Fibrous Brush Patents (Class 399/353)
  • Publication number: 20100008706
    Abstract: A cleaning device used for removing toner particles remaining on an image bearing member, including a plurality of brush rollers capable of coming into contact with the image bearing member, the brush rollers being disposed around the image bearing member in a row in a direction in which the image bearing member is moved, wherein one of the brush rollers includes brush fibers each containing a conductive agent dispersed homogeneously therein or only in its surface layer, wherein another brush roller includes oblique brush fibers, looped brush fibers, or both of them, each brush fiber containing the conductive agent localized in a center portion thereof without being dispersed in its surface layer, and wherein the oblique brush fibers are obliquely provided in the another brush roller so that tip portions thereof are curled on the image bearing member in a direction in which the image bearing member is moved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 24, 2009
    Publication date: January 14, 2010
    Inventors: Kenji Sugiura, Osamu Naruse, Hidetoshi Yano, Naomi Sugimoto, Hiroki Nakamatsu, Satoshi Muramatsu
  • Publication number: 20090297239
    Abstract: Disclosed a cleaning apparatus including: a brush to remove an adhered matter adhered to a photoconductor drum; wherein the brush includes: a first brush portion which contacts an end portion of the photoconductor drum in an axial direction, which portions is on a circumferential surface of the photoconductor drum, and in which portion a conductive base substance is exposed; and a second brush portion which contacts only a photosensitive layer on the circumferential surface of the photoconductor drum, and an electric resistance value of the first brush portion is larger than that of the second brush when a bias current is applied.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 22, 2009
    Publication date: December 3, 2009
    Applicant: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Azusa Aso, Nobuhiko Okano, Kiyoaki Kawamoto, Tetsuya Ishikawa, Hiroshi Isokawa
  • Publication number: 20090274500
    Abstract: An cleaning apparatus includes: a first brush roll for removing toner from an image carrier; a second brush roll for removing the toner from the image carrier; a first recovery device for recovering the toner deposited on the first brush roll; a second recovery device for recovering the toner deposited on the second brush roll; a first electric field forming device for forming an electric field between the first brush roll and the image carrier; and a second electric field forming device for forming an electric field between the second brush roll and image carrier, wherein the first brush roll and the second brush roll each has a plurality of electrically conductive yarns arranged on a conductive core, and a resistance R2 of each of the yarns used in the second brush roll is smaller than 1×107 ?/cm.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2009
    Publication date: November 5, 2009
    Applicant: KONICA MINOLTA BUSINESS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Takenobu KIMURA, Yotaro SATO, Hajime KAWAKAMI
  • Publication number: 20090269110
    Abstract: A toner brush for a printer and a printer including the toner brush. The toner brush includes a substrate (e.g. a core cylinder) with a cleaning brush and a residual toner brush superimposed over one another. During printing the printer holds the residual toner brush against a photoconductor or photoconductive surface, e.g., a photoconductive drum. For deep cleaning, the printer moves the cleaning brush closer to the photoconductor surface and holds it against the surface during deep cleaning. Deep cleaning may be automatically or manually (e.g., by an operator) initiated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 23, 2008
    Publication date: October 29, 2009
    Applicant: INFOPRINT SOLUTIONS COMPANY LLC
    Inventor: William Ashmead Courtenay Bateman, III
  • Patent number: 7583925
    Abstract: A lubricant application device including a solid lubricant, a brush, and a first lubricant scattering prevention member. The solid lubricant is in a non-contact state with a rotating member and provided below a horizontal line of an axis of the rotating member. The brush rotates and contacts both the solid lubricant and the rotating member. The first lubricant scattering prevention member is provided downstream from a first contact position at which the brush contacts the solid lubricant and upstream from a second contact position at which the brush contacts the rotating member in a direction of rotation of the brush.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2009
    Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
    Inventor: Shinya Karasawa
  • Patent number: 7561841
    Abstract: A fuser apparatus includes first and second rolls rotatably mounted parallel to and in contact with each other to form a nip through which print media with a toner image thereon is passed to fuse the image to the print media. A cleaning system is provided for cleaning one of the rolls, such as the fuser roll. The cleaning system includes a rotatably mounted cleaning roll, an outer surface thereof including a pile. A flicker bar is arranged to detach toner from the pile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2009
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Martin Callis, Riley Brede, Pieter Mulder, John Poxon, Ian Pitts, Nicholas Baxter
  • Patent number: 7546063
    Abstract: An image carrying member cartridge includes an image carrying member; a charging device disposed along an axial direction of the image carrying member for charging the image carrying member; a cleaning member disposed below the charging device and along the axial direction of the image carrying member and provided to remove adherents from the image carrying member; and a cartridge housing that accommodates the image carrying member, the charging device and the cleaning member. The cartridge housing includes a sheet outlet below the cleaning member for discharging a recording medium. Ends of the cleaning member in the axial direction of the image carrying member are located closer to a center of the image carrying member in the axial direction as compared with ends of an opening of the sheet outlet in the axial direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2009
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Soichiro Nishimura, Yoshinori Ito
  • Publication number: 20090129810
    Abstract: A cleaning blade anti-peeling apparatus includes an image carrier on which a toner image is formed, a transfer apparatus which transfers the toner image of the image carrier to an endless transfer member, an image carrier cleaning member which captures toner remaining on the image carrier after the toner image is transferred, a cleaning recovery member which recovers the toner on the image carrier cleaning member, a bias applying apparatus which moves the toner of the image carrier cleaning member to the image carrier by applying a bias voltage to the image carrier cleaning member, and an endless transfer member cleaning blade which removes toner adhering to the endless transfer member after the toner image of the endless transfer member is transferred to the transfer material while abutting against the endless transfer member, in which the cleaning blade anti-peeling apparatus is structured to satisfy a relationship, a width of the cleaning recovery member <a width of the endless transfer member cleaning
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 10, 2008
    Publication date: May 21, 2009
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masaru KOBASHI
  • Publication number: 20090116862
    Abstract: Disclosed is an image forming apparatus, comprising: an image carrier; a brush to remove toner remaining on the image carrier by scrubbing a surface of the image carrier; a flicker to remove the toner adhering to the brush by contacting to the brush; a brush driving section to rotate the brush; and a control section to obtain a quantity of the toner adhering to the brush and to control the brush driving section so as to change a rotation speed of the brush based on the obtained quantity of the toner.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2008
    Publication date: May 7, 2009
    Applicant: KONICA MINOLTA BUSINESS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Satoshi NISHIDA, Hiroshi MORIMOTO, Kazuteru ISHIZUKA
  • Patent number: 7519309
    Abstract: A photosensitive drum 18 is provided to carry electrostatic latent images. Developers 23K through 23Y supply toner to the electrostatic latent images formed on the photosensitive drum 18. Images formed on the photosensitive drum 18 are transferred to an intermediate transfer belt 12. A primary transfer roller 16 transfers toner images formed on the photosensitive drum 18 onto the intermediate transfer belt 12. The secondary transfer roller 7 transfers toner images on the intermediate transfer belt 12 onto sheets. The belt cleaning unit 17 has a fur brush 32 that electrically recovers toner, and recovers residual transfer toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 12 after a secondary transfer by the secondary transfer roller 7. The drive roller 13 is disposed in a position in opposition to the fur brush 32 sandwiching the intermediate transfer belt 12, and charges both the fur brush 32 and the secondary transfer roller 7.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2009
    Assignee: Kyocera Mita Corporation
    Inventors: Hidetoshi Miyamoto, Eiji Gyoutoku, Masanobu Maeshima
  • Publication number: 20090092428
    Abstract: A cleaning unit, providable to an image carrier unit or an image forming apparatus, includes a cleaning member disposed in contact with a target member to electrically remove residual toner from the target member, an elastic blade disposed in contact with the target member upstream from the cleaning member, a blade supporting member, a blade power source, and a conductive member that is more conductive than the elastic blade, and electrically connects the blade supporting member and the elastic blade. The conductive member is disposed so that an edge part of the conductive member is closer to where the elastic blade contacts the target member than an edge part of the blade supporting member.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 9, 2008
    Publication date: April 9, 2009
    Inventors: Hidetoshi YANO, Osamu Naruse, Naomi Sugimoto, Kenji Sugiura, Hiroki Nakamatsu
  • Patent number: 7471924
    Abstract: This invention relates to a cleaning unit including a cleaning blade that keeps a front end of rubber material in contact with the surface with a pressure so as to scrape residual toner left on the surface of the photoreceptor and a fiber body having multiple fibers in contact with the surface of the photoreceptor in the upstream in the cyclic moving direction of the surface of the photoreceptor with respect to the cleaning blade, the cleaning blade satisfying A??2.5×B+102 and 6.3?B?19.6, where A designates a contact angle (°) with pure water under 23° C., 55% RH and B designates 100% modulus (MPa) at 23° C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2008
    Assignee: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoshi Shigezaki, Hiroe Okuyama, Makoto Sakanobe, Kanji Shintaku, Satoya Sugiura, Tatsuya Soga, Jin Iwasaki, Yoshitaka Kuroda
  • Patent number: 7469121
