Cleaning device, intermediate transfer unit including the same, and image forming apparatus including the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-8965240-B2
Application number	US-201314094036-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 2, 2013
Priority date	Nov 30, 2012
Publication date	Feb 24, 2015
Grant date	Feb 24, 2015

Abstract

A cleaning device includes a housing, a cleaning member, a contact member, a torque limiter, and an urging member. The housing has an opening that opposes an image carrier and a waste toner receiver. The cleaning member includes a rotation member that is rotated in a forward rotation direction. The cleaning member is positioned near the opening in the housing and removes residual toner from the surface of the image carrier. The contact member is positioned so as to be in contact with an outer peripheral surface of the rotation member. The torque limiter is located on a rotation shaft of the rotation member and is capable of rotating independently of the rotation shaft when a torque that is greater than or equal to a predetermined torque is applied to the torque limiter. The urging member applies an urging force to the torque limiter in a reverse rotation direction.

First claim

The invention is claimed as follows:

1. A cleaning device comprising:
a housing having an opening that opposes an image carrier and a waste toner receiver that receives toner that has been scraped off from a surface of the image carrier;
a cleaning member including a rotation member that is rotated in a forward rotation direction, the cleaning member being positioned near the opening in the housing and removes residual toner from the surface of the image carrier;
a contact mem…

Assignees

• Kyocera Document Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Yonemoto Satoru

Classifications

• G03G2215/0132

  Physics · mapped topic

• G03G15/161 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic