Patent ID: 8023875

Claim:
A system for using fuser temperature cycling to change the rotational position of a fuser roller wiper relative to a fuser hot roll, comprising: a frame of a fuser unit having opposite side portions spaced apart from one another and positioned alongside a media path through the fuser unit, the fuser unit during normal operation undergoing increase and decrease in temperature; a hot roll rotatably mounted between the side portions and extending across the media path, the hot roll operable to undergo rotation in one direction during a fusing operation performed on media moving in the media path through the fuser unit, a fuser roller wiper rotatably mounted between the side portions and extending generally parallel to the hot roll such that one lengthwise section of the fuser roller wiper makes contact with and performs a wiping action on the hot roll; and a drive arrangement coupled to the fuser roller wiper and operable in response to decrease in temperature of the fuser unit to cause rotation of the fuser roller wiper in an other direction opposite to the one direction of rotation of the hot roll at their location of contact in order to bring another lengthwise section of the fuser roller wiper into contact with the hot roll; wherein said drive arrangement includes a one-way torque transmission mechanism drivingly connected to the fuser roller wiper of a fuser unit and being rotatable in the one and the other of opposite directions, the one-way torque transmission mechanism is capable of drivingly rotating the fuser roller wiper in the other direction as the one-way torque transmission mechanism is itself rotated in the same direction, the one-way torque transmission is also capable upon rotating in the one direction of preventing the fuser roller wiper from rotating in the one direction; and wherein said drive arrangement also includes an elongated member adapted to expand and contract in length in response to an increase and decrease in temperature of the elongated member due to corresponding temperature cycling of the fuser unit in the vicinity of the elongated member, the elongated member stationarily anchored at one end and extending therefrom in the vicinity of the fuser unit to and about the one-way torque transmission mechanism in a driving relationship therewith such that movement of the elongated member toward and away from the one-way torque transmission mechanism due to expansion and contraction of the length of the elongated member causes the one-way torque transmission mechanism to rotate correspondingly in the one and the other opposite directions.