    Abstract: In order to prevent built up crusts on the flicker assembly from being detrimentally dislodged due to the cleaning fibers impacting the flicker bar assembly, there is provided a soft contact portion flicker bar assembly for mounting in a machine to contact and flick the cleaning fibers moving along a fiber path. The soft contact portion flicker bar assembly includes (a) a base portion for mounting to a frame portion of the machine; (b) a body portion including a distal, first end, and an opposite, second end connected to the base portion; and (c) a tip portion connected to the first, distal end for contacting and interfering with cleaning fibers moving along the fiber path. The tip portion is made of a material having a Shore A durometer hardness of less than 85 for reducing a jarring effect of impact forces between such tip portion and the moving cleaning fibers, thereby preventing detrimental dislodging of built up crusts of particles from any part of the flicker bar assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2008
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Douglas A Lundy, Anthony L Paolini, Michael Quoc Lu, Michael J Turan
  • Patent number: 7469116
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a rotatable image bearing member; a charging member for electrically charging the image bearing member; developing device means for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on said image bearing member into a toner image and for collecting toner from the image bearing member; transfer device means for transferring the toner image onto a transfer material; a brush member rotatable in a direction identical or opposite to a rotational direction of the image bearing member and disposed downstream from the transfer device means and upstream from the charging member in the rotational direction of the image bearing member, the brush member contacting transfer residual toner while being supplied with a DC voltage of an opposite polarity to a normal charge polarity of the toner; and a moving member for moving the toner in a rotational axis direction of the brush member while contacting the brush member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2008
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kenichiro Kitajima
  • Patent number: 7457578
    Abstract: There is disclosed a system for cleaning marking material from a surface portion of a movable photoconductive member. The system includes a first rotatable brush, a blade and a second rotatable brush arranged in sequential order along the movable photoconductive member. The first rotatable brush is for removing a first amount of marking material from the surface portion of the movable photoconductive member as the surface portion of the movable photoconductive member moves past said first rotatable electrostatic brush. The blade, in engaging contact with the movable photoconductive member, is for removing a second amount of marking material from the surface portion of the movable photoconductive member. The second rotatable brush, positioned in interference contact with the movable photoconductive member, is for removing substantially all residual marking material that was not removed by the first rotatable brush and the blade.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 25, 2008
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Douglas A. Lundy, D Clay Johnson, Bruce J. Parks, Michael Quoc Lu
  • Patent number: 7450879
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus is provided which includes a rotating image carrier including a central portion and tip portions, and a rotating developing element for contacting the rotating image carrier and applying a developer to a latent image, wherein an axial direction is parallel to an axial direction of the rotating image carrier, and the element includes tip portions at ends in the axial direction. Also, the apparatus includes a member for removing dust from the central portion of the rotating image carrier, a width of the member being less than a width of the rotating developing element and a width of the rotating image carrier in the axial direction of the rotating image carrier, and a dust collector for collecting dust removed by the member, and having a width greater than the width of the rotating developing element in the axial direction of the rotating image carrier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2008
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yoshinori Ito, Hiroya Fukuta
  • Publication number: 20080253815
    Abstract: A cleaning brush configured to remove toner from a surface of a member of an image forming apparatus; wherein the cleaning brush includes a plurality of fibers having an inside part formed from a conductive material and a surface part formed by an insulating material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 3, 2007
    Publication date: October 16, 2008
    Inventors: Hidetoshi YANO, Osamu Naruse, Kenji Sugiura, Naomi Sugimoto, Yasuyuki Yamashita
  • Publication number: 20080232875
    Abstract: A brush member includes plural raisings and contacts a surface of an image bearer downstream of a transfer station and temporary captures toner remaining on the surface of the image bearer into the brush member in a toner capturing process. The brush member returns the toner to the surface of the image bearer at a prescribed time in a toner returning process. A bending direction of the plural raisings is opposite in the returning process to that in the toner capturing process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2008
    Publication date: September 25, 2008
    Inventors: Yoshio SAKAGAWA, Tetsumaru Fujita, Yuji Nagatomo
  • Patent number: 7418218
