Xerox Corporation

Douglas W Shaffer

Ajay Kumar

Dhirendra C Damji

Karl Edwin Kurz

Daniel A Chiesa

Porfirio J Perez

Jerry W Bryant

Richard J Milton

An electrostatographic process cartridge detachably mountable into a cavity defined by mated machine modules forming parts of an electrostatographic reproduction machine. The process cartridge includes a housing having walls defining a process chamber and a rotatable cylindrical photoreceptor mounted to the walls and horizontally within the process chamber. The cylindrical photoreceptor has a fixed rotational closed loop path within the process chamber. The process cartridge also includes plural process components including a toner image transferring component, a cleaning component, a charge erase light component, a charging component, an imagewise exposure component, and a development component, each acting along the closed loop path for consistently producing high quality toner images. The plural components each have a critical acting position spaced circumferentially along the closed loop path, and the critical acting positions include a 234.degree. position for the toner image transferring component so as to have reliable, precise sheet feeding to an image transfer point, and a short near vertical sheet path; a 0.degree. position for the cleaning component so as to prevent any leaking toner particles from falling backwardly and down, thus contaminating image carrying sheets moving from the transfer point to a fusing module; a 96.degree. position for a ROS beam imagewise exposure component so as to form a latent image effectively with the ROS beam without undesirable curvature effects from a cylindrical profile of the photoreceptor; and a 163.degree. position for the development component in order to minimize dark decay in the formed latent image prior to its development.

Process cartridge including process components having critical image

An electrostatographic process cartridge detachably mountable into a cavity defined by mated modules forming parts of an electrostatographic reproduction machine. The process cartridge includes an elongate housing having walls defining a front end of the process cartridge, a rear end thereof, and a process chamber; a rotatable endless photoreceptive member having a closed loop path within the process chamber, and an image bearing surface for holding a formed toner image, and being mounted within the process chamber and towards the rear end for contacting a toner image receiving sheet moving along a machine sheet path for toner image transfer. The process cartridge also includes plural electrostatographic process components located along the closed loop path for forming a toner image on, and transferring such toner image from, the image bearing surface to the sheet of paper, a cleaning component for removing and transporting waste toner from the image bearing surface, and a waste toner sump subassembly mounted to an end of the elongate housing for receiving and containing waste toner removed and transported thereto by the cleaning component. Importantly, the process cartridge includes a module handle attached to the rear end thereof for gripping and use by an operator for inserting and removing the process cartridge from the defined cavity, and forming a part of the machine sheet path for contacting and guiding a sheet of paper moving from the photoreceptive member.

Process cartridge including a handle defining part of a machine paper

A shaft assembly and method of forming a shaft assembly having an elongated hollow shaft with a stepped portion on the surface of the shaft. The stepped portion of the shaft surface is formed of two straight edge sections joined by an inclined section. A gear having a corresponding straight/inclined edge configuration engages the shaft and contacts the shaft only on the corresponding straight edge portions. Both the shaft and gear are made of plastic.

Stepped shaft assembly

Growing community of inventors

Pittsford, NY, United States of America

Douglas W Shaffer