JP2010039233A - Brush roller for use in image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To restrain dispersion of density of brush piles in a brush roller using a brush fiber fabric in which brush piles are not planted at the end (selvage) of a base fabric. <P>SOLUTION: A toner supply roller 52 as an example of the brush roller includes a hollow cylindrical core bar 521 and a brush fiber fabric 523 wound round the core bar 521. The brush fiber fabric 523 is provided with a belt-like shape to be spirally wound round the core bar 521. The surface of the core bar 521 is provided with a spiral recessed part 522 to store the mutually opposite brush pile appearing surfaces of the brush fiber fabric 523. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a brush roller used in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine or a combination machine combining two or more of them, and in particular, a toner supply roller, a cleaning roller or a charging roller. The present invention relates to a brush roller that can be suitably used for, for example.

  In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, or a combination machine combining two or more of them, which normally forms a toner image, an electrostatic latent image is usually formed on an image carrier such as a photosensitive member in an exposure process. And developing the electrostatic latent image in a development process to form a visible toner image, and transferring the visible toner image to a recording medium such as a recording paper in a transfer process, or temporarily using an intermediate transfer belt or the like The toner image transferred to the recording medium in the fixing process can be fixed on the recording medium by primary transfer to the intermediate transfer body, secondary transfer from the intermediate transfer body to the recording medium.

  In the developing process, the developing roller attaches electrostatically charged toner to the electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor. Toner is supplied to the developing roller by a toner supply roller. Conventionally, a sponge material roller has been used as the toner supply roller. The toner must be supplied uniformly to the developing roller by the toner supply roller. In this respect, the sponge material roller is suitable, but in addition to the reverse rotation of the developing roller and the toner supply roller, the surface friction resistance of the sponge material is large, which causes a problem that the rotation resistance of the roller is large. Was.

  On the other hand, the image forming apparatus described above is equipped with many rollers. Among them, there is a brush roller in which a brush pile (brush hair) made of brush fibers is planted on a base fabric, and the base fabric is adhered to a cylindrical core metal (in addition, “core metal” It refers to the structure that forms the skeleton of the roller and does not necessarily have to be metal). This brush roller has a low contact resistance, and even if it is used as a toner supply roller, the problem that the rotational resistance of the roller is large does not easily occur.

  However, in many cases, this brush roller is manufactured by winding a base fabric spirally around a core metal, but the density of the brush pile becomes sparse at the joint (also referred to as a joint) of the base fabric. Density varies. For this reason, there is a problem that the toner cannot be uniformly supplied to the developing roller because the brush pile is not a uniformly distributed roller. This is because when the brush pile is planted to the side end side (ear side) of the base fabric, the brush pile is easily removed, so that the brush pile is planted only to the inside slightly from the side end edge (ear end) of the base fabric. For this reason, the density of the brush pile becomes sparse at the joints between the base fabrics where the ear sides are matched.

  To solve such a problem, although not a toner supply roller, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-56538 (Patent Document 1) discloses a roller-shaped charging brush for realizing uniform charging in an image forming apparatus. This charging brush is a charging brush that is rotated in contact with a charged body in order to charge the charged body. A conductive core rod and a strip-shaped conductive brush wound around the core rod in a spiral shape The conductive brush base material is obtained by implanting conductive brush hairs in a belt-like base material, and the conductive brush base material has a bristle density and a conductive property adjacent to each other on the core bar. Wrap around the core rod so that the adjacent conductive brush substrate side edge portions overlap each other on the core rod so that the brush hair density at the joint portion of the brush substrate side edge portion becomes uniform. It is characterized by being.

  According to this charging brush, the conductive brush base material wound spirally around the conductive core rod has the conductive brush hairs implanted in the belt-shaped substrate. The conductive brush base material is formed on the core bar so that the brush bristle density and the brush bristle density at the joint portion of each adjacent conductive brush base side edge on the core bar are made uniform. Are wound around the core bar so that the adjacent edge portions of the conductive brush bases overlap each other. Accordingly, the charged object can be charged uniformly and stably. For example, even when used as a main charging device for charging the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier prior to image exposure, image noise (image noise due to so-called winding unevenness) is generated. Occurrence can be suppressed.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-146713 (Patent Document 2) discloses a charging brush that can uniformly charge the outer periphery of a photoreceptor. This charging brush is a charging brush in which a long base cloth in which conductive fibers having elasticity are planted is wound around a shaft having a circular cross-sectional shape and spirally fixed. It is characterized in that the strength of the waist of the fiber planted outside is set weaker than the fiber planted in the center in the direction.

