Dip Sheet Adhering Method, Cleaning Device, Process and Image Forming Apparatus

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning a body to be cleaned, such as a photosensitive body, a dip sheet used with such a cleaning device, a method for adhering such a dip sheet, a process cartridge and an image forming system.

2. Description of the Related Art

Generally, a known image forming system, or image forming apparatus, includes an image bearing member of a rotating drum type having a photo-conductive photosensitive layer at its outer peripheral surface is used, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive layer while rotating the image bearing member, the electrostatic latent image is developed (visualized) with toner as a toner image, and then the toner image is transferred onto a transfer sheet. In such an image forming system, after a cycle of the image formation is finished, the residual toner (and other foreign matters) adhered to the surface of the image bearing member is removed from the image bearing member by a cleaning device.

As an example, the cleaning device comprises a cleaning blade for removing the residual toner remaining on the image bearing member while slidingly contacting with the image bearing member, a squeegee or dip sheet disposed below the cleaning blade and contacted with the image bearing member to receive the removed toner, and a waste toner reservoir for collecting the waste toner received by the squeegee sheet.

The cleaning blade and the squeegee sheet are arranged to contact the surface of the image bearing member, and, in particular, the squeegee sheet is attached to a predetermined position (referred to as "attachment surface" hereinafter) of the waste toner reservoir by a both-sided adhesive tape.

However, the waste toner reservoir is made of resin material and, thus, has an uneven and/or slightly deformed surface. Accordingly, if the squeegee sheet is merely stuck to the toner reservoir by the both-sided adhesive tape, undulation or sinuosity is generated at a free edge portion of the squeegee sheet which is contacted with the image bearing member, with the result that the free edge portion of the squeegee sheet does not closely contact with the surface of the image bearing member, thus causing a problem that the toner removed by the cleaning blade is received by the squeegee sheet less than perfectly that is, with reduced efficiency.

Further, when a charger roller (charger device of contact type) is used to charge the image bearing member, the contacting pressure between the charger roller and the image bearing member becomes great at both ends of the roller, and a small amount of toner which has escaped from the cleaning blade is compressed by the urging force of the charger roller, thus adhering to the surface of the image bearing member. Further, when the overlapped DC and AC voltages are applied to the charger roller, since the charger roller is vibrated, the toner which has escaped from the cleaning blade is compressed by the roller with stronger force, thus considerably contaminating the surface of the image bearing member with toner.

In order to eliminate the above drawback, the inventors conducted various tests and found that the above drawback was caused not only by the urging force of the charger roller against the image bearing member, but also by the urging force of the squeegee sheet against the image bearing member. Further, if the urging force of the squeegee sheet against the image bearing member is too great, the surface of the image bearing member will easily be damaged, with the result that the adhesion of the toner to the image bearing member (particularly, to both end portions of the image bearing member) is promoted.

An object of the present invention is to provide a squeegee or dip sheet, a method for sticking or adhering such a squeegee sheet, a cleaning device, a process cartridge and an image forming system, which can obtain a high quality image.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a squeegee sheet, a method for sticking such a squeegee sheet, a cleaning device, a process cartridge and an image forming system, which can remarkably improve the cleaning ability.

The other object of the present invention is to provide a squeegee sheet sticking method which prevents poor attachment of a squeegee sheet, a squeegee sheet formed to avoid poor attachment, a cleaning device having such a squeegee sheet, a process cartridge having such a squeegee sheet, and an image forming system having such a squeegee sheet.

FIG. 1 is an elevational sectional view of a copying machine within which a process cartridge according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is mounted;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the copying machine in a condition that a tray is opened;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the copying machine in a condition that a tray is closed;

FIG. 4 is an elevational sectional view of the process cartridge;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the process cartridge;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the process cartridge in an inverted condition;

FIG. 7 is an exploded sectional view of the process cartridge in a condition that an upper frame and a lower frame are separated;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the lower frame showing an internal structure thereof;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the upper frame showing an internal structure thereof;

FIG. 10 is a longitudinal sectional view of a photosensitive drum of the process cartridge;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view for explaining the measurement of the charging noise;

FIG. 12 is a graph showing the result of the measurement of the charging noise regarding a position of a filler;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of an earthing contact for the photosensitive drum;

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of an earthing contact for the photosensitive drum, according to another embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing an embodiment wherein an earthing contact which is not bifurcated is used with the photosensitive drum;

FIG. 16 is a sectional view of the non-bifurcated earthing contact used with the photosensitive drum;

FIG. 17 is an elevational view showing an attachment structure for a charger roller;

FIG. 18A is a perspective view of an exposure shutter, and FIG. 18B is a partial sectional view of the exposure shutter;

FIG. 19 is a sectional view showing a non-magnetic toner feeding mechanism having an agitating vane;

FIG. 20 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a positional relation between the photosensitive drum (9) and a developing sleeve (12d) and a structure for pressurizing the developing sleeve;

FIG. 21A is a sectional view taken along the line A--A of FIG. 20, and FIG. 21B is a sectional view taken along the line B--B of FIG. 20;

FIG. 22 is a sectional view for explaining the pressurizing force acting on the developing sleeve;

FIG. 23 is a perspective view of a squeegee sheet in a condition that an upper edge of the sheet is tortuous;

FIG. 24A is a perspective view showing a condition that a both-sided adhesive tape is protruded from a lower end of the squeegee sheet, and FIGS. 24B and 24C are views showing a condition that a sticking tool is adhered to the protruded both-sided adhesive tape;

FIG. 25A is a perspective view showing a condition that the squeegee sheet is stuck to a curved attachment surface with a lower end portion of the sheet being curved, and FIG. 25B is a perspective view showing a condition that an upper end portion of the squeegee sheet is tensioned by releasing the curvature of the attachment surface;

FIG. 26 is a perspective view of a squeegee sheet according to another embodiment wherein a width of the sheet is widened straightly and gradually from both ends to a central portion thereof;

FIG. 27 is a perspective view for explaining the formation of the curvature of the squeegee sheet attachment surface by pressing the surface;

FIG. 28 is a view showing conditions that a recording medium is being guided by a lower surface of the lower frame;

FIG. 29 is a sectional view showing final assembly of the photosensitive drum;

FIG. 30 is a sectional view showing a condition that a developing blade and a cleaning blade are stuck;

FIG. 31 is an exploded view for explaining the assembling of the process cartridge;

FIG. 32 is a view for explaining a position of guide members when the photosensitive drum of the process cartridge is assembled;

FIG. 33 is a sectional view of a structure wherein drum guides are arranged at ends of blade supporting members;

FIG. 34 is a perspective view for explaining the attachment of bearing members for the photosensitive drum and the developing sleeve;

FIG. 35 is a sectional view of the photosensitive drum and the developing sleeve with the bearing members attached thereto;

FIG. 36 is a perspective view for explaining a cover film and a tear tape;

FIG. 37 is a perspective view showing a condition that the tear tape is protruded from a gripper;

FIG. 38 is a schematic view showing a condition that the process cartridge is gripped by an operator's hand;

FIG. 39A is a flow chart showing the assembling and shipping procedure for the process cartridge, and FIG. 39B is a flow chart showing the disassembling and cleaning procedure for the process cartridge;

FIG. 40 is a perspective view showing a condition that the process cartridge is being mounted within the image forming system;

FIG. 41 is a perspective view showing a condition that the process cartridge of FIG. 24 is being mounted within the image forming system;

FIG. 42 is a perspective view showing the arrangement of three contacts provided on the image forming system;

FIG. 43 is a sectional view showing the construction of the three contacts;

FIG. 44 is a sectional view for explaining the relative positioning between the lower frame and a lens unit;

FIG. 45 is a sectional view for explaining the relative positioning between the lower frame and an original glass support;

FIG. 46 is a perspective view showing the attachment positions of positioning pegs;

FIG. 47 is a schematic elevational view showing the relation between rotary shafts of the drum and of the sleeve and shaft supporting members therefor, and a transmitting direction of a driving force from a drive gear to a flange gear of the photosensitive drum;

FIG. 48 is an exploded perspective view of a developing sleeve according to an embodiment wherein the developing sleeve can easily be slid;

FIG. 49 is a schematic elevational view of the developing sleeve of FIG. 48;

FIG. 50 is an elevational sectional view showing a condition that the upper frame and the lower frame are released;

FIG. 51 is a view showing gears and contacts attached to the photosensitive drum;

FIG. 52A is an elevational view of a developing sleeve receiving member according to another embodiment, and FIG. 52B is an end view of the receiving member of FIG. 52A;

FIG. 53 is an elevational view showing an arrangement wherein the developing blade and the cleaning blade can be attached to the interior of the image forming system by pins;

FIG. 54 an elevational view showing a condition of final assembly of the photosensitive drum, according to another embodiment;

FIG. 55 is an elevational sectional view of bearing members for supporting the photosensitive drum and the developing sleeve, according to another embodiment;

FIG. 56 is a schematic view of a transmission mechanism for transmitting a driving force from a drive motor of the image forming system to various elements;

FIGS. 57 and 58 are perspective views showing a condition that the flange gear of the photosensitive drum and a gear integral with the flange gear are protruded from the lower frame;

FIG. 59 is a view showing a gear train for transmitting a driving force from the drive gear of the image forming system to the photosensitive drum and the transfer roller; and

FIGS. 60A and 60B are views showing different drive transmitting mechanisms to developing sleeves, wherein magnetic toner is used and non-magnetic toner is used.

FIGS. 61 and 62 are a perspective view showing a squeegee or dip sheet sticking method according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 63 is a perspective view showing the undulation of the squeegee sheet;

FIGS. 64 and 65 are a perspective view showing a squeegee sheet sticking method according to a further embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 66 is an elevational sectional view of a process cartridge having a cleaning device according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 67 and 68 are a perspective view showing a squeegee sheet sticking method for sticking a squeegee sheet of the cleaning device of FIG. 66;

FIG. 69 is an elevational sectional view of a process cartridge according to a further embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 70 is an enlarged perspective view of a hooked portion of the process cartridge;

FIG. 71 is an enlarged perspective view of a hooked portion of the process cartridge according to another embodiment;

FIG. 72 is an enlarged perspective view of a hooked portion of the process cartridge according to a further embodiment;

FIG. 73 is an elevational sectional view of an image forming system within which the above-mentioned process cartridge is removably mounted;

FIGS. 74 and 75 are schematic elevational sectional views of a process cartridge having a cleaning device of the present invention;

FIG. 76 is an enlarged perspective view of a portion of the cleaning device of the process cartridge;

FIG. 77 is an enlarged front elevational view of a portion of the cleaning device of the process cartridge;

FIG. 78 is an enlarged front elevational view of a portion of the cleaning device according to a further embodiment;

FIGS. 79A and 79B are an enlarged side view and a front elevational view of a portion of the cleaning device according to a still further embodiment, respectively;

FIG. 80 is a schematic elevational sectional view of a process cartridge wherein a frame for a developing device and a frame for a cleaning device can be divided from each other;

FIG. 81 is a top view of the frame for the developing device and the frame for the cleaning device in a condition that a cover is not attached;

FIG. 82A is an enlarged front elevational view of a portion of a cleaning device of a process cartridge before a tension force is applied; and FIG. 82B is an enlarged front elevational view of the portion of the cleaning device of the process cartridge after the tension force is applied;

FIG. 83A is an enlarged front elevational view of a portion of a cleaning device of a process cartridge, and FIG. 83B is a side view thereof;

FIG. 84 is a schematic constructural view showing a construction of a process cartridge of the present invention;

FIG. 85 is a schematic constructural view showing a construction of a process cartridge according to one embodiment;

FIG. 86 is a graph showing an urging force or abutment pressure of a charger roller of a contact type with respect to longitudinal positions of an image bearing member;

FIG. 87 is a view showing a squeegee sheet such that a thickness of a central portion thereof is wider than a thickness of the end portions;

FIGS. 88A and 88B are views for explaining a penetrating amount of a squeegee sheet;

FIG. 89 is a view showing a squeegee sheet such that a thickness of a central portion thereof is wider than a thickness of the end portions;

FIG. 90A is a view showing a squeegee sheet such that a thickness of a central portion thereof is wider than a thickness of the end portions before a tension is applied, and FIG. 90B is a view showing the squeegee sheet such that the thickness of the central portion thereof is wider than a thickness of the end portions after the tension is applied;

FIG. 91A is a view showing a squeegee sheet such that a thickness of a central portion thereof is wider than a thickness of the end portions before a tension is applied, and FIG. 91B is a view showing the squeegee sheet such that the thickness of the central portion thereof is wider than a thickness of the end portions after the tension is applied, according to another embodiment;

FIG. 92 is a view showing a squeegee sheet such that a thickness of a central portion thereof is wider than a thickness of the end portions according to a further embodiment;

FIG. 93 is a view showing a squeegee sheet such that a thickness of a central portion thereof is wider than a thickness of the end portions according to a still further embodiment; and

FIG. 94 is a view showing a squeegee sheet that a thickness of a central portion thereof is wider than a thickness of the end portions according to another embodiment.

First of all, a process cartridge according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and an image forming system utilizing such a process cartridge will be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The Whole Construction of a Process Cartridge and an Image Forming System Mounting the Process Cartridge thereon

First of all, the whole construction of the image forming system will briefly be described. Incidentally, FIG. 1 is an elevational sectional view of a copying machine as an example of the image forming system, within which the process cartridge is mounted, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the copying machine with a tray opened, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the copying machine with the tray closed, FIG. 4 is an elevational sectional view of the process cartridge, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the process cartridge, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the process cartridge in an inverted condition.

As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming system A operates to optically read image information on an original or document 2 by an original reading means 1. A recording medium resting on a sheet supply tray 3 or manually inserted from the sheet supply tray 3 is fed, by a feeding means 5, to an image forming station of the process cartridge B, where a developer (referred to as "toner" hereinafter) image formed in response to the image information is transferred onto the recording medium 4 by a transfer means 6. Thereafter, the recording medium 4 is sent to a fixing means 7 where the transferred toner image is permanently fixed to the recording medium 4. Then, the recording medium is ejected onto an ejection tray 8.

The process cartridge B defining the image forming station operates to uniformly charge a surface of a rotating photosensitive drum (image bearing member) 9 by a charger means 10, then to form a latent image on the photosensitive drum 9 by illuminating a light image read by the reading means 1 on the photosensitive drum by means of an exposure means 11, and then to visualize the latent image as a toner image by a developing means 12. After the toner image is transferred onto the recording medium 4 by the transfer means 6, the residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 9 is removed by a cleaning means 13.

Incidentally, the process cartridge B is formed as a cartridge unit by housing the photosensitive drum 9 and the like within frames which include a first or upper frame 14 and a second or lower frame 15. Further, in the illustrated embodiment, the frames 14, 15 are made of high impact styrol resin (HIPS), and a thickness of the upper frame 14 is about 2 mm and a thickness of the lower frame 15 is about 2.5 mm. However, material and thickness of the frames are not limited to the above, but may be selected appropriately.

Next, various parts of the image forming system A and the process cartridge B mountable within the image forming system will be fully described.

Image Forming System

First of all, various parts of the image forming system A will be explained.

(Original Reading Means)

The original reading means 1 serves to optically read the information written on the original, and, as shown in FIG. 1, includes an original glass support 1a which is disposed at an upper portion of a body 16 of the image forming system and on which the original 2 is to be rested. An original hold-down plate 1b having a sponge layer 1b1 on its inner surface is attached to the original glass support 1a for opening and closing movement. The original glass support 1a and the original hold-down plate 1b are mounted on the system body 16 for reciprocal sliding movement in the left and right directions as viewed in FIG. 1. On the other hand, a lens unit 1c is disposed below the original glass support 1a at the upper portion of the system body 16 and includes a light source 1c1 and a short focus focusing lens array 1c2 therein.

With this arrangement, when the original 2 is rested on the original glass support la with an image surface thereof faced to the downside and the light source 1c1 is activated and the original glass support 1a is slid in the left and right direction as viewed in FIG. 1, the photosensitive drum 9 of the process cartridge B is exposed by reflection light from the original 2 via the lens array 1c2.

(Recording Medium Feeding Means)

The feeding means 5 serves to feed the recording medium 4 rested on the sheet supply tray 3 to the image forming station and to feed the recording medium to the fixing means 7. More particularly, after a plurality of recording media 4 are stacked on the sheet supply tray 3 or a single recording medium 4 is manually inserted on the sheet supply tray 3, and leading end(s) of the recording media or medium are abutted against a nip between a sheet supply roller 5a and a friction pad 5b urged against the roller, when a copy start button A3 is depressed, the sheet supply roller 5a is rotated to separate and feed the recording medium 4 to a pair of regist, or registration, rollers 5c1, 5c2 which, in turn, feed the recording medium in registration with the image forming operation. After the image forming operation, the recording medium 4 is fed to the fixing means 7 by a convey belt 5d and a guide member 5e, and then is ejected onto the ejection tray 8 by a pair of ejector rollers 5f1, 5f2.

(Transfer Means)

The transfer means 6 serves to transfer the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 9 onto the recording medium 4 and, in the illustrated embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, it comprises a transfer roller 6. More particularly, by urging the recording medium 4 against the photosensitive drum 9 in the process cartridge B mounted within the image forming system by means of the transfer roller 6 provided in the image forming system and by applying to the transfer roller 6 a voltage having the polarity opposite to that of the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 9, the toner image on the photosensitive drum 9 is transferred onto the recording medium 4.

(Fixing Means)

The fixing means 7 serves to fix the toner image transferred to the recording medium 4 by applying the voltage to the transfer roller 6 and, as shown in FIG. 1, comprises a heat-resistive fixing film 7e wound around and extending between a driving roller 7a, a heating body 7c held by a holder 7b and a tension plate 7d. Incidentally, the tension plate 7d is biased by a tension spring 7f to apply a tension force to the film 7e. A pressure roller 7g is urged against the heating body 7c with the interposition of the film 7e so that the fixing film 7e is pressurized against the heating body 7c with a predetermined force required to the fixing operation.

The heating body 7c is made of heat-resistive material such as alumina and has a heat generating surface comprised of a wire-shaped or plate-shaped members having a width of about 160 .mu.m and a length (dimension perpendicular to a plane of FIG. 1) of about 216 mm and made of Ta.sub.2 N for example arranged on an under surface of the holder 7b made of insulation material or composite material including insulation, and a protection layer made of Ta.sub.2 O for example and covering the heat generating surface. The lower surface of the heating body 7c is flat, and front and rear ends of the heating body are rounded to permit the sliding movement of the fixing film 7e. The fixing film 7e is made of heat-treated polyester and has a thickness of about 9 .mu.m. The film can be rotated in a clockwise direction by the rotation of the driving roller 7a. When the recording medium 4 to which the toner image was transferred passes through an area between the fixing film 7e and the pressure roller 7g, the toner image is fixed to the recording medium 4 by heat and pressure.

Incidentally, in order to escape or discharge the heat generated by the fixing means 7 out of the image forming system, a cooling fan 17 is provided within the body 16 of the image forming system. The fan 17 is rotated, for example when the copy start button A3 (FIG. 2) is depressed, so as to generate an air flow a (FIG. 1) flowing into the image forming system from the recording medium supply inlet and flowing out from the recording medium ejecting outlet. The various parts including the process cartridge B are cooled by the air flows so that the heat does not remain in the image forming system.

(Recording Medium Supply and Ejection Trays)

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the sheet supply tray 3 and the ejection tray 8 are mounted on shafts 3a, 8a, respectively within the system body 16 for pivotal movements in directions b in FIG. 2, and for pivotal movements around shafts 3b, 8b in directions c in FIG. 2. Locking projections 3c, 8c are formed on free ends of the trays 3, 8 at both sides thereof, respectively. These projections can be fitted into locking recesses 1b2 formed in an upper surface of the original hold-down plate 1b. Thus, as shown in FIG. 3, when the trays 3, 8 are folded inwardly to fit the locking projections 3c, 8c into the corresponding recesses 1b2, the original glass support 1a and the original hold-down plate 1b are prevented from sliding in the left and right directions. As a result, an operator can easily lift the image forming system A via grippers 16a and transport it.

(Setting Buttons for Density and the like)

Incidentally, setting buttons for setting the density and the like are provided on the image forming system A. Briefly explaining, in FIG. 2, a power switch A1 is provided to turn ON and OFF the image forming system. A density adjusting dial A2 is used to adjust the fundamental density (of the copied image) of the image forming system. The copy start button A3, when depressed, starts the copying operation of the image forming system. A copy clear button A4, when depressed, interrupts the copying operation and clears the various setting conditions (for example, the set density condition). A copy number counter button A5 serves to set the number of copies when depressed. An automatic density setting button A6, when depressed, automatically sets the density in the copying operation. A density setting dial A7 is provided so that the operator can adjust the copy density by rotating this dial at need.

Process Cartridge

Next, various parts of the process cartridge B which can be mounted within the image forming system A will be explained.

The process cartridge B includes an image bearing member and at least one process means. For example, the process means may comprise a charge means for charging a surface of the image bearing member, a developing means for forming a toner image on the image bearing member and/or a cleaning means for removing the residual toner remaining on the image bearing member. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, in the illustrated embodiment, the process cartridge B is constituted as a cartridge unit which can be removably mounted within the body 16 of the image forming system, by enclosing the charger means 10, the developing means 12 containing the toner (developer) and the cleaning means 13 which are arranged around the photosensitive drum 9 as the image bearing member by a housing comprising the upper and lower frames 14, 15. The charger means 10, exposure means 11 (opening 11a) and toner reservoir 12a of the developing means 12 are disposed within the upper frame 14, and the photosensitive drum 9, developing sleeve 12d of the developing means 12 and cleaning means 13 are disposed within the lower frame 15.

Now, the various parts of the process cartridge B will be fully described regarding the charger means 11, exposure Means 11, developing means 12 and cleaning means 13 in order. Incidentally, FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the process cartridge with the upper and lower frames separated from each other, FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the internal construction of the lower frame, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the internal construction of the upper frame.

(Photosensitive Drum)

In the illustrated embodiment, the photosensitive drum 9 comprises a cylindrical drum core 9a having a thickness of about 1 mm and made of aluminium, and an organic photosensitive layer 9b disposed on an outer peripheral surface of the drum core, so that an outer diameter of the photosensitive drum 9 becomes 24 mm. The photosensitive drum 9 is rotated in a direction shown by the arrow in response to the image forming operation, by transmitting a driving force of a drive motor 54 (FIG. 56) of the image forming system to a flange gear 9c (FIG. 8) secured to one end of the photosensitive drum 9.

During the image forming operation, when the photosensitive drum 9 is being rotated, the surface of the photosensitive drum 9 is uniformly charged by applying to the charger roller 10 (contacting with the drum 9) a vibrating voltage obtained by overlapping a DC voltage with an AC voltage. In this case, in order to uniformly charge the surface of the photosensitive drum 9, the frequency of the AC voltage applied to the charger roller 10 must be increased. However, if the frequency exceeds about 2000 Hz, the photosensitive drum 9 and the charger roller 10 will be vibrated, thus generating the so-called "charging noise".

That is to say, when the AC voltage is applied to the charger roller 10, an electrostatic attraction force is generated between the photosensitive drum 9 and the charger roller 10, so that the attraction force becomes maximum at the maximum and minimum values of the AC voltage, thus attracting the charger roller 10 against the photosensitive drum 9 while elastically deforming the charger roller. On the other hand, at an intermediate value of the AC voltage, the attraction force becomes minimum, with the result that the elastical deformation of the charger roller 10 is restored to try to separate the charger roller 10 from the photosensitive drum 9. Consequently, the photosensitive drum 9 and the charger roller 10 are vibrated at the frequency twice as that of the applied AC voltage. Further, when the charger roller 10 is attracted against the photosensitive drum 9, the rotations of the drum and the roller are braked, thus causing the vibration due to stick slip, which also results in the charging noise.

In order to reduce the vibration of the photosensitive drum 9, in the illustrated embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10 (sectional view of the drum), a rigid or elastic filler 9d is disposed within the photosensitive drum 9. The filler 9d may be made of metal such as aluminium, brass or the like, cement, ceramics such as gypsum, or rubber material such as natural rubber, in consideration of the productivity, workability, effect of weight and cost. The filler 9d has a solid cylindrical shape or a hollow cylindrical shape, and has an outer diameter smaller than an inner diameter of the photosensitive drum 9 by about 100 .mu.m, and is inserted into the drum core 9a. That is to say, a gap between the drum core 9a and the filler 9d is set to have a value of 100 .mu.m at the maximum, and an adhesive (for example, cyanoacrylate resin, epoxy resin or the like) 9e is applied on the outer surface of the filler 9d or on the inner surface of the drum core 9a, and the filler 9d is inserted into the drum core 9a, thus adhering them to each other.

Now, the test results performed by the inventors, wherein the relation between the position of the filler 9d and the noise pressure (noise level) was checked by varying the position of the filler 9d in the photosensitive drum 9 will be explained. As shown in FIG. 11, the noise pressure was measured by a microphone M arranged at a distance of 30 cm from the front surface of the process cartridge B disposed in a room having the background noise of 43 dB. As result, as shown in FIG. 12, when the filler having a weight of 80 grams was arranged, at a central position in the longitudinal direction of the photosensitive drum 9, the noise pressure was 54.5-54.8 dB. Whereas, when the filler having a weight of 40 grams was arranged at a position offset from the central position toward the flange gear 9c by 30 mm, the noise pressure was minimum. From this result, it was found that it was more effective to arrange the filler 9d in the photosensitive drum 9 offset from the central position toward the gear flange 9c. The reason seems to be that one end of the photosensitive drum 9 is supported via the flange gear 9c while the other end of the drum 9 is supported by a bearing member 26 having no flange, so that the construction of the photosensitive drum 9 is not symmetrical with respect the central position in the longitudinal direction of the drum.

Thus, in the illustrated embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, the filler 9d is arranged in the photosensitive drum 9 offset from the central position c (in the longitudinal direction of the drum) toward the flange gear 9c, i.e., toward the drive transmission mechanism to the photosensitive drum 9. Incidentally, in the illustrated embodiment, a filler 9d comprising a hollow aluminium member having a length L3 of 40 mm and a weight of about 20-60 grams, preferably 35-45 grams (most preferably about 40 grams) is positioned within the photosensitive drum 9 having a longitudinal length L1 of 257 mm at a position offset from the central position c toward the flange gear 9c by a distance L2 of 9 mm. By arranging the filler 9d within the photosensitive drum 9, the photosensitive drum can be rotated stably, thus suppressing the vibration due to the rotation of the photosensitive drum 9 in the image forming operation. Therefore, even when the frequency of the AC voltage applied to the charger roller 10 is increased, it is possible to reduce the charging noise.

Further, in the illustrated embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, an earthing contact 18a is contacted with the inner surface of the photosensitive drum 9 and the other end of the earthing contact is abutted against a drum earth contact pin 35a, thereby electrically earthing the photosensitive drum 9. The earthing contact 18a is arranged at the end of the photosensitive drum opposite to the end adjacent to the flange gear 9c.

The earthing contact 18a is made of spring stainless steel, spring bronze phosphate or the like and is attached to the bearing member 26. More particularly, as shown in FIG. 13, the earthing contact comprises a base portion 18a1 having a locking opening 18a2 into which a boss formed on the bearing member 26 can be fitted, and two arm portions 18a3 extending from the base portion 18a1, each arm portion being provided at its free end with a semi-circular projection 18a4 protruding downwardly. When the bearing member 26 is attached to the photosensitive drum 9, the projections 18a4 of the earthing contact 18a are urged against the inner surface of the photosensitive drum 9 by the elastic force of the arm portions 18a3. In this case, since the earthing contact 18a is contacted with the photosensitive drum at plural points (two points), the reliability of the contact is improved, and, since the earthing contact 18a is contacted with the photosensitive drum via the semi-circular projections 18a4, the contact between the earthing contact and the photosensitive drum 9 is stabilized.

Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 14, lengths of the arm portions 18a3 of the earthing contact 18a may be differentiated from each other. With this arrangement, since positions where the semi-circular projections 18a4 are contacted with the photosensitive drum 9 are offset from each other in the circumferential direction of the drum, even if there is a cracked portion extending in the axial direction in the inner surface of the photosensitive drum 9, both projections 18a4 do not contact with such cracked portion simultaneously, thereby maintaining the earthing contact (between the contact and the drum) without fail. Incidentally, when the lengths of the arm portions 18a3 are differentiated, the contacting pressure between one of the arm portions 18a3 and the photosensitive drum is differentiated from the contacting pressure between the other arm portion and the drum. However, such difference can be compensated, for example, by changing the bending angles of the arm portions 18a3.

In the illustrated embodiment, while the earthing contact 18a had two arm portions 18a3 as mentioned above, three or more arm portions may be provided, or, when the earthing contact is contacted with the inner surface of the photosensitive drum 9 without fail, a single arm portion 18a3 (not bifurcated) having no projection may be used, as shown in FIGS. 15 and 16.

Now, if the contacting pressure between the earthing contact 18a and the inner surface of the photosensitive drum 9 is too weak, the semi-circular projections 18a4 cannot follow the unevenness of the inner surface of the photosensitive drum, thus causing the poor contact between the earthing contact and the photosensitive drum and generating the noise due to the vibration of the arm portions 18a3. In order to prevent such poor contact and noise, the contacting pressure must be increased. However, if the contacting pressure is too strong, when the image forming system is used for a long time, the inner surface of the photosensitive drum will be damaged by the high pressure of the semi-circular projections 18a4. Consequently, when the semi-circular projections 18a4 pass through such damaged portion, the vibration occurs, thus causing the poor contact and the vibration noise. In consideration of the above affairs, it is preferable that the contacting pressure between the earthing contact 18a and the inner surface of the photosensitive drum is set in a range between about 10 grams and about 200 grams. That is to say, according to the test result effected by the inventors, when the contacting pressure was smaller than about 10 grams, it was feared that the poor contact was likely to occur in response to the rotation of the photosensitive drum, thus causing the radio wave jamming regarding other electronic equipments. On the other hand, when the contacting pressure was greater than about 200 grams, it was feared that the inner surface of the photosensitive drum 9 would be damaged due to the sliding contact between the drum inner surface and the earthing contact 18a for a long time, thus causing the abnormal noise and/or poor contact.

Incidentally, although the generation of the above noise and the like sometimes cannot be eliminated completely because of the inner surface condition of the photosensitive drum, it is possible to reduce the vibration of the photosensitive drum 9 by arranging the filler 9d within the drum 9, and it is also possible to prevent the damage of the drum and the poor contact more effectively by disposing the conductive grease on the contacting area between the earthing contact 18a and the inner surface of the photosensitive drum 9. Further, since the earthing contact 18a is positioned on the bearing member 26 such that it is situated remote from the filler 9d offset toward the flange gear 9c, the earthing contact can easily be attached to the bearing member.

(Charger Means)

The charger means serves to charge the surface of the photosensitive drum 9. In the illustrated embodiment, the charger means is of a so-called contact charging type as disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-open Appln. No. 63-149669. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the charger roller 10 is rotatably mounted on the inner surface of the upper frame 14 via a slide bearing 10c. The charger roller 10 comprises a metallic roller shaft 10b (for example, a conductive metal core made of iron, SUS or the like), an elastic rubber layer made of EPDM, NBR or the like and arranged around the roller shaft, and a urethane rubber layer having carbon dispersed therein and arranged around the elastic rubber layer, or the charger roller 10 comprises a metallic roller shaft and a foam urethane rubber layer having carbon dispersed therein. The roller shaft 10b of the charger roller 10 is held by bearing slide guide pawls 10d of the upper frame 14 via the slide bearing 10c so that it cannot become detached from the upper frame and it can slightly be moved toward the photosensitive drum 9. The roller shaft 10b is biased by a spring 10a so that the charger roller 10 is urged against the surface of the photosensitive drum 9. Thus, the charger means is constituted by the charger roller 10 incorporated into the upper frame 14 via the bearing 10c. In the image forming operation, when the charger roller 10 is driven by the rotation of the photosensitive drum 9, the surface of the photosensitive drum 9 is uniformly charged by applying the overlapped DC and AC voltage to the charger roller 10 as mentioned above.

Now, the voltage applied to the charger roller 10 will be described. Although the voltage applied to the charger roller 10 may be the DC voltage alone, in order to achieve the uniform charging, the vibration voltage obtained by overlapping the DC voltage and the AC voltage as mentioned above should be applied to the charger roller. Preferably, the vibration voltage obtained by overlapping the DC voltage having the peak-to-peak voltage value greater, by twice or more, than the charging start voltage when the DC voltage alone is used, and the AC voltage is applied to the charger roller 10 to improve the uniform charging (refer to the Japanese Patent Laid-open Appln. No. 63-149669). The "vibration voltage" described herein means a voltage such that the voltage value is periodically changed as a function of time and that preferably has the peak-to-peak voltage greater, by twice or more, than the charging start voltage when the surface of the photosensitive drum is charged only by the DC voltage. Further, the wave form of the vibration voltage is not limited to a sinusoidal wave, but may be a rectangular wave, triangular wave or pulse wave. However, the sinusoidal wave not including the higher harmonic component is preferable in view of the reduction of the charging noise. The DC voltage may include a voltage having a rectangular wave obtained by periodically turning ON/OFF a DC voltage source, for example.

As shown in FIG. 17, the application of the voltage to the charger roller 10 is accomplished by urging one end 18c1 of a charging bias contact 18c against a charging bias contact pin of the image forming system as will be described later, and the other end 18c2 of the charging bias contact 18c is urged against the metallic roller shaft 10b, thereby applying the voltage to the charger roller 10. Incidentally, since the charger roller 10 is biased by the elastic contact 18c toward the right as viewed in FIG. 17, the charger roller bearing 10c disposed remote from the contact 18c has a hooked stopper portion 10c1. Further, a stopper portion 10e depending from the upper frame 14 is arranged near the contact 18c in order to prevent the excessive axial movement of the charger roller 10 when the process cartridge B is dropped or vibrated.

In the illustrated embodiment, with the arrangement as mentioned above, the voltage of 1.6-2.4 KVVpp, -600 VV.sub.DC (sinusoidal wave) is applied to the charger roller 10.

When the charger roller 10 is incorporated into the upper frame 14, first of all, the bearing 10c is supported by the guide pawls 10d of the upper frame 14 and then the roller shaft 10b of the charger roller 10 is fitted into the bearing 10c. And, when the upper frame 14 is assembled with the lower frame 15, the charger roller 10 is urged against the photosensitive drum 9, as shown in FIG. 4.

Incidentally, the bearing 10c for the charger roller 10 is made of conductive bearing material including a great amount of carbon filler, and the voltage is applied to the charger roller 10 from the charging bias contact 18c via the metallic spring 10a so that the stable charging bias can be supplied.

(Exposure Means)

The exposure means 11 serves to expose the surface of the photosensitive drum 9 which has been uniformly charged by the charger roller 10 with a light image from the reading means 1. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the upper frame 14 is provided with an opening 11a through which the light from the lens array 1c2 of the image forming system is illuminated onto the photosensitive drum 9. Incidentally, when the process cartridge B is removed from the image forming system A, if the photosensitive drum 9 is exposed by the ambient light through the opening 11a, it is feared that the photosensitive drum may be deteriorated. To avoid this, a shutter member 11b is attached to the opening 11a so that when the process cartridge B is removed from the image forming system A the opening 11a is closed by the shutter member 11b and when the process cartridge is mounted within the image forming system the shutter member opens the opening 11a.

As shown in FIGS. 18A and 18B, the shutter member 11b has an L-shaped cross-section having a convex portion directed toward the outside of the cartridge, and is pivotally mounted on the upper frame 14 via pins 11b1. A torsion coil spring 11c is mounted around one of the pins 11b1 so that the shutter member 11b is biased by the coil spring 11c to close the opening 11a in a condition that the process cartridge B is dismounted from the image forming system A.

As shown in FIG. 18A, abutment portions 11b2 are formed on the outer surface of the shutter member 11b so that, when the process cartridge B is mounted within the image forming system A and an upper opening/closing cover 19 (FIG. 1), which is openable with respect to the body 16 of the image forming system, is closed, a projection 19a formed on the cover 19 is abutted against the abutment portions 11b2, thereby rotating the shutter member 11b in a direction shown by the arrow e (FIG. 18B) to open the opening 11a.

In the opening and closing operation of the shutter member 11b, since the shutter member 11b has the L-shaped cross-section and the abutment portions 11b2 are disposed outwardly of the contour of the cartridge B and near the pivot pins 11b1, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 18B, the shutter member 11b is abutted against the projection 19a of the cover 19 outwardly of the contour of the process cartridge B. As a result, even when the opening and closing angle of the shutter member 11b is small, a leading end of the rotating shutter member 11b is surely opened, thereby surely illuminating the light from the lens array 1c2 disposed above the shutter member onto the photosensitive drum to form the good electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 9. By constituting the shutter member 11b as mentioned above, when the process cartridge B is inserted into the image forming system, it is not necessary to retard the cartridge B from the shutter opening projection 19a of the cover 19 of the image forming system, with the result that it is possible to shorten the stroke of the projection, thereby making the process cartridge B and the image forming system A small-sized.

(Developing Means)

Next, the developing means 12 will be explained. The developing means 12 serves to visualize the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 9 by the exposure means with toner as a toner image. Incidentally, in this image forming system A, although magnetic toner or non-magnetic toner can be used, in the illustrated embodiment, the developing means in the process cartridge B includes the magnetic toner as one-component magnetic developer.

Binder resin of the one-component magnetic toner used in the developing operation may be the following or a mixture of the following polymer of styrene or a substitute thereof such as polystyrene and polyvinyltoluene; styrene copolymer such as styrene-propylene copolymer, styrene-vinyltoluene copolymer, styrene-vinylnaphthalene copolymer, styrene-acrylic acid ethyl copolymer or styrene-acrylic acid butyl copolymer; polymetylmethacrylate, polybuthymethacrylate, polyvinylacetate, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinylbutyral, polycrylic acid resin, rosin, modified rosin, turpentine resin, phenolic resin, aliphatic hydrocarbon resin, alicyclic hydrocarbon resin, aromatic petroleium resin, paraffin wax, carnauba wax or the like.

As for the coloring material added to the magnetic toner it may be known carbon black, copper phthalocyanine, iron black or the like. The magnetic fine particles contained in the magnetic toner may be of the material magnetizable when placed in the magnetic field, such as ferromagnetic powder of metal such as iron, cobalt, and nickel, powder of metal alloy or powder of compound such as magnetite or ferrite.

As shown in FIG. 4, the developing means 12 for forming the toner image with the magnetic toner has a toner reservoir 12a for containing the toner, and a toner feed mechanism 12b disposed within the toner reservoir 12a and adapted to feed out the toner. Further, the developing means is so designed that the developing sleeve 12d having a magnet 12c therein is rotated to form a thin toner layer on a surface of the developing sleeve. When the toner layer is being formed on the developing sleeve 12d, the developable frictional charging charges are applied to the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 9 by the friction between the toner and the developing sleeve 12d. Further, in order to regulate a thickness of the toner layer, a developing blade 12e is urged against the surface of the developing sleeve 12d. The developing sleeve 12d is disposed in a confronting relation to the surface of the photosensitive drum 9 with a gap of about 100-400 .mu.m therebetween.

As shown in FIG. 4, the magnetic toner feed mechanism 12b has feed members 12b1 made of polypropylene (PP), acrylobutadienestyrol (ABS), high-impact styrol (HIPS) or the like and is reciprocally shiftable in a direction shown by the arrows f along a bottom surface of the toner reservoir 12a. Each feed member 12b1 has a substantial triangular cross-section and is provided with a plurality of long rod members extending along the rotation axis of the photosensitive drum (direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 4) for scraping the whole bottom surface of the toner reservoir 12a. The rod members are interconnected at both of ends to form an integral structure. Further, there are three feed members 12b1, and the shifting range of the feed members are selected to be greater than a bottom width of the triangular cross-section so that all of the toner on the bottom surface of the toner reservoir can be scraped. In addition, an arm member 12b2 is provided at its free end with a projection 12b6, thereby preventing the feed members 12b1 from floating and being disordered.

The feed member 12b1 has a lock projection 12b4 at its one longitudinal end, which projection is rotatably fitted into a slot 12b5 formed in the arm member 12b2. The arm member 12b2 is rotatably mounted on the upper frame 14 via a shaft 12b3 and is connected to an arm (not shown) disposed outside the toner reservoir 12a. Further, a drive transmitting means is connected to the feed members 12b1 so that, when the process cartridge B is mounted within the image forming system A, the driving force from the image forming system is transmitted to the feed members to swing the arm member 12b2 around the shaft 12b3 by a predetermined angle. Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 7 and the like, the feed members 12b1 and the arm member 12b2 may be integrally formed from resin such as polypropylene, polyamide or the like so that they can be folded at a connecting portion therebetween.

Accordingly, in the image forming operation, when the arm member 12b2 is rocked by the predetermined angle, the feed members 12b1 are reciprocally shifted along the bottom surface of the toner reservoir 12a in directions f between a condition shown by the solid lines and a condition shown by the broken lines. Consequently, the toner situated near the bottom surface of the toner reservoir 12a is fed toward the developing sleeve 12d by the feed members 12b1. In this case, since each feed member 12b1 has a triangular cross-section, the toner is scraped by the feed members and is gently fed along inclined surfaces of the feed members 12b1. Thus, it is difficult to agitate the toner near the developing sleeve 12d, and, therefore, the toner layer formed on the surface of the developing sleeve 12d does not deteriorate easily.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, a lid member 12f of the toner reservoir 12a is provided with a depending member 12f1. A distance between a lower end of the depending member 12f1 and the bottom surface of the toner reservoir is selected so as to be slightly greater than a height of the triangular cross-section of each toner feed member 12b1. Accordingly, the toner feed member 12b1 is reciprocally shifted between the bottom surface of the toner reservoir and the depending member 12f1, with the result that, if the feed member 12b1 tries to float from the bottom surface of the toner reservoir, such floating is limited or regulated, thus preventing the floating of the feed members 12b1.

Incidentally, the image forming system A according to the illustrated embodiment can also receive a process cartridge including the non-magnetic toner. In this case, the toner feed mechanism is driven to agitate the non-magentic toner near the developing sleeve 12d.

That is to say, when the non-magnetic toner is used, as shown in FIG. 19, an elastic roller 12g rotated in a direction the same as that of the developing sleeve 12d feeds the non-magnetic toner fed from the toner reservoir 12a by the toner feed mechanism 12h toward the developing sleeve 12d. In this case, at a nip between the developing sleeve 12d and the elastic roller 12g, the toner on the elastic roller 12g is frictionally charged by the sliding contact between the toner and the developing sleeve 12d to be adhered onto the developing sleeve 12d electrostatically. Thereafter, during the rotation of the developing sleeve 12d, the non-magnetic toner adhered to the developing sleeve 12d enters into an abutment area between the developing blade 12e and the developing sleeve 12d to form the thin toner layer on the developing sleeve, and the toner is frictionally charged by the sliding contact between the toner and the developing sleeve with the polarity sufficiently to develop the electrostatic latent image. However, when the toner remains on the developing sleeve 12d, the remaining toner is mixed with the new toner fed to the developing sleeve 12d and is fed to the abutment area between the developing sleeve and the developing blade 12e. The remaining toner and the new toner are frictionally charged by the sliding contact between the toner and the developing sleeve 12d. In this case, however, although the new toner is charged with the proper charge, since the remaining toner is further charged from the condition that it has already been properly charged, it becomes over-charged. The over-charged or excessively charged toner has an adhesion force (to the developing sleeve 12d) stronger than that of the properly charged toner, thus becoming harder to use in the developing operation.

To avoid this, in the illustrated embodiment, regarding the process cartridge containing the non-magnetic toner, as shown in FIG. 19, the non-magnetic toner feed mechanism 12h comprises a rotary member 12h1 disposed in the toner reservoir 12a, which rotary member 12h1 has an elastic agitating vane 12h2. When the non-magnetic toner cartridge is mounted within the image forming system A, the drive transmitting means is connected to the rotary member 12h1 so that the latter is rotated by the image forming system in the image forming operation. In this way, when the image is formed by using the cartridge containing the non-magnetic toner and mounted within the image forming system, the toner in the toner reservoir 12a is greatly agitated by the agitating vane 12h2. As a result, the toner near the developing sleeve 12d is also agitated to be mixed with the toner in the toner reservoir 12a, thereby dispersing the charges removed from the developing sleeve 12d in the toner within the toner reservoir to prevent the deterioration of the toner.

By the way, the developing sleeve 12d on which the toner layer is formed is arranged in a confronting relation to the photosensitive drum 9 with a small gap therebetween (about 300 .mu.m regarding the process cartridge containing the magnetic toner, or about 200 .mu.m regarding the process cartridge containing the non-magnetic toner). Accordingly, in the illustrated embodiment, abutment rings each having an outer diameter greater than that of the developing sleeve by an amount corresponding to the small gap are arranged in the vicinity of both axial ends of the developing sleeve 12d and outside the toner layer forming area so that these rings are abutted against the photosensitive drum 9 at zones outside the latent image forming area.

Now, the positional relation between the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d will be explained. FIG. 20 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a positional relation between the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d and a structure for pressurizing the developing sleeve, FIG. 21A is a sectional view taken along the line A--A of FIG. 20, and FIG. 21B is a sectional view taken along the line B--B of FIG. 20.

As shown in FIG. 20, the developing sleeve 12d on which the toner layer is formed is arranged in a confronting relation to the photosensitive drum 9 with the small gap therebetween (about 200-300 .mu.m) In this case, the photosensitive drum 9 is rotatably mounted on the lower frame 15 by rotatably supporting a rotary shaft 9f of the flange gear 9c at the one end of the drum via a supporting member 33. The other end of the photosensitive drum 9 is also rotatably mounted on the lower frame 15 via a bearing portion 26a of the bearing member 26 secured to the lower frame. The developing sleeve 12d has the above-mentioned abutment rings 12d1 each having the outer diameter greater than that of the developing sleeve by the amount corresponding to the small gap and arranged in the vicinity of both axial ends of the developing sleeve and outside the toner layer forming area so that these rings are abutted against the photosensitive drum 9 at the zones outside the latent image forming area.

Further, the developing sleeve 12d is rotatably supported by sleeve bearings 12i disposed between the abutment rings 12d1 in the vicinity of both axial ends of the developing sleeve and outside the toner layer forming area. The sleeve bearings 12i are mounted on the lower frame 15 in such a manner that they can be slightly shifted in directions shown by the arrow g in FIG. 20. Each sleeve bearing 12i has a rearwardly extending projection around which an urging spring 12j having one end abutted against the lower frame 15 is mounted. Consequently, the developing sleeve 12d is always biased toward the photosensitive drum 9 by these urging springs. With this arrangement, the abutment rings 12da are always abutted against the photosensitive drum 9, with the result that the predetermined gap between the developing sleeve 12d and the photosensitive drum 9 is always maintained, thereby transmitting the driving force to the flange gear 9c of the photosensitive drum 9 and a sleeve gear 12k of the developing sleeve 12d meshed with the flange gear 9c.

The sleeve gear 12k also constitutes a flange portion of the developing sleeve 12d. That is to say, according to the illustrated embodiment, the sleeve gear 12k and the flange portion are integrally formed from resin material (for example, polyacetylene resin). Further, a metallic pin 12d2 having a small diameter (for example, made of stainless steel) and having one end rotatably supported by the lower frame 15 is press-fitted into and secured to the sleeve gear 12k (flange portion) at its center. This metallic pin 12d2 acts as a rotary shaft at one end of the developing sleeve 12d. According to the illustrated embodiment, since the sleeve gear and the flange portion can be integrally formed from resin, it is possible to facilitate the manufacturing of the developing sleeve and to make the developing sleeve 12d and the process cartridge B light-weight.

Now, the sliding directions of the sleeve bearings 12i will be explained with reference to FIG. 22. First of all, the driving of the developing sleeve 12d will be described. When the driving force is transmitted from the drive source (drive motor 54) of the image forming system to the flange gear 9c and then is transmitted from the flange gear 9c to the sleeve gear 12k, the meshing force between the gears is directed to a direction inclined or offset from a tangential line contacting a meshing pitch circle of the flange gear 9c and a meshing pitch circle of the sleeve gear 12k by a pressure angle (20.degree. in the illustrated embodiment). Thus, the meshing force is directed to a direction shown by the arrow P in FIG. 22 (.theta..perspectiveto.20.degree.). In this case, if the sleeve bearings 12i are slid in a direction parallel to a line connecting the center of rotation of the photosensitive drum 9 and the center of rotation of the developing sleeve 12d, when the meshing force P is divided into a force component Ps of a horizontal direction parallel with the sliding direction and a force component Ph of a vertical direction perpendicular to the sliding direction, as shown in FIG. 22, the force component of the horizontal direction parallel with the sliding direction is directed away from the photosensitive drum 9. As a result, regarding the driving of the developing sleeve 12d, the distance between the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d is easily varied in accordance with the meshing force between the flange gear 9c and the sleeve gear 12k, with the result that the toner on the developing sleeve 12d cannot be moved to the photosensitive drum 9 properly, thus worsening the developing ability.

To avoid this, in the illustrated embodiment, as shown in FIG. 21A, in consideration of the transmission of the driving force from the flange gear 9c to the sleeve gear 12k, the sliding direction of the sleeve bearing 12i at the driving side (side where the sleeve gear 12k is disposed) is coincided with the direction shown by the arrow Q. That is to say, an angle .phi. formed between the direction of the meshing force P (between the flange gear 9c and the sleeve gear 12k) and the sliding direction is set to have a value of about 90.degree. (92.degree. in the illustrated embodiment). With this arrangement, the force component Ps of the horizontal direction parallel with the sliding direction is negligible, and, in the illustrated embodiment, the force component Ps acts to slightly bias the developing sleeve 12d toward the photosensitive drum 9. In such a case, the developing sleeve 12d is pressurized by an amount corresponding to spring pressure a of the urging springs 12j to maintain a constant distance between the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d, thereby ensuring the proper development.

Next, the sliding direction of the slide bearing 12i at the non-driving side (side where the sleeve gear 12k is not arranged) will be explained. At the non-driving side, unlike the above-mentioned driving side, since the slide bearing 12i does not receive a driving force, as shown in FIG. 21B, the sliding direction of the slide bearing 12i is selected to be substantially parallel with a line connecting a center of the photosensitive drum 9 and a center of the developing sleeve 12d.

In this way, when the developing sleeve 12d is pressurized toward the photosensitive drum 9, by changing the urging angle for urging the developing sleeve 12d at the driving side from that at the non-driving side, the positional relation between the developing sleeve 12d and the photosensitive drum 9 is always maintained properly, thus permitting the proper development.

Incidentally, the sliding direction of the slide bearing 12i at the driving side may be set to be substantially parallel with the line connecting the center of the photosensitive drum 9 and the center of the developing sleeve 12d as in the case of the non-driving side. That is to say, as described in the above-mentioned embodiment, at the driving side, since the developing sleeve 12d is urged away from the photosensitive drum 9 by the force component Ps (of the meshing force between the flange gear 9c and the sleeve gear 12k) directing toward the sliding direction of the slide bearing 12i, in this embodiment, the urging force of the urging spring 12j at the driving side may be set to have a value greater than that at the non-driving side by an amount corresponding to the force component Ps. That is, when the urging force of the urging spring 12j to the developing sleeve 12d at the non-driving side is P, the urging force P2 of the urging spring 12j at the driving side is set to have a relation P2=P1+Ps, with the result that the developing sleeve 12d is always subjected to the proper urging force, thus ensuring the constant distance between the developing sleeve and the photosensitive drum 9.

(Cleaning Means)

The cleaning means 13 serves to remove the residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 9 after the toner image on the photosensitive drum 9 has been transferred to the recording medium 4 by the transfer means 6. As shown in FIG. 4, the cleaning means 13 comprises an elastic cleaning blade 13a contacting with the surface of the photosensitive drum 9 and adapted to remove or scrape off the residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 9, a squeegee sheet or strip 13b slightly contacting with the surface of the photosensitive drum 9 and disposed below the cleaning blade 13a to receive the removed toner, and a waste toner reservoir 13c for collecting the waste toner received by the sheet 13b. Incidentally, the squeegee sheet 13b is slightly contacted with the surface of the photosensitive drum 9 and the serves to permit the passing of the residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum, but to direct the toner removed from the photosensitive drum 9 by the cleaning blade 13a to a direction away from the surface of the photosensitive drum 9.

Now, a method for attaching the squeegee sheet 13b will be described. The squeegee sheet 13b is adhered to an attachment surface 13d of the waste toner reservoir 13c via both-side adhesive tape 13e. In this case, the waste toner reservoir 13c is made of resin material (for example, high-impact styrol (HIPS) or the like) and has a slightly uneven surface. Thus, as shown in FIG. 23, if the both-sided adhesive tape 13e is merely stuck to the attachment surface 13d and the squeegee sheet 13b is merely attached to the adhesive tape 13e, it is feared that a free edge of the squeegee sheet 13b (to be contacted with the photosensitive drum 9) becomes tortuous as shown by x. If such a tortuous edge x of the squeegee sheet 13b is generated, the squeegee sheet 13b does not closely contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum 9, so that it cannot surely receive the toner removed by the cleaning blade 13a.

