Patent ID: 6374074
Filing Date: 2002-04-16
Classification: G03G

Abstract:
A cleaning apparatus comprising:a scraping member for removing a developing agent left on a rotatable drum-like image carrier, a tip portion of the scraping member being in contact with the image carrier; a receiving member located at an upstream side of the scraping member in a rotation direction of the image carrier, for receiving developing agent from the scraping member in contact with the image carrier; and a rotational body for feeding and recovering the developing agent received by the receiving member by rotating the developing agent in a predetermined direction, the rotational body rotating in the same direction as the image carrier; wherein, assuming that a rotation center of the image carrier is 01, a rotation center of the rotational body is 02, a contact point of the image carrier in contact with the scraping member is A, a contact point of the image carrier in contact with the receipt member is B, and further an angle between a line connecting the center 01 to the point A and a line connecting the center 01 to the center 02 is represented by a; and an angle between the line connecting the center 01 to the point A and a line connecting the center 01 and point B is represented by b, the rotational body is placed at a position satisfying an equation as to the angle a; 0&lE;a&lE;b/2. â€ƒsaid contact points A and B are located vertically above a center of the image carrier and above a horizontal line which passes through a center of the image carrier, and contact points A and B sandwich a vertical line which passed through a center of the image carrier.