BACKGROUND

[0001] An electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes an image carrier such as a photoconductor drum, an intermediate transfer belt or the like. Toner is drawn onto an electrostatic latent image formed on the image carrier and the toner on the image carrier is transferred to a sheet. The toner transferred to the sheet is fixed to the sheet. In order to protect the image carrier and reduce the friction thereof, a lubricant is applied to the surface of the image carrier. A device for applying the lubricant is referred to as a lubricant application device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0002] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example image forming apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a vicinity of an example image carrier of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the image carrier, a supply roller, a scraping device, and a charging roller, according to an example.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a lubricant storage region.

FIG. 5 is a graph of a wear improvement rate of the image carrier relative to a ratio of a length with respect to a closest distance.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example lubricant storage region.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram schematically illustrating an example lubricant storage region. FIG. 8 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example lubricant storage region.

FIG. 9 is a graph of a wear improvement rate of the image carrier relative to a lubricant application rate.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating a scraping device according to another example.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating a storage portion forming member of a scraping device according to another example.

FIG. 12 is a diagram schematically showing the length and the closest distance of the scraping device according to another example.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0003] In the following description, with reference to the drawings, the same reference numbers are assigned to the same components or to similar components having the same function, and overlapping description is omitted. [0004] An example image forming apparatus according to the present disclosure includes an image carrier which has a moving surface, a supply roller which supplies a lubricant to the image carrier, and a scraping device which scrapes off a toner remaining on the surface of the image carrier. The scraping device includes, for example, a blade which contacts the surface of the image carrier. The blade has an end surface that forms a storage portion storing a lubricant. For example, the length of the storage portion from the image carrier and the closest distance from the scraping device to the supply roller are set so that the ratio of the length with respect to the closest distance is equal to or greater than 0.7. Hereinafter, examples of the image forming apparatus will be described. [0005] With reference to FIG. 1 , an example image forming apparatus 1 forms a color image using respective colors of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. The image forming apparatus 1 includes a conveying device 10 which conveys a sheet 5 corresponding to a printing medium, photoconductors 40C, 40M, 40Y, and 40K, that form respective electrostatic latent images, developing devices 20C, 20M, 20Y, and 20Kthat respectively develop the electrostatic latent images into toner images, a transfer device 30 on which the toner images are layered and transferred to the sheet 5, a fixing device 50 which fixes the layered toner image to the sheet 5, and a discharge device 60 which discharges the sheet 5. Each of the developing devices 20C, 20M, 20Y, and 20K have substantially the same configuration, and a single one of the developing devices may be referred to herein as a developing device 20. Each of the photoconductors 40C, 40M, 40Y, and 40K have substantially the same configuration, and a single one of the photoconductors may be referred to herein as a photoconductor 40.

[0006] The conveying device 10 conveys the sheet 5 on which an image is to be formed, along a conveyance path 12. The sheet 5 is initially stacked and stored in a cassette 7 and is picked up and conveyed by a feeding roller 11. The conveying device 10 allows the sheet 5 to reach a transfer region 13 through the conveyance path 12 at a timing in which the toner image to be transferred to the sheet 5, reaches the transfer region 13.

[0007] The developing devices 20C, 20M, 20Y, and 20K are provided respectively for the colors of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. Each developing device 20 includes a developing roller 21 which carries a toner to be transferred to the photoconductor 40 located adjacent the developing device 20. In the developing device 20, a two-component developer containing the toner and a carrier is used as the developer. In the developing device 20, the toner and the carrier are adjusted to a targeted mixing ratio. If the toner and the carrier are mixed and stirred, the developer is adjusted so that the toner is dispersed to achieve a targeted charge amount. This developer is carried on the developing roller 21 . Then, when the developer is conveyed to a developing region facing the photoconductor 40 by the rotation of the developing roller 21 , the toner contained in the developer that is carried on the developing roller 21 is transferred to the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photoconductor 40 and the electrostatic latent image is developed to form a toner image on surface of the photoconductor 40.

[0008] The transfer device 30 conveys the toner image formed by the developing device 20 to the transfer region 13 where the toner image is transferred to the sheet 5. The transfer device 30 includes a transfer belt (or intermediate transfer belt) 31 corresponding to an endless belt to which respective toner images are primarily transferred from the respective photoconductors 40C, 40M, 40Y, and 40K and layered so as to form a single composite toner image (or layered toner image), a suspension roller 34 to support the transfer belt 31 , idler rollers 35 and 36, a drive roller 37 which drives the transfer belt 31 , primary transfer rollers 32C, 32M, 32Y, and 32K which interpose the transfer belt 31 together with the photoconductors 40C, 40M, 40Y, and 40K for the primary transfer of the respective toner images, and a secondary transfer roller 33 which interpose the transfer belt 31 together with the drive roller 37 at the transfer region 13, to secondarily transfer the layered toner image to the sheet 5.

[0009] Each of the photoconductors 40C, 40M, 40Y, and 40K is rotatable and may be referred to as an electrostatic latent image carrier or a photoconductor drum. The photoconductors 40C, 40M, 40Y, and 40K are provided respectively for the colors of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. The photoconductors 40C, 40M, 40Y, and 40K are arranged along the moving direction of the transfer belt 31 adjacent the respective developing devices 20C, 20M, 20Y, and 20K. The adjacent developing device 20, a charging device 41 , an exposure unit 42, and a cleaning device 43 are provided around the photoconductor 40.

[0010] The charging device 41 is, for example, a charging roller which contacts the photoconductor 40. The charging device 41 charges the surface of the photoconductor 40 to a predetermined electric potential. The exposure unit 42 directs a light toward the surface of the photoconductor 40 having been charged by the charging device 41 , in response to the image to be formed on the sheet 5. Accordingly, a potential of a portion exposed by the exposure unit 42 in the surface of the photoconductor 40 changes and an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photoconductor 40.

[0011 ] The developing devices 20C, 20M, 20Y, and 20K are respectively aligned with toner tanks 18C, 18M, 18Y, and 18K. Cyan toner, magenta toner, yellow toner, and black toner are respectively stored in the toner tanks 18C, 18M, 18Y, and 18K. A single one of the toner tanks 18C, 18M, 18Y, and 18K may be referred herein to as a "toner tank 18". A toner is supplied from the toner tank 18 to the developing device 20. The developing device 20 develops the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor 40 with the toner supplied from the toner tank 18 to generate a toner image on the photoconductor 40. The cleaning device 43 collects the toner remaining on the photoconductor 40, after the toner image has been primarily transferred to the transfer belt 31 . As previously described, the toner images from each of the photoconductors are layered on the transfer belt 31 .

[0012] The fixing device 50 fixes to the sheet 5, the layered toner image having been secondarily transferred from the transfer belt 31 to the sheet 5, by conveying the sheet 5 through a fixing nip region for heating and pressing the sheet. The fixing device 50 includes a heating roller 52 which heats the sheet 5 and a pressing roller 54 which presses the heating roller 52 and rotationally drives the heating roller, so as to form the fixing nip region between the heating roller 52 and the pressing roller 54. The discharge device 60 includes discharge rollers 62 and 64 which discharge the sheet 5 conveyed from the fixing device 50 to the outside of the image forming apparatus 1 .

[0013] The image forming apparatus 1 further includes a control unit 80. The control unit 80 has a function of controlling the operation of the image forming apparatus 1 . The control unit 80 includes a processor and a storage unit (or storage device) to store data and/or instructions (e.g., a control program) that are executable by the processor for controlling operations to be performed by the image forming apparatus 1 .