    Abstract: A transfer cleaning station for an electrostatic marking system is provided. In this station, the upper surface of a movable transfer belt is cleaned by a rotating electrostatic cleaning brush (ESB). To improve cleaning performance and conserve space, a grounded conductive brush is placed below an inside surface of the belt so that an electrostatic cleaning field is created between it and the ESB. The grounded conductive brush is located in a previously unused space between two upper rollers in the station.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2008
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventor: Bruce E. Thayer
  • Publication number: 20080145100
    Abstract: A cleanerless image forming apparatus capable of reducing the density unevenness of halftone images, comprising a photosensitive member; charging roller means for uniformly charging the surface of the photosensitive member; an optical writing unit which is not shown on the drawings, for forming latent images on the surface of the photosensitive member after uniform charging thereof; a developing device for developing the latent image on the photosensitive member to obtain a toner image; a transfer unit for transferring the toner image on the surface of the photosensitive member to an intermediate transfer belt; and a brush member for trapping post-transfer residual toner adhering to the surface of the photosensitive member after passing through the transfer process by the transfer unit and before entering the developing process by the developing device, wherein the post-transfer residual toner is recovered within the developing device after re-transfer of the post-transfer residual toner within the brush memb
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 12, 2007
    Publication date: June 19, 2008
    Inventors: Yoshio SAKAGAWA, Tetsumaru Fujita, Yuji Nagatomo
  • Patent number: 7389061
    Abstract: A secondary cleaning device has a cleaning brush, collection roller, and controller. The cleaning brush is driven by a drive mechanism and thereby rotates in a state that brush fibers thereof are contacting with a secondary transfer belt to collect toner on the secondary transfer belt. The collection roller is driven by another drive mechanism and thereby rotates in a state contacting with the cleaning brush to collect toner from the cleaning brush. The collection roller rotates in such a manner that the collection roller and the cleaning brush move in the same direction with each other at a contact area between the collection roller and the cleaning brush. The controller controls the drive mechanism such that the circumferential speed ratio of the collection roller with respect to the cleaning brush is greater than one and smaller than two.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2008
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Hideo Yamaki, Yasunori Nakayama, Hidetoshi Noguchi, Satoru Shibuya, Tomohide Mori, Yasuo Tanaka, Hideji Higashimura
  • Patent number: 7376380
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes units for electrostatically charging a surface of an image carrier, exposing the surface according to image data to write a latent image, supplying a toner to the latent image to form a visible image, and transferring the visible image from the surface to another surface. A rotatable brush roller and a cleaning blade in contact with the surface removes remaining toner. Another brush roller rotates and scrapes lubricant to apply the lubricant to the surface. The image forming apparatus has a lubricant consumption of 0.1 gram to 1.2 grams per 1,500 meters of a traveling distance of the image carrier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2008
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limted
    Inventors: Toshio Koike, Ken Amemiya, Yoshiki Hozumi, Hiromichi Ninomiya
  • Patent number: 7373101
    Abstract: A lubricant supplying device including a molded lubricant having a Martens hardness of approximately 40 N/mm2 to approximately 70 N/mm2 measured with a test force of 50 mN and a load-applying period of 30 seconds, a rotative member including a fibrous brush of a thickness of approximately 5 deniers to approximately 15 deniers in a circumference of a rotative supporting axis of the rotative member with a density of approximately 20,000 fibers to approximately 100,000 fibers per square inch, and configured to apply lubricant shavings of the molded lubricant to an image bearing member held in contact with a cleaning member and remove the lubricant shavings remaining on the surface of the image bearing member, and a pressing member configured to press contact the molded lubricant with the rotative member at a pressure force ranging from approximately 2 N/m to approximately 12 N/m.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2008
    Assignee: Ricoh Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshiki Hozumi, Toshio Koike, Ken Amemiya, Masanori Kawasumi, Yuji Arai, Tokuya Ojimi, Takuzi Yoneda, Masami Tomita, Hiroshi Ono, Takatsugu Fujishiro, Haruji Mizuishi
  • Publication number: 20080107462
    Abstract: In order to prevent built up crusts on the flicker assembly from being detrimentally dislodged due to the cleaning fibers impacting the flicker bar assembly, there is provided a soft contact portion flicker bar assembly for mounting in a machine to contact and flick the cleaning fibers moving along a fiber path. The soft contact portion flicker bar assembly includes (a) a base portion for mounting to a frame portion of the machine; (b) a body portion including a distal, first end, and an opposite, second end connected to the base portion; and (c) a tip portion connected to the first, distal end for contacting and interfering with cleaning fibers moving along the fiber path. The tip portion is made of a material having a Shore A durometer hardness of less than 85 for reducing a jarring effect of impact forces between such tip portion and the moving cleaning fibers, thereby preventing detrimental dislodging of built up crusts of particles from any part of the flicker bar assembly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 6, 2006