In order to avoid this, it is considered that, when the squeegee sheet 13b is attached to the attachment surface, as shown in FIG. 24A, the attachment surface 13d at a lower portion of the waste toner reservoir is pulled downwardly by a pulling tool 20 to elastically deform the attachment surface to form a curvature and then the squeegee sheet 13b is stuck to the curved attachment surface, and, thereafter the curvature of the attachment surface is released to apply the tension to the free edge of-the squeegee sheet 13b, thereby preventing the free edge from becoming tortuous. However, in the recent small-sized process cartridges B, since the dimension of the attachment surface 13d is small, if the squeegee sheet 13b is stuck to the curved attachment surface 13d, as shown in FIG. 24A, both lower ends or corners 13b1 of the squeegee sheet 13b will be protruded from the attachment surface 13d downwardly. And, when the squeegee sheet 13b is protruded downwardly from the attachment surface 13d, as apparent from the sectional view of FIG. 1, it is feared that the recording medium 4 is interfered with by the protruded squeegee sheet 13b.

Further, if the squeegee sheet 13b is attached to the curved attachment surface 13d, as shown in FIG. 24A, the both-sided adhesive tape 13e will be protruded from the lower end of the squeegee sheet 13b. Thus, in this condition, when the squeegee sheet 13b is urged against the both-sided adhesive tape 13e by a sticking tool 21, as shown in FIG. 24B, the protruded portion of the both-sided adhesive tape 13e is stuck to the sticking tool 21, with the result that, when the sticking tool 21 is removed, as shown in FIG. 24C, the both-sided adhesive tape 13e is peeled from the attachment surface 13d, thus causing the poor attachment of the squeegee sheet 13b.

To avoid this, in the illustrated embodiment, as shown in FIG. 25A, the configuration of the lower end of the squeegee sheet or strip 13b becomes substantially the same as the curvature configuration of the attachment surface 13d which has been curved by the pulling tool 20. That is to say, a width of the squeegee sheet 13b is varied from both longitudinal ends to a central portion so that the width of the central portion becomes greater than the width of both longitudinal ends (for example, the width at the central portion WC1 is about 7.9 mm, and the width at both ends WE1 is about 7.4 mm). In this way, when the squeegee sheet 13b is attached to the attachment surface, the curved both-sided adhesive tape 13e does not protrude from the squeegee sheet 13b. Further, when the pulling tool 20 is removed to release the curvature of the attachment surface 13d thereby to apply the tension to the upper edge of the squeegee sheet 13b as shown in FIG. 25B, the lower end of the squeegee sheet does not protrude from the attachment surface 13d downwardly. Therefore, the above-mentioned interference between the recording medium 4 and the squeegee sheet 13b and the poor attachment of the squeegee sheet 13b can be prevented.

Incidentally, in view of the workability and the service life of a working tool, it is desirable that the lower edge of the squeegee sheet 13b is straight. Thus, as shown in FIG. 26, the width of the squeegee sheet 13b may be varied straightly so that the width at the central portion WC1 becomes greater than those at both longitudinal ends WE1 in correspondence to the amount of the curvature of the attachment surface 13d. In the above-mentioned embodiment, while the attachment surface 13d was curved by pulling it by-the pulling tool 20, it is to be understood that, as shown in FIG. 27, the attachment surface 13d may be curved by pushing toner reservoir partition plates 13c1 integrally formed with the attachment surface 13d by pushing tools 20a.

Further, in the illustrated embodiment, while the squeegee sheet attachment surface 13d was formed on the lower portion of the waste toner reservoir 13c, the squeegee sheet 13b may be stuck to a metallic plate attachment surface independently formed from the waste toner reservoir 13c and then a metallic plate may be incorporated into the waste toner reservoir 13c.

Incidentally, in the illustrated embodiment, the squeegee sheet 13b is made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and has a thickness of about 38 .mu.m, a length of about 241.3 mm, a-central width of about 7.9 mm, end widths of about 7.4 mm and an appropriate radius of curvature of about 14556.7 mm.

(Upper and Lower Frames)

Next, the upper and lower frames 14, 15 constituting the housing of the process cartridge B will be explained. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the photosensitive drum 9, the developing sleeve 12d and developing blade 12e of the developing means 12, the cleaning means 13 are provided in the lower frame 15. On the-other hand, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 9, the charger roller 10, the toner reservoir 12a of the developing means 12 and the toner feed mechanism 12b are provided in the upper frame 14.

In order to assemble the upper and lower frames 14, 15 together, four pairs of locking pawls 14a are integrally formed with the upper frame 14 and are spaced apart from each other equidistantly in a longitudinal direction of the upper frame.

Similarly, locking openings 15a and locking projections 15b for engaging by the locking pawls 14a are integrally formed on the lower frame 15. Accordingly, when the upper and lower frames 14, 15 are forcibly urged against each other to engage the locking pawls 14a by the corresponding locking openings 15a and locking projections 15b, the upper and lower frames 14, 15 are interconnected. Incidentally, in order to ensure the interconnection between the upper and lower frames, as shown in FIG. 8, a locking pawl 15c and a locking opening 15d are formed near both longitudinal ends of the lower frame 15, respectively, whereas, as shown in FIG. 9, a locking opening 14b (to be engaged by the locking pawl 15c) and a locking pawl 14c (to be engaged by the locking opening 15d) are formed near both longitudinal ends of the upper frame 14, respectively.

When the parts constituting the process cartridge B are separately contained within the upper and lower frames 14, 15 as mentioned above, by arranging the parts which should be positioned with respect to the photosensitive drum 9 (for example, developing sleeve 12d, developing blade 12e and cleaning blade 13a) within the same frame (lower frame 15 in the illustrated embodiment), it is possible to ensure the excellent positioning accuracy of each part and to facilitate the assembling of the process cartridge B. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, fitting recesses 15n are formed in the lower frame 15 in the vicinity of one lateral edge thereof. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 9, fitting projections 14h (to be fitted into the corresponding fitting recesses 15n) are formed on the upper frame 14 in the vicinity of one lateral edge thereof at intermediate locations between the adjacent locking pawls 14a.

Further, in the illustrated embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, fitting projections 15e are formed on the lower frame 15 near two corners thereof, whereas fitting recesses 15f are formed in the lower frame near the other two corners. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 9, fitting recesses 14d (to be engaged by the corresponding fitting projections 15e) are formed in the upper frame 14 near two corners thereof, whereas fitting projections 14e (to be fitted into the corresponding fitting recesses 15f) are formed in the lower frame near the other two corners. Accordingly, when the upper and lower frames 14, 15 are interconnected, by fitting the fitting projections 14h, 14e, 15e (of the upper and lower frames 14, 15) into the corresponding fitting recesses 15n, 15f, 14d, the upper and lower frames 14, 15 are firmly interconnected to each other so that, even if a torsion force is applied to the interconnected upper and lower frames 14, 15, they are not disassembled.

Incidentally, the positions of the above-mentioned fitting projections and fitting recesses may be changed so long as the interconnected upper and lower frames 14, 15 are not disassembled by any torsion force applied thereto.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, a protection cover 22 is rotatably mounted on the upper frame 14 via pivot pins 22a. The protection cover 22 is biased toward a direction shown by the arrow h in FIG. 9 by torsion coil springs (not shown) arranged around the pivot pins 22a, so that the projection cover 22 closes or covers the photosensitive drum 9 in the condition that the process cartridge B is removed from the image forming system A as shown in FIG. 4.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the photosensitive drum 9 is so designed that it is exposed from an opening 15g formed in the lower frame 15 to be opposed to the transfer roller 6 in order to permit the transferring of the toner image from the photosensitive drum onto the recording medium 4. However, in the condition that the process cartridge B is removed from the image forming system A, if the photosensitive drum 9 is exposed to the atmosphere, it will be deteriorated by the ambient light and the dirt and the like will be adhered to the photosensitive drum 9. To avoid this, when the process cartridge B s dismounted from the image forming system A, the opening 15g is closed by the protection cover 22, thereby protecting the photosensitive drum 9 from the ambient light and dirt. Incidentally, when the process cartridge B is mounted within the image forming system A, the protection cover 22 is rotated by a rocking mechanism (not shown) to expose the photosensitive drum 9 from the opening 15g.

Further, as apparent from FIG. 1, in the illustrated embodiment, the lower surface of the lower frame 15 also acts as a guide for conveying the recording medium 4. The lower surface of the lower frame is formed as both side guide portions 15h1 and a stepped central guide portion 15h2 (FIG. 6). The longitudinal length (i.e., distance between the steps) of the central guide portion 15h2 is about 102-120 mm (107 mm in the illustrated embodiment) which is slightly greater than a width (about 100 mm), and the depth of the step is selected to have a value of about 0.8-2 mm. With this arrangement, the central guide portion 15h2 increases the conveying space for the recording medium 4, with the result that, even when a thicker and resilient sheet such as a post card, visiting card or envelope is used as the recording medium 4, such a thicker sheet does not interfere with the guide surface of the lower frame 15, thereby preventing the recording medium from jamming. On the other hand, when a thin sheet having a greater width than that of the post card such as a plain sheet is used as the recording medium, since such a sheet (recording medium) is guided by both of the side guide portions 15h1, it is possible to convey the sheet without floating.

Now, the lower surface of the lower frame 15 acting as the convey guide for the recording medium will be described more concretely. As shown in FIG. 28, the both side guide portions 15h1 can be flexed by an amount La (=5-7 mm) with respect to a tangential direction X regarding a nip N between the photosensitive drum 9 and the transfer roller 6. Since the both side guide portions 15h1 are formed on the lower surface of the lower frame 15 designed to provide the required space between the lower frame and the developing sleeve 12d and the required space for sufficiently supplying the toner to the developing sleeve, such guide portions are determined by the position of the developing sleeve 12d selected to obtain the optimum developing condition. If the lower surfaces of the side guide portions approach the tangential line X, the thickness of the lower portion of the lower frame 15 is decreased, thus causing a problem regarding the strength of the process cartridge B.

Further, the position of a lower end 13f of the cleaning means 13 is determined by the positions of the cleaning blade 13a, the squeegee sheet 13b and the like, forming the cleaning means 13 as described later, and is so selected to provide a distance Lb (=3-5 mm) preventing the interference with the recording medium 4 being fed. Incidentally, in the illustrated embodiment, as angle .beta. between a vertical line passing through the rotational center of the photosensitive drum 9 shown in FIG. 28 and a line connecting the rotational center of the photosensitive drum and the rotational center of the transfer roller 6 is selected to have a value of 5-20 degrees.

In consideration of the above affairs, by providing the recess or step having a depth Lc (=1-2 mm) only in the central guide portion 15h2 to approach this guide portion to the tangential line X, it is possible to feed the thicker and resilient recording medium 4 smoothly without reducing the strength of the lower frame 15. Incidentally, in most cases, since the thicker and resilient recording medium 4 is the visiting card, envelope or the like which is narrower than the post card under the general specification of the image forming system, so long as the width of the stepped or recessed central guide portion 15h2 is selected to be slightly greater than that of the post card, there is no problem in practical use.

Further, regulating projections 15i protruding downwardly are formed on the outer surface of the lower frame 15 in areas outside of the recording medium guiding zone. The regulating projections 15i each protrudes from the guide surface of the lower frame for the recording medium 4 by about 1 mm. With this arrangement, even if the process cartridge B is slightly lowered for some reason during the image forming operation, since the regulating projections 15i are abutted against a lower guide member 23 (FIG. 1) of the body 16 of the image forming system, the further lowering of the process cartridge can be prevented. Accordingly, a space of at least 1 mm is maintained between the lower guide member 23 and the lower guide surface of the lower frame 15 to provide a convey path for the recording medium 4, thereby conveying the recording medium-without jamming. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a recess 15j is formed in the lower surface of the lower frame 15 so as not to interfere with the regist roller 5c2. Thus, when the process cartridge B is mounted within the image forming system A, since it can be mounted near the regist roller 5c2, the whole image forming system can be small-sized.

(Assembling of Process Cartridge)

Next, the assembling of the process cartridge having the above-mentioned construction will be explained. In FIG. 29, toner leak preventing seals S having a regular shape and made of Moltopren (flexible polyurethane, manufactured by INOAC Incorp.) rubber for preventing the leakage of toner are stuck on ends of the developing means 12 and of the cleaning means 13 and on the lower frame 15. Incidentally, the toner leak preventing seals S each may not have the regular shape. Alternatively, toner leak preventing seals may be attached by forming recesses in portions (to be attached) of the seals and by pouring liquid material which becomes elastomer when solidified into the recesses.

A blade support member 12e1 to which the developing sleeve 12e is attached and a blade support member 13a1 to which the cleaning blade 13a is attached are attached to the lower frame 15 by pins 24a, 24b, respectively. According to the illustrated embodiment, as shown by the phantom lines in FIG. 29, the attachment surfaces of the blade support members 12e1, 13a1 may be substantially parallel to each other so that the pins 24a, 24b can be driven from the same direction. Thus, when a large number of process cartridges B are manufactured, the developing blades 12e and the cleaning blades 13a can be continuously attached by the pins by using an automatic device. Further, the assembling ability for the blades 12e, 13a can be improved by providing a space for a screw driver, and the shape of a mold can be simplified by aligning the housing removing direction from the mold, thereby achieving cost reductions.

Incidentally, the developing blade 12e and the cleaning blade 13a may not be attached by the pins (screws), but may be attached to the lower frame 15 by adhesives 24c, 24d as shown in FIG. 30. Also in this case, when the adhesives can be applied from the same direction, the attachment of the developing blade 12e and the cleaning blade 13a can be automatically and continuously performed by using an automatic device.

After the blades 12e, 13a have been attached as mentioned above, the developing sleeve 12d is attached to the lower frame 15. Then, the photosensitive drum 9 is attached to the lower frame 15. To this end, in the illustrated embodiment, guide members 25a, 25b are attached to surfaces (opposed to the photosensitive drum) of the blade support members 12e1, 13a1, respectively, at zones outside of the longitudinal image forming area C (FIG. 32) of the photosensitive drum 9. (Incidentally, in the illustrated embodiment, the guide members 25a, 25b are integrally formed with the lower frame 15). A distance between the guide members 25a and 25b is set to be greater than the outer diameter D of the photosensitive drum 9. Thus, after the various parts such as the developing blade 12e, cleaning blade 13a and the like have been attached to the lower frame 15, as shown in FIG. 31, the photosensitive drum 9 can be finally attached to the lower frame while guiding both longitudinal ends (outside of the image forming area) of the photosensitive drum by the guide members 25a, 25b. That is to say, the photosensitive drum 9 is attached to the lower frame 15 while slightly flexing the cleaning blade 13a and/or slightly retarding and rotating the developing sleeve 12d.

If the photosensitive drum 9 is firstly attached to the lower frame 15 and then the blades 12e, 13a and the like are attached to the lower frame, it is feared that the surface of the photosensitive drum 9 is damaged during the attachment of the blades 12e, 13a and the like. Further, during the assembling operation, it is difficult or impossible to check the attachment positions of the developing blade 12e and the cleaning blade 13a and to measure the contacting pressures between the blades and the photosensitive drum. In addition, although lubricant must be applied to the blades 12e, 13a to prevent the increase in torque and/or the blade turn-up due to the close contact between the initial blades 12e, 13a (at the non-toner condition) and the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d before the blades 12e, 13a are attached to the lower frame 15, such lubricant is likely to drop off the blades during the assembling of the blades. However, according to the illustrated embodiment, since the photosensitive drum 9 is finally attached to the lower frame, the above-mentioned drawbacks and problems can be eliminated.

As mentioned above, according to the illustrated embodiment, it is possible to check the attachment positions of the developing means 12 and the cleaning means 13 in the condition that these means 12, 13 are attached to the frames, and to prevent the image forming area of the photosensitive drum from being damaged or scratched during the assembling of the drum. Further, since it is possible to apply the lubricant to the blades in the condition that these means 12, 13 are attached to the frames, the dropping off of the lubricant can be prevented, thereby preventing the occurrence of the increase in torque and/or the blade turn-up due to the close contact between the developing blade 12e and the developing sleeve 12d, and the cleaning blade 13a and the photosensitive drum 9. Incidentally, in the illustrated embodiment, while the guide members 25a, 25b were integrally formed with the lower frame 15, as shown in FIG. 33, projections 12e2, 13a2 may be integrally formed on the blade support members 12e1, 13a1 or other guide members may be attached to the blade support members at both longitudinal end zones of the blade support members outside of the image forming area of the photosensitive drum 9, so that the photosensitive drum 9 is guided by these projections or other guide members during the assembling of the drum.

After the developing sleeve 12d, developing blade 12e, cleaning blade 13a and photosensitive drum 9 have been attached to the lower frame 15 as mentioned above, as shown in FIG. 34 (perspective view) and FIG. 35 (sectional view), the bearing member 26 is incorporated to rotatably support one of the ends of the photosensitive drum 9 and of the developing sleeve 12d. The bearing member 26 is made of anti-wear material such as polyacetal and comprises a drum bearing portion 26a to be fitted on the photosensitive 9, a sleeve bearing portion 26b to be fitted on the outer surface of the developing sleeve 12d, and a D-cut hole portion 26c to be fitted on an end of a D-cut magnet 12c. Alternatively, the sleeve bearing portion 26b may be fitted on the outer surface of the sleeve bearing 12i supporting the outer surface of the developing sleeve 12d or may be fitted between slide surfaces 15Q of the lower frame 15 which are fitted on the outer surface of the slide bearing 12i.

Accordingly, when the drum bearing portion 26a is fitted on the end of the photosensitive drum 9 and the end of the magnet 12c is inserted into the D-cut hole portion 26c and the developing sleeve 12d is inserted into the sleeve bearing portion 26b and the bearing member 26 is fitted into the side of the lower frame 15 while sliding it in the longitudinal direction of the drum, the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d are rotatably supported. Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 34, the earthing contact 18a is attached to the bearing member 26, and, when the bearing member 26 is fitted into the side of the lower frame, the earthing contact 18a is contacted with the aluminium drum core 9a of the photosensitive drum 9 (see FIG. 10). Further, the developing bias contact 18b is also attached to the bearing member 26, and, when the bearing member 26 is attached to the developing sleeve 12d, the bias contact 18b is contacted with a conductive member 18d contacting the inner surface of the developing sleeve 12d.

In this way, by rotatably supporting the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d by the single bearing member 26, it is possible to improve the positional accuracy of the elements 9, 12d, and to reduce the number of parts, thereby facilitating the assembling operation and achieving cost reductions. Further, since the positioning of the photosensitive drum 9 and the positioning of the developing sleeve 12d and the magnet 12c can be performed by using the single member, it is possible to determine the positional relation between the photosensitive drum 9 and the magnet 12c with high accuracy, with the result that it is possible to maintain a constant magnetic force regarding the surface of the photosensitive drum 9, thus obtaining the high quality image. In addition, since the earthing contact 18a for earthing the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing bias contact 18b for applying the developing bias to the developing sleeve 12d are attached to the bearing member 26, the compactness of the parts can be achieved effectively, thus making the process cartridge B small-sized effectively.

Further, by providing (on the bearing member 26) supported portions for positioning the process cartridge B within the image forming system when the process cartridge is mounted within the image forming system, the positioning of the process cartridge B regarding the image forming system can be effected accurately. Furthermore, as apparent from FIGS. 5 and 6, an outwardly protruding U-shaped projection, i.e, drum shaft portion 26d (FIG. 20) is also formed on the bearing member 26. When the process cartridge B is mounted within the body 16 of the image forming system, the drum shaft portion 26d is supported by a shaft support member 34 as will be described later, thereby positioning the process cartridge B. In this way, since the process cartridge B is positioned by the bearing member 26 for directly supporting the photosensitive drum 9 when the cartridge is mounted within the system body 16, the photosensitive drum 9 can be accurately positioned regardless of the manufacturing and/or assembling errors of other parts.

Further, as shown in FIG. 35, the other end of the magnet 12c is received in an inner cavity formed in the sleeve gear 12k, and an outer diameter of the magnet 12c is selected so as to be slightly smaller than an inner diameter of the cavity. Thus, at the sleeve gear 12k, the magnet 12c is held in the cavity without any play and is maintained in a lower position in the cavity by its own weight or is biased toward the blade support member 12e1 made of magnetic metal such as ZINKOTE (zinc plated steel plate, manufactured by shin Nippon Steel Incorp.) by a magnetic force of the magnet 12c. In this way, since the sleeve gear 12k and the magnet 12c are associated with each other without any play, the frictional torque between the magnet 12c and the rotating sleeve gear 12k can be reduced, thereby reducing the torque regarding the process cartridge.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 31, the charger roller 10 is rotatably mounted within the upper frame 14, and the shutter member 11b, the protection cover 22 and the toner feed mechanism 12b are also attached to the upper frame 15. The opening 12a1 for feeding out the toner from the toner reservoir 12a to the developing sleeve 12d is closed by a cover film 28 (FIG. 36) having a tear tape 27. Further, the lid member 12f is secured to the upper frame, and, thereafter, the toner is supplied to the toner reservoir 12a through the filling opening 12a3 and then the filling opening 12a3 is closed by the lid 12a2, thus sealing the toner reservoir 12a.

Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 36, the tear tape 27 of the cover film 28 stuck around the opening 12a1 extends from one longitudinal end (right end in FIG. 36) of the opening 12a1 to the other longitudinal end (left end in FIG. 36) and is bent at the other end and further extends along a gripper portion 14f formed on the upper frame 14 and protrudes outwardly therefrom.

Next, the process cartridge B is assembled by interconnecting the upper and lower frames 14, 15 via the above-mentioned locking pawls and locking openings or recesses. In this case, as shown in FIG. 37, the tear tape 27 is exposed between the gripper portion 14f of the upper frame 14 and a gripper portion 15k of the lower frame 15. Therefore, when a new process cartridge B is used, the operator pulls a protruded portion of the tear tape 27 exposed between the gripper portions 14f, 15k to peel the tear tape 27 from the cover film 28 so as to open the opening 12a1, thus permitting the movement of the toner in the toner reservoir 12a toward the developing sleeve 12d. Thereafter, the process cartridge is mounted within the image forming system A.

As mentioned above, by exposing the tear tape 27 between the gripper portions 14f, 15k of the upper and lower frames 14, 15, the tear tape 27 can easily be exposed from the process cartridge in assembling the upper and lower frames 14, 15. The gripper portions 14f, 15k are utilized when the process cartridge B is mounted within the image forming system. Thus, if the operator forgets to remove the tear tape 27 before the process cartridge is mounted within the image forming system, since he must grip the gripper portions in mounting the process cartridge, he will know the exsistence of the non-removed tear tape 27. Further, when the color of the tear tape 27 is clearly differentiated from the color of the frames 14, 15 (for example, if the frames are black, a white or yellow tear tape 27 is used), the noticeability is improved, thus reducing the likelihood of missing the removal of the tear tape.

Further, for example, when a U-shaped guide rib for temporarily holding the tear tape 27 is provided on the gripper portion 14f of the upper frame 14, it is possible to surely and easily expose the tear tape 27 at a predetermined position during the interconnection between the upper and lower frames 14, 15. Incidentally, when the process cartridge B is assembled by interconnecting the upper and lower frames 14, 15, since the recess 15j for receiving the regist roller 5c2 is formed in the outer surface of the lower frame 15, as shown in FIG. 38, the operator can surely grip the process cartridge B by inserting his fingers into the recess 15j. Further, in the illustrated embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, slip preventing ribs 14i are formed on the process cartridge B so that the operator can easily grip the process cartridge by hooking his fingers against the ribs. Incidentally, since the recess for receiving (preventing the contact with) the regist roller 5c2 is formed in the lower frame 15 of the process cartridge B, it is possible to make the image forming system more small-sized.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6 since the recess 15j is formed along and in the vicinity of the locking pawls 14a and the locking openings 15b through which the upper and lower frames 14, 15 are interconnected, when the operator grips the process cartridge B by hooking his fingers against the recess 15j, the gripping force from the operator acts toward the locking direction, thus surely interlocking the locking pawls 14a and the locking openings 15b.

Now, the assembling and shipping procedure for the process cartridge B will be explained with reference to FIG. 39A. As shown, the various parts are assembled in the lower frame 15, and then, the lower frame into which the various parts are incorporated is checked (for example, the positional relation between the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d is checked). Then, the lower frame 15 is interconnected to the upper frame 14 within which the parts such as the charger roller 10 are assembled, thereby forming the process cartridge B. Thereafter, the total check of the process cartridge B is effected, and then the process cartridge is shipped. Thus, assembling and shipping is very simple.

(Mounting of Cartridge)

Next, the construction for mounting the process cartridge B within the image forming system A will be explained.

As shown in FIG. 40, a loading member 29 having a fitting window 29a matched to the contour of the process cartridge B is provided on the upper opening/closing cover 19 of the image forming system A. The process cartridge B is inserted into the image forming system through the fitting window 29a by gripping the gripper portions 14f, 15k. In this case, a guide ridge 31 formed on the process cartridge B is guided by a guide groove (not numbered) formed in the cover 19 and the lower portion of the process cartridge is guided a guide plate 32 having a hook at its free end.

Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 40, a mis mount preventing projection 30 is formed on the process cartridge B and the fitting window 29a has a recess 29b for receiving the projection 30. As shown in FIGS. 40 and 41, the configuration or position of the projection 30 is differentiated depending upon a particular process cartridge containing the toner having the developing sensitivity suitable to a particular image forming system A (i.e. differentiated for each process cartridge), so that, even when a process cartridge containing the toner having the different developing sensitivity is tried to be mounted within the particular image forming system, since the projection 30 does not match with the fitting window 29a of that image forming system, it cannot be mounted within that image forming system. Accordingly, the mis mounting of the process cartridge B can be prevented, thus preventing the formation of an obscure image due to the different developing sensitive toner. Incidentally, it is also possible to prevent the mis mounting of a process cartridge including a different kind of photosensitive drum, as well as the different developing sensitivity. Further, since the recess 29b and the projection 30 are situated at this side when the process cartridge is mounted, if the operator tries to erroneously mount the process cartridge within the image forming system, he can easily ascertain with his eyes the fact that the projection 30 is blocked by the filling member 29. Thus, the possibility that the operator may forcibly push the process cartridge into the image forming system to damage the process cartridge B and/or the image forming system A as in the conventional case can be avoided.

After the process cartridge B is inserted into the fitting window 29a of the opening/closing cover 19, when the cover 19 is closed, the rotary shaft 9f of the photosensitive drum 9 which is protruded from one side of the upper and lower frames 14, 15 is supported by a shaft support member 33 (FIG. 40) via a bearing 46a, and the rotary shaft 12d2 of the developing sleeve 12d which is protruded from one side of the upper and lower frames 14, 15 is supported by the shaft support member 33 via a slide bearing 46b and a bearing 46c (FIG. 35). On the other hand, the drum shaft portion 26d (FIG. 35) of the bearing member 26 attached to the other end of the photosensitive drum 9 is supported by a shaft support member 34 shown in FIG. 42.

In this case, the protection cover 22 is rotated to expose the photosensitive drum 9, with the result that the photosensitive drum 9 is contacted with the transfer roller 6 of the image forming system A. Further, the drum earthing contact 18a contacting the photosensitive drum 9, the developing bias contact 18b contacting the developing sleeve 12d and the charging bias contact 18c contacting the charger roller 10 are provided on the process cartridge B so that these contacts protrude from the lower surface of the lower frame 15, and these contacts 18a, 18b, 18c are urgingly contacted with the drum earthing contact pin 35a, developing bias contact pin 35b and charging bias contact pin 35c (FIG. 42), respectively.

As shown in FIG. 42, these contact pins 35a, 35b, 35c are arranged so that the drum earthing contact pin 35a and the charging bias contact pin 35c are disposed at a downstream side of the transfer roller 6 in the recording medium feeding direction and the developing bias contact pin 35b is disposed at an upstream side of the transfer roller 6 in the recording medium feeding direction. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 43, the contacts 18a, 18b, 18c provided on the process cartridge B are similarly arranged so that the drum earthing contact 18a and the charging bias contact 18c are disposed at a downstream side of the photosensitive drum 9 in the recording medium feeding direction and the developing bias contact 18b is disposed at an upstream side of the photosensitive drum 9 in the recording medium feeding direction.

Now, the disposition of the electric contacts of the process cartridge B will be explained with reference to FIG. 51. Incidentally, FIG. 51 is a schematic plan view showing the positional relation between the photosensitive drum 9 and the electric contacts 18a, 18b, 18c.

As shown in FIG. 51, the contacts 18a, 18b, 18c are disposed at the end of the photosensitive drum 9 opposite to the end where the flange gear 9c is arranged in the longitudinal direction of the drum. The developing bias contact 18b is disposed at one side of the photosensitive drum 9 (i.e. side where the developing means 12 is arranged), and the drum earthing contact 18a and the charging bias contact 18c are disposed at the other side of the photosensitive drum (where the cleaning means 13 is arranged). The drum earthing contact 18a and the charging bias contact 18c are substantially arranged on a straight line. Further, the developing bias contact 18b is arranged slightly outwardly of the positions of the drum earthing contact 18a and the charging bias contact 18c in the longitudinal direction of the photosensitive drum 9. The drum earthing contact 18a, the developing bias contact 18b and the charging bias contact 18c are spaced apart from the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 9 gradually in order (i.e. a distance between the contact 18a and the drum is smallest, and a distance between the contact 18c and the drum is greatest). Further, an area of the developing bias contact 18b is greater than an area of the drum earthing contact 18a and an area of the charging bias contact 18c. Furthermore, the developing bias contact 18b, the drum earthing contact 18a and the charging bias contact 18c are disposed outwardly of a position where the arm portions 18a3 of the drum earthing contact 18a are contacted with the inner surface of the photosensitive drum 9, in the longitudinal direction of the photosensitive drum 9.

As mentioned above, by arranging the electric contacts between the process cartridge (which can be mounted within the image forming system) and the image forming system at the positioning and abutting side of the process cartridge, it is possible to improve the positional accuracy between the contacts of the process cartridge and the contact pins of the image forming system, thereby preventing the poor electrical connection, and, by arranging the contacts at the non-driving side of the process cartridge, it is possible to make the configurations of the contact pins of the image forming system simple and small-sized.

Further, since the contacts of the process cartridge are disposed inside of the contour of the frames of the process cartridge, it is possible to prevent foreign matters from adhering to the contacts, and, thus, to prevent the corrosion of the contacts; and, further to prevent the deformation of the contacts due to the external force. Further, since the developing bias contact 18b is arranged at the side of the developing means 12 and the drum earthing contact 18a and the charging bias contact 18c are arranged at the side of the cleaning means 13, the arrangement of electrodes in the process cartridge can be simplified, thus making the process cartridge small-sized.

Now, dimensions of various parts in the illustrated embodiment will be listed below. However, it should be noted that these dimensions are merely an example, and the present invention is not limited to this example:

Now, the flange gear 9c and the gear 9i will be explained. The gears 9c, 9i comprise helical gears. When the driving force is transmitted from the image forming system to the flange gear 9c, the photosensitive drum 9 mounted in the lower frame 15 with play is subjected to the thrust force to be shifted toward the flange gear 9c, thereby positioning the drum at the side of the lower frame 15.

The gear 9c is used with a process cartridge containing the magnetic toner for forming a black image. When the black image forming cartridge is mounted within the image forming system, the gear 9c is meshed with a gear of the image forming system to receive the driving force for rotating the photosensitive drum 9 and is meshed with a gear of the developing sleeve 12d to rotate the latter. The gear 9i is meshed with a gear connected to the transfer roller 6 of the image forming system to rotate the transfer roller. In this case, the rotational load does not act on the transfer roller 6.

Incidentally, the gear 9i is used with a color image forming cartridge containing the non-magnetic toner. When the color image forming cartridge is mounted within the image forming system, the gear 9c is meshed with the gear of the image forming system to receive the driving force for rotating the photosensitive drum 9. On the other hand, the gear 9i is meshed with the gear connected to the transfer roller 6 of the image forming system to rotate the transfer roller and is meshed with the gear of the developing sleeve 12d for the non-magnetic toner to rotate the latter. The flange gear 9c has a diameter greater than that of the gear 9i, a width greater than that of the gear 9i and a number of teeth greater than-that of the gear 9i. Thus, even when the greater load is applied to the gear 9c, the gear 9c can receive the driving force to rotate the photosensitive drum 9 more surely, and can transmit the greater driving force to the developing sleeve 12d for the magnetic toner to rotate the latter more surely.

Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 43, each of the contact pins 35a-35c is held in a corresponding holder cover 36 in such a manner that it can be shifted in the holder cover but cannot be detached from the holder cover. Each contact pin 35a-35c is electrically connected to a wiring pattern printed on an electric substrate 37 to which the holder covers 36 are attached, via a corresponding conductive compression spring 38. Incidentally, the charging bias contact 18c to be abutted against the contact pin 35c has the arcuated curvature in the vicinity of the pivot axis 19b of the upper opening/closing cover 19 so that, the opening/closing cover 19 with the process cartridge B mounted thereon, is rotated around the pivot axis 19b in a direction shown by the arrow R to close the cover, and in so doing the charging bias contact 18c nearest to the pivot axis 19b (i.e. having the minimum stroke) can contact with the contact pin 35c effectively.

(Positioning)

When the process cartridge B is mounted and the opening/closing cover 19 is closed, the positioning is established so that a distance between the photosensitive drum 9 and the lens unit 1c and a distance between the photosensitive drum 9 and the original glass support 1a are kept constant. Such positioning will now be explained.

As shown in FIG. 8, positioning projections 15m are formed on the lower frame 15 to which the photosensitive drum 9 is attached, in the vicinity of both longitudinal ends of the frame. As shown in FIG. 5, when the upper and lower frames 14, 15 are interconnected, these projections 15m protrude upwardly through holes 14g formed in the upper frame 14.

Further, as shown in FIG. 44, the lens unit 1c containing therein the lens array 1c2 for reading the original 2 is attached to the upper opening/closing cover 19 (on which the process cartridge B is mounted) via a pivot pin 1c3 for slight pivotal movement around the pivot pin and is biased downwardly (FIG. 44) by an urging spring 39. Thus, when the process cartridge B is mounted on the upper cover 19 and the latter is closed, as shown in FIG. 44, the lower surface of the lens unit 1c is abutted against the positioning projections 15m of the process cartridge B. As a result, when the process cartridge B is mounted within the image forming system A, the distance between the lens array 1c2 in the lens unit 1c and the photosensitive drum 9 mounted on the lower frame 15 is accurately determined, so that the light image optically read from the original 2 can be accurately illuminated onto the photosensitive drum 9 via the lens array 1c2.

Further, as shown in FIG. 45, positioning pegs 40 are provided in the lens unit 1c, which positioning pegs can be protruded slightly from the upper cover 19 upwardly through holes 19c formed in the upper cover. As shown in FIG. 46, the positioning pegs 40 are protruded slightly at both longitudinal sides of an original reading slit Z (FIGS. 1 and 46). Thus, when the process cartridge B is mounted on the upper cover 19 and the latter is closed and then the image forming operation is started, as mentioned above, since the lower surface of the lens unit 1c is abutted against the positioning projections 15m, the original glass support 1a is shifted while riding on the positioning pegs 40. As a result, a distance between the original 2 rested on the original glass support 1a and the photosensitive drum 9 mounted on the lower frame 15 is always kept constant, thus illuminating the light reflected from the original 2 onto the photosensitive drum 9 accurately. Therefore, since the information written on the original 2 can be optically read accurately and the exposure to the photosensitive drum 9 can be effected accurately, it is possible to obtain the high quality image.

(Drive Transmission)

Next, the driving force transmission to the photosensitive drum 9 in the process cartridge B mounted within the image forming system A will be explained.