[0014] During operation of the image forming apparatus 1 , when an image signal of a recording target image is input to the image forming apparatus 1 , the control unit 80 of the image forming apparatus 1 causes the feeding roller 11 to rotate so as to pick up and convey the sheet 5 stacked in the cassette 7. In a charging operation, the surface of the photoconductor 40 is charged to a predetermined potential by the charging device 41. In an exposing operation, the exposure unit 42 irradiates the surface of the photoconductor

40 with a laser beam to form an electrostatic latent image based on the input image signal. [0015] In a developing operation, each developing device 20 develops the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the corresponding photoconductor 40 to form a corresponding toner image on the surface of the photoconductor 40. In a transfer operation, the toner image is primarily transferred from the photoconductor 40 to the transfer belt 31 . The toner images formed on four photoconductors 40C, 40M, 40Y, and 40K are sequentially layered on the transfer belt 31 to form the single layered toner image. The layered toner image is secondarily transferred to the sheet 5 conveyed from the conveying device 10 at the transfer region 13 where the drive roller 37 faces the secondary transfer roller 33.

[0016] The sheet 5 to which the layered toner image has been transferred is conveyed to the fixing device 50. In a fixing operation, the sheet 5 passes through the fixing nip region between the heating roller 52 and the pressing roller 54, where fixing device 50 heats and presses the sheet 5 to fix the layered toner image to the sheet 5. Then, the sheet 5 is discharged to the outside of the image forming apparatus 1 by the discharge rollers 62 and 64 of the discharge device 60.

[0017] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the vicinity of the photoconductor 40 in the image forming apparatus 1 according to an example and shows a state in which a toner image is formed on the transfer belt 31 by a toner 22. As shown in FIG. 2, a primary transfer roller 32, an eraser 4, a lubricant application device 100, a scraping device 110, the charging device 41 , the exposure unit 42, and the developing device 20 are arranged along a rotating direction Ra of the photoconductor 40. The eraser 4 irradiates the electrostatic latent image formed on a surface 40b of the photoconductor 40 with light to remove static electricity from the photoconductor 40 thereby removing image information of the photoconductor 40. In some examples, the surface 40b of the photoconductor 40 is formed by a resin layer.

[0018] The lubricant application device 100 according to an example can more easily remove the remaining toner (residual toner), not transferred from the photoconductor 40 to the transfer belt 31 , from the surface 40b by applying a lubricant to the surface 40b of the photoconductor 40 and thereby can reduce the wearing of the surface 40b of the photoconductor 40 by reducing the frictional force applied. The lubricant application device 100 includes, for example, a support member 104 that supports a solid lubricant 102, an urging device 103 which urges the lubricant 102 to be brought into contact with the supply roller 101 , and a casing 105.

[0019] The supply roller 101 contacts the surface 40b of the photoconductor 40 and applies the lubricant 102 to the surface 40b. Since the lubricant 102 is applied to the surface 40b of the photoconductor 40, the wear of the photoconductor 40 can be suppressed. The supply roller 101 is located between the eraser 4 and the scraping device 110 along the surface 40b of the photoconductor 40. The supply roller 101 removes at least a part of the toner remaining on the surface 40b of the photoconductor 40 from the photoconductor 40 and holds the toner. In some examples, the lubricant application device 100 may be a replaceable device in the image forming apparatus 1. The supply roller 101 , the lubricant 102, and the scraping device 110 may be attached to a housing forming the cleaning device 43.

[0020] The solid lubricant 102 has a bar shape extending in the axial direction of the supply roller 101 (the direction orthogonal to the view of FIG. 2). The lubricant 102 is positioned to contact the supply roller 101. The lubricant 102 is urged by the urging device 103 to be pressed against the supply roller 101 . Accordingly, an elastic body 101 b of the supply roller 101 , which is described further below, scrapes off the lubricant 102 at a contact region with the lubricant 102 and supplies the scraped lubricant 102 to the surface 40b at a contact region with the photoconductor 40. The lubricant 102 may be made of, for example, zinc stearate, barium stearate, or lead stearate.

[0021] The supply roller 101 includes a rotatable shaft portion 101c and an elastic body 101 b covering the shaft portion 101 c. Opposite end portions of the elastic body 101 b in the axial direction are rotatably supported, for example by a bearing member, and the shaft portion 101 c is rotatable in response to a driving force received from a driving device. The supply roller 101 may rotate in a rotating direction Rb to follow the rotation of the photoconductor 40. The elastic body 101 b is composed of, for example, a foam (foam layer). The elastic body 101 b may be a sponge-like elastic body. The foam of the elastic body 101 b is, for example, urethane foam.

