Patent ID: 6311037
Filing Date: 2001-10-30
Classification: G03G

Abstract:
A cleaning method for an image-bearing member in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus of the type including an image-bearing member for bearing a toner image thereon, a transfer means for transferring the toner image from the image-bearing member to a recording medium at a transfer position, a drive mechanism for moving the image-bearing member, and a cleaning blade abutted against the image-bearing member for removing a transfer residual toner remaining on the image-bearing member after the transfer of the toner image to the recording medium in accordance with the movement of the image-bearing member, said method comprising the step of:disposing cleaning aid particles having a volume average particle size of 0.1-3 .mu.m smaller than that of the toner are caused to be resident in a width of 50-100 .mu.m along an upstream side of the cleaning blade with respect to the moving direction of the image-bearing member.