Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Yasushi Akiba

Takeshi Shintani

Satoshi Hatori

Akio Kosuge

Takaya Muraishi

Kaoru Yoshino

Seiji Oka

Hajime Oyama

Kiyonori Tsuda

Nobuo Kuwabara

Daisuke Tomita

Shinichi Kawahara

Fumihito Itoh

Hiroyasu Itou

Hiroshi Ono

Hiroyuki Nagashima

Kiyoshi Sakai

Fumihiro Sasaki

Satoshi Mochizuki

Tatsuo Tani

Yoshitaka Sekiguchi

Yosuke Saito

Haruji Mizuishi

Shinya Karasawa

Masumi Ikesue

Hisashi Ishijima

Mitsuyo Matsumoto

Mayumi Yoshida

Yoshinori Ozawa

Kenji Karashima

Masakazu Nakada

Shohzoh Miyawaki

Hisashi Fuzisaki

Hidefumi Gohhara

Mitsuaki Urakawa

Natsuki Koike

Tetsuo Yamaoka

Teruzo Hasumi

Megumi Sakakura

Hideki Katoh

A resin composition is provided. The resin composition comprises an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene resin, a polystyrene resin, a polycarbonate resin, and a phosphorus compound. The amount of the polystyrene resin is equal to or greater than the amount of the acrylonitrile butadiene styrene resin. The amount of the polycarbonate resin is from 70 to 90 parts by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of all the resins. The phosphorus compound contains a phosphazene compound, and the amount of the phosphazene compound is from 0.1 to 4.0 parts by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of all the resins.

Resin composition, molded body, electronic part, and electronic device

A cleaning unit, which can be incorporated in a process cartridge removably installable in an image forming apparatus, includes a lubricant applicator to apply lubricant to an image carrier, a first blade disposed upstream from the lubricant applicator in a direction of rotation of the image carrier with its distal end held in contact with the image carrier to remove residual toner remaining on the image carrier, a second blade disposed downstream from the lubricant applicator in the direction of rotation of the image carrier with its distal end held in contact with the image carrier to regulate the amount of lubricant applied to the image carrier, a temperature measuring member to measure a temperature of or near the second blade, a heater, and a temperature controller to control the heater to heat the second blade so that the measured temperature falls within a given set temperature range.

Cleaning unit, process cartridge incorporating same, and image forming apparatus incorporating the cleaning unit

In an image forming apparatus including a plurality of image forming devices, a first image forming device in which a leveling blade that functions as a lubricant leveling blade is easily worn away over time uses an obtuse-angle blade as a first leveling blade, and a second image forming device being other image forming device among the plurality of image forming devices uses a right-angle blade as a second leveling blade.

Image forming apparatus

Described embodiments include apparatuses and processes for cleaning a surface of a rotatable image carrier including a cleaning unit configured to prevent material from accumulating on a cleaning blade.

Cleaning device with accumulation prevention, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus including same

An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of process cartridges provided for black and for another color. The process cartridges each including a set of a latent image carrier, a charging unit that charges a surface of the latent image carrier, and a lubricant applying unit that applies lubricant to the surface of the latent image carrier. The process cartridges for black and for the another color each has a cartridge frame with which the process cartridge is attachable to and removable from an apparatus body. The cartridge frames of the process cartridges for black and for the another color being of the same type. The process cartridge for black differs from the process cartridge for the another color in the configuration of the charging unit. The amounts of lubricant applied by the lubricant applying units to the respective latent image carriers differ with respect to the configuration of the charging unit.

Image forming apparatus and process cartridge having a charging unit

Provided is an image forming apparatus containing: an image-bearing member; a toner removal unit configured to remove a toner remained on the image-bearing member; a coating unit configured to coat a surface of the image-bearing member with a lubricity imparting agent; a unit configured to change a coated state of the lubricity imparting agent which has been applied to the image-bearing member by the coating unit; and a controlling unit configured to control the coating unit so as to operate a coating mode for at least the period when the image-bearing member is rotated once or more in the course of image formation, wherein the coating mode is a mode in which an amount of the lubricity imparting agent applied onto the image-bearing member is increased compared to an applied amount of the lubricity imparting agent during an ordinal operation for image formation.

Image forming apparatus with coating mode

The invention provides a charging device used in an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a fax machine, a printer or the like, the charging device including: a gold-plated discharge wire for charging an image carrier such as a photoconductive member or the like; and a cleaning member, having an abrasive, for cleaning the discharge wire, with the gold plating being maintained over time satisfactorily, and provides a process cartridge having this charging device. The cleaning member has an abrasive containing alumina and/or silicon, the grain size of which ranges from #6000 to #8000. The discharge wire is a tungsten wire on which a plating film is formed by gold plating, such that the thickness of the plating film is not smaller than 1.5 &#x3bc;m, and the diameter of the tungsten wire is not smaller than 30 &#x3bc;m.

Image forming apparatus, and charging device and process cartridge used in the image forming apparatus

A lubricating device operable to lubricate a moving imaging surface subsequent to removal of residual toner by a cleaning device includes a lubricant applicator, a metering blade, and a priming agent. The lubricant applicator is located downstream of the cleaning device in a direction of movement of the imaging surface, and applies lubricant to the imaging surface. The metering blade is located downstream of the lubricant applicator in the direction of movement of the imaging surface, and spreads the applied lubricant into a thin layer by directly contacting the imaging surface. The priming agent is prepared by mixing a lubricant and a powder, and provided, prior to initial operation, on the lubricant applicator for application to the imaging surface upon startup.

Lubricating device, lubricant applicator, and priming agent used therewith

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a charging device to apply a charging bias, a developing device to develop a latent electrostatic image with toner, a transfer device to transfer the toner image to a recording medium, a fixing device to fix the toner image on the recording medium, an image formation speed switching device to switch from one image formation speed to another speed, a storage device to store a charging current target of the charging bias for each image formation speed, an electric current detection device to detect electric current flown through the charging device, and an AC voltage adjustment device to adjust AC voltage of the charging bias applied to the charging device. The charging current target is set for each of at least two image formation speeds such that each AC voltage adjusted by the AC voltage adjustment device is substantially the same.

Image forming apparatus and process cartridge including charging bias adjustment control

A cleaning unit includes a cleaning member, an ejection member, a delivering member, and a flicker. The cleaning member contacts an object to be cleaned moving in a given direction, and removes waste material from the object to be cleaned. The ejection member, disposed in an area distanced from the object to be cleaned, transports the waste material removed from the object to be cleaned to outside of the cleaning unit. The delivering member delivers the waste material to a transport-effective area of the ejection member. The delivering member includes a vane rotating device including a rotation axis and a vane attached on the rotation axis. The vane rotating device rotates to deliver the waste material to the ejection member. The flicker contacts a free end of the vane to cause a flicker movement to the vane at a position over the transport-effective area of the ejection member.

Cleaning unit, image carrying unit and image forming apparatus using the same

An image forming apparatus includes multiple imaging units and a controller. The multiple imaging units each include a photoconductor, a charging device, a developing device, a retractable cleaner, and a cleaner retraction mechanism. The charging device charges the photoconductor for forming an electrostatic latent image thereon. The developing device develops the electrostatic latent image. The retractable cleaner cleans the charging device when in contact with the charging device. The cleaner retraction mechanism is configured to bring the retractable cleaner into contact with the charging device. The charging device and the photoconductor are installed and replaced in conjunction with each other. The controller calculates a photoconductor usage of each of the multiple imaging units, and individually controls the cleaner retraction mechanism in each of the multiple imaging units according to the calculated photoconductor usage.

Image forming apparatus and process cartridge used therein

A cleaning device includes a cleaning blade configured to remove toner adhered on a surface of an image bearing member, and a contact and separation mechanism configured to contact and separate the cleaning blade to and from the surface of the image bearing member, the contact and separation mechanism including a first force providing member configured to provide a first force to contact the cleaning blade onto the surface of the image bearing member, a second force providing member configured to provide a second force to separate the cleaning blade from the surface of the image bearing member, and a third force providing member configured to provide a third force to change an amount of the second force exerted by the second force providing member.

Cleaning device for removing toner from an image bearing member

In an image forming apparatus, after the development of a latent image formed on an image carrier effected by using toner, which has a volume mean grain size of 5 &#x3bc;m to 10 &#x3bc;m and in which 60 number percent to 80 number percent of toner grains have a grain size of 5 &#x3bc;m or below, and the transfer of the resulting image to a recording medium, a cleaning device of the present invention removes the toner left on the image carrier with a fur brush. The fur brush is capable of contacting the surface of the image carrier with density high enough to block the toner grains having the above grain size.

Cleaning device and image forming apparatus using the same

A method and apparatus for electrophotographic image forming are provided incorporating an improved toner recycling unit. This recycling unit is devised such that the selectable switching between toner recycling and non-recycling modes be continually carried out according to the decision based on the present amount of paper dusts measured by a paper dust measuring unit provided in a paper dust removal unit. The image forming apparatus incorporating the toner recycling unit is therefore capable of efficiently recycling the toner recovered from a cleaning unit without removing contaminants such as paper dusts and toner aggregates included in the recycled toner, thereby preventing the emergence of undesirable picture image anomalies such as whisker images and black dots.

Image forming method and apparatus with toner recycling unit

A recycling system has a recycle information memory database for storing as recycle information, the information on all reutilizable products such as products produced or used under the management of the system, products treated as wastes, and products currently being used in the market. A virtual recycle product designing section is provided for estimating times when the reutilizable products are recovered as products usable for recycling as well as their volumes, based on the recycle information stored in the recycle information memory database. A production scheduling section is provided for setting a production schedule of a recycle product using the reutilizable products based on the estimated times and volumes.

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Yokohama, Japan

Yasushi Akiba