JPS6022159A - Roller fixing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent an oil feeder from becoming incapable of functioning due to blocking by bringing a cleaning member into contact with a fixing roller before coating the roller with an offset preventing oil. CONSTITUTION:Since a cleaning member 13 cleans the surface of a fixing roller 2 before an oil feeding member 9 spreads the oil on the roller 2, the member 9 can continue to feed the oil uniformly without blocking due to stains till the contained oil is used up. Accumulation of the stains on the member 13 does not exert extreme trouble as is the case of accumulation on the member 9, and the member 13 can be exchanged each time the oil of the member 9 is used up. Therefore, the members 9, 13 separately fixed to the separate rails 12, 15 of an upper cover may be fixed to the same rails in one body.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an improvement of a roller fixing device used for fixing a toner image to a recording sheet in a recording device such as an electrophotographic copying machine. The toner image is produced by passing a support such as a recording paper attached to the surface between a pair of pressure rollers to which an anti-offset liquid is applied to the roller on the side to which the toner image is attached, and applying pressure and/or heat to the roller. The present invention relates to an improvement in a roller fixing device for fixing images onto a support.

[Prior art]

In general, in the roller fixing device described above, at least one of the pair of pressure rollers, in most cases, has a toner image attached to it, in order to make the device lightweight and compact, and to stabilize and speed up fixing. The side rollers are heated by a heat source provided inside or outside the rollers. In other words, the most common type is one that fixes the toner image by applying heat and pressure.

It is reaching. In addition, toner tends to be easily offset from the support, especially on the side of the roller where the toner image is attached, and the offset toner tends to wrap around the support.
An anti-offset liquid (hereinafter referred to as oil) such as silicone oil is applied to the surface. However, if too much oil is applied, the support may be contaminated with oil, making it difficult to write on the support later with pencil or ink, and the amount of oil consumed may increase. It was uneconomical. Therefore, many means have been employed in the past to uniformly and thinly apply oil to the surface of the roller. As such an oil applying means, the first
The devices shown in FIGS. 4 to 4 are known.

In FIGS. 1 to 4, reference numeral 1.2 indicates a pair of fixing rollers that rotate in the direction of the arrow and press against each other, of which roller 2
is a roller which is provided with a heat source 3 such as a halogen tube heater or a resistance heating element inside and presses the toner image-attached side of the support. 4 is an oil tank, 5 is an oil transfer section, 6 is an oil application section that applies oil to the surface of the roller 2, and 7 and 8 are scraping blades for removing excess oil and dirt adhering to the roller 2. and a wiping member, and 9 is an oil applying member such as felt or sponge impregnated with oil.

Compared to the oil applying means shown in FIG. 4, the oil applying means shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 can apply oil to the roller 2' indefinitely as long as the oil tank 1 is replenished with oil. Although it appears to have advantages,
Therefore, there is a problem that the equipment becomes complicated and large.
Moreover, in reality, dirt such as toner and paper powder adheres to the oil application section 6 and causes clogging, making it impossible to apply oil uniformly in a relatively short period of time, so the above advantages cannot be achieved. few. In this respect, the oil applying means shown in FIG. 4 is designed so that the oil applying member 9 can be fixed to the holding frame 10 by rollers so that it can be easily replaced on the premise that the oil applying member 9 runs out of oil and becomes dirty. Since the mounting provided on the device frame upper lid 11 of the device is configured so that it can be attached by inserting it into the rail 12 from the side, the device can be constructed easily and compactly. There is an advantage that oil can always be uniformly applied by replacing the entire oil. However, even with the oil applying means shown in Fig. 4, there is an uneconomical situation in that even though the oil applying member 9 is still sufficiently impregnated with oil, it is not profitable to replace it due to dirt. Recycling and reusing the oil applicator side 9 is relatively troublesome.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems with conventional oil applying means, and the first object of the present invention is to prevent the early and uniform application of oil from being prevented by dirt. A second object of the present invention is to provide a roller fixing device that is simple and compact in structure, and in which uniform application of oil can be easily maintained.

[Structure of the invention]

In the present invention, a support with a toner image attached to the surface is passed between a pair of pressure rollers to which an anti-offset liquid is applied to the roller on the side to which the toner image is attached, and the toner image is applied to the support by pressing and/or heating the support. In an apparatus for fixing an image on a support, a cleaning means is provided for the roller to which the anti-offset liquid is applied so that the surface of the roller reaches the anti-offset liquid application means from the pressure contact point as it rotates, via the cleaning means. A roller fixing device, which is characterized in that this configuration achieves the first object, and further achieves the second object by the specific aspects shown in claims (2) to (6). The purpose has been achieved.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail based on the embodiments shown in FIGS. 5 to 11.

5 and 7 to 10 are side views of main parts showing an example of the roller fixing device of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view showing another example of the roller fixing device of the present invention, and FIG. The figure shows the anti-offset liquid applying member used in the present invention, that is,
It is a sectional view showing other examples of an oil application member.

In FIGS. 5 to 10, the same reference numerals as in FIGS. 1 to 4 indicate the same members, and 9' is a roller whose surface is provided with a layer of oil-impregnated felt, thread, etc. 13 is a cleaning member preferably made of a material with good wiping properties such as felt or sponge, similar to the wiping member 8; 13' is a roller-shaped cream having a layer of a material with good wiping properties on its surface; =
14 is a holding frame for the cleaning member 13, 15
16 is a common holding frame that holds the oil applying member 9 (9') and the cleaning member 13 (13');
Reference numeral 17 denotes a common mounting rail provided on the device frame upper lid 11 into which the common holding frame 16 is fitted.

