Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Takato Yano

Masaaki Ogura

Nachio Seko

Toshiaki Higaya

Toshiyuki Ogawa

Kiyozo Hashizume

The cleaning method for use in an electrophotographic copying apparatus of the type removing toner images remaining on the surface of a photoconductor by a cleaning blade which includes the steps of bringing the cleaning blade into pressure contact with the photoconductor at least prior to the movement of the photoconductor, and moving the cleaning blade away from the surface of the photoconductor after the movement of the photoconductor is stopped with completion of copying process.

Cleaning method for use in electrophotography

An imaging optical system (34) scans an original document (58) and radiates a light image thereof onto a photoconductive drum (31) to form an electrostatic image which is developed to form a toner image. A first pulse generator (62) is driven synchronizingly by rotation of the drum (31) to produce first pulses. A second pulse generator which may include a clock pulse generator (19) for a microcomputer (12) used to control the operation of the copying machine (11) and a frequency divider (78) produces second pulses having a frequency typically ten times that of the first pulses. First and second counters (71), (79) count the first and second pulses respectively, the second counter (79) being reset by each of the first pulses. A sensor (83) senses a predetermined scan position of the optical system (34) and generates an electrical signal. A computer which may be embodied by the microcomputer (12) in response to the signal, stores first and second counts of the first and second counters (71 ), (79), adds a predetermined number to the first count to obtain a third count and actuates a copy sheet feed unit (44) to feed a copy sheet (37) into toner image transferring engagement with the drum (31) when the counts in the first and second counters (71), (79) simultaneously equal the third and second counts respectively, thereby producing accurate register of the toner image on the copy sheet (37).

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Tokyo, Japan

Takato Yano