[0022] According to examples, the density of the foam of the elastic body 101 b is of 48 kg/m ³ to 90 kg/m ³ In some examples, the 25% hardness of the foam of the elastic body 101 b may be of 185 N to 305 N. In the present disclosure, the "25% hardness" is a value measured by the JIS K 6400-2 D method. The thickness of the elastic body 101 b is, for example, 1 mm to 4 mm. For example, when the outer diameter of the supply roller 101 is 10 mm, the thickness of the elastic body 101 b is 2 mm as an example.

[0023] The elastic body 101 b may be formed of something other than a foam . The elastic body 101 b may be composed of, for example, brushed fibers. In this case, the elastic body 101 b is a brush-shaped elastic body. The brushed fibers of the elastic body 101 b have, for example, flexibility. The brushed fibers of the elastic body 101 b are composed of a polyolefin resin (for example, polyethylene or polypropylene) in some examples.

[0024] The scraping device 110 is disposed on the downstream side of the supply roller 101 in the rotating direction Ra of the photoconductor 40. In some examples, the scraping device 110 includes a blade 111 which contacts the surface 40b of the photoconductor 40 to clean the surface 40b of the photoconductor 40. Namely, the blade 111 is a cleaning blade which is disposed to contact the surface 40b of the photoconductor 40.

[0025] The blade 111 scrapes off the residual toner of the photoconductor 40 to remove the residual toner from the surface 40b. The supply roller 101 is disposed on the upstream side of the blade 111 in the rotating direction Ra of the photoconductor 40. The blade 111 scrapes off the residual toner not carried onto the supply roller 101 from the residual toner remaining on the surface 40b of the photoconductor 40. Since the blade 111 scrapes off the residual toner of the photoconductor 40, the next electrostatic latent image can be more suitably formed on the surface 40b of the photoconductor 40.

[0026] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the photoconductor 40, the supply roller 101 , the lubricant 102, the urging device 103, the scraping device 110, and the charging device 41. FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the supply roller 101 and the scraping device 110. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the scraping device 110 includes a support metal plate 112 which supports the blade 111. The blade 111 may have a plate shape and may be formed of rubber, for example. In some examples, the blade 111 includes a first main surface 111 b which contacts the surface 40b of the photoconductor 40, an end surface 111 c which faces the supply roller 101 , and a second main surface 111 d positioned opposite to the first main surface 111 b. For example, the blade 111 is supported by the support metal plate 112 by attaching the second main surface 111 d to the support metal plate 112. The blade 111 is bent so that the first main surface 111 b is curved in a convex shape while the blade is supported by the support metal plate 112.

[0027] The blade 111 includes an end surface 111 c which extends from the photoconductor 40 to form a storage portion 115 that collects the lubricant 102. The storage portion 115 is formed between the end surface 111 c and the supply roller 101. The end surface 111 c extends in the thickness direction of the blade 111. The end surface 111 c includes a scraping edge 111 g which scrapes off excessive lubricant (or excess lubricant) 102 from the photoconductor 40. The scraping edge 111g is a corner portion provided between the first main surface 111 b and the end surface 111 c.

[0028] The storage portion 115 stores the lubricant 102 that has been applied from the supply roller 101 to the photoconductor 40. The lubricant 102 stored in the storage portion 115 is reused as the lubricant 102 to be supplied to the surface 40b of the photoconductor 40. The end surface 111 c of the blade 111 forms the storage portion 115 in order to collect the excessive lubricant 102 so as to reuse the excessive lubricant 102 by applying the excessive lubricant 102 collected in the storage portion 115 onto the surface 40b of the photoconductor 40.

