Claims
- 1. An image forming apparatus, comprising:an image carrying member configured to rotate and carry a toner image on a rotating surface thereof; an intermediate transfer member, facing and in contact with said image carrying member, configured to rotate and receive said toner image from said image carrying member during a first transfer operation which is performed one time in a mono color mode and which is repeated a plurality of times in a multiple color mode to overlay a plurality of mono color toner images in turn on said intermediate transfer member; a charging member configured to apply a charge to said intermediate transfer member to generate an electric field at a region where said image carrying member and said intermediate transfer member contact each other, said electric field generating a force for initiating said first transfer operation; a transfer mechanism, facing and in contact with said intermediate transfer member, configured to perform a second transfer operation for transferring said toner image from said intermediate transfer member to a transfer sheet; a cleaning member, in contact with said intermediate transfer member, configured to clean toner remaining on said intermediate transfer member after a completion of said second transfer operation; a discharging member configured to discharge a charge remaining on said intermediate transfer member by contacting a region of said intermediate transfer member which said cleaning member has cleaned off; a cleaning-member moving mechanism configured to move said cleaning member to contact and separate from said intermediate transfer member; and a discharging-member moving mechanism configured to move said discharging member to contact and separate from said intermediate transfer member, wherein said discharging-member moving mechanism and said cleaning-member moving mechanism are controlled to reduce an amount of non-cleaned surface area of said intermediate transfer member which said cleaning member has not cleaned off, in comparison with a case in which said discharging member and said cleaning member contact said intermediate transfer member at a same time.
- 2. An image forming apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said discharging-member moving mechanism moves said discharging member and said cleaning member respectively to contact and separate from said intermediate transfer member.
- 3. An image forming apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said discharging member is applied with at least one of a direct current bias, an alternating current bias, and direct and alternating current bias, to discharge said charge remaining on said intermediate transfer member.
- 4. An image forming apparatus comprising:an image carrying member configured to carry a toner image thereon; and a cleaning member configured to clean toner remaining on said image carrying member after carrying said toner image, wherein said cleaning member cleans off a surface of said image carrying member such that said toner remaining in an antecedent region of said image carrying member is electrically or magnetically removed, wherein said cleaning member is applied with a bias having a repulsive polarity relative to a polarity of said toner remaining on said image carrying member.
- 5. An image forming apparatus comprising:an image carrying member configured to carry a toner image thereon; a cleaning member configured to clean toner remaining on said image carrying member after carrying said toner image, wherein said cleaning member cleans off a surface of said image carrying member such that said toner remaining in an antecedent region of said image carrying member is electrically or magnetically removed; and a repulsive polarity member which contacts a rear surface of said image carrying member facing said cleaning member relative to said image carrying member, and which is applied with a bias to generate an electrical field in which said toner remaining on said image carrying member is forced to be removed therefrom.
- 6. A cleaning apparatus for cleaning an image carrying member of an image forming apparatus including an intermediate transfer member, comprising:a cleaning member, in contact with said intermediate transfer member, configured to clean said image carrying member to remove toner remaining thereon after said image carrying member completes carrying a toner image, wherein said cleaning member is applied with a repulsive polarity relative to a polarity of said toner remaining on said image carrying member.
- 7. An image forming apparatus, comprising:a cleaning member including a cleaning blade and configured to clean an image carrying member for carrying a toner image by contacting a surface of said image carrying member to remove toner remaining thereon after said image carrying member completes carrying a toner image; and a repulsive polarity member configured to be applied with a bias having a repulsive polarity relative to said toner remaining on said image carrying member, wherein said repulsive polarity member is positioned upstream from said cleaning blade relative to a moving direction of said image carrying member.
- 8. A cleaning apparatus for cleaning an image carrying member of an image forming apparatus, comprising:a cleaning member including a cleaning blade and configured to clean said image carrying member for carrying a toner image by contacting a surface of said image carrying member to remove toner remaining thereon after said image carrying member completes carrying a toner image; and a repulsive polarity member configured to be applied with a bias having a repulsive polarity relative to said toner remaining on said image carrying member, wherein said repulsive polarity member is positioned upstream from said cleaning blade relative to a moving direction of said image carrying member.
- 9. A method for cleaning an image carrying member of an image forming apparatus, comprising:providing a toner image to an image carrying member; transferring said toner image formed on said image carrying member onto a transfer member; positioning a cleaning member to contact said image carrying member after said image carrying member completes carrying said toner image to clean residual toner from said image carrying member; and creating an electric or magnetic field of a same polarity as a polarity of said residual toner at a region upstream from a point at which said image carrying member contacts said cleaning member to remove the residual toner remaining on said image carrying member by repelling said residual toner from said image carrying member before said cleaning member contacts said image carrying member.
Priority Claims (4)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
10-333074 |
Nov 1998 |
JP |
|
10-346334 |
Dec 1998 |
JP |
|
10-346365 |
Dec 1998 |
JP |
|
10-346435 |
Dec 1998 |
JP |
|
Parent Case Info
This application is a Division of application Ser. No. 09/828,851 filed on Apr. 10, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,505,024 which is a Divisional of application Ser. No. 09/448,760, filed Nov. 24, 1999 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,228.
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