When the process cartridge B is mounted within the image forming system A, the rotary shaft 9f of the photosensitive drum 9 is supported by the shaft support member 33 of the image forming system as mentioned above. As shown in FIG. 47, the shaft support member 33 comprises a supporting portion 33a for the drum rotary shaft 9f, and an abutment portion 33b for the rotary shaft 12d2 of the developing sleeve 12d. An overlap portion 33c having a predetermined overhanging amount L (1.8 mm in the illustrated embodiment) is formed on the supporting portion 33a, thus preventing the drum rotary shaft 9f from floating upwardly. Further, when the drum rotary shaft 9f is supported by the supporting portion 33a, the rotary shaft 12d2 of the developing sleeve is abutted against the abutment portion 33b, thus preventing the rotary shaft 12d2 from dropping downwardly. Further, when the upper opening/closing cover 19 is closed, positioning projections 15p of the lower frame 15 protruding from the upper frame 14 of the process cartridge B are abutted against an abutment portion 19c of the opening/closing cover 19.

Accordingly, when the driving force is transmitted to the flange gear 9c of the photosensitive drum 9 by driving the drive gear 41 of the image forming system meshed with the flange gear, the process cartridge B is subjected to a reaction force tending to rotate the process cartridge around the drum rotary shaft 9f in a direction shown by the arrow i in FIG. 47. However, since the rotary shaft 12d2 of the developing sleeve is abutted against the abutment portion 33b and the positioning projections 15p of the lower frame 15 protruding from the upper frame 14 are abutted against the abutment portion 19c of the upper cover, the rotation of the process cartridge B is prevented.

As mentioned above, although the lower surface of the lower frame 15 acts as the guide for the recording medium 4, since the lower frame is positioned by abutting it against the body of the image forming system as mentioned above, the positional relation between the photosensitive drum 9, the transfer roller 6 and the guide portions 15h1, 15h2 for the recording medium 4 is maintained with high accuracy, thus performing the feeding of the recording medium and the image transfer with high accuracy.

During the driving force transmission, the developing sleeve 12d is biased downwardly not only by the rotational reaction force acting on the process cartridge B but also by a reaction force generated when the driving force is transmitted from the flange gear 9c to the sleeve gear 12j. In this case, if the rotary shaft 12d2 of the developing sleeve is not abutted against the abutment portion 33b, the developing sleeve 12d will be always biased downwardly during the image forming operation. As a result, it is feared that the developing sleeve 12d will be displaced downwardly and/or the lower frame 15 on which the developing sleeve 12d is mounted will be deformed. However, in the illustrated embodiment, since the rotary shaft 12d2 of the developing sleeve is abutted against the aboutment portion 33b without fail, the above-mentioned inconvenience does not occur.

Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 20 the developing sleeve 12d is biased against the photosensitive drum 9 by the springs 12j via the sleeve bearings 12i. In this case, the arrangement as shown in FIG. 48 may be adopted to facilitate the sliding movement of sleeve bearings 12i. That is to say, a bearing 12m for supporting the rotary shaft 12d2 of the developing sleeve is held in a bearing holder 12n in such a manner that the bearing 12m can slide along a slot 12n1 formed in the bearing holder. With this arrangement, as shown in FIG. 49, the bearing holder 12n is abutted against the abutment portion 33b of the shaft support member 33 and is supported thereby; in this condition, the bearing 12m can be slid along the slot 12n1 in directions shown by the arrow. Incidentally, in the illustrated embodiment, an inclined angle .theta. (FIG. 47) of the abutment portion 33b is selected to have a value of about 40 degrees.

Further, the developing sleeve 12d may be supported by means other than the sleeve rotary shaft. For example, as shown in FIGS. 52A and 52B, it may be supported at both of its ends portions by sleeve bearings 52, lower ends of which are supported by the lower frame 15 which is in turn supported by receiving portions 53 formed on the image forming system.

Further, in the illustrated embodiment, the flange gear 9c of the photosensitive drum 9 is meshed with the drive gear 41 for transmitting the driving force to the flange gear in such a manner that, as shown in FIG. 47, a line connecting a rotational center of the flange gear 9c and a rotational center of the drive gear 41 is offset from a vertical line passing through the rotational center of the flange gear 9c in an anti-clockwise direction by a small angle .alpha. (about 1.degree. in the illustrated embodiment), whereby a direction F of the driving force transmission from the drive gear 41 to the flange gear 9c directs upwardly. In general, although the floating of the process cartridge can be prevented by a downwardly directing force generated by setting the angle .alpha. to a value of 20.degree. or more, in the illustrated embodiment, such angle .alpha. is set to about 1.degree..

By setting the above-mentioned angle a to about 1.degree., when the upper opening/closing cover 19 is opened in a direction shown by the arrow j to remove the process cartridge B, the flange gear 9c is not blocked by the drive gear 41 and, thus, can be smoothly disengaged from the drive gear 41. Further, when the direction F of the driving force transmission is directed upwardly as mentioned above, the rotary shaft 9f of the photosensitive drum is pushed upwardly and, therefore, tends to be disengaged from the drum supporting portion 33a. However, in the illustrated embodiment, since the overlap portion 33c is formed on the supporting portion 33a, the drum rotary shaft 9f is not disengaged from the drum supporting portion 33a.

(Re-cycle)

The process cartridge having the above-mentioned construction permits recycling of used-up process cartridges. That is to say, the used-up process cartridge(s) can be collected from the market and the parts thereof can be re-used to form a new process cartridge. Such re-cycle will now be explained. Generally, the used-up process cartridge was disposed or dumped in the past. However, the process cartridge B according to the illustrated embodiment can be collected from the market after the toner in the toner reservoir has been used up, to protect the resources of the earth and the natural environment. Then, the collected process cartridge is disassembled into the upper and lower frames 14, 15 which are in turn cleaned. Thereafter, reusable parts and new parts are mounted on the upper frame 14 or the lower frame 15 as needed, and then new toner is supplied into the toner reservoir 12a again. In this way, a new process cartridge is obtained.

More particularly, by releasing the connections between the locking pawls 14a and the locking openings 15a, the locking pawls 14a and the locking projection 15b, the locking pawl 14c and the locking opening 15d, and the locking pawl 15c and the locking opening 14b (FIGS. 4, 8 and 9) which interconnect the upper and lower frames 14, 15, the upper and lower frames 14, 15 can easily be disassembled from each other. Such disassembling operation can easily be performed, for example, by resting the used-up process cartridge B on a disassembling tool 42 and by pushing the locking pawl 14a by means of a pusher rod 42a, as shown in FIG. 50. Even when the disassembling tool is not used, the process cartridge can be disassembled by pushing the locking pawls 14a, 14c, 15c.

After the upper frame 14 and the lower frame 15 are disconnected from each other as mentioned above (FIGS. 8 and 9), the frames are cleaned by removing the waste toner adhered to or remaining in the cartridge by an air blow technique. In this case, a relatively large amount of waste toner is adhered to the photosensitive drum 9, developing sleeve 12d and/or cleaning means 13 since they are directly contacted with the toner. On the other hand, the waste toner is not or almost not adhered to the charger roller 10 since it is not directly contacted with the toner. Accordingly, the charger roller 10 can be cleaned more easily than the photosensitive drum 9, developing sleeve 12d and the like. In this regard, according to the illustrated embodiment, since the charger roller 10 is mounted on the upper frame 14 rather than the lower frame 15 on which the photosensitive drum 9, developing sleeve 12d and cleaning means 13 are mounted, the upper frame 14 separated from the lower frame 15 can easily be cleaned.

In the disassembling and cleaning line as shown in FIG. 39B, first of all, the upper and lower frames 14, 15 are separated from each other as mentioned above. Then, the upper frame 14 and the lower frame 15 are disassembled and cleaned independently. Thereafter, as to the upper frame 14, the charger roller 10 is separated from the upper frame and is cleaned; and as to the lower frame 15, the photosensitive drum 9, developing sleeve 12d, developing blade 12e, cleaning blade 13a and the like are separated from the lower frame and are cleaned. Thus, the disassembling and cleaning line is very simple.

After the toner is cleared, as shown in FIG. 9, the opening 12a1 is sealed by a new cover film 28 again, and new toner is supplied into the toner reservoir 12a through the toner filling opening 12a3 formed in the side surface of the toner reservoir 12a, and then the filling opening 12a3 is closed by the lid 12a2. Then, the upper frame 14 and the lower frame 15 are interconnected again by achieving the connections between the locking pawls 14a and the locking openings 15a, the locking pawls 14a and the locking projection 15b, the locking pawl 14c and the locking opening 15d, and the locking pawl 15c and the locking opening 14b, thus assembling a process cartridge again in a usable condition.

Incidentally, when the upper and lower frames 14, 15 are interconnected, although the locking pawls 14a and the locking openings 15a, the locking pawls 14a and the locking projection 15b and the like are interlocked, when the same process cartridge is frequently re-cycled, it is feared that the locking forces between the locking pawls and the locking openings become weaker. To cope with this, in the illustrated embodiment, threaded holes are formed in the frames in the vicinity of four corners thereof. That is to say, through threaded holes are formed in the fitting recesses 14d and the fitting projections 14e of the upper frame 14 (FIG. 8) and in the fitting projections 15e (to be fitted into the recesses 14d) and the fitting recesses 15f (to be fitted onto the projections 14e) of the lower frame 15, respectively. Thus, even when the locking force due to the locking pawls become weaker, after the upper and lower frames 14, 15 are interconnected and the fitting projections and fitting recesses are interfitted, by screwing screws in the mated threaded holes, the upper and lower frames 14, 15 can be firmly interconnected.

Image forming Operation

Next, the image forming operation effected by the image forming system A within which the process cartridge B is mounted will be explained.

First of all, the original 2 is rested on the original glass support la shown in FIG. 1. Then, when the copy start button A3 is depressed, the light source 1c1 is turned ON and the original glass support 1a is reciprocally shifted on the image forming system in the left and right directions in FIG. 1 to read the information written on the original optically. In registration with the reading of the original, the sheet supply roller 5a and the pair of register rollers 5c1, 5c2 are rotated to feed the recording medium 4 to the image forming station. The photosensitive drum 9 is rotated in the direction d in FIG. 1 in registration of the feeding timing of the paired regist rollers 5c1, 5c2, and is uniformly charged by the charger means 10. Then, the light image read by the reading means 1 is illuminated onto the photosensitive drum 9 via the exposure means 11, thereby forming the latent image on the photosensitive drum 9.

At the same time when the latent image is formed, the developing means 12 of the process cartridge B is activated to drive the toner feed mechanism 12b, thereby feeding out the toner from the toner reservoir 12a toward the developing sleeve 12d and forming the toner layer on the rotating developing sleeve 12d. Then, by applying to the developing sleeve 12d a voltage having the same charging polarity and same potential as that of the photosensitive drum 9, the latent image on the photosensitive drum 9 is visualized as the toner image. In the illustrated embodiment, the voltage of about 1.2 KVVpp, 1590 Hz (rectangular wave) is applied to the developing sleeve 12d. The recording medium 4 is fed between the photosensitive drum 9 and the transfer roller 6. By applying to the transfer roller 6 a voltage having the polarity opposite to that of the toner, the toner image on the photosensitive drum 9 is transferred onto the recording medium 4. In the illustrated embodiment, the transfer roller 6 is made of foam EPDM having the volume resistance of about 10.sup.9 .OMEGA.cm and has an outer diameter of about 20 mm, and the voltage of -3.5 KV is applied to the transfer roller as the transfer voltage.

After the toner image is transferred to the recording medium, the photosensitive drum 9 continues to rotate in the direction d. Meanwhile, the residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 9 is removed by the cleaning blade 13a, and the removed toner is collected into the waste toner reservoir 13c via the squeegee sheet 13b. On the other hand, the recording medium 4 on which the toner image was transferred is sent, by the convey belt 5d, to the fixing means 7 where the toner image is permanently fixed to the recording medium 4 with heat and pressure. Then, the recording medium is ejected by the pair of ejector rollers 5f1, 5f2. In this way, the information on the original is recorded on the recording medium.

Next, other embodiments will be explained.

In the above-mentioned first embodiment, an example wherein the developing blade 12e and the cleaning blade 13a are attached to the frame by pins 24a, 24b was explained alternatively, as shown in FIG. 53, the developing blade 12e and the cleaning blade 13a are attached to the lower frame 15 by forcibly inserting fitting projections 43a, 43b formed on both longitudinal ends of the developing blade 12e and the cleaning blade 13e into corresponding fitting recesses 44a, 44b formed in the body 16 of the image forming system. Pin holes 45 for receiving the pins for attaching the blades 12e, 13a may be formed in the vicinity of the fitting projections 43a, 43b, and corresponding pin holes 45 may be formed in the body 16 of the image forming system (Incidentally, in place of the fitting projections 43a, 43b, half punches or circular bosses may be used).

With this arrangement, when the fitting connections between the blades 12e, 13a and the lower frame are loosened by the repeated recycling of the process cartridge B, the blades 12e, 13a can be firmly attached to the lower frame by pins.

Further, in the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 29, an example that the outer diameter D of the photosensitive drum 9 is smaller than the distance L between the drum guide members 25a, 25b to permit the final attachment of the photosensitive drum 9 to the lower frame 15 was explained. As shown in FIG. 54, even when the photosensitive drum 9 is incorporated into the upper frame 14, the outer diameter D of the photosensitive drum 9 may be smaller than the distance L between the drum guide members 25a, 25b so that the photosensitive drum can be lastly incorporated into the upper frame, thereby preventing damage to the surface of the photosensitive drum 9, as in the first embodiment. Incidentally, in FIG. 54, elements or parts having the same function as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals. Further, the upper and lower frames 14, 15 are interconnected by interlocking locking projections 47a and locking openings 47b and by securing them by pins 48.

Further, as shown in FIG. 35, in the first embodiment, while the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d were supported by the bearing member 26, when the flange gear 9c is provided at one end of the photosensitive drum 9 and the transfer roller gear 49 is provided at the other end of the photosensitive drum, a structure as shown in FIG. 55 may be adopted. Incidentally, also in FIG. 55, elements having the same function as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals.

More particularly, in FIG. 55, the flange gear 9c and the transfer roller gear 49 are secured to both ends of the photosensitive drum 9 by adhesive, press-fit or the like, respectively, and the positioning of the drum is effected by rotatably supporting a central boss 49a of the transfer roller gear 49 by the bearing portion 33a of the bearing member 26. In this case, in order to earth the photosensitive drum 9, a drum earthing plate 50 having a central L-shaped contact portion is secured to and contacted with the inner surface of the drum, and a drum earthing shaft 51 passing through a central bore in the transfer roller gear 49 is always contacted with the drum earthing plate 50. The drum earthing shaft 51 is made of conductive metal such as stainless steel, and the drum earthing plate 50 is also made of conductive metal such as bronze phosphate, stainless steel or the like. When the process cartridge B is mounted within the image forming system A, a head 51a of the drum earthing shaft 51 is supported by the bearing member 26. In this case, the head 51a of the drum earthing shaft 51 is contacted with the drum earthing contact pin of the image forming system, thereby achieving the earthing of the photosensitive drum. Also in this case, as in the first embodiment, the positional accuracy between the photosensitive drum 9 and the developing sleeve 12d can be improved by using the single bearing member 26.

Further, the process cartridge B according to the present invention can be used to not only form a mono-color image as mentioned above, but also to form a multi-color image (two color image, three color image or full-color image) by providing a plurality of developing means 12. Furthermore, the developing method may be of known two-component magnetic brush developing type, cascade developing type, touch-down developing type or cloud developing type. In addition, in the first embodiment, while the charger means was of the so-called contact-charging type, for example, other conventional charging technique wherein three walls are formed by tangsten wires and metallic shields made of aluminium are provided on the three walls, and positive or negative ions generated by applying a high voltage to the tangsten wires are shifted onto the surface of the photosensitive drum 9, thereby uniformly charging the surface of the photosensitive drum 9 may be adopted.

Incidentally, the contact-charging may be, for example, of blade (charging blade) type, pad type, block type, rod type or wire type, as well as the aforementioned roller type. Further, the cleaning means for removing the residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 9 may be of fur brush type or magnetic brush type, as well as blade type.

Furthermore, the process cartridge B comprises an image bearing member (for example, an electrophotographic photosensitive member) and at least one process means. Therefore, as well as the above-mentioned construction, the process cartridge may incorporate integrally therein the image bearing member and the charger means as a unit which can be removably mounted within the image forming system; or may incorporate integrally therein the image bearing member and the developing means as a unit which can be removably mounted within the image forming system; or may incorporate integrally therein the image bearing member and the cleaning means as a unit which can be removably mounted within the image forming system; or may incorporate integrally therein the image bearing member and two or more process means as a unit which can be removably mounted within the image forming system. That is to say, the process cartridge incorporates integrally therein the charger means, developing means or cleaning means and the electrophotographic photosensitive member as a unit which can be removably mounted within the image forming system; or incorporates integrally therein at least one of the charger means, developing means and cleaning means, and the clectrophotographic photosensitive member as a unit which can be removably mounted within the image forming system; or incorporates integrally therein the developing means and the electrophotographic photosensitive member as a unit which can be removably mounted within the image forming system.

Further, in the illustrated embodiment, while the image forming system was the electrophotographic copying machine, the present invention is not limited to the copying machine, but may be adapted to other various image forming system such as a laser beam printer, a facsimile, a word processor and the like.

Now, the above-mentioned driving force transmission to the photosensitive drum 9 will be further explained with more detail. As shown in FIG. 56, the driving force is transmitted from the drive motor 54 attached to the body 16 of the image forming system to a drive gear G6 via a gear train G1-G5, and from the drive gear G6 to the flange gear 9c meshed with the drive gear, thereby rotating the photosensitive drum 9. Further, the driving force of the drive motor 54 is transmitted from the gear G4 to a gear train G7-G11, thereby rotating the sheet supply roller 5a. Furthermore, the driving force of the drive motor 54 is transmitted from the gear G1 to the driving roller 7a of the fixing means 7 via gears G12, G13.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 57 and 58, the flange gear (first gear) 9c and the gear (second gear) 9i are integrally formed and portions of the gears 9c, 9i are exposed from an opening 15g formed in the lower frame 15. When the process cartridge B is mounted within the image forming system A, as shown in FIG. 59, the drive gear G6 is meshed with the flange gear 9c of the photosensitive drum 9 and the gear 9i integral with the gear 9c is meshed with the gear 55 of the transfer roller 6. Incidentally, in FIG. 59, the parts of the image forming system are shown by the solid line, and the parts of the process cartridge are shown by the phantom line.