  According to this charging brush, the fiber bends in a direction to be elastically tilted when pressed against the outer periphery of the photoreceptor, but the fiber planted on the outside of the fiber planted on the center of the base fabric is more Since the strength of the waist is weak and the amount of flexure is large, the contact area of the outer side fibers with respect to the photoreceptor increases compared to the fibers in the center of the base fabric. Thereby, the fall of the density of the fiber in the outer side of a base fabric is compensated.

  Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-114195 (Patent Document 3) discloses a brush roller disposed so as to be in contact with the surface of a charged body in order to charge the charged body. This brush roller is formed by providing a strip-shaped conductive brush on the outer periphery of a conductive shaft, and is characterized in that the brush density on the seam side of the strip-shaped conductive brush is higher than that of other portions.

  According to this brush roller, by increasing the brush density at the joint of the brush of the brush roller, the difference between the number of brushes in contact with the member to be charged in the portion other than the joint and the number of brushes in contact with the member to be charged near the joint is small. The charge is made uniform.

JP 2000-56538 A JP-A-8-146713 JP-A-9-114195

  However, in the case where the roller diameter is small, the charging brush disclosed in Patent Document 1 can be wound around the core bar so that the adjacent conductive brush base-side edge portions overlap each other on the core bar. Difficult cases can be assumed. In addition, the charging brush disclosed in Patent Document 2 is difficult to set by appropriately changing the strength of the waist of the brush pile planted on the base fabric depending on the site of the base fabric. In the charging brush disclosed in (1), it is difficult to appropriately change and set the density of the brush piles planted on the base fabric depending on the site of the base fabric. That is, it is a brush fiber cloth in which a brush pile having a uniform density and a uniform waist strength is planted except at the edge of the base fabric, and the brush pile is implanted at the base fabric end (ear). It is difficult to suppress variation in the density of the brush piles in a brush roller using an unfinished brush fiber cloth.

  Accordingly, the present invention provides a brush roller in which a brush fiber cloth is wound around a core rod, which is used in an image forming apparatus that forms an image by an electrophotographic method, and the brush fiber cloth is implanted with a brush pile in addition to the base cloth end. It is an object of the present invention to provide a brush roller that suppresses variation in the density of brush piles even when the brush pile is not planted at the end of the base fabric.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides the following brush roller.
A brush roller used in an image forming apparatus that forms an image by electrophotography,
The brush roller includes a hollow cylindrical core rod and a belt-like brush fiber cloth wound spirally around the core rod, and the brush fiber cloth is planted with a brush pile in addition to the base cloth end. It was set up,
The core rod is provided with a notch penetrating from the outer surface of the cylinder to the inner peripheral surface in a spiral shape,
At the base fabric end where the brush pile is not planted at the joint of the brush fiber cloth wound around the core rod, the cutouts are made by facing the base fabric ends of the surfaces where the brush pile appears facing each other. Brush roller housed in

  When manufacturing a brush roller, it is efficient to wrap a belt-like brush fiber cloth spirally around a cylindrical core rod. At this time, the end portions of the base cloth where the brush pile is not planted are brought into contact with each other at the joint of the spirally wound brush fibers. If the base fabric end portions simply come into contact with each other, the brush pile is not planted in that portion, so that the density of the brush pile becomes spirally sparse. In the brush roller according to the present invention, the surfaces where the brush piles appear (this surface is the edge of the base fabric and the brush piles are not planted) are opposed to each other (facing each other), and the inner surface from the outer surface of the cylinder. It is stored in a spiral cutout that penetrates the core rod on the peripheral surface. At this time, the base fabric end portions of the seams are stacked so as to be sandwiched between the notches. In this way, the parts where the brush piles are not planted face each other and are stored in the notch, so that the part where the density of the brush piles that appeared spirally on the roller surface does not appear it can. For this reason, the part where the density of the brush pile is sparse is hidden from the roller surface, and it is possible to suppress the occurrence of density variation in the brush pile appearing spirally on the roller surface.

  The brush roller according to the present invention includes, for example, a charging brush roller and a visible toner image used for charging an electrostatic latent image carrier (photosensitive member) in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer prior to image exposure. A toner supply roller that supplies toner to a developing roller that forms the toner on the electrostatic latent image carrier, and a toner that remains on the electrostatic latent image carrier after transfer of the toner image and a toner that remains on the intermediate transfer belt. It can be used for a cleaning roller or the like used when removing.

  When the hollow cylindrical core rod material is elastically deformable, the width of the notch in a state where the base fabric end portion is not accommodated in the notch is based on the surface where the brush pile appears. The thickness of the fabric end portion is narrower than the overlapping thickness, and the base fabric end portion stored in the notch portion facing each other is sandwiched between the notches by the elastic restoring force of the core rod. it can. Since the notch has a spiral shape that penetrates the core rod from the outer surface of the cylinder to the inner peripheral surface, the width of the notch is widened by twisting the core rod in the direction opposite to the spiral winding direction. In this state, when the overlapping part of the base fabric end where the brush pile is not planted is faced in the notch and then the twist is released, the core rod is elastically deformed and the notch is narrowed. The overlap of the fabric end can be sandwiched between the cutouts.

  Further, when the material of the hollow cylindrical core rod is plastically deformable, the width of the notch before the base cloth end is accommodated in the notch is the width of the base cloth between the faces where the brush pile appears. The thickness of the base fabric end that is larger than the overlapping thickness of the portions and is stored in the notch portion so as to face each other is deformed into the notch by plastic deformation due to twisting of the core rod in the direction of narrowing the notch width. It can be made to be pinched. Since the notch has a spiral shape that penetrates the core rod from the outer surface of the cylinder to the inner peripheral surface, the width of the notch is reduced by twisting the core rod in the same direction as the winding direction of the spiral. When not twisted, put the overlapping part of the base fabric end where the brush pile is not planted facing each other into the notch, and then twisting the core will plastically deform and the notch will narrow, The overlap of the end portions of the base fabric can be sandwiched between the cutouts.

  Further, the brush roller may further include a disk-shaped flange member provided at both end portions of the hollow cylindrical core rod. Since the notch has a spiral shape that penetrates the core rod from the cylindrical outer surface to the inner peripheral surface, the width of the notch changes when the core rod is twisted. Since the flange member is provided at both end portions of the core rod, the end portions are prevented from relatively rotating. For this reason, it can suppress that a core rod is twisted and can suppress that a brush fiber cloth slips out from a notch.

  Further, the flange member has a recess for fitting the brush fiber cloth and the thickness of the circumferential portion of the core rod, and the flange members are connected to each other by a connecting member passed through the core rod. Can be configured to be linked. The brush fiber cloth and the thickness of the circumferential portion of the core rod are matched and fitted in the recess. Since the flanges are connected to each other at both side portions of the core rod by the connecting members that are fitted in this way and passed through the core rod, the relative rotation of the end portions can be suppressed.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is a brush roller in which a brush fiber cloth is wound around a core rod, which is used in an image forming apparatus that forms an image by an electrophotographic method, and the brush fiber cloth is other than the edge of the base cloth. Even if the brush pile is planted and the brush pile is not implanted at the end of the base fabric, a brush roller can be provided in which variation in the density of the brush pile is suppressed.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals. Their names and functions are also the same. Therefore, detailed description thereof will not be repeated.

Below, the brush roller which concerns on embodiment of this invention is demonstrated.
[Image forming apparatus to which brush roller is applied]
FIG. 1 shows an example A of an image forming apparatus to which the brush roller according to the present embodiment is applied.

  The image forming apparatus A shown in FIG. 1 is a monochrome printer. The image forming apparatus A to which the brush roller according to the present invention is applied is a color image forming apparatus (typically full-color image forming) that can form an image using two or more colors of toner even in such a monochrome image forming apparatus. Apparatus).

  In the image forming apparatus A, the photosensitive member 1 is charged by the charging unit 2, and an electrostatic latent image is captured on the photosensitive member 1 by the image exposure unit 4 including a semiconductor laser, various lenses, a polygon mirror, and the like. The electrostatic latent image is developed into a toner image by the unit 5, the toner image is transferred to the recording medium S (hereinafter sometimes referred to as recording paper S) by the transfer unit 6, and then the toner is applied to the recording medium S by the fixing unit 7. The image is fixed and discharged to a discharge unit (not shown).

  The image forming apparatus A includes a drum-type negatively chargeable photoreceptor 1 that is driven to rotate, and the surface of the photoreceptor 1 is a corona discharge charging unit 2 to which a charging voltage is applied from a charging power supply device 3. The toner is uniformly charged to a predetermined potential, and an image exposure unit 4 performs image exposure from the image exposure unit 4 to form an electrostatic latent image. The latent image is negatively charged using the developing roller 51 of the developing unit 5. By reversal development, a visible toner image can be formed. The toner T is supplied to the developing roller 51 of the developing unit 5 by the toner supply roller 52.

  The visible toner image formed on the photoreceptor 1 is transferred to a recording medium S such as transfer paper (recording paper) supplied one by one from the paper feed tray. The recording medium S onto which the toner image has been transferred by the transfer unit 6 is heated and pressed by the fixing unit 7 so that the toner image is fixed on the recording medium S and becomes a monochrome image. The recording medium S on which the toner image is fixed in this manner is discharged onto the discharge tray by the discharge roller pair of the discharge unit. After the transfer, the transfer residual toner on the photoreceptor 1 is removed and cleaned by the cleaning roller 8 and / or the cleaning blade.

  In such an image forming apparatus A, the brush roller according to the present embodiment is preferably applied to the toner supply roller 52. In FIG. 1, the photosensitive member 1 rotates counterclockwise, the developing roller 51 rotates clockwise, and the toner supply roller 52 rotates clockwise. When the rotation direction of the developing roller 51 and the toner supply roller 52 is opposite and a roller with a sponge material having a high surface friction resistance is used as the toner supply roller 52, the rotation resistance is large. On the other hand, the brush roller according to the present embodiment has low surface friction resistance and low rotation resistance. In this regard, it is preferable to use the brush roller according to the present embodiment as the toner supply roller 52. Further, the brush roller according to the present embodiment can also be applied to the cleaning roller 8. Furthermore, the brush roller according to the present embodiment can also be applied to a charging roller that charges the photosensitive member 1 prior to image exposure when the charging unit 2 is constituted by a charging roller. In the following description, it is assumed that the brush roller according to the present embodiment is applied to the toner supply roller 52. The toner supply roller 52 is a conductive roller.

  The image forming apparatus A can be a so-called four-cycle full-color image forming apparatus by using a developing unit as described below. A yellow developing unit, a magenta developing unit, a cyan developing unit, and a black developing unit are mounted on a rack that is driven to rotate the developing unit. These four-color developing units are configured in, for example, cartridges that are detachable from a rack. An electrostatic latent image corresponding to each color is sequentially formed on the photoconductor 1 based on image data of each color of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, and the latent image corresponding to one color is formed each time the latent image is formed. The image is developed by a developing unit corresponding to the color among the four color developing units. The toner images of the respective colors sequentially formed on the photosensitive member 1 in this way are primarily transferred to an intermediate transfer belt (an example of an intermediate transfer member) every time one toner image is formed, and first. The toner image is transferred onto the transferred toner image. The multiple toner images formed on the intermediate transfer belt in this way are secondarily transferred to a recording medium S such as transfer paper supplied one by one from the paper feed tray, and are heated and pressed on the recording medium by a fixing unit. To become a full color image. The brush roller according to the present embodiment can be applied to a toner supply roller that supplies toner of each color in such a full-color image forming apparatus, or to a cleaning roller that removes and cleans transfer residual toner on the intermediate transfer belt after transfer. It is also possible to apply. In addition, the brush roller according to the present embodiment can be applied to a tandem type full-color image forming apparatus.

  As described above, in the image forming apparatus that forms an image by the electrophotographic method, the brush roller according to the present embodiment is desired to rotate with a small contact resistance, for example, and a roller (conductive, non-conductive) that requires uniformity. Application (regardless of conductivity) (charging roller, toner supply roller, cleaning roller, etc.) is preferable.