    Publication date: May 8, 2008
    Applicant: XEROX CORPORATION
    Inventors: Douglas A Lundy, Anthony L Paolini, Michael Quoc Lu, Michael J Turan
  • Patent number: 7369790
    Abstract: An image forming device includes a paper dust removal unit that removes paper dust from a photosensitive member. The paper dust removal unit includes a brush-shaped member affixed to a plate by a two-sided tape. The brush-shaped member is peeled off from the plate so as to re-use the plate and the like of the paper dust removal unit. The tensile strength of the two-sided tape is greater than the shear adhesive strength between the two-sided tape and the plate, so that the two-sided tape is prevented from tearing partway when the brush-shaped member is peeled off.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2008
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Soichiro Nishimura
  • Patent number: 7346308
    Abstract: A cleaning device including a cleaning brush configured to clean a surface of a moving member while contacting and facing the surface; and a cleaning blade which is located on a downstream side from the cleaning brush relative to a moving direction of the moving member while being substantially opposed to the cleaning brush and which is configured to clean a cleaning region of the surface of the moving member while contacting the surface of the moving member, wherein the cleaning brush contains a powder when the cleaning brush is brand-new.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
    Inventor: Hiroomi Harada
  • Patent number: 7343133
    Abstract: A cleaning brush can prevent “image deletion” and “toner filming” attributable to uneven wear, a streak, an injury, etc. on an image bearing member caused by endurance, and a streak on the image bearing member or the like surface-roughened for the purposes of a long life and a high quality of image. In an image forming apparatus provided with the cleaning brush for removing any untransferred toner residual on the image bearing member, that portion of the cleaning brush which is in contact with the image bearing member is constituted by at least two kinds of hairs having different thicknesses, and the deformation resistivity ? of that portion of each hair which is in contact with the image bearing member is set to 1.15 N or greater.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2008
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Takashi Ueno
  • Publication number: 20080008498
    Abstract: There is provided an image forming apparatus in which occurrence of defective cleaning is prevented, replacement is easy, and occurrence of toner spillage can also be prevented. A cleaner unit of an image forming apparatus of the invention includes a cleaning member that is brought into contact with a toner bearing body in order to collect toner from the toner bearing body bearing the toner, a toner removal member to remove the toner from the cleaning member, and a waste toner storage part to store the removed toner, the cleaning member, the toner removal member and the waste toner storage part are integrally constructed into a unit structure, and the unit is constructed to be attachable to and detachable from the toner bearing body or a main body of the image forming apparatus.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 5, 2006
    Publication date: January 10, 2008
    Applicants: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takeshi Watanabe, Masashi Takahashi, Mitsuaki Kouyama
  • Patent number: 7315722
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus, including an electrophotographic photoreceptor including: an electroconductive substrate, a photosensitive layer overlying the electroconductive substrate, and a protective layer overlying the photosensitive layer and serving as an outermost layer, wherein the protective layer has an average abraded thickness not greater than 1 ?m after the electrophotographic image forming apparatus produces 100,000 images; a charger charging the electrophotographic photoreceptor; an irradiator irradiating the electrophotographic photoreceptor to form an electrostatic latent image thereon; an image developer developing the electrostatic latent image with a toner to form a toner image on the electrophotographic photoreceptor; a transferer transferring the toner image onto a transfer sheet; and a cleaner cleaning a surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor, wherein the cleaner comprises a cleaning brush impregnated with a resin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2008
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ryoichi Kitajima, Hidetoshi Kami, Yoshiaki Kwasaki, Naohiro Toda, Maiko Kondoh, Hiroshi Nagame
  • Patent number: 7313347
    Abstract: A cleaning device, a process cartridge, an image forming apparatus, and toner to maintain improved cleaning performance for a long time. The cleaning device includes a cleaning blade, a lubricant applying part, and a toner removing part. The cleaning blade is disposed in contact with a surface of an image bearing member. The lubricant applying part coats a solid lubricant on the surface of the image bearing member, and is disposed in an upstream side from the cleaning blade with respect to a rotational direction of the image bearing member. The toner removing part removes toner particles, and is disposed in an upstream side from the lubricant applying part with respect to the rotational direction of the image bearing member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2007
    Assignee: Ricoh Company Ltd.