The number of teeth of the gear 9c is different from that of the gear 9i, so that the rotational speed of the developing sleeve 12d when the black image forming cartridge containing the magnetic toner is used is differentiated from the rotational speed of the developing sleeve when the color image forming cartridge containing the non-magnetic toner is used. That is to say, when the black image forming cartridge containing the magnetic toner is mounted within the image forming system, as shown in FIG. 60A, the flange gear 9c is meshed with the sleeve gear 12k of the developing sleeve 12d. On the other hand, when the color image forming cartridge containing the non-magnetic toner is mounted within the image forming system, as shown in FIG. 60B, the gear 9i is meshed with the sleeve gear 12k of the developing sleeve 12d to rotate the developing sleeve.

As mentioned above, since the gear 9c has the greater diameter and wider width than those of the gear 9i and has the number of teeth greater than that of the gear 9i, even when the greater load is applied to the gear 9c, the gear 9c can surely receive the driving force to rotate the photosensitive drum 9 surely and transmits the greater driving force to the developing sleeve 12d for the magnetic toner, thereby surely rotating the developing sleeve 12d.

Now, the construction of the squeegee or dip sheet and the cleaning device shown in FIGS. 23 to 27 in the first embodiment will be further fully explained hereinbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings.

An attachment method for a squeegee sheet is shown in FIGS. 61 and 62.

First of all, as shown in FIG. 61, an attachment surface 62 of a cleaning container 61 made of resin material (for example, HIPS (high-impact polysthyrol) or the like) is curved in such a manner that a lower surface 63 of the attachment surface becomes convex downwardly. Then, a squeegee sheet 64 is stuck to the curved attachment surface 62 by an adhesive. After the adhesive is dried, the curvature of the attachment surface 62 is released, thereby applying an outwardly directing tension force to a free edge 64a of the squeegee sheet 64.

By sticking or adhering the squeegee sheet in this way, the undulation x in the squeegee sheet as shown in FIG. 63 can be prevented.

FIGS. 64 and 65 show a squeegee sheet sticking method according to another embodiment, wherein a cleaning container is divided into a plurality of compartments by partition walls 65 which act as ribs serving not only to prevent the offset of the toner but also to increase the rigidity of the cleaning device. However, when the rigidity of the attachment surface is great as in this embodiment, it is feared that the attachment surface will not be smoothly curved, thus generating poorly tensioned portions y in the squeegee sheet.

Next, a more preferable embodiment wherein the sufficient rigidity of a cleaning device can be obtained and an attachment surface for a squeegee sheet can be smoothly curved will be explained. FIG. 66 is an elevational sectional view of a process cartridge integrally including a cleaning device and mountable within an image forming system.

The process cartridge 66 has a cartridge container 66a within which a photosensitive drum (image bearing member) 67, and a process means (i.e., a cleaning device 68, a developing device 69 and a primary charger 70) arranged around the photosensitive drum are disposed, and the cartridge container can be removably supported within a body of the image forming system. When the service life of the photosensitive drum 67 or the developing device 69 is expired or toner (developer) in the developing device 69 is used up, the whole process cartridge is exchanged by a new one, thus facilitating the maintenance. Incidentally, the reference numeral 71 denotes a protection cover which closes to protect the photosensitive drum 67 when the process cartridge is dismounted from the image forming system.

The cleaning device 68 comprises a process means including a cleaning blade 72 for removing the residual toner from the photosensitive drum 67, a squeegee sheet 64 for preventing the removed toner from leaking outside and the like, and a waste toner containing portion 73 for collecting the removed toner therein.

Further, the developing device 69 comprises a process means including a developing sleeve 74 rotated in a predetermined direction and adapted to supply the toner held thereon toward the photosensitive drum 67, a developing blade 75 for regulating a thickness of a toner layer on the developing sleeve 74 and the like, and a toner containing portion 76 for holding the toner therein and for supplying the toner toward the developing sleeve 74.

That is to say, when image light L is illuminated on the photosensitive drum 67 which is uniformly charged by the primary charger 70, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum 67. During the rotation of the photosensitive drum 67, the electrostatic latent image is directed to the developing device 69, where the latent image is visualized with the toner as a toner image. The toner image is transferred onto a transfer sheet by a transfer charger (not shown). After the transferring operation, the residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 67 is removed by the cleaning blade 72 slidingly contacting with the drum 67, thereby preparing for the next image formation. Incidentally, the waste toner removed by the cleaning blade 72 is collected in the waste toner containing portion 73 of the cleaning device 68 by the squeegee sheet 64 slidingly contacting with the photosensitive drum 67. Incidentally, the reference numeral 77 denotes a sealing member for the toner containing portion 76. This sealing member 77 is peeled off from the toner containing portion 76 before the process cartridge is mounted within the image forming system so that the toner in the toner containing portion 76 can be supplied to the developing sleeve 74.

Further, as in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 64 and 65, a plurality of reinforcing ribs 65 are arranged in the waste toner container at an appropriate interval along the longitudinal direction of the container, and serve to increase the rigidity of the container and serve as partition walls for preventing the waste toner leak due to the offset of the toner when the container is inclined and the toner leak due to the poor collection of the waste toner when the waste toner is handled in the offset condition. Further, in the illustrated embodiment, a thickness of the cleaning container 61 made of resin near the attachment surface 62 is thinner than that of other portions of the container (for example, in the illustrated embodiment, the basic thickness is 2.5 mm, whereas, the thickness near the attachment surface 62 is 2.0 mm).

Accordingly, the sufficient rigidity of the cleaning device 68 can be obtained, and the attachment surface 62 for the squeegee sheet can easily be curved smoothly as shown in FIG. 67. Further, the ribs 65 have notches 65a in a confronting relation to the squeegee sheet 64.

Also with this arrangement, the attachment surface 62 for the squeegee sheet can easily be curved smoothly in an arcuate state.

Then, the squeegee sheet 64 is stuck to the attachment surface 62 to become smoothly curved as shown in FIG. 67, and, thereafter, when the curvature of the attachment surface is released, the squeegee sheet can be subjected to the uniform tension along the longitudinal direction thereof, thereby preventing the local undulation in the squeegee sheet.

A further embodiment will be explained. In embodiments described hereinbelow, a hook is formed on the cleaning container 61 in the vicinity of the attachment surface 62 in order to easily curve the attachment surface 62 smoothly.

FIG. 69 is an elevational sectional view of a process cartridge wherein a hook 79 is formed in the vicinity of the attachment surface 62 of the cleaning container 61.

FIG. 70 is an enlarged perspective view of the hook 79 of the process cartridge 66 shown in FIG. 69. As shown, a lower rib 80 protruding inwardly from the attachment surface 62 (for the squeegee sheet 64) perpendicular to the latter is formed through the whole length of the cleaning container 61 to form the hook 79 (a width of the lower rib 80 is about 3.0 mm). As shown in FIG. 70, in a condition that the process cartridge 66 is fixed by a tool (not shown), an engaging portion 81a of a pulling tool 81 is engaged by the hook 79 and the pulling tool is pulled by a tensile machine (not shown) in a direction shown by the arrow z. Incidentally, in this embodiment, three pulling tools 81 are engaged by the hook 79 at three points. More particularly, the hook 79 is deformed by about 0.5 mm at a central portion by the central pulling tool 81 and by about 0.3 mm at both sides by the side pulling tools 81 so that the squeegee sheet attachment surface 62 is smoothly curved. In a condition that the attachment surface 62 is curved in this way, the squeegee sheet 64 is stuck to the attachment surface 62 by an adhesive (FIG. 61). After the adhesive is cured, the pulling tools 81 are returned to the original positions. As a result, as shown in FIG. 62, the squeegee sheet 64 is subjected to a longitudinal tension force to curve at its free edge 64a, whereby the squeegee sheet 64 is stuck to the attachment surface 62 without any undulation.

A further embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 71. In this embodiment, a triangular rib 83 serving as a hook 82 is formed on a back surface of the attachment surface 62, and the attachment surface is pulled in the direction by a cylindrical pulling tool 84 engaged by a hole 83a of the rib 83, as in the aforementioned embodiment. According to this embodiment, the pulling tool 84 can be engaged by the hook 82 more surely.

A still further embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 72. In this embodiment, a box-shaped rib 86 serving as a hook 85 is formed on a back surface of the attachment surface 62. The rib 86 comprises two opposed triangular plates each having a notch 86a and spaced apart from each other by a gap 86b. A T-shaped pulling tool 87 is inserted into the gap 86b, and then the pulling tool 87 is pulled in the direction z. According to this embodiment, the pulling tool can be easily engaged by the hook 85, and the engagement is maintained more surely.

According to the embodiments as mentioned above, it is possible to easily curve the squeegee sheet attachment surface. By sticking the squeegee sheet to the curved attachment surface and then by releasing the curvature of the attachment surface, it is possible eliminate the undulation in the squeegee sheet when it is stuck.

Next, an electrophotographic copying machine serving as an example of an image forming system within which the process cartridge 66 having the above-mentioned cleaning device is mounted will be explained with reference to FIG. 73. Incidentally, in FIG. 73, the process cartridge is shown schematically.

In FIG. 73, an upper frame 88 on which the process cartridge 66 is mounted is pivotally supported by the image forming system via a pivot pin 88a for an opening/closing movement. When the upper frame 88 is opened, the process cartridge can be mounted. The process cartridge 66 is held on the upper frame 88 by guides 89a, 89b.

By the way, an original rested on an original support plate 90 is illuminated by a lamp 91, and a light image reflected from the original is focused on a photosensitive drum 67 via a lens 92. Incidentally, the reference numeral 93 denotes an exposure opening formed in the frame of the process cartridge 66. Recording sheets P are stacked on a stacking plate 94. The recording sheet P fed out from the stacking plate 94 by a sheet supply roller 95 is sent to the photosensitive drum 67 by a pair of regist, or registration, rollers 96 in registration with the movement of the photosensitive drum. The toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 67 is transferred onto the recording sheet P by a transfer charger 97. Incidentally, the reference numeral 98, 99 denotes convey guides; 100 denotes a fixing roller; 101 denotes a pair of ejector rollers; and 102 denotes an exhaust fan.

Now, the cleaning shown in FIGS. 23 to 27 in the first embodiment wherein the tension force is applied to the squeegee sheet will be further fully explained hereinbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 74 and 75 are schematic elevational views showing an example of the construction of a process cartridge including a cleaning device of the present invention. The process cartridge comprises an image bearing member, and a process means including a charger means and a developing device, as well as a cleaning means, which are integrally held by upper and lower separable frames.

In FIGS. 74 and 75, a charger roller 113 serving as the charger means supported in a spring-bias fashion, and an elastic blade 114 of the developing device are disposed in an upper frame 111; whereas, an image bearing member 115, a developing sleeve 116 of the developing device, and a squeegee sheet 117 and a cleaning blade 118 of the cleaning device are disposed in a lower frame 112. Further, seals 119 made of foam polyurethane for preventing the leakage of the toner are mounted on the interfaces of the upper and lower frames 111, 112.

FIG. 76 is an enlarged view showing the cleaning device in the process cartridge, the construction of which will be described hereinbelow.

As mentioned above, the squeegee sheet 117 and the cleaning blade 118 of the cleaning device are disposed in the lower frame 112 of the process cartridge. As shown, the squeegee sheet 117 is stuck to a lower end of the lower frame 112 by an adhesive such as a both-sided adhesive tape and the seals 119 for preventing the leakage of toner are arranged on both ends of the squeegee sheet. Further, the cleaning blade 118 is integrally formed with a blade supporting member 120 which is secured to support portions 121 formed on both ends of the lower frame 112. Incidentally, a contacting position between the cleaning blade 118 and the image bearing member is regulated by abutting lower end portions 120a of the blade supporting member 120 against lower end portions 121a of the support portions 121.

In an embodiment according to the present invention, after the squeegee sheet 117 is stuck to the lower end of the lower frame 112, the support portions 121 formed on both lateral ends of the lower frame 112 are deformed outwardly in the longitudinal direction of the frame, thereby applying the tension to an upper edge portion 117a of the squeegee sheet 117.

To this end, in the illustrated embodiment, a length of the blade supporting member 120 supporting the cleaning blade 118 is greater than a distance between the support portions 121 formed on both lateral ends of the lower frame 112. As shown in FIG. 76, when the distance between the support portions 121 is L, the length of the blade supporting member 120 becomes L+s (in case where only one side is widened) or L+2 s (in case where both sides are widened) (Incidentally, s is about 0.5-1.0 mm).

Accordingly, when the blade supporting member 120 with which the cleaning blade 118 is integrally formed is attached to the support portions 121 formed on both lateral ends of the lower frame 112 by shifting the supporting member 120 in a direction shown by the arrow g, the support portions 121 are deformed outwardly in the longitudinal direction (shown by arrows h), thus applying the tension to the upper edge portion 117a of the squeegee sheet 117.

In this case, threaded holes 120b formed in both ends of the blade supporting member 120 and threaded holes 121b formed in both support portions 121 must be positioned in consideration of the deformed amount of the support portions 121. Further, not only in this embodiment, but also in embodiments described later, it is necessary to previously widen the length of the cleaning blade 118 in consideration of the deformed amount of the support portions 121.

Next, other embodiments of a cleaning device will be explained with reference to FIGS. 77 to 83.

FIG. 77 is an enlarged front elevational view of a cleaning device according to a further embodiment of the present invention. Similar to the cleaning device as shown in FIG. 76, also in this cleaning device, the tension is applied to the upper edge portion 117a of the squeegee sheet 117 by deforming the support portions 121 formed on both lateral ends of the lower frame 112 outwardly in the longitudinal direction. To this end, in this embodiment, although the length of the blade supporting member 120 is the same as the distance between the support portions 121, the position of the threaded hole 120b formed in the member 120 and the position of the threaded hole 121b formed in the support portion are differentiated. As shown, a distance between the threaded holes 121b of the support portions 121 is L; whereas, a distance between the threaded holes 120b of the supporting member 120 is (L+s) (s=about 1.0-2.0 mm). Thus, when the blade supporting member 120 is secured to the support portions 121 by screws through the aligned threaded holes, the support portions 121 are deformed in directions h. Also in this case, the same technical advantage as that of the previous cleaning device can be obtained.

FIG. 78 is an enlarged front elevational view of a cleaning device according to a still further embodiment. Similar to the cleaning device as shown in FIG. 76, also in this cleaning device, the tension is applied to the upper edge portion 117a of the squeegee sheet 117 by deforming the support portions 121 formed on both lateral ends of the lower frame 112 outwardly in the longitudinal direction. To this end, in this embodiment, positioning projections 121c are formed on inner surfaces of the support portions 121 and positioning recesses 120c for receiving the positioning projections 121c are formed in both lateral ends of the blade supporting member 120. When a distance between the positioning recesses 120c is L, a distance between the positioning projections is selected to have a value M which is smaller than L by s (s=about 1.0-2.0 mm). Thus, when the positioning projections 121c of the support portions 121 are fitted into the positioning recesses 120c of the blade supporting member 120, the support portions 121 are deformed in the directions h, thus applying the tension to the upper edge portion 117a of the squeegee sheet 117.

Alternatively, when a depth t of either positioning recess 120c or both positioning recesses is smaller by s, the same technical effect can be obtained.

Incidentally, in the cleaning devices shown in FIGS. 76 to 78, the support portions 121 formed on both lateral ends of the lower frame 112 are deformed outwardly in the longitudinal direction by the blade supporting member 120 supporting the cleaning blade 118, thereby preventing the occurrence of the undulation in the upper edge portion 117a of the squeegee sheet 117 stuck to the lower end of the lower frame 112.

FIG. 79A is an enlarged side view of a cleaning device in the process cartridge according to a further embodiment, and FIG. 79B is an enlarged front elevational view of the cleaning device. In this embodiment, the interior of the cleaning device is divided into a waste toner receiving portion 123a and a waste toner containing portion 123b by a partition wall 122. Accordingly, the waste toner caught by the squeegee sheet 117 is collected on the squeegee sheet 117 and in an area of the waste toner receiving portion 123a near the cleaning blade 118, and thereafter, is sent to the waste toner containing portion 123b by a toner pick-up member 125 rotated around an axis 124 in a direction shown by the arrow i in FIG. 79A. Incidentally, the toner pick-up member 125 is a sheet member made of PET or the like and extends along the whole length of the cleaning device, and is rotated synchronously with the rotation of the image bearing member.

In this embodiment, the support portions 121 formed on both lateral ends of the lower frame 112 are deformed outwardly in the longitudinal direction by the partition wall 122, thereby applying the tension to the upper edge portion 117a of the squeegee sheet 117 stuck to the lower end of the lower frame 112. That is to say, the longitudinal length of the partition wall is selected to have a value greater than the distance L between the support portions 121 by s or 2 s (s=0.5-1.0 mm). Then, by inserting the partition wall 122 between the support portions 121, the support portions 121 are deformed in the directions h, thereby applying the tension to the upper edge portion 117a of the squeegee sheet 117 sticked to the lower end of the lower frame 112.

If only the insertion of the partition wall 122 between the support portions 121 is insufficient, guide grooves may be formed in the inner surfaces of the support portions, thereby fitting the partition wall into the support portions 121.

A process cartridge shown in FIGS. 80 and 81 is of the type wherein a frame 126a containing a developing device 126 can from a frame 127a rated from a frame 127a containing a cleaning device 127. An upper side of the cleaning device is closed by covering the frames by a cover 128 after the frames 126a, 127a are interconnected. Incidentally, in this embodiment, the developing device 126 is formed as a single unit having a closed top.