[0029] A part of the lubricant 102 supplied from the supply roller 101 to the photoconductor 40 passes between the surface 40b of the photoconductor 40 and the supply roller 101 . Accordingly, the rest of the lubricant 102 supplied from the supply roller 101 to the photoconductor 40 is stored in the storage portion 115. The lubricant 102 stored in the storage portion 115 reaches the supply roller 101 at a storing time (see FIG. 8) and is applied to the surface 40b of the photoconductor 40 by receiving a pressure from the supply roller 101.

[0030] According to examples, an opening portion (or space) 113 is formed between the supply roller 101 and the scraping device 110. The opening portion 113 is a gap formed between the supply roller 101 and the blade 111. Given the length A of the storage portion 115 taken along a surface of the storage portion 115 that extends from a contact point of the storage portion 115 with the photoconductor 40 and given the closest distance B from the scraping device 110 to the supply roller 101 , the ratio of the length A with respect to the closest distance B (hereinafter, the "ratio A/B") is 0.7 or more. Namely, the length A and the closest distance B are set so that the ratio A/B is equal to or greater than 0.7. The closest distance B is, for example, the width of the opening portion 113.

[0031 ] In some examples, the length A corresponds to the thickness T of the blade 111. Namely, the thickness T extends from the scraping edge 111g (the contact point) of the blade 111 away from the surface 40b in a substantially radial direction of the photoconductor 40. The closest distance B corresponds, for example, to the closest distance from a corner portion 111f of the blade 111 to the surface of the supply roller 101. The corner portion 111f is located between the end surface 111 c and the second main surface 111 d. For example, the length A may be of 0.5 mm to 4 mm, and the closest distance B may be of 1 mm to 6 mm. Further, the ratio A/B of the length A with respect to the closest distance B may be 8 or less.

[0032] If the amount of the lubricant 102 applied to the photoconductor 40 when the photoconductor 40 rotates once is a lubricant consumption rate C (mg/m ² ), the product (value of C x (A/B)) of the ratio A/B and the lubricant consumption rate C is 60 (mg/m ² ) or less. The lubricant consumption rate C may be adjusted, for example, by the urging force of the urging device 103 with respect to the lubricant 102.

[0033] In the supply roller 101 and the scraping device 110 described above, the blade 111 includes the storage portion 115 storing the lubricant 102 and the lubricant 102 stored in the storage portion 115 is applied to the photoconductor 40 again by receiving a pressure from the supply roller 101. Accordingly, it is possible to increase the application efficiency of the lubricant 102 with respect to the photoconductor 40. Thus, since a sufficient amount of the lubricant 102 can be supplied to the photoconductor 40 even when the lubricant 102 is not large, it is possible to contribute to a compact size of the image forming apparatus 1 by suppressing an increase in size of the lubricant 102. Further, since the life of the photoconductor 40 is extended by suppressing the wear of the photoconductor 40, it is possible to reduce the frequency of replacement of the photoconductor 40.

[0034] As described above, in some examples, the length A of the storage portion 115 taken from the photoconductor 40, and the closest distance B between the scraping device 110 and the supply roller 101 are set so that the ratio A/B of the length A with respect to the closest distance B corresponds to 0.7 or more. In this case, it is possible to store more lubricant 102 at the storage portion 115, in order to increase the application efficiency of the lubricant 102 to the photoconductor 40.

[0035] FIG. 5 is a graph as an example showing a relationship between the ratio A/B and the wear improvement rate of the photoconductor 40 for each lubricant consumption rate C. The wear improvement rate indicates a rate in which the wear of the surface 40b of the photoconductor 40 is reduced and is, for example, a wear reduction rate calculated by the measurement of the thickness of the resin layer of the surface 40b. The wear improvement rate indicates a wear reduction rate in comparison to a case where no lubricant is applied to the photoconductor 40.

[0036] As shown in FIG. 5, it is possible to increase the wear improvement rate when the ratio A/B is 0.7 or more even when the lubricant consumption rate C is 5 (mg/m ² ), 10 (mg/m ² ), or 15 (mg/m ² ). Further, the wear improvement rate can be set to 200% or more when the ratio A/B is 1 or more. Further, it was found that the wear improvement rate can be increased to about 300% even when the lubricant consumption rate is 5 (mg/m ² ) when the ratio A/B is 2 or more.

