Patent ID: 8160470
Filing Date: 2012-04-17
Classification: G03G

Abstract:
1. An image forming apparatus, comprising: (a) a charging roller; (b) a cleaning roller for cleaning the charging roller, the cleaning roller being disposed in contact with an outer peripheral surface of the charging roller to remove foreign matters attached to the outer peripheral surface of the charging roller, the cleaning roller having a metal core and a polyurethane foam layer covering an outer peripheral surface of this metal core, the polyurethane foam layer including a number of cells, the number of cells per inch being 40 or more and 80 or less, and an open ratio of a wall surface of cells being 3% or more and 50% or less; (c) an electrostatic latent image bearing member for bearing an electrostatic latent image formed thereon; (d) the charging roller being disposed in contact with an outer peripheral surface of the electrostatic latent image bearing member for charging the outer peripheral surface of the electrostatic latent image bearing member; and (e) a pre-charging member for uniformly charging foreign matters attached on the outer peripheral surface of the charging roller uniform, the pre-charging member being disposed on an upstream side of the cleaning roller with respect to a rotational direction of the charging roller.