[Brush roller configuration]
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the toner supply roller 52 to which the brush roller according to the present embodiment is applied. FIG. 2 shows a state before the brush fiber cloth 523 is wound around the hollow cylindrical core rod 521.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the toner supply roller 52 includes a core rod 521 and a brush fiber cloth 523 wound around the core rod 521. The brush fiber cloth 523 has a belt-like shape wound around the core rod 521 in a spiral shape. The core bar 521 is provided with a spiral notch 522 that accommodates a portion that penetrates between the outer peripheral surface and the inner surface of the core rod 521 and faces the base fabric 524B at the end of the brush fiber cloth 523. As will be described in detail later, the width of the notch 522 is such that the base fabric 524B is not sandwiched in the notch 522 that is not twisted in either the direction of the white arrow in FIG. In the case of deformation) or in a state before sandwiching (in the case of plastic deformation), it is as follows. When the core bar 521 is a material that can be elastically deformed, the width of the notch 522 is wider than the two pieces of the base cloth 524B, and when the core bar 521 is a material that can be plastically deformed, The width of the notch 522 is narrower than two sheets of the base fabric 524B.

  A brush fiber cloth 523 is spirally wound around a core rod 521 provided with a notch 522 in a direction indicated by a black curved arrow in FIG. In this way, the belt-like brush fiber cloth 523 is spirally wound around the core rod 521, the base fabric 524A is placed along the cylindrical surface of the core rod 521, and the base fabric 524B is sandwiched between the cutout portions 522. Go. In this case, for example, the brush roller can be efficiently manufactured by rotating the core rod 521 and winding the brush fiber cloth 523 obliquely in contact with the core rod 521.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the portion of the base fabric 524 of the brush fiber fabric 523 facing the base fabrics 524B where the brush piles 525 are not planted is housed in the notch 522. The base fabric 524B is a portion of the base fabric that is not the base fabric 524A in the portion where the brush pile 525 is planted, and is a portion where the ear portion where the brush pile 525 is not planted is bent. The base fabric 524 includes a base fabric 524A along the cylindrical surface of the core bar 521 and a base fabric 524B stored in the notch 522. The structure of the brush fiber cloth 523 accommodated in the notch 522 will be described below.

[Cross-sectional structure of brush fiber cloth]
When the brush pile is planted up to the side end side (ear side) of the brush fiber cloth 523, the brush pile is easily removed. Therefore, the brush pile is planted only to the inside slightly from the side edge (ear end) of the base fabric. . In the toner supply roller 52 according to the present embodiment, the brush pile 525 is planted in the brush fiber cloth 523 in order to prevent the density of the brush pile from becoming sparse at the joints of the brush fiber cloth 523 where the ear sides are aligned. The base fabrics 524B that are not provided are stored in the notch portion 522 with the surfaces on which the brush piles 525 appear facing each other.

  FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a toner supply roller 52 that is an example of the brush roller according to the present embodiment. As shown in this figure, the brush fiber cloth 523 is obtained by implanting a brush pile 525 on a base cloth 524. In addition, brush pile 525 is not implanted in base cloth 524B at the side edge (ear end) of base cloth 524 in order to prevent brush pile 525 from falling off. Such a brush fiber cloth 523 is generally made by weaving a warp or weft double woven fabric, cutting a part of the warp or weft at an appropriate position, and applying fluff (brush) on the surface of the fabric. A pile or pile). Due to the structure of a general woven fabric, the intersection of the warp and the weft is easy to come off at the ear part. Therefore, when the brush pile 525 is formed up to this ear part, the brush pile 525 falls off when the crossing of the warp and the weft comes off. End up. For this reason, the brush pile 525 is not formed in the ear portion where the crossing of the warp and the weft is easy to come off. Note that a structure in which a bundle of piles is sewn in a U shape by fibers of the background constituting the base fabric 524 may be used.

  Conventionally, for example, the base fabrics 524B of the side edge (ear end) where the brush pile 525 of the brush fiber cloth 523 is not implanted are abutted (straight without being bent as shown in FIG. 3). For this reason, in the brush fiber cloth 523, the part which does not have the brush pile 525 arises in the face part. That is, the density of the brush pile is sparse at the joint of the brush fiber cloth 523 where the ear ends are aligned.

