The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 18, 2011
Filed:
Feb. 13, 2008
Naomi Sugimoto, Kawasaki, JP;
Hidetoshi Yano, Yokohama, JP;
Kenji Sugiura, Yokohama, JP;
Osamu Naruse, Yokohama, JP;
Yasuyuki Yamashita, Zama, JP;
Naomi Sugimoto, Kawasaki, JP;
Hidetoshi Yano, Yokohama, JP;
Kenji Sugiura, Yokohama, JP;
Osamu Naruse, Yokohama, JP;
Yasuyuki Yamashita, Zama, JP;
Ricoh Company Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A cleaning device removes residual toner particles from a cleaning target, such as a photoconductor, which has a moving surface. The cleaning device includes a cleaning brush, a power circuit, and a cleaning member. The cleaning brush includes a brush rotation shaft, and the power circuit applies a first voltage of a first polarity to the brush rotation shaft. The cleaning member applies a second voltage of the first polarity to the cleaning brush. If the first polarity is negative, the cleaning member electrostatically removes toner particles having a positive polarity from the cleaning target. Then, the cleaning brush is triboelectrically charged to a second polarity, which is opposite to the first polarity, by contacting the cleaning target. Accordingly, the cleaning brush also removes residual toner particles having a negative polarity. Thus, the cleaning device removes both positively and negatively charged toner particles to clean the cleaning target.