[0037] A relationship between the ratio A/B and the lubricant 102 stored in the storage portion 115 will be described with reference to FIGS. 6, 7, and 8. As shown in FIG. 6, it is possible to collect the lubricant 102 in the storage portion 115 when the ratio A/B is 0.7 or more even when the closest distance B is longer than the length A. As shown in FIG. 7, for example, when the length A is increased by using a blade 111 which is thicker than the blade 111 illustrated in FIG. 6 and the length A is equal to or greater than the closest distance B (when the ratio A/B is 1 or more), the amount of the lubricant 102 that may be retained in the storage portion 115 tends to increase.

[0038] As shown in FIG. 8, when the tip of the blade 111 is brought closer to the supply roller 101 and for example, the length A is double or more the closest distance B (when the ratio A/B is 2 or more), the amount of the lubricant 102 retained in the storage portion 115 is more likely to increase and the lubricant 102 is interposed between the end surface 111 c of the blade 111 and the supply roller 101. In this case, the storage portion 115 supplies the excessive lubricant 102 to the photoconductor 40 when the excessive lubricant 102 accumulates in the storage portion 115 to reach the supply roller 101. In this case, since the lubricant 102 stored in the storage portion 115 is pressed against the photoconductor 40 by the supply roller 101 , it is possible to increase the application pressure of the lubricant 102 to the photoconductor 40.

[0039] Here, the ratio A/B is close to a coefficient indicating an increase in the efficiency of applying the lubricant to the photoconductor 40 by using the excessive lubricant (or excess lubricant). Therefore, the value obtained by multiplying the ratio A/B by the lubricant consumption rate C is a value close to the lubricant application rate (hereinafter, referred to as a lubricant application rate). FIG. 9 is a graph indicating an example relationship between the lubricant application rate and the wear improvement rate of the photoconductor 40 for each ratio A/B. As shown in FIG. 9, the wear improvement rate increases as the lubricant application rate increases regardless of the value of the ratio A/B. On the other hand, when the lubricant application rate (the product of the lubricant consumption rate C and the ratio A/B) exceeds 60 (mg/m ² ), the amount of the lubricant 102 passing between the photoconductor 40 and the blade 111 increases to be irregular or non-uniform, which may cause the lubricant 102 to contaminate the charging device 41.

[0040] In the above-described example, since the lubricant application rate is 60 (mg/m ² ) or less, the amount of the lubricant 102 passing between the photoconductor 40 and the blade 111 can be made more uniform and the probability of the contamination of the charging device 41 can be reduced. The lubricant application rate may be determined, for example, by the urging force of the urging device 103 with respect to the lubricant 102. Thus, it is possible to more easily change the lubricant application rate by adjusting the urging device 103.

[0041] As described above, the closest distance B may be, for example, 1 mm to 6 mm, and the length A may be 0.5 mm to 4 mm. When the length A and the closest distance B are within the respective numerical ranges above, and the ratio A/B is 0.7 or more, it is possible to further increase the application efficiency of the lubricant 102 by increasing the amount of the lubricant 102 in the storage portion 115.

[0042] FIG. 10 shows a scraping device 120 according to a modified example. The scraping device 120 is different from the scraping device 110 in that a block 121 is provided instead of the blade 111. Hereinafter, the description overlapping the above description of the scraping device 110 will be omitted as appropriate. The scraping device 120 includes the block 121 which contacts the surface 40b of the photoconductor 40 and the block 121 includes an end surface 121c which extends away from the surface 40b in a substantially radial direction of the photoconductor 40, to form a storage portion 125 collecting the lubricant 102.