  On the other hand, in the toner supply roller 52 as an example of the brush roller according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the brush pile 525 at the joint of the brush fiber cloth 523 wound around the core rod 521 is provided. About the base fabric 524B of the ear end which is not implanted, the surfaces where the brush pile 525 appears are opposed to each other. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 3, in the brush fiber cloth 523, it is suppressed that the space | interval of the brush pile 525 between the brush fiber cloths 523 which faced | matched becomes large. That is, the density of the brush piles is not sparse at the joints of the brush fiber cloth 523 where the ear ends are matched.

  Then, the surface (the left and right outer surfaces of the base fabric 524B) on which the opposed brush pile 525 appears at the end of the ear where the brush pile 525 is not implanted is housed in the notch 522 of the core bar 521. In the toner supply roller 52 thus configured, the length of the brush pile 525 may be trimmed after the brush fiber cloth 523 is attached to the core bar 521.

  In the brush roller configured in this way, the brush pile 525 is not implanted in the base cloth 524B which is the ear portion of the brush fiber cloth 523, and the density of the brush pile is also at the joint where the ear portions contact each other. It is possible to achieve a uniform brush pile density by suppressing sparseness.

[Stuck in the cutout of the base fabric]
As described above, a method of sandwiching the base fabric 524B into the cutout portion 522 in the toner supply roller 52 which is an example of the brush roller according to the present embodiment will be described in detail below. This sandwiching method includes a first method using elastic deformation of the core rod 521 and a second method using plastic deformation of the core rod 521. The first method and the second method relate to the method of manufacturing the brush roller according to the present embodiment.

  The first method uses a material that can be elastically deformed as the material of the core rod 521. The core rod 521 is twisted to increase the width of the cutout portion 522 of the elastically deformable core rod 521. At that time, the base fabric 524B of the brush fiber cloth 523 (the brush pile 525 is not implanted). And are inserted into the notch 522. When the core rod 521 is twisted in the direction opposite to the spiral winding direction (the direction of the white arrow in FIG. 2), the width of the notch 522 is increased. In this state, the overlapping portions of the base fabric 524B at the end portion where the brush pile 525 is not planted face each other in the notch portion 522, and then twisting is released.

  When the twist is released, the elastically deformable core rod 521 is elastically deformed, and the width of the notch 522 is narrowed. Thereby, the overlap of the base fabric 524B can be sandwiched between the cutout portions 522 with sufficient force. The width of the cutout portion 522 is narrower than the overlapping thickness of the base fabric 524B in which the brush pile 525 is not planted in a state where the twist is released, and a sufficient gripping force is expressed. It is preferable that the thickness is larger than the overlapping thickness of the base fabric 524B in which the brush pile 525 is not implanted in a state where the twist is applied so as to spread, so that pinching can be easily performed.

  In this way, the base cloth 524B at the end of the brush fiber cloth 523 is sandwiched between the notches 522 by elastic deformation of the core bar 521 when twisting is released (deformation to return to the original shape). Can be held.

  The second method uses a plastically deformable material for the material of the core bar 521. In a state where the core bar 521 is not twisted, the base fabric 524B of the brush fiber cloth 523 (without the brush pile 525) is overlapped with the notch 522 of the core bar 521 that can be plastically deformed, and the notch 522 is overlapped. Sandwiched between. Thereafter, when the core rod 521 is twisted in the same direction as the spiral winding direction (the direction opposite to the white arrow in FIG. 2), the width of the notch 522 is reduced. That is, twisting is applied after the overlapping portions of the base fabric 524B at the end where the brush pile 525 is not implanted face each other in the notch 522.

  When the torsion is applied, the plastically deformable core rod 521 is plastically deformed, and the width of the notch 522 is narrowed (permanently). Thereby, the overlap of the base fabric 524B can be sandwiched between the cutout portions 522 with sufficient force. The width of the notch 522 is wider than the overlapping thickness of the base fabric 524B where the brush pile 525 is not implanted in a state where the twist is released, so that the notch 522 can be easily inserted. It is preferable that a sufficient gripping force is developed by being narrower than the overlapping thickness of the base cloth 524B in which the brush pile 525 is not implanted in a state where the twist is applied so as to narrow the width.

