.5 gf or greater but 3.5 gf or less.Type: GrantFiled: March 4, 2019Date of Patent: March 10, 2020Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.Inventors: Hidetoshi Kami, Hiroki Orii, Ryohta Takahashi
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Patent number: 10571851Abstract: A cleaning unit includes a case, a blade, a swing member, a first coil spring, a second coil spring, and a plurality of first engaging portions. The first coil spring is provided on a first end side of the blade in the longitudinal direction and configured to pull the swing member. The second coil spring is provided on a second end side of the blade in the longitudinal direction and configured to pull the swing member. The plurality of first engaging portions are provided on one of the case or the swing member at the first end side of the blade and configured to selectively engage a one end side of the first coil spring at different positions with respect to the longitudinal direction of the blade so that a contact pressure of the blade against the image bearing member caused by the first coil spring is changed.Type: GrantFiled: April 2, 2019Date of Patent: February 25, 2020Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Shotaro Ishihara
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Patent number: 10534310Abstract: The present disclosure provides a cleaning blade capable of improving chipping resistance. A cleaning blade includes a blade part made of polyurethane and having an edge that comes in slidable contact with a mating part. The edge includes: a base material containing polyurethane; an impregnated layer containing polyurethane in the base material and a cured acrylic product and present from the surface through to the inside of the base material; and a particle layer containing particles supported by the surface of the base material. The average particle diameter of the particles is between 3 nm and 100 nm, inclusive. The thickness of the impregnated layer is 30 nm or greater and less than 1000 nm. The edge has an area ratio of the particle layer to the impregnated layer that is between 5% and 30%, inclusive in a cross section perpendicular to the surface of the base material.Type: GrantFiled: May 23, 2019Date of Patent: January 14, 2020Assignee: Sumitomo Riko Company LimitedInventors: Manabu Sakuda, Satoshi Endo, Kazushi Yamaguchi
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Patent number: 10520874Abstract: A cleaning blade that removes a foreign matter adhering to a rotational body includes: an abutment member; a supporting member that supports the abutment member; and a holding member that holds the supporting member, wherein the abutment member includes: an abutment layer abutting on the rotational body; and an adjustment layer that is a part other than the abutment layer, and an elongation percentage of the adjustment layer is larger than an elongation percentage of the abutment layer in a case where frictional force is applied from the rotational body to the abutment member during rotation of the rotational body.Type: GrantFiled: January 18, 2019Date of Patent: December 31, 2019Assignee: Konica Minolta, Inc.Inventor: Noritoshi Hagimoto
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Patent number: 10514651Abstract: A cleaning blade includes an edge portion made of an elastic material having a rebound resilience value R35 at 35° C. and a 100% modulus value M35 at 35° C. that satisfy the relation R35??4.8 M35+42.Type: GrantFiled: July 10, 2019Date of Patent: December 24, 2019Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.Inventors: Kazuhiko Watanabe, Hiroshi Nakai, Hiroshi Mizusawa, Tomoyuki Kirigane, Yasuhide Nakazawa
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Patent number: 10503113Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a charging member, an exposing device, a developing device, a transfer member, and a rubbing member. The image bearing member includes a plurality of recess portions on a surface thereof. The rubbing member is configured to come into contact with the image bearing member to form a rubbing nip portion between the rubbing member and the image bearing member. The recess portions each have an opening portion whose maximum length in the rotational direction is 20 ?m to 120 ?m. When a linear speed of the image bearing member in the rubbing nip portion is S1 and a linear speed of the rubbing member in the same direction as the linear speed of the image bearing member in the rubbing nip portion is S2, a relationship of a linear speed ratio of S2/S1<1.0 is satisfied.Type: GrantFiled: January 22, 2019Date of Patent: December 10, 2019Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Hiroyuki Kidaka
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Patent number: 10481526Abstract: An image-forming apparatus includes an electrophotographic photosensitive member including a conductive base and a single-layer photosensitive layer disposed on the conductive base, the single-layer photosensitive layer including a binder resin, a charge-generating material, a hole-transporting material, and an electron-transporting material; and a developing unit including a developing roller that develops an electrostatic latent image formed on a surface of the electrophotographic photosensitive member with a developer including a toner in order to form a toner image, the developing roller being arranged to come into contact with the photosensitive layer. The ratio R/P of the content R [mass %] of the binder resin in the photosensitive layer to the pressing force P [N/mm] at which the developing roller is pressed against the photosensitive layer is about 11.5 or more and about 19.6 or less.Type: GrantFiled: April 4, 2018Date of Patent: November 19, 2019Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.Inventor: Yoshiteru Yamada
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Patent number: 10394180Abstract: A cleaning blade 1 includes an elastic body 11 that is a molded body of a rubber base material, and which has at least a surface treatment layer 12 in a portion of the elastic body 11, the portion coming into contact with an object to be contacted. The surface treatment layer 12 is formed by impregnating a surface portion of the elastic body 11 with a surface treatment liquid, which contains an isocyanate compound and an organic solvent, and curing the surface treatment liquid; the surface treatment layer 12 has an elastic modulus of 95 MPa or less; the elastic body 11 has an elastic modulus of from 20 MPa to 60 MPa (inclusive); and the difference between the elastic modulus of the surface treatment layer 12 and the elastic modulus of the elastic body 11 is 1 MPa or more.Type: GrantFiled: December 22, 2016Date of Patent: August 27, 2019Assignees: NOK CORPORATION, SYNZTEC CO., LTD.Inventors: Syo Kawabata, Kenji Sasaki, Yasushi Sugiyama, Hiroaki Kaneda, Natsumi Kimura, Katsuya Shimotsuma, Koji Nishiguchi, Shuji Abe, Hidetomo Mukai
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Patent number: 10345743Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member configured to carry a toner image; a cleaning member contacted to the image bearing member to clean a surface of the image bearing member by movement of the surface of the image bearing member: a supporting member configured to support the cleaning member; a case provided with a space configured to hold the supporting member therein; a viscoelasticity member; and a vibration controlling member configured to suppress vibration of the cleaning member, wherein the vibration controlling member is mounted on an outer surface of the case by the viscoelasticity member.Type: GrantFiled: June 27, 2018Date of Patent: July 9, 2019Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Kazuki Takase, Joji Goto, Yoshimi Suzuki
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Patent number: 10295949Abstract: A cleaning blade has a contact portion contacting a surface of an image bearing body. The contact portion removes a developer remaining on the surface of the image bearing body when the image bearing body rotates. Using coefficients ? and ? and a temperature T, a loss elastic modulus E? of the cleaning blade is represented by: E?=?×e?T; 1.36×103???2.24×109; ?0.12????0.005; and 0° C.?T?100° C.Type: GrantFiled: February 1, 2018Date of Patent: May 21, 2019Assignee: Oki Data CorporationInventor: Ken Kato