Patent ID: 7610008

Claim:
A cleaning device, comprising: an elastic blade whose tip is contacted with a surface of a rotated member in such a manner as to counter the rotated member to remove particles of a toner on the rotated member; and a holder configured to support the elastic blade, wherein a nip formed by a tip of longitudinal end portions of the blade and the surface of the rotated member has a first nip width in a rotation direction of the rotated member, and a nip formed by a tip of a central portion of the blade and the surface of the rotated member has a second nip width, the first nip width is less than the second nip width, and the elastic blade satisfies the following relationships Ac<Ae and 90°<Ac<140°, wherein Ac represents an angle of a tip edge of the central portion of the blade contacted with the surface of a photoreceptor, and Ae represents an angle of a tip edge of the end portions of the blade contacted with the surface of a photoreceptor.