  In this way, the base fabric 524B at the end of the brush fiber cloth 523 is sandwiched and held by the notch portion 522 by plastic deformation (substantially permanent deformation) of the core rod 521 when torsion is applied. be able to.

[Holding pinching]
When the width of the cutout portion 522 of the core bar 521 is changed (particularly widened) by the rotation of the toner supply roller 52 which is an example of the brush roller according to the present embodiment, the base cloth 524B comes out of the cutout portion 522. The density of the brush pile may not be uniform. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 4, disc-shaped flanges 53 each having a rotation shaft 531 are provided at both end portions of a hollow cylindrical core rod 521. FIG. 4A shows a cross-sectional view before the flange 53 is fitted, and FIG. 4B shows a cross-sectional view after the flange 53 is fitted.

  As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the flange 53 includes a disk-shaped plate portion 532, and a rotating shaft 531 is provided on the plate portion 532 on the opposite surface of the core rod 521 side. The rotation shaft 531 is the rotation center axis of the core rod 521. The plate portions 532 of the left and right flanges 53 are connected to each other by a center connecting rod 534 that coincides with the center of rotation of the core rod 521. Each end portion 534A of the center connecting rod 534 penetrates the plate portion 532 and protrudes outward, and the rotating shaft 531 is screwed thereto, for example, so that the rotating shaft 531, the plate portion 532 and the center connecting rod 534 are integrated. It is said that. Further, on the inner surface of the plate portion 532, a concave portion 533 for fitting the base fabric 524A of the brush fiber cloth 524 and the thickness of the circumferential portion of the core rod 521 is formed into a cylindrical end shape formed by the core rod 521. It is provided in a circular shape that matches. It should be noted that at least one of the two flanges 53 needs to be configured by such screwing or the like (necessity for assembling the brush roller). The plate portion 532 and the center connecting rod 534 may be integrated by joining. As for the screwing, it is preferable that the screw is screwed with a screw in a direction not loosened by the rotation of the toner supply roller 52 which is an example of the brush roller according to the present embodiment.

  The base cloth is notched into the notch by either of the two methods described above, and as shown in FIG. 4A, the flange 53 is approached from the left and right to the core rod 521 around which the brush fiber cloth 523 is spirally wound. 4B, the base fabric 524A of the brush fiber cloth 523 and the circumferential portion of the core bar 521 are fitted into the recess 533. Further, the opposite side shown in FIG. 4B is similarly fitted, and the left and right flanges 53 are connected by the center connecting rod 534.

  The flange 53 connected by the center connecting rod 534 holds the core rod 521 and the brush fiber cloth 523, and the relative rotation of these flanges 53 is suppressed. For this reason, since the core bar 521 is not twisted, the width of the cutout part 522 of the core bar 521 is not changed, and the base cloth 524B is removed from the cutout part 522 even if the toner supply roller 52 rotates. The brush pile density can be stably and uniformly maintained without slipping out.

  As described above, the brush roller according to the present embodiment has a small rotational resistance and a brush pile with a uniform density. When such a brush roller is applied to, for example, a toner supply roller, the rotational resistance is small and the toner T can be uniformly supplied to the developing roller 51. When the brush roller according to the present embodiment is applied to the cleaning roller, the transfer residual toner can be uniformly removed and cleaned. Furthermore, when the brush roller according to the present embodiment is applied to a charging (charging) roller, the photoconductor and the like can be uniformly charged to a predetermined potential.

<Modification>
Below, the modification of the brush roller which concerns on embodiment of this invention is demonstrated.

  (1) You may make it accept | permit the overlap of the brush pile in a notch part. In the above-described embodiment, the brush pile 525 is not allowed to overlap at the joint of the brush fiber cloth 523, and the surfaces on which the brush pile 525 of the base cloth 524B appears are opposed to each other and stored in the notch 522. However, in this modification, the brush pile 525 is allowed to overlap at the joint of the brush fiber cloth 523, and the surfaces on which the brush pile 525 of the base cloth 524B appears are opposed to each other and stored in the notch 522. .

  In this way, in the brush fiber cloth 523, in addition to suppressing the portion of the brush fiber cloths 523 that do not have the brush piles 525 from being enlarged, a part of the brush pile cloth 523 has a portion of the brush piles 523. 525 can overlap. Thereby, the part in which the brush pile 525 does not exist can be eliminated more reliably.