Note that the rod-shaped oil applying portion 9 and the cleaning member 13
As shown in FIG. 7, the common holding frame 16 that holds the oil application part 9 and the cleaning member 13 side by side preferably has a partition wall 16a that separates the oil applying part 9 and the cleaning member 13 and prevents them from coming into contact with each other. Oil applying member 9 and cleaning member 13
If they are in contact with each other, oil will transfer to the cleaner member 13, which will not only reduce the oil application ability but also reduce the excess oil removal ability of the cleaning member 13. arise. By providing the partition wall 16a, such drawbacks are eliminated.

Also, the roller-shaped oil applying member 9 in FIGS. 9 and 10
'Instead of the oil applying member 9 as shown in FIG.
〃 may be used. The oil applying member 9 in FIG.
A drum-shaped roller core 9"a, which has an oil supply port on the end surface side so that oil can be stored inside, and has an oil seepage hole in the peripheral wall, is made of felt, sponge, etc. from which oil can seep out around the outer periphery of the drum-shaped roller core 9"a. The oil application member 9, which has a structure in which a surface layer 9'b is provided, does not hinder the compactness of the apparatus, like the oil application members 9, 9' which are oil-impregnated members.

In the roller fixing device of the present invention as described above, the cleaning member 13 or 13' cleans the surface of the roller 2 before the oil application section 9, 9', or 9N applies oil to the roller 2. The applying members 9, 9', 9# can continue to apply oil uniformly until the oil retained therein is used up without being clogged with dirt, and the cleaning members 13, 13
Since the accumulation of dirt on the oil application part 6 and the oil application part -It9, 9'9 does not have an extreme adverse effect, the accumulation of dirt on the oil application member ci'
, 9. It is now possible to replace the cleaning members 13 and 13' when the oil in the T and GTT is out of oil. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. Giving member 9
+ 9' + 9'' can be replaced as one unit. According to this configuration, the cleaning member 13
, 13' and the oil applying members 9, 9', and 9'' can be easily replaced at one time, and the configuration of the entire roller fixing device can be easily made compact. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. , the structure shown in FIG. 5 also includes cleaning members 13, 13' and oil applying member 9
', 9# cannot be replaced at once, but substantially the same effect can be obtained. Incidentally, the configuration shown in FIG. 5 has the advantage that only the cleaning members 13, 13' can be easily recycled and used.

Furthermore, in the present invention, ignoring the problem of complication and enlargement of the apparatus, a cleaning means is provided in front of the oil applying means as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, and the surface of the roller 2 is It may be one that is cleaned by a cleaning device and then oil is applied by an oil applying device.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described in detail above, the present invention is configured such that the roller is cleaned by the cleaning means before the oil is applied to the roller by the oil applying means, so that the oil applying means is not clogged and can perform its function. It is designed to prevent the oil from running out, and therefore extends the life of the oil application means in which oil can be applied uniformly, thereby reducing the timing of oil replenishment by replacing the oil application member, etc., and the time of replacing the cleaning member. Moreover, it has the excellent effect of making it possible to improve the efficiency of replenishment and exchange work, making the device more compact, and simplifying the structure.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 4 are side views of main parts showing an example of a conventional roller fixing device, FIGS. 5 and 7 to 10 are side views of main parts showing an example of a roller fixing device of the present invention, and FIG. The figure is a partial perspective view showing another example of the roller fixing device of the present invention, and FIG. 11 is a sectional view showing another example of the oil applying member. 1.2...Fixing roller, 3...Heat source, 4...
Oil tank, 5... Oil transfer part, 6... Oil application part, 7... Scraping blade, 8... Wiping member, 9.9', 9#... Oil applying member, 10, 14・
...Holding frame, 11...Device frame upper cover, 12, 15.
... Mounted on rail, 13 , 13'...Cleaning member, 16... Common holding frame, 17... Common mounted on rail. Patent Issuer Konishiroku Photo Industry Co., Ltd. Figure 9-10 Figure 11

Claims (1)

[Claims] (A support with a retoner image attached to its surface is passed between a pair of pressure rollers to which an anti-offset liquid is applied to the roller on the side to which the toner image is attached, and pressure and/or heating is applied. Preferably, in the apparatus for fixing the toner image on the support, cleaning means is applied to the roller to which the anti-offset liquid is applied, so that the surface of the roller rotates from a pressure contact point to the cleaning means and then to the anti-offset liquid application means. (2) The roller fixing device according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning thickness and the anti-offset liquid/applying means are arranged in parallel. 5) The roller fixing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the cleaning means and the anti-offset liquid applying means are each equipped with a cleaning member and an anti-offset liquid applying member replaceably. (4) The roller according to claim 2, wherein the cleaning means and the anti-offset liquid application means are replaceably mounted with a common holding frame that integrally holds the cleaning member and the anti-offset liquid application member. Fixing device. (5) The cleaning means uses felt as a cleaning member, and the anti-offset liquid applying means uses felt impregnated with anti-offset liquid in the anti-offset liquid applying portion. The roller fixing device according to claim 4. (6) The roller fixing device according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the common holding frame has a partition wall separating the cleaning member and the anti-offset liquid applying member. .