[0043] For example, similarly to the scraping device 110, in the scraping device 120, the length A of the storage portion 125 taken from the photoconductor 40 and the closest distance B taken from the scraping device 120 to the supply roller 101 , are set so that the ratio A/B corresponds to 0.7 or more. As an example, the length A may correspond to the sum of the length of the block 121 and the thickness of a fixing portion 122b which is described further below. The length A may be of 3 mm 10 mm, for example. [0044] The scraping device 120 includes a support mechanism 122 which supports the block 121. The support mechanism 122 includes a fixing portion 122b to which the block 121 is fixed, a shaft portion 122c which forms a pivot for the fixing portion 122b to be movable toward and away from the photoconductor 40, and a spring portion 122d which contacts an end of the fixing portion 122b that is opposite to the block 121 relative to the shaft portion 122c. According to examples, the block 121 is not deformed, unlike the blade 111.

[0045] The fixing portion 122b has, for example, a plate shape. The fixing portion 122b includes a main surface 122f to which the block 121 and the spring portion 122d are fixed. The shaft portion 122c is located between the block 121 and the spring portion 122d in the fixing portion 122b. Thus, the fixing portion 122b rotates around the shaft portion 122c by the urging force of the spring portion 122d, so that the block 121 fixed to the fixing portion 122b moves toward and away from the photoconductor 40 by the rotation of the fixing portion 122b. The spring portion 122d may be arranged to urge the block 121 toward the surface of the photoconductor 40. In some examples, the block 121 is fixed to the fixing portion 122b by an adhesive. In the abovedescribed scraping device 120, since the lubricant 102 can be stored in the storage portion 125, the same effect as the scraping device 110 is obtained.

[0046] FIGS. 11 and 12 show a scraping device 130 according to another modified example. As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the scraping device 130 includes a storage portion forming member 131 that is attached to a surface of the blade 111 (for example, a second main surface 111 d) on the side facing away from the photoconductor 40. The storage portion forming member 131 may be formed of resin, for example. The storage portion forming member 131 includes a protrusion portion 132 which protrudes from the end surface Wc of the blade 111.

[0047] The scraping device 130 includes a storage portion 135 which stores the lubricant 102. The storage portion 135 is defined by the end surface 111 c of the blade 111 and the protrusion portion 132 of the storage portion forming member 131. The protrusion portion 132 protrudes, for example, in a direction substantially perpendicular to the end surface 111 c. That is, an angle 0 of the protrusion portion 132 with respect to the end surface 111 c is approximately 90°. The length A of the storage portion 135 is considered to be the sum of the thickness A1 of the blade 111 and the length A2 of the protrusion portion 132. In this scraping device 130, since the length A can be increased and the closest distance B can be shortened by the protrusion portion 132 of the storage portion forming member 131 , the ratio A/B can be more easily set to 0.7 or more and the application efficiency of the lubricant 102 can be further increased.

[0048] It should be understood that although various examples have been described and shown herein, the examples can be modified in their arrangement and details.

[0049] For example, in the description above, the scraping device 130 having the protrusion portion 132 formed by attaching the storage portion forming member 131 to the blade 111 has been described. However, the disclosure is not limited to such examples and a blade having a shape with a protrusion portion may be used. Namely, the protrusion portion and the blade may be integrated into a single component. Further, the protrusion portion 132 may not protrude in a direction perpendicular to the end surface 111 c. That is, an angle 0 of the protrusion portion 132 with respect to the end surface 111 c can be suitably modified. [0050] Additionally, in the description above, an example in which the image carrier is the photoconductor 40 has been described. However, the image carrier which is a lubricant application target may be something other than the photoconductor. The image carrier may be a member to be lubricated, having a surface that moves in parallel to the rotating direction of the supply roller. In this case, since the supply roller and the scraping device contact the lubricated member as described above, it is possible to efficiently reduce the friction on the surface of the lubricated member. The surface roughness of the lubricated member expressed as Rzjis of the JIS B 0601-2001 standard, may be set to 5 pm or less. Additionally, the image carrier may be an intermediate transfer belt or the like. Moreover, various examples disclosed herein can be combined within a consistent range.

[0051] It is to be understood that not all aspects, advantages and features described herein may necessarily be achieved by, or included in, any one particular example. Indeed, having described and illustrated various examples herein, it should be apparent that other examples may be modified in arrangement and detail is omitted.