Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Masato Yanagida

Masami Tomita

Toshio Koike

Masanori Kawasumi

Takeshi Shintani

Naohiro Kumagai

Takeshi Uchitani

Eisaku Murakami

Hiroyuki Nagashima

Atsushi Sampe

Yutaka Takahashi

Takaaki Tawada

Yuji Arai

Ken Amemiya

Takeshi Tabuchi

Tokuya Ohjimi

Takuji Yoneda

Tokuya Ojimi

Shin Hasegawa

Tadashi Hayakawa

Yoshio Hattori

Yoshiyuki Kimura

Takatsugu Fujishiro

Takeo Suda

Shinichi Kawahara

Shuji Tanaka

Haruji Mizuishi

Mugijiroh Uno

Tetsuya Kagawa

Kazunori Karasawa

Atsuo Tokunaga

Hiroya Hirose

Hiroomi Harada

Takako Sato

Teruyuki Kasuga

Kentaroh Matsumoto

Tsutomu Yamakami

Atsuhsi Sampe

Hiroshi Ono

Hiroshi Hosokawa

Hideo Yoshizawa

Eiji Kurimoto

Keisuke Hayashi

Makoto Arai

Hideki Zemba

Keiichi Yoshida

Toshitaka Yamaguchi

Itaru Matsuda

Fumio Kishi

Takuzi Yoneda

Kouji Ishigaki

Kazuyuki Nakahara

Hiroyuki Ohkaji

Chohtaroh Kataoka

Masaki Tokuhashi

Nobuo Kuwahara

Hidemasa Sato

Tazuki Yoneda

In an image forming apparatus, an area applied with a lubricant, i.e., an area of a lubricant layer having a uniform thickness, is obtained by spreading the lubricant by a lubricant smoothing blade. The area applied with a lubricant covers an area cleaned by a cleaning blade, i.e., a contact portion of the cleaning blade with a photoconductor.

Image forming apparatus, lubricant applying device, transfer device, process cartridge, and toner

A process cartridge including an image bearing member; a lubricant applicator, which includes a lubricant application member configured to apply a solid lubricant to the surface of the image bearing member; and a smoothing member configured to smooth the applied solid lubricant, and at least one of a charging device, a developing device and a cleaning device, wherein the amount of the solid lubricant present on a portion of surface of the image bearing member, which is located between the lubricant application member and the smoothing blade, is from 0.11 to 1.2 mg/m. The smoothing member is preferably a blade having a JIS-A hardness of not less than 79&#xb0;. The process cartridge is preferably assembled by a method including setting the lubricant smoothing member, the lubricant and the lubricant application member to a housing of the process cartridge; and then setting the image bearing member to the housing.

Lubricant applicator, and image forming apparatus and process cartridge using the lubricant applicator, and method for assembling the process cartridge

An image forming apparatus having an image support body configured to support a latent image, a charging member configured to provide a substantially uniform charge to a surface of the image support body and a spacer coupled to the charging member and configured to contact the image support body to maintain a gap between the image support body and the charging member. A cleaning part is configured to clean the surface of the image support body after developer is applied to the image support body and transferred to a recording medium. The cleaning part is configured to satisfy the relationship A+B&#x2266;C, where A is a width of the effective charging area of the charging member that charges a surface of the image support body, B is a total width of the spacer that contacts the image support body, and C is a width of cleaning part that contacts the image support body.

Image forming apparatus and toner

A cleaning device, a process cartridge, and an image forming apparatus including an antifriction agent coating part and a toner removing part. The antifriction agent coating part coats a solid antifriction agent on the surface of an image support body, and is disposed in an upstream side from a cleaning blade with respect to a rotational direction of the image support body. The toner removing part removes toner particles, and is disposed in an upstream side from the antifriction agent coating part with respect to the rotational direction of the image support body and a portion of the toner removing part is positioned below a portion of the antifriction agent coating part in a vertical direction perpendicular to the ground.

Cleaning device, process cartridge and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a charging unit that charges the image carrier, a latent image forming unit that forms a latent image on the image carrier, a developing unit that develops the latent image to form a toner image, a transferring unit that transfers the toner image to a recording medium, a cleaning unit that cleans toner remaining on the image carrier, a lubricant applying unit that applies a solid lubricant to a surface of the image carrier, and a detecting unit that detects whether the image carrier is brand new. The toner has an average roundness of 0.94 or more. The lubricant applying unit is operated when the detecting unit detects that the image carrier is brand new.