    Inventors: Takeshi Shintani, Takuzi Yoneda, Ken Amemiya, Takaaki Tawada, Tokuya Ojimi, Toshio Koike, Yuji Arai, Masanori Kawasumi, Masami Tomita, Hideyo Watanabe, Satoshi Takano, Haruji Mizuishi, Hiroshi Ono, Hiroshi Mizusawa, Satoshi Hatori, Takeshi Tabuchi, Akira Fujimori, Kaoru Yoshino
  • Publication number: 20070274738
    Abstract: In the invention, oxidation-treated carbon black having good dispersibility is used to obtain a conductive brush having a uniform resistance even when it is finely processed. An image forming process is carried out by using the conductive brush, whereby abnormal discharge to a photoreceptor is suppressed, and an image defect due to charging unevenness is prevented from occurring without damaging the photoreceptor, so as to improve image quality. The photoreceptor is scraped uniformly and smoothly to prevent filming from occurring, whereby the maintenance property is improved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 23, 2006
    Publication date: November 29, 2007
    Applicants: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takeshi Watanabe, Masashi Takahashi, Mitsuaki Kouyama
  • Patent number: 7257362
    Abstract: A cleaning system for cleaning an imaging surface moving in a process direction, including: an abrading brush for uniformly abrading the imaging surface to remove laterally conductive deposits that lead to lateral charge migration therefrom, the abrading brush includes a core defining a core length and having fibers extending outwardly therefrom, the fibers include abrasive particles attached thereto.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2007
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: John S. Facci, William H. Wayman, Moritz P. Wagner, Paul J. McConville, Michael J. Turan, Douglas A. Lundy
  • Patent number: 7233755
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus which reduces abrasion of a photosensitive drum caused by a rotary brush such as an charging brush for electrically charging the surface of a photosensitive drum or a cleaning brush for cleaning the surface of a photosensitive drum. The rotary brush is in contact with the photosensitive drum. During the period of charging the photosensitive drum or cleaning its surface, the rotary brush is rotated in a first mode in which the brush rotates rubbing and sliding the surface of the photosensitive drum, and during other periods, in a second mode in which the brush is rotated passively as driven by rotation of the photosensitive drum. Abrasion of the photosensitive drum is reduced by properly controlling the width of contact between the rotary brush and photosensitive drum and the amount of push for pressing the brush against the photosensitive drum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2007
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Makiko Tango, Yuji Nagatomo
  • Patent number: 7221890
    Abstract: An apparatus having image forming units to form respective toner images of different colors on a toner-image receiving medium, each unit including an image carrier, a static-latent-image forming portion to form a static latent image on the image carrier, a developing portion to apply a toner of the corresponding color to the image carrier, for forming the toner image on the image carrier, and a toner transferring portion to transfer the toner image from the image carrier to the medium, wherein the image forming units are disposed so as to be opposed to the medium and operable to sequentially transfer the toner images from the image carriers to the medium, and the developing portion of each unit is operable to adsorb the toner remaining on the image carrier after the toner image is transferred to the medium, and wherein at least the image forming unit located at the most upstream position of the apparatus is provided with a dust removing portion to remove, from the image carrier, a dust which has been transfer
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2007
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Soichiro Nishimura
  • Patent number: 7221898
    Abstract: A charged particles cleaning apparatus for cleaning and removing charged particles from a surface includes (a) a housing; (b) a surface scrubbing member mounted within the housing for contacting the surface and frictionally removing charged particles therefrom; (c) an air blower for pulling an air stream out of the housing; (d) a manifold connecting the housing to the air blower for directing the air stream and charged particles therein out of the housing, the manifold including manifold walls having inside surfaces defining a duct passage for the air stream; and (e) at least one biasing source connected to the inside surfaces of the manifold walls for biasing the inside surfaces to prevent build up of charged particles on the inside surfaces, thereby reducing costs of periodic cleaning of the manifold walls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2007
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventor: Robert S. Pozniakas
  • Patent number: 7212779
    Abstract: The purpose of the invention is to provide a conductive brush excelling in functionality and being useful as a cleaning brush in the color copier using the color toner of fine grain than before. The present invention is a conductive brush, which comprises a base fabric and a mixed fiber of a polyethylene terephthalate fiber and a nylon-66 fiber being raised on the base fabric by pile-flocking and, said polyethylene terephthalate fiber and/or said nylon-66 fiber having a volume resistivity of 100 to 106 ?·cm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2007
    Assignee: Gunze Limited
    Inventors: Hirofumi Yanagizawa, Yukio Mori, Shoichi Tsukada
  • Patent number: 7197264
