Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Koichi Moriyama

Takashi Kubo

Yasutaka Maeda

Hidetoshi Kaneko

Katsumi Adachi

Yoichi Shimazawa

Takashi Hayakawa

Toshiki Ohgita

Hideo Matsuda

Katsuhiro Nagayama

Mitsuru Ogura

Eiichi Kido

Yuhi Yui

Yoshiaki Masuda

Hideyuki Nishimura

Masato Tokishige

Hiroshi Kawamoto

Ken-ichi Iwamoto

Toyokazu Mori

Takashi Makiura

Hideaki Taniguchi

Tetsuya Yamaguchi

Osamu Kawasaki

Shunichi Hayashiyama

Yasutoshi Kawai

A cleaning device is provided with a cleaning unit () disposed downstream from a position at which a toner image is transferred to a paper. The cleaning unit () is provided with a cleaning blade () for scraping off residual toner attached to an image bearing member and a toner catching sheet () for preventing the residual toner or paper dust which have been scraped off from falling outside the cleaning unit. The free length in the toner catching sheet () between affixed positions of a first end portion which is affixed to the cleaning unit () and a second end portion which abuts an outer circumferential portion of the image bearing member is determined by an amount of paper dust buildup on the outer circumferential portion of the image bearing member.

Cleaning device for an image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes: an image support medium; a charging member for charging the surface of the image support medium in contact with the surface of it; an exposure device for irradiating with light the surface of the image support medium charged by the charging member to form a static latent image; a developing device for supplying developer to the static latent image formed on the image support medium to develop the latent image and for removing the leftover developer on the image support medium; a transfer device for transferring the developer image, which has been developed on the image support medium by the developing device, to a member to be transferred; and a scraping member for scraping foreign matter such as dust and paper particles on the image support medium. The image forming apparatus is constructed such that the charging member causes the developer to adhere to the scraped foreign matter, and then the foreign matter is collected by the developing device through the image support medium. The scraping member is held by a holder which has an opening for allowing the foreign matter to pass through into the charging member housing.

Imaging forming apparatus with enhanced cleaning of residual matter

A fixing unit for an image forming apparatus, for fixing a toner image transferred onto a recording sheet, which includes a fixing section having a heat roller and a pressure roller, includes a detector for detecting the time when the recording sheet reaches between the heat roller and the pressure roller; and a controller for controlling the moving speed of the fixing section to be gradually decreased when the recording sheet reaches the fixing section.

Fixing unit for controlling the moving speed of the fixing section

A fine particle recovery device for recovering fine particles such as waste toner accumulating at a plurality of locations such as a photoreceptor and a transferring belt in an image forming apparatus. The fine particle recovery device possesses transport path, constituted by waste toner recovery pipes, which allows the waste toner from the plurality of locations to pass therethrough; a waste toner recovery container, attached to the exit of the transport path, which stores the waste toner in one lot; and auger axes, installed inside the transport path, which convey the waste toner toward the waste toner recovery container. Further, among transport distances from the respective locations to the waste toner recovery container, the transport distance from the location having the most waste toner to the waste toner recovery container is set to be the shortest.

Fine particle recovery device for recovering particles, such as toner,

The present invention provides a compact electrophotographic device in which the gap between a screen and a photosensitive body can be kept uniform throughout the screen, no fogging is caused on a copied imaged, no wasteful space is around the photosensitive body, color contaminations are completely prevented and the quality of a color copied image is improved.

Electrophotographic apparatus with reduced contamination from toner

An electrophotographic copying apparatus comprises a photosensitive member (4) exposed by light reflected from an original to form an image of the original thereon, mechanism (13) for developing the image on the photosensitive member with toner (9, 10, 11, 12) to produce a toner image corresponding the image mechanism (24) for transferring the toner image onto a transfer material, mechanism (26) for fixing the toner image transferred on the transfer material, mechanism (27) for producing a signal which represents that high surface glossiness of the image copy is required, and mechanism (31, 32) for feeding the transfer material in a first path when the signal is produced, the transfer material being fixed fully, and for feeding the transfer material in a second path shorter than the first path when the signal is not produced.

Electrophotographic copying apparatus

A copy paper which is passed between fixing rollers and then transported to discharge roller means to be discharged is usually in a wavy condition. This condition is corrected when this copy paper is passed between a driver roller and a follower roller which are parts of the discharge roller means and in contact and in rotary motion communicating relationship with each other such that the edge sections of the paper travels faster between them than the speed with which it passed through the fixing rollers.

Copy paper discharge rollers for copying machine

A surface of a heated fixing roller is coated with a tetrafluoroethylene resin in which pin holes are present in the range of about 5-30 unit/cm.sup.2 and the diameter of the pin holes is in the range of about 5-20 .mu.m.

Heat roller for electrophotographic copying machine

Growing community of inventors

Yamatokoriyama, Japan

Koichi Moriyama