This invention relates generally to a cleaner apparatus, and more particularly concerns a toner contamination seal for a cleaner.
A single blade hybrid cleaner consists of a disturber brush and a doctor cleaning blade. Due to the unique cleaner configuration, as the brush and blade clean the imaging surface (e.g. photoreceptor or photoconductor), toner removed from the imaging surface accumulates at the cleaning edge of the blade and the brush nip. As a result, toner contamination of the xerographic area occurs when the cleaning edge of the blade is retracted from the imaging surface. The toner that has accumulated at the blade edge and brush nip, falls down the imaging surface length during retraction, contaminating charge devices, erase lamps, sensors and other xerographic devices. The toner contamination results in copy quality defects and decreased operating efficiency of various xerographic components. In order to achieve engineering reliability, service and customer satisfaction goals such toner contamination problems have to be eliminated.
The following disclosures may be relevant to various aspects of the present invention and may be briefly summarized as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,560 to Kanada describes a cleaning device provided with a blade adapted to contact the peripheral surface of a photosensitive drum and wipe residual toner off of the photosensitive drum. A duct is disposed separately from the blade, and is adapted to remove the toner wiped off by the blade by air suction. In the interval between the blade and the duct, there is disposed a sealing member which serves to prevent ambient air from entering the duct through the interval. This sealing member is fixed either on a stationary region of a holder for the blade or on the basal end part of the blade integrated with the holder or on the outer surface of the duct, and contacts the duct if mounted on the holder or the blade, or contacts the blade or holder if mounted on the duct.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,608 to Higaya et al. describes a cleaning method which includes the cleaning blade being brought into pressure contact with the photoreceptor at least prior to the movement of the photoconductor, and moving the cleaning blade away from the surface of the photoconductor after the movement of the photoconductor is stopped with completion of the copying process. A stationary seal member allows uncleaned toner on the drum to pass therethrough but does not permit the toner removed by the cleaning blade to pass therethrough.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,082 to Kiba describes a cleaning apparatus for removing toner remaining on a moving photoconductive member which has a resilient blade in bearing contact with surface of the photoconductive member and reciprocatingly movable laterally of the direction of movement of the surface, a seal member provided at each end of the photoconductive member and having a width in the direction of the lateral movement of the blade equal to at least the range of lateral movement of the corresponding end of the blade, the seal member being disposed in contact with the rear seal member being disposed in contact with the rear surface of the blade in the range of lateral movement of the blade end. Toner particles are thereby prevented from falling from the blade off the end of the photoconductive member.