    Abstract: It is intended to provide an image forming apparatus capable of conducting charge adjustment of post-transfer residual toner appropriately by securing a contact area of a temporarily-collecting member and an electrode, without applying excessive deformation load to the temporarily-collecting member. There are arranged a brush roller for temporarily collecting post-transfer residual toner, and an electrode of which inwardly-curved face being in contact with the brush roller in a toner charge apparatus. Thereby, charged-in-opposite-polarity toner, out of post-transfer residual toner, is collected by the brush roller, polarity of the toner is reversed to original polarity, and then, returned to a photosensitive drum. The inner face of the electrode, i.e., a contact face of the electrode and the brush roller is formed in an inwardly-curved face. Thereby, a large contact area and light pushing force of the electrode to the brush roller can go together.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Hiroaki Umemoto, Noritoshi Hagimoto, Kuniya Matsuura, Akira Hirota, Naotoshi Kawai, Kentaro Katori
  • Patent number: 7177583
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus including a photoreceptor having an electroconductive substrate, a photosensitive layer overlying the electroconductive substrate, and a protection layer including an inorganic filler in an amount of from 3 to 25% by weight based on total weight of the protection layer and a binder resin, and overlying the photosensitive layer. The apparatus further including a charger, an irradiator, an image developer, and a transferer transferring a toner image onto a transfer material. The apparatus also includes a cleaner cleaning the photoreceptor, including a rotatable core and a looped brush fiber provided on the surface of the rotatable core so as to contact the photoreceptor. A top of the looped brush fiber is positioned on an upstream side from a root of the looped brush fiber relative to a rotating direction of the rotatable core.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2007
    Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
    Inventors: Eiji Kurimoto, Ryohichi Kitajima, Yoshiaki Kawasaki, Akihiro Sugino, Takaaki Ikegami
  • Patent number: 7162177
    Abstract: A rotating cleaning brush positioned to clean toner and debris from the back of an imaging belt. Additionally, a plurality of cleaning brushes assembled to clean the back of the imaging belt wherein charging a first and a second brush to approximately equal potential but opposite polarity provides superior discharge of static and other electrical charges from the back of the imaging belt.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2007
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Steven J. Fiore, Michael N. Soures, Steven R. LeRoy, Nero R. Lindblad
  • Patent number: 7149465
    Abstract: A cleaning unit includes a cleaning blade that cleans toner on an image carrier and a brush-shaped roller that applies a lubricant of a molded lubricant on the image carrier. The brush-shaped roller is insulative, and delivers the toner cleaned by the cleaning blade to inside of the cleaning unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2006
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventors: Ken Amemiya, Masato Yanagida, Naohiro Kumagai, Takeshi Shintani, Takaaki Tawada, Yuji Arai, Toshio Koike, Takuji Yoneda, Takeshi Tabuchi, Yutaka Takahashi, Eisaku Murakami, Takeshi Uchitani, Masami Tomita, Masanori Kawasumi
  • Patent number: 7139503
    Abstract: A cleaning apparatus includes a brush member to be brought into contact with a member to be cleaned to remove toner particles attached to the member. The brush member includes a conductive material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2006
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd
    Inventor: Hiroshi Mizusawa
  • Patent number: 7110699
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a sheet affixed at one edge portion and including a flat surface in the other edge portion. The flat surface is formed with a plurality of grooves each extending over the image forming range of a photoconductive drum perpendicularly to the direction in which the surface of the drum moves. The sheet is deformed such that the flat portion contacts the surface of the drum. In this condition, the downstream edges of the grooves in the above direction shave off the surface of the drum a plurality of times during one rotation of the drum, thereby obviating filming on the drum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2006
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideo Yoshizawa, Eisaku Murakami, Hiroyuki Nagashima, Yoshiyuki Kimura, Hideki Zemba, Eiji Kurimoto
  • Patent number: 7074540
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus is capable of performing image formation at a processing speed of not lower than 150 mm/s. An electrophotographic photoreceptor comprises a surface layer containing a siloxane-bases resin having charge-transporting properties and a crosslinked structure. A cleaning device comprises a brush member disposed such that the leading end of said brush comes in contact with said electrophotographic photoreceptor. The product (Rz×We) of the surface roughness (Rz [?m]) of said electrophotographic photoreceptor after 200,000 rotations thereof and the wear rate of said electrophotographic photoreceptor per 1,000 rotations (We [nm]) is not greater than 20.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2006
    Assignee: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Katsumi Nukada, Kazuhiro Koseki, Wataru Yamada, Takayuki Yamashita, Masahiro Iwasaki, Takahiro Suzuki, Kiyoshi Chatani, Yoshinari Ueno, Hidekazu Yaguchi, Kazuhiko Yanagida
  • Patent number: 7068960
