METHOD OF MANUFACTURING POLYURETHANE FOAM ROLLER

• Main Authors: KUSAKABE TAKENORI, ITO TAKUYA, FURUYA MASAHIKO
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 14.11.2013
• Subjects: AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING; BEARINGS; BLASTING; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; ELEMENTS OR CRANKSHAFT MECHANISMS; ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; FLEXIBLE SHAFTS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVEFUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; HEATING; HOLOGRAPHