Patent ID: 8892024

Claim:
A cartridge comprising: a casing; an image carrier disposed in the casing and configured to be rotated while carrying a developer and transfer the developer onto a recording sheet at a transfer position; and a separating member disposed in the casing and disposed downstream from the transfer position in a rotating direction of the image carrier, the separating member including a contact portion configured to contact the image carrier to separate the recording sheet from the image carrier, and an aperture defined by the separating member and configured to allow the developer to pass through the separating member from a first side of the separating member to a second side of the separating member opposite the first side, wherein the contact portion and the aperture are positioned in an imaginary plane perpendicular to an axial direction of the image carrier, and the aperture is positioned farther away from the image carrier than the contact portion, and wherein the separating member is formed substantially in an inverted V shape having the contact portion as an apex, the separating member further including first and second extending portions disposed on opposite sides of the aperture and extending away from the contact portion with an increasing width, where a distance continues to increase between an edge of the first extending portion and a closest point on a periphery of the aperture as the edge extends away from the contact portion and a distance continues to increase between an edge of the second extending portion and a closest point on the periphery of the aperture as the edge extends away from the contact portion.