ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGE-FORMING DEVICE PROVIDED WITH END SEALANT

摘要

[Problem] To provide an electrophotographic image-forming device which permits reduction in the size of the device to be made possible, and which permits prevention of toner leakage through use of a sealing member having projections and recesses, said sealing member serving as an end seal member. [Solution] Provided is an image-forming device (1) which has a sealing member (8) which serves as an end seal member (5) for a toner carrier (2). The end seal member (5) for preventing leakage of toner (18) from the toner carrier (2) is formed from the sealing member (8) which has step(s) (13) comprising band(s) (14) formed by recessed region(s) (6) and projecting region(s) (7) as indicated in FIG. 1 . The end seal member (5) is capable of bending such that recessed region(s) (6) come in contact with the toner carrier (2), inhibiting entry of toner (18) thereinto, and the end seal member (5) also has a toner scraping action and a toner movement action. To prevent leakage of toner (18) from the toner carrier (2) to the exterior thereof due to rotation or surface velocity of the toner carrier (2), and to return toner to a toner carrier (2), the angle formed by the width direction of the rectangular shape of the end seal member (5) and the direction of band(s) (14) at the sealing member (8) is set so as to be a control angle (27), and gap(s) (13b) at corner(s) (13a) of step(s) (13) at band(s) (14) are provided where the end seal member (5) comes in contact with the toner carrier (2).