Patent ID: 8588672

Claim:
A lubricant applicator, comprising: a solid lubricant; a lubricant applying member to apply the solid lubricant to a target object; a biasing member to bias the solid lubricant toward the lubricant applying member; a regulating member to regulate the solid lubricant, which is biased toward the lubricant applying member by the biasing member, to prevent the lubricant from separating from the lubricant applying member by more than a predetermined distance, the regulating member being switchable between a regulating state for regulating the solid lubricant not to separate from the lubricant applying member by more than the predetermined distance and a non-regulating state; a projecting switch projecting from the lubricant applicator; and a stopper, wherein the regulating member is switched externally between the regulating state and the non-regulating state.