Patent Application
20080063439
A more complete appreciation of the disclosure and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views, embodiments of the present disclosure, which are applied to a developer amount regulation blade structure, are described below.
In the following description, it is to be understood that if an element or layer is referred to as being “on,” “against,” “connected to” or “coupled to” another element or layer, then it may be either directly on, against, connected or coupled to that other element or layer or intervening elements or layers may be present. By contrast, if an element is referred to as being “directly on”, “directly connected to” or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, then there are no intervening elements or layers present. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
Spatially relative terms, such as “beneath”, “below”, “lower”, “above”, “upper” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over, elements described as “below” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “above” the other elements or features. Thus, a term such as “below” can encompass both an orientation of above and below. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly.
Although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, it should be understood that these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used only to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another region, layer or section. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the present invention.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes” and/or “including”, when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
In describing embodiments illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology is employed for the sake of clarity. However, the disclosure of this patent specification is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology so selected and it is to be understood that each specific element includes all technical equivalents that operate in a similar manner.
Referring now to the drawings, particularly to
In
As shown in
Half die cutting cylindrical projections 11B shown in
Penetration holes 13A having a diameter greater than an outer diameter of the cylindrical projections 11B are formed in the regulation blade 13 at positions corresponding to the cylindrical projections 11B. Penetration holes 12A having a diameter smaller than the outer diameter of the cylindrical projections 11B are formed in the second supporting member 12 at positions corresponding to the cylindrical projections 11B. The regulation blade 13 is arranged between the first supporting member 11 and the second supporting member 12, as shown in
In this example 1, the developer amount regulation blade structure 10 has a structure such that the regulation blade 13 is tightened between the first supporting member 11 and the second supporting member 12 by pressing the cylindrical projections 11B into the penetration holes 12A. Therefore, it is inexpensive to assemble the developer amount regulation blade structure 10 and its working efficiency is improved. Further, it is not easily susceptible to the influence of changes in environment even if different materials are used in assembly, and it has a good flatness.
When the regulation blade 13 has a thickness of 0.1 mm or smaller, the regulation blade 13 is pressed against the first supporting member 11 with the second supporting member 12 by plastic deformation of heads 11C of the cylindrical projections 11B due to applied external force. Since the peripheral wall of the penetration holes 12A of the second supporting member 12 deforms by the plastic deformation of the cylindrical projections 11B, the portions of the regulation blade 13 corresponding to the peripheral wall of the penetration holes 12A may deform to have a waveform. However, in this example 1, the heads 11C of the cylindrical projections 11B do not plastically deform, thus assuring that the regulation blade 13 is flat.
When the regulation blade 13, the first supporting member 11, and the second supporting member 12 are made of different materials, coefficients of linear expansion thereof are different. However, a gap G exists between the penetration holes 13A of the regulation blade 13 and the cylindrical projections 11B to accommodate differences in the coefficients of linear expansion of such different materials. Since the gap G prevents growth and shrinkage of the first supporting member 11 brought about by temperature change from being transmitted to the regulation blade 13, waveform of the regulation blade 13 due to such temperature change is reduced.
In this example 1, the first supporting member 11 has 12 cylindrical projections 11B. However, at least 2 cylindrical projections 11B are enough to assemble the developer amount regulation blade structure 10.
In this example 1, the first supporting member 11 has the cylindrical projections 11B and the penetration holes 12A are formed in the second supporting member 12. Alternatively, however, the second supporting member 12 may have the cylindrical projections, with the penetration holes formed in the first supporting member 11.
Even if the heads 11C of the cylindrical projections 11B′ plastically deform and they are fitted into the second supporting member 12, and the regulation blade 13 is pressed against the first supporting member 11 with the second supporting member 12 by such plastic deformation, the flatness of the regulation blade 13 is not affected because the cylindrical projections 11B′ are located at both end portions.
In this example 2, the first supporting member 11 has 12 cylindrical projections 11B. However, at least 3 cylindrical projections 11B are enough to assemble the developer amount regulation blade structure 10, and the cylindrical projections 11B at both end portions have enough plastic deformation to enable them to be attached.
In this example 3, the first supporting member 11 has the cylindrical projections 11B and the penetration holes 12A are formed in the second supporting member 12.
Alternatively, however, the second supporting member 12 may have the cylindrical projections and the penetration holes may be formed in the first supporting member 11.
Moreover, although in this example 3 the beveling part 12B is provided in the penetration hole 12A′, it is not necessary that such beveling part 12B be provided in the penetration hole 12A′.
In example 3 described above, the cylindrical projections 11B are formed by press processing. On the other hand, as shown in
The regulation blade 13 is located between the first supporting member 11 and the second supporting member 12. As shown in
In this example 4, the first supporting member 11 has the cylindrical projections 11B and the penetration holes 12A are formed in the second supporting member 12.
Alternatively, however, the second supporting member 12 may have the cylindrical projections 11B and the penetration holes 12A may be formed in the first supporting member 11.
It should be noted that, in the above-described embodiments, descriptions are provided using examples in which the subject matter of the present disclosure is applied to the electrophotographic image forming apparatus. However, it is to be understood that the subject matter of the present disclosure may be applied to other image forming apparatuses such as printers, facsimiles and so forth, and also to a multi-functional image forming apparatus.
The embodiments being thus described, it should be apparent to one skilled in the art after reading this patent specification that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, and all such modifications as would be apparent to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006-242338 | Sep 2006 | JP | national |