    Abstract: A cleaning device includes a brush roller that removes deposit from a surface of a member to be cleaned by rotating due to a movement of the surface of the member. The brush roller includes a rotary shaft element and a brush provided on the rotary shaft element. The brush abuts the surface of the member due to a weight of the brush roller. The brush includes filaments, and the brush roller satisfies the inequation Y/X?2.8, where Y is a diameter (denier) of each of the filaments, and X is a length (mm) of each of the filaments. The filaments slant with respect to a normal direction of the rotary shaft element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2006
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Mizusawa
  • Patent number: 7043187
    Abstract: A method and structure for an image processing apparatus that includes an image bearing surface adapted to receive electrostatically charged toner, a cleaning brush adapted to remove waste particles from the image bearing surface, a detone roller adapted to remove the waste particles from the cleaning brush, and a speed controller adapted to maintain a rotational speed of the cleaning brush above a minimum speed below which the waste particles would not be removed from the image bearing surface and below a maximum speed above which the waste particles would be thrown from the cleaning brush.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2006
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Kenneth J. Brown, Joseph A. Kwiatkowski
  • Patent number: 7031650
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus including a photoreceptor having an electroconductive substrate, a photosensitive layer overlying the electroconductive substrate, and a protection layer including an inorganic filler in an amount of from 3 to 25% by weight based on total weight of the protection layer and a binder resin, and overlying the photosensitive layer. The apparatus further including a charger, an irradiator, an image developer, and a transferer transferring a toner image onto a transfer material. The apparatus also includes a cleaner cleaning the photoreceptor, including a rotatable core and a looped brush fiber provided on the surface of the rotatable core so as to contact the photoreceptor. A top of the looped brush fiber is positioned on an upstream side from a root of the looped brush fiber relative to a rotating direction of the rotatable core.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2006
    Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
    Inventors: Eiji Kurimoto, Ryohichi Kitajima, Yoshiaki Kawasaki, Akihiro Sugino, Takaaki Ikegami
  • Patent number: 7003255
    Abstract: An image forming process and apparatus, the apparatus including a toner container, a transfer belt below the toner container, a process cartridge below the transfer belt, and an imaging device below the process cartridge. The process cartridge includes a rotating image carrier having an image carrier surface, a brush roller in contact with the image carrier surface, a charging member in contact with the image carrier surface and configured to transfer a charge to the image carrier surface, and a casing including a miler in contact with the image carrier surface and arranged to separate the brush roller from the charging member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2006
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masanori Kawasumi, Kazuhiko Umemura, Satoshi Narumi, Hiroshi Hosokawa, Takeichi Ryuta, Kiyonori Tsuda, Yuji Arai
  • Patent number: 6987944
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image bearer, a charging device that charges a surface of the image bearer, a latent image forming device that forms a latent image on the image bearer, a developing device that develops the latent image on the image bearer with a spherical toner into a toner image, a transfer device that transfers the toner image to a transfer material, and a cleaning device that removes the spherical toner remaining on the image bearer after the toner image is transferred to the transfer material. The cleaning device including a cleaning roller that removes the spherical toner on the image bearer while rotating and contacting the image bearer and which has a greater coefficient of static friction than the surface of the image bearer. An electric field is formed between the cleaning member and the image bearer by applying a voltage to the cleaning member so that the spherical toner adhered onto the image bearer is electrostatically attracted to the cleaning member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2006
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masahiko Shakuto, Yasushi Nakazato, Osamu Naruse, Naomi Sugimoto, Takahiko Tokumasu, Kenji Sugiura, Tohru Nakano
  • Patent number: 6961534
    Abstract: A rotating flicker bar assembly for cleaning fibers of a rotating brush where the flicker bar is rotatably mounted in an interfering relationship with the fibers of the rotating brush and wherein the rotating flicker bar and brush are rotationally coupled in order to impart rotational force therebetween.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2005
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Steven J. Fiore, Michael Nicholas Soures
  • Patent number: 6961535
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus including a cleaning device for removing toner, paper dust and other impurities left on an image carrier after image transfer with a cleaning member is disclosed. The cleaning member contacts the surface of the image carrier with variable pressure and remains, about the time when the image carrier stops moving after image formation, in contact with the surface with pressure lower than pressure capable of scrapping off the impurities. Before movement for image formation, the image carrier is driven in a reverse direction opposite to a forward direction assigned to image formation, stopped, and again moved in the forward direction and then in the reverse direction at least one time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2005
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Shinichi Kawahara, Satoshi Takano, Toshihiro Sugiyama, Hiroshi Saitoh, Hirokazu Ishii, Yuji Arai, Shigeru Yoshiki