Toner guide roller for image-forming process and apparatus applied therewith

摘要

An image forming apparatus, such as a copier and a printer, for forming a toner image on a recording sheet. The apparatus includes: a photoreceptor (1) for holding the toner image; an image exposure driver (3) for forming a latent image on the photoreceptor (1); a developer (4) for developing the latent image with a toner so that the toner image is formed on the surface of the photoreceptor (1); a transferrer (6,7) for transferring the toner image from the surface of the photoreceptor to the recording sheet; a scraping blade (26) for scraping off a residual toner on the surface of the photoreceptor (1) after the toner image is transferred from the surface to the recording sheet; a toner collection chamber for collecting the residual toner; a toner guide roller (31) for conveying the residual toner from the scraping blade (26) to the toner collecting chamber; in which the toner guide roller (31) is urged onto the surface of the photoreceptor (1), and the toner guide roller (31) has a surface made of an open-cell cellular material having a pore size between 1 mu m and 50 mu m.