  At this time, at the joint, it is possible to assume that the brush pile 525 falls down and the density of the brush pile is higher than the density of other portions, but it is more preferable that the possibility of leaving a portion where the brush pile does not exist is left. There is. For example, when the brush roller according to the present modification is applied to the toner supply roller 52, a defect in the formed image due to the toner T not being supplied indicates that the line drawing drawn in the original image is not transferred to the recording paper S. Although a serious defective image is obtained, such a serious defective image can be suppressed by eliminating the case where the toner T is not supplied by leaving a portion where no brush pile exists.

  In this way, the brush roller according to the present embodiment has a low rotational resistance and a uniform density of pile piles. In particular, it is more certain that the density of the pile piles will be sparse even if they are dense. Can be suppressed.

  (2) The brush fiber cloth may have a rectangular shape wound around the core rod so that one side thereof is parallel to the rotation axis of the core rod. In this case, the surface of the core rod is provided with a notch that penetrates from the groove-shaped cylindrical outer surface parallel to the rotation axis to the inner peripheral surface, which accommodates the portion of the brush fiber cloth facing the end. It can be.

  (3) Further, it may be one not provided with the flange 53 of FIG. 4 or one provided with the flange 53 of FIG. What is necessary is just to be what the width | variety of the spiral notch part 522 does not change after completing as a brush roller.

  (4) The shape of the flange 53 is not limited to that shown in FIG. 4, and any flange that prevents the core rod from being twisted so that the width of the spiral notch 522 does not change. Good.

  The embodiment disclosed this time is merely an example, and the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above. The scope of the present invention is indicated by each claim in the claims after taking into account the description of the detailed description of the invention, and all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the wording described therein are intended. Including.

1 is a diagram illustrating an outline of a configuration of a printer as an example of an image forming apparatus to which a brush roller according to the present invention is applied. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a toner supply roller that is an example of a brush roller according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a first cross-sectional view of the toner supply roller shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a second cross-sectional view of the toner supply roller shown in FIG. 2.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS A Printer 1 Photoconductor 2 Charging part 3 Charging power supply device 4 Image exposure part 5 Developing part 6 Transfer part 7 Fixing part 8 Cleaning roller 51 Developing roller 52 Toner supply roller 521 Core rod 522 Notch part 523 Brush fiber cloth 53 Flange 531 Rotating shaft 532 Plate portion 533 Recessed portion 534 Center connecting rod

Claims (5)

A brush roller used in an image forming apparatus that forms an image by electrophotography,
The brush roller includes a hollow cylindrical core rod and a belt-like brush fiber cloth wound spirally around the core rod, and the brush fiber cloth is planted with a brush pile in addition to the base cloth end. It was set up,
The core rod is provided with a notch penetrating from the outer surface of the cylinder to the inner peripheral surface in a spiral shape,
At the base fabric end where the brush pile is not planted at the joint of the brush fiber cloth wound around the core rod, the cutouts are made by facing the base fabric ends of the surfaces where the brush pile appears facing each other. Brush roller housed in The hollow cylindrical core rod material is elastically deformable,
The width of the notch in a state in which the base fabric end portion is not housed in the notch is narrower than the overlapping thickness of the base fabric end portions of the surfaces where the brush pile appears, and the cut portion is made to face each other. 2. The brush roller according to claim 1, wherein an end portion of the base fabric housed in the notch is sandwiched between the notches by an elastic restoring force of the core rod. The material of the hollow cylindrical core rod is plastically deformable,
The width of the notch before the base cloth end portion is accommodated in the notch is wider than the overlapping thickness of the base fabric end portions of the surfaces where the brush pile appears, and is placed in the notch portion so as to face each other. 2. The brush roller according to claim 1, wherein an end portion of the base fabric is sandwiched between the notches by plastic deformation by twisting the core rod in a direction of narrowing the notch width. .   The brush roller in any one of Claims 1-3 further provided with the disk-shaped flange member provided in the both ends of the said hollow cylindrical core rod. The flange member has a recess for fitting the brush fiber cloth and the thickness of the circumferential portion of the core rod,
The brush roller according to claim 4, wherein the both flange members are connected to each other by a connecting member passed through the core rod.

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