Appeal No. 96-2878
Application 08/313,631
through 23 and 29 through 33, all of the claims pending in the present application.
The invention relates to an electrophotographic printer and increasing the useable capacity of
the cleaner sump. In particular, referring to Figure 1, cleaner sump 30 is adjacent to the photoreceptor
drum 10. A cleaning blade 20 contacts the imaging surface 11 of drum 10, and waste magnetic toner
70 falls via gravity into sump 30. Appellants have increased the useable capacity of sump 30 by placing
magnet 40 in an area removed from the cleaning blade 20. Magnet 40 attracts toner further away from
blade 20 than gravity would have provided, thus more sump 30 space is utilized. In an alternative
embodiment, Appellants move waste toner 70 via a rotating magnet 60 as depicted in Figure 4.
Representative independent claim 1 is reproduced as follows:
1. An apparatus for cleaning magnetic material from a surface, comprising:
a housing defining a chamber for storing magnetic material removed from the surface with the
chamber having under utilized areas for storing magnetic material; and
a magnet positioned to attract and move the magnetic material into the under utilized areas for
tighter packing of the magnetic material stored in the chamber of said housing, increasing storage
capacity of the chamber of said housing.
The Examiner relies on the following references:
Schnall et al. (Schnall) 4,251,155 Feb. 17, 1981
Yamashita et al. (Yamashita) 4,496,240 Jan. 29, 1985
Claims 1 through 5, 11 through 15, 19 through 23 and 29 through 33 stand rejected under 35
U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Schnall in view of Yamashita.
2
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007