Patent ID: 6970668

Claim:
A method of refurbishing a process cartridge that is detachably attachable to a body of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus and comprises an electrophotographic photosensitive drum, a charging unit configured and positioned to charge the electrophotographic photosensitive drum, and a development unit configured and positioned to develop a latent image formed on the electrophotographic photosensitive drum using a development roller, wherein the electrophotographic photosensitive drum and the charging unit are attached to the development unit, said method comprising: (a) a side plate removing step of removing first and second side plates disposed at both the lengthwise ends of the process cartridge; (b) a charging unit detaching step of detaching the charging unit from the development unit; (c) an electrophotographic photosensitive drum removing step of removing the electrophotographic photosensitive drum from the development unit; (d) a shaft extracting step of extracting a shaft from the electrophotographic photosensitive drum; (e) a shaft inserting step of inserting a shaft into a new electrophotographic photosensitive drum; (f) an electrophotographic photosensitive drum attaching step of attaching the new electrophotographic photosensitive drum to the development unit; (g) a charging unit attaching step of attaching the charging unit to the development unit to which the new electrophotographic photosensitive drum is attached; and (h) a positioning step of attaching the first and second side plates to the development unit to which the new electrophotographic photosensitive drum and the charging unit are attached, positioning the development unit and the charging unit with the first side plate as well as supporting the electrophotographic photosensitive drum movably in a direction perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of the process cartridge, and positioning the development unit, the charging unit and the electrophotographic photosensitive drum with the second side plate.