In the above-mentioned process cartridge, an image bearing member 115 is supported by the frame 127a containing the cleaning device 127, and projections 120d (shown by a hatched area) formed on both lateral ends of the blade supporting member 120 (shown by the phantom line) supporting the cleaning blade 117 are fitted into the frame 127a. Thus, in this embodiment, the blade supporting member 120 is not secured by the screws. Further, a seal 119 for preventing the leakage of toner is arranged on the interface (against the cover 128) of the frame 127a containing the cleaning device 127. Incidentally, a charger roller 113 serving as a charger device is mounted on the cover 128. Further, the squeegee sheet 117 is stuck to a lower end of the frame 127a containing the cleaning device 127 by an adhesive such as a both-sided adhesive tape.

FIG. 81 is a top view of the frame 126a containing the developing device 126 and the frame 127a containing the cleaning device 127 when the cover 128 is not attached. When the frames are assembled as a process cartridge, the abutment portion of the frame 126a containing the developing device 126 is fitted into the abutment portion of the frame 127a containing the cleaning device 127. As shown, in the illustrated embodiment, a longitudinal outer width L of the abutment portion of the frame 126a is greater than a longitudinal inner width M of the abutment portion of the frame 127a by s or 2 s (s=1.0-3.0 mm). Thus, by assembling the frames 126a, 127a together, the frame 127a containing the cleaning device 127 is deformed, thereby applying the tension to the upper edge portion 117a of the squeegee sheet 117 stuck to the lower end of the frame 127a.

Incidentally, in the illustrated embodiment, as mentioned above, since the blade supporting member 120 is of a slide fitting type and is not secured by the screws, it is possible to deform the frame 127a containing the cleaning device 127. Further, it is so designed that both the frame 126a containing the developing device 126 and the frame 127a containing the cleaning device 127 are very rigid so that only the abutment portions are not deformed.

FIG. 82A is an enlarged front elevational view of a cleaning device before the tension is applied, and FIG. 82B is an enlarged front elevational view of the cleaning device after the tension is applied. In this embodiment, there is provided a means for applying the tension to the upper edge portion 117a of the squeegee sheet 117 and for adjusting the tension. More particularly, a metallic plate 129 having the greater rigidity than that of the lower frame 112 is secured to a lower surface of the lower frame 112 by screws 131 and has a central adjusting screw 132. Accordingly, after the squeegee sheet 117 is stuck to the lower end of the lower frame 112 and the required parts such as the cleaning blade 118 are attached to the frame, by rotating the central screw 132, the lower frame 112 is deformed as shown in FIG. 82B, thus applying the tension to the upper edge portion 117a of the squeegee sheet 117, thereby preventing the occurrence of the undulation. Further, by adjusting the penetrating amount of the central screw 132, it is possible to adjust the deformed amount of the lower frame 112 and accordingly the magnitude of the tension applied to the upper edge portion 117a of the squeegee sheet 117.

FIG. 83A is an enlarged front elevational view of a cleaning device in the process cartridge according to a further embodiment, and FIG. 83B is an enlarged side view of the cleaning device. In this embodiment, an upper edge portion 117a of the squeegee sheet 117 is longer than a base of the squeegee sheet by which the squeegee sheet is stuck to the lower frame. As shown, the squeegee sheet 117 is provided with pulling tongues 117b formed on both lateral ends of the upper edge portion 117a of the squeegee sheet. Thus, after the squeegee sheet 117 is stuck to the lower end of the lower frame 112, the pulling tongues 117b are pulled in directions shown by the arrows h in FIG. 83, and then are adhered to lateral surfaces of the support portions 121, thereby applying the tension to the upper edge portion 117a of the squeegee sheet 117, thus preventing the occurrence of the undulation. Further, in order to prevent the upper edge portion 117a of the squeegee sheet 117 from separating from the surface of the image bearing member 115 when the pulling tongues 117b are pulled, ridges 121d are formed on the support portions 121 at an area where the pulling tongues are abutted against the support portions, thereby ensuring the contact between the upper edge portion 117a and the image bearing member 115.

While the cleaning devices mentioned above were applied to the process cartridges, such cleaning devices are not limited to the application to process cartridges, but can be applied to any image forming system so long as the squeegee sheet is stuck to a frame.

Next, further embodiments of a cleaning device having a squeegee sheet as shown in FIGS. 23 to 27 in the first embodiment will be further fully explained hereinbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 84 and 85 are schematic constructural views of process cartridges to which the present invention is applied. Briefly explaining the process cartridge, the process cartridge incorporates therein an image bearing member 141, a charger device 142, a developing device 143 and a cleaning device 144 within a frame 145 to form a compact unit which can be removably mounted within an image forming system. Incidentally, the reference numeral 146 denotes an exposure opening.

The developing device 143 comprises a developing sleeve 143a rotated in a direction shown by the arrow to feed the toner, and an elastic blade 143b for regulating a thickness of a toner layer around the developing sleeve 143a, and, the cleaning device 144 comprises a cleaning blade 144a for removing the toner from the image bearing member 141, and a squeegee sheet 144b for receiving the removed toner. Incidentally, the construction of the cleaning device 144, particularly the squeegee sheet 144b will be described later.

The charger device 142 may comprise a charger roller of a contact type which can charge the image bearing member by applying a low voltage to it and which does not generate ozone. The charger roller 142 as shown in FIG. 84 includes a metal core 142a to which only the DC voltage (about 1.2 kV) is applied from a power source V. Thus, since there is no action for averaging or levelling the potential on the image bearing member 141 after the transferring operation, a pre-exposure opening 147 is provided to illuminate the image bearing member with light, thereby levelling the potential on the image bearing member 141. On the other hand, to the charger roller 142 as shown in FIG. 85, the DC and AC voltages are applied from the power source V. Thus, there is an action for levelling the potential on the image bearing member 141 after the transferring operation, and any pre-exposure opening 147 is not required.

Further, both ends of the metallic core 142a of the charger roller 142 are spring-biased by springs to urge the charger roller against the image bearing member 141 so that the charger roller is driven by the rotational movement of the image bearing member 141. The total urging force (abutment pressure) of the charger roller 142 against the image bearing member 141 is selected to have a value of about 500-1000 grams so as not to cause poor charging. Accordingly, when the abutment pressure of the charger roller 142 against thee image bearing member 141 is measured with respect to the longitudinal direction thereof, as shown in FIG. 86, in case of the total abutment pressure of 500 grams, the urging force is remarkably increased at both end portions of the charger roller supported by the springs and is greater than that at the central position by twice or more. Although depending upon the hardness of the rubber of the charger roller 142 and the biasing forces of the springs, this tendency will be further noticeable when the total pressure is increased, for example, to 1000 grams and to 1500 grams, so that the urging force at both ends is further emphasized to become greater than that at the central position by three times, four times or more.

As a result, a small amount of toner that has escaped from the cleaning blade 144a is squeezed on the image bearing member 141 by the strong urging force of the charger roller 142, thus adhering onto the surface of the image bearing member 141 at both of its end portions. Further, as shown in FIG. 85, when the DC and AC voltages are applied to the charger roller 142, since the charger roller 142 is vibrated, the toner is further squeezed by the stronger force, thus contaminating the surface of the image bearing member 141 noticeably.

The inventors conducted various tests and found that the above drawback was caused not only by the urging force of the charger roller 142 against the image bearing member 141, but also by the urging force of the squeegee sheet 144b contacting with the image bearing member 141. Further, it was found that, if the urging force of the squeegee sheet 144b was too great, the surface of the image bearing member 141 was damaged, with the result that the adhesion of the toner to both end portions of the image bearing member 141 was promoted.

Thus, according to the present invention, it is so designed that the urging force of the squeegee sheet 144b is smaller at both of its longitudinal end positions than at a central position thereof. Further a detailed explanation will be done with reference to FIGS. 87 to 94.

As shown in FIG. 87, the squeegee sheet 144b to which the present invention is applied is stuck to an attachment surface 145a of the frame 145 of the process cartridge, and an upper edge 144b1 of the squeegee sheet which are to be abutted against the image bearing member 141 is smoothly curved to have a central height L1 higher than both end heights L2. And, a penetrating amount .delta. of the squeegee sheet 144b onto the image bearing member is selected so as to be greater at a central position of the sheet than at both longitudinal end portions thereof. With this arrangement, the urging force of the squeegee sheet 144b against the image bearing member 141 can be smaller at both longitudinal end positions of the sheet than at the central position thereof.

Now, the penetrating amount .delta. of the squeegee sheet 144b will be explained with reference to FIG. 88. The penetrating amount .delta. means an amount that the non-deformed squeegee sheet 144b (shown by the phantom line) (before the image bearing member 141 is mounted) is penetrated onto the image bearing member 141 after the latter is mounted. Generally, the penetrating amount .delta. of the squeegee sheet 144b is selected to be about 1.0-3.0 mm. When the penetrating amount .delta. is 3.0 mm, as shown in FIG. 88A, the squeegee sheet 144b is abutted against the image bearing member through its substantial portion; whereas, when the penetrating amount .delta. is 1.0 mm, as shown in FIG. 88B, the squeegee sheet is abutted against the image bearing member via a free edge thereof.

In the illustrated embodiment, the penetrating amount .delta. of the squeegee sheet 144b is so selected to have a value of about 1.5 mm at its central position and about 0.5 mm at both of its longitudinal end positions. Now, such selected values will be explained.

As mentioned above, generally, the penetrating amount .delta. of the squeegee sheet is set to 1.0-3.0 mm, and a lower limit thereof is 1.0 mm. Now, when the penetrating amount was set to 0.5 mm smaller than the lower limit (1.0 mm) uniformly along the whole length of the squeegee sheet, the images were transferred on the recording sheets in such a setting condition. As a result, it was found that the toner was dropped through the central portion of the squeegee sheet after about 1000 sheets were copied. However, in this case, the toner was not dropped through end portions of the squeegee sheet. Accordingly, the lower limit of the penetrating amount .delta. was selected to 1.0 mm to prevent the dropping of the toner even after about 1000 sheets were copied. However, as apparent from the above result, even when the penetrating amount .delta. of the squeegee sheet is set to 0.5 mm, the toner is not dropped through the end portions of the squeegee sheet. This shows the fact that the lower limit of the penetrating amount .delta. differs between the central portion and end portions of the squeegee sheet. This can be understood in consideration of the image distribution on the copied sheet.

That is to say, generally, in the copied sheets, both lateral end portions of the copied sheets are almost blank and have fewer images. To the contrary, images usually always exist in the central portions of the copied sheets. Thus, the image distribution differs between the central portions and end portions in the copied sheets. Accordingly, the amount of toner received by the end portions of the squeegee sheet is remarkably smaller than that received by the central portion of the squeegee sheet. Therefore, at the longitudinal end portions of the squeegee sheet, it is not feared that a large amount of toner is trapped on the edge portion of the sheet and is dropped due to the vibration of the image bearing member at the starting thereof, and/or a large amount of toner removed by the cleaning blade is dropped onto the squeegee sheet and overflows from the end portions of the squeegee sheet. For these reasons, the lower limit of the penetrating amount .delta. is selected to be 1.0 mm at the central portion of the squeegee sheet and 0.5 mm at both end portions thereof.

Now, the penetrating amount .delta. of the squeegee sheet in this embodiment was set to 1.5 mm at the central portion and 0.5 mm at both end portions, and the images were copied on 3000 sheets in this condition under a room temperature and humidity (23.degree. C., 65%). As a result, it was found that there was no dropping of the toner, the toner was not adhered on the both lateral end portions of the image bearing member, and good images could be obtained.

FIG. 89 shows an alteration of a squeegee sheet. A squeegee sheet 144b as shown has an upper edge portion 144b1 including obliquely cut upper end portions corresponding to areas where the urging force of the charger roller 142 is remarkably increased, thereby reducing the urging force of the squeegee sheet at those end portions. Further, the penetrating amount .delta. of the squeegee sheet other than the cut end portions is set to 2.0 mm, so that the dropping of the toner can be surely prevented. In this way, by forming the upper edge 144b1 of the squeegee sheet 144 by straight lines, the productivity of the squeegee sheet is improved, thus always providing the identical squeegee sheets.

Incidentally, the present invention is not limited to the cleaning device of the process cartridge, but can be applied to a cleaning device for an image forming system. This is similarly adopted to embodiments described hereinbelow.

FIGS. 90 and 91 show other embodiments. In the embodiment of FIG. 90, a squeegee sheet 144b having the uniform width or height is used. First of all, as shown in FIG. 90A, the squeegee sheet 144b is stuck to a temporarily deformed attachment surface 145, and then, as shown in FIG. 90B, by releasing the curvature of the attachment surface 145, a protruded height of the squeegee sheet is differentiated between the central portion and longitudinal end portions (L1>L2). With this arrangement, it is possible to reduce the urging force of the squeegee sheet at the end portions thereof below that at the central portion. Further, by sticking the squeegee sheet 144b to the temporarily deformed attachment surface 145a, when the curvature of the attachment surface is released, the tension force directed outwardly in the longitudinal direction is applied to the squeegee sheet 144b, thus preventing the occurrence of the undulation in the squeegee sheet 144b. This is particularly effective when using a thin squeegee sheet having a thickness of about 38 .mu.m (easily deformable) to always provide good toner receiving ability. Incidentally, generally, a squeegee sheet having a thickness of about 50 .mu.m has been used.

However, when the squeegee sheet is stuck in the manner as mentioned above, an attachment area for the squeegee sheet is decreased at a central portion of the attachment surface 145a. In this case, if it is tried to obtain the attachment area as great as possible, the lower edge 144b2 of the squeegee sheet 144b is often protruded from the attachment surface 145a as shown in FIG. 90B. The attachment area is important; if the adequate attachment area cannot be obtained, the stuck squeegee sheet is peeled from the attachment surface (particularly, the peeling of the sheet is promoted under the high temperature and high humidity condition), and the adhesion force of the adhesive such as the both-sided adhesive tape is weakened, thus causing the premature peeling of the sheet.

Thus, even when the squeegee sheet 144b is stuck in the above-mentioned method, in order to ensure the adequate attachment area, as shown in FIG. 92, the squeegee sheet is shaped to conform to the deformed attachment surface 145a. With this arrangement, it is possible to reduce the urging force of the squeegee sheet (L1>L2) while adequately utilizing the attachment area. Further, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of the undulation in the sheet, to always maintain the toner receiving ability and to prevent the adhesion of toner to the end portions of the image bearing member.

FIGS. 92 and 93 show still further embodiments. In these embodiments, the width of the attachment surface 145a differs between its central portion and both end portions. As shown in FIG. 92, the attachment surface 145a is so designed that the width L4 at both of its end portions is smaller than the width L3 at its central portion. With this arrangement, when the squeegee sheet 144b having the uniform width along its length is stuck to the attachment surface, the protruded height of the squeegee sheet 144b is differentiated so that it is longer at both of its end portions (L2) than that at the central portion (L1), thereby reducing the urging force of the squeegee sheet at both of its end portions. Accordingly, in this embodiment, since the squeegee sheet having the uniform width is used, the productivity is improved. Further, since the attachment surface 145a is convex at its central portion, the toner at the central portion of the squeegee sheet, where a large amount of toner is apt to be trapped due to the greater image distribution percentage, flows naturally toward the both end portions, thereby utilizing the capacity of the cleaning device effectively.

As mentioned above, since the width of the attachment surface 145a at the both end portions (L4) may be smaller than that at the central portion (L3), in an embodiment shown in FIG. 93, the end portion of the attachment surface 145a are obliquely and straightly cut at their upper surfaces. Further, only the attachment surface 145a is shaped as shown in FIG. 93, it is possible to reduce the urging force of the squeegee sheet 144b at both of its end portions lower than that at its central portion (L1<L2).

FIG. 94 shows the other embodiment. In this embodiment, a thickness of the squeegee sheet 144b is differentiated so that the thickness at its central portion (L5) is greater than those at both end portions (L6). With this arrangement, it is possible to reduce the urging force of the squeegee sheet 144b at its both end portions. Accordingly, in this embodiment, since the penetrating amount .delta. of the squeegee sheet 144b may not be reduced at its both end portions, the penetrating amount .delta. is uniformly set to 1.5 mm. As a result, it is possible to reduce the urging force of the squeegee sheet 144b while establishing the adequate toner receiving ability.

As mentioned above, in the squeegee sheets, cleaning devices, process cartridges and image forming systems according to the aforementioned embodiments, since the squeegee sheet is shaped (the same as the shape of the deformed attachment surface) to widen at its central portion (at the side of the attachment surface) in the longitudinal direction, it is possible to prevent the poor attachment of the squeegee sheet.

Further, in the squeegee sheet sticking method according to the aforementioned embodiments, since the tension is applied to the squeegee sheet by releasing the curvature of the attachment surface after the squeegee sheet is stuck to the pre-deformed attachment surface, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of the undulation in the squeegee sheet when the latter is attached to the cleaning container. Further, in the cleaning devices and the process cartridges including the above cleaning devices, since the notches are formed in the partition wall formed in the cleaning container and the thickness near the attachment surface of the cleaning container is smaller than the other, it is possible to easily curve the attachment surface without reducing the rigidity of the cleaner.

Further, in the cleaning device according to the aforementioned embodiment, since the tension is applied to the squeegee sheet by applying the outwardly directing forces to the frame after the squeegee sheet is attached to the frame, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of the undulation in the squeegee sheet.

Furthermore, in the cleaning devices according to the aforementioned embodiments, since the urging force of the squeegee sheet against the image bearing member is reduced at both of its end portions below that at its central portion, it is possible to reduce or prevent the adhesion of toner to both end portions of the image bearing member.

According to the present invention, by increasing the width of the squeegee sheet at its central portion, it is possible to provide a squeegee sheet, a cleaning device, a process cartridge and an image forming system, which can prevent the poor attachment of the squeegee sheet. Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily deform the attachment surface and to stick the squeegee sheet to the cleaning container without any undulation. Furthermore, it is possible to smoothly curve the attachment surface while maintaining the rigidity of the cleaner.

Further, according to the present invention, since the tension is applied to the squeegee sheet by applying the outwardly directing forces to the frame after the squeegee sheet is attached to the frame, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of the undulation in the squeegee sheet and to receive all of the toner removed by the cleaning blade. Therefore, good images can always be obtained.