| US 7,529,497 B2 | ||
| Charger, process unit and image forming apparatus | ||
| Yoshifumi Hasebe, Shizuoka (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo (Japan); and Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Jul. 14, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/180,694. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2007/0014587 A1, Jan. 18, 2007 | ||
| Int. Cl. G03G 15/02 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 399—100 | 20 Claims |
| 12. An image forming apparatus comprising:
an image carrying member;
a charging member to uniformly charge the image carrying member by a corona discharge member;
an exposure member to irradiate exposure light to the image carrying member uniformly charged by the charging member and form
an electrostatic latent image;
a developing member to feed a developer to the electrostatic latent image formed on the image carrying member and form a toner
image; and
a transfer member to transfer the toner image formed on the image carrying member to a recording medium,
wherein the charging member comprising:
a corona discharge member;
a belt member having an area with teeth and a slip area to move back and forth along the corona discharge member;
a cleaning member fixed to the belt member to make contact with the corona discharge member;
a belt drive member to make contact with the area with teeth of the belt member in a meshing state where teeth mesh with the
belt drive member or with the slip area of the belt member in a slipping state where the belt member slides with respect to
the belt drive member, and move back and forth the belt member; and
a position detection switch to detect that the cleaning member is at a position not in contact with the corona discharge member,
wherein the slip area of the belt member makes contact with the belt drive member when the cleaning member is at a position
not in contact with the corona discharge member, and the area with teeth of the belt member meshes with the belt drive member
when the cleaning member is at a position in contact with the corona discharge member.
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