Image forming apparatus and process cartridge having a detachable unit body having a lubricant applying unit and image carrier mounted thereon

An image forming apparatus including a latent image bearing member, a charger, a latent image forming device, a developing device, a surface moving member, a transfer device, a cleaner having a cleaning blade and an irradiating device configured to discharge the latent image bearing member. This developing device is configured to develop images with a toner having a circularity not less than 0.94. The irradiating device is disposed on the upstream from the cleaner relative to the rotation direction of the latent image bearing member.

Image forming apparatus and process cartridge with a cleaner for removing toner from an image bearing member

An imaging apparatus that is capable of realizing good cleaning characteristics and transfer characteristics, and obtaining a high quality image using toner having a high average roundness is provided. The imaging apparatus includes an image carrier, a charge unit, a developing unit, a transfer unit, and a cleaning unit. The transfer unit may directly transfer a toner image onto a recording medium that is carried by a transfer belt, or transfer the toner image onto the transfer belt first to then transfer the toner image onto the recording medium from the transfer belt. The cleaning unit includes a cleaning blade and a brush roller. The toner used in the imaging apparatus has an average roundness &#x3a8; within a range of 0.93&#x2dc;0.99, and a friction coefficient &#x3bc;s of the image carrier satisfies a condition, friction coefficient &#x3bc;s&#x2266;3.6&#x2212;3.3&#xd7;average roundness &#x3a8;.

Imaging apparatus, and toner and process cartridge used in the imaging apparatus

A cleaningless image forming apparatus of the present invention uses spherical toner grains on surfaces of which a charge control agent and/or organic fine grains are present, thereby enhancing efficient image transfer. A brush roller collects, among toner grains left on a photoconductive drum after image transfer, toner grains of polarity opposite to preselected polarity and then releases them to the drum at preselected timing. The toner grains of opposite polarity are then transferred to an intermediate image transfer belt. When the toner grains of opposite polarity pass a charging zone assigned to a charge roller, a bias to the charge roller is interrupted or the charge roller is released from the drum.

Image forming apparatus having a temporary toner holding device and a toner collecting device

A cleaning unit includes a first blade and a second blade. The first blade is in contact with an image carrier or a paper carrier and removes adhered substances remained on surface of these. The second blade has an abrasive layer that is formed by including abrasive particles in an elastic material and is disposed in the downstream side of the first blade. The second blade is allowed to be in contact with the image carrieror the paper carrier. Volume occupancy of abrasive particles in an area of contact of the second blade with either the image carrier or the paper carrier is not less than 50 percent and not more than 90 percent.

Cleaning unit and image forming apparatus having multiple cleaning blades

A charging device including: a charging roller having a metal cylinder and an elastic layer located on the metal cylinder; a cleaner configured to clean the charging roller, which includes an electroconductive brush roller including a roller having a shaft; and hair located overlying the roller, wherein the hair includes a fiber which has a width of from 0.1 to 20 denier, and a length of from 0.3 to 2.5 mm and which is planted at a density of from 7,000 to 46,000 lines/cm, and a member configured to impart substantially the same potential as that of the charging roller to the electroconductive brush roller when a bias voltage is applied to the charging roller. A process cartridge and an image forming apparatus including the charging device are also provided.

Charging device, and process cartridge and image forming apparatus using the charging device

A cleaning device, a process cartridge, an image forming apparatus and toner are disclosed to maintain improved cleaning performance for a long time. The cleaning device includes a cleaning blade, an antifriction agent coating part and a toner removing part. The cleaning blade is disposed in contact with a surface of an image support body. The antifriction agent coating part coats a solid antifriction agent on the surface of the image support body, and is disposed in an upstream side from the cleaning blade with respect to a rotational direction of the image support body. The toner removing part removes toner particles, and is disposed in an upstream side from the antifriction agent coating part with respect to the rotational direction of the image support body.

Cleaning device for cleaning a surface of an image support body

A charging device including a charging roller having a metal cylinder and an elastic layer located thereon, and a cleaner for cleaning the surface of the charging roller. The cleaner includes a driving shaft and a cleaning roller which is rotatably mounted on the driving shaft. The cleaning roller is made of a non-cellular foam resin having a density of from 5 to 15 kg/mand a tensile strength of from 1.2 to 2.2 kg/cm.

Charging device, and process cartridge and image forming apparatus including the charging device using the same

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.

Cleaning unit, process cartridge, image forming apparatus, and toner

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member configured to form an electrostatic latent image on a surface thereof, and a separating mechanism configured to separate an irregular charge toner from a residual toner remaining on the surface of the image bearing member after a completion of an image forming process, to provide an extra travel passage to give a time delay to the irregular charge toner, and to return the irregular charge toner with the time delay to the surface of the image bearing member.

Method and apparatus for image forming capable of removing residual toner without using a toner cleaning system, process cartridge for use in the apparatus and toner used for the image forming

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Tokyo, Japan

Masato Yanagida