Fuser roll cleaning method and apparatus for performing it

Claim 2

The improved method of operating a contact fuser having cooperating members that provide contact surfaces for receiving support members bearing thermoplastic toner particle images therebetween, wherein one of said surfaces is maintained at high temperatures and the thermoplastic particle image on a support member is engaged under pressure by said one surface for a relatively short first period of time and wherein the improvement comprises the step of: cleaning said contact surfaces of residual thermoplastic toner material by contacting said surfaces against a toner receptive member with said one surface at a high temperature for a second period of time that is substantially longer than said first period of time.

Claim 3

Fuser mechanism for fixing thermoplastic toner particle images to a support member and having a roll couple forming a nip therebetween, each roll of said couple having an external surface of low surface energy material, roll heating means directly thermally connected with only a first roll of said couple for maintaining the external surface of said first roll at high temperature, and power means operatively connected to said roll couple for rotating the rolls thereof, wherein the improvement comprises: speed change means associated with said power means for causing said rolls to be driven at a normal relatively fast speed or selectively alternatively at a relatively slow speed, means for delivering a sheet of toner receptive material into the nip of said roll couple, and manually operable control means connected with said speed change means for selecting said relatively slow speed whereby said sheet and the second roll of said couple are heated by said first roll, and toner material on said first and second rolls is transferred to said sheet.

Claim 4

Fuser mechanism for fixing thermoplastic toner particle images to a support member and having a roll couple forming a nip therebetween, each roll of said couple having an external surface of low surface energy material, roll heating means directly thermally connected with only a first roll of said couple for maintaining the external surface of said first roll at high temperature, and power means operatively connected to said roll couple for rotating the rolls thereof, wherein the improvement comprises: speed change means associated with said power means for causing said rolls to be driven at a normal relatively fast speed or selectively alternatively at a relatively slow speed, means for delivering a sheet of toner receptive material into the nip of said roll couple, and manually operable control means connected with said speed change means for selecting said relatively slow speed whereby said sheet and the second roll of said couple are heated by said first roll, and toner material on said first and second rolls is transferred to said sheet.

Claim 5

In a copy reproducing machine having a supply of copy material, image producing means for generating a thermoplastic toner particle image on a sheet of said copy material, a fusing roll couple for fixing the thermoplastic toner particle image to said copy material, and manually initiatable control means for producing an automatic sequence of operations including feeding a sheet of said copy material to said image producing means, producing the said image onto the sheet, and passing the sheet bearing the image to said roll couple, each roll of said couple having an external surface of low surface energy material, heating means directly thermally connected only with the one roll of said couple that engages said toner particle image for maintaining the external surface of said one roll at high temperature, and power means connected to said roll couple for rotating the rolls thereof, wherein the improvement comprises: a cleaning-cycle-select control member having a normal inactive position and a displaced active position, speed change means associated with said power means for causing said rolls to be driven at a normal relatively fast speed and further being controlledly connected with said clean-cycle-select control member for causing said rolls to be driven at a relatively slow speed in response to said control member being positioned in its displaced position, and further means responsive to said control member being positioned in its displaced position for inhibiting operation of said image producing means, whereby operation of said copy reproducing machine with said control member in its displaced position delivers a sheet of said copy material without an image thereon to said roll couple while said roll couple is moving at said relatively slow speed.

Claim 6

In a copy reproducing machine having a supply of copy material, image producing means for generating a thermoplastic toner particle image on a sheet of said copy material, a fusing roll couple for fixing the thermoplastic toner particle image to said copy material, and manually initiatable control means for producing an automatic sequence of operations including feeding a sheet of said copy material to said image producing means, producing the said image onto the sheet, and passing the sheet bearing the image to said roll couple, each roll of said couple having an external surface of low surface energy material, heating means directly thermally connected only with the one roll of said couple that engages said toner particle image for maintaining the external surface of said one roll at high temperature, and power means connected to said roll couple for rotating the rolls thereof, wherein the improvement comprises: a cleaning-cycle-select control member having a normal inactive position and a displaced active position, speed change means associated with said power means for causing said rolls to be driven at a normal relatively fast speed and further being controlledly connected with said clean-cycle-select control member for causing said rolls to be driven at a relatively slow speed in response to said control member being positioned in its displaced position, and further means responsive to said control member being positioned in its displaced position for inhibiting operation of said image producing means, whereby operation of said copy reproducing machine with said control member in its displaced position delivers a sheet of said copy material without an image thereon to said roll couple while said roll couple is moving at said relatively slow speed.

Claim 7

Fusing mechanism as defined in claim 3 wherein the other roll of said couple is heated only by conduction of heat from said one roll.

Claim 8

Fuser mechanism as defined in claim 2 wherein said relatively slow speed is about 10 percent or less of said relatively fast speed.

Claim 9

Fuser mechanism as defined in claim 2 where said low surface energy material is silicone rubber.

Claim 10

Fuser apparatus as defined in claim 2 wherein at least one roll of said couple is significantly deformable when placed in pressure cooperation with the other of said rolls whereby an area of contact between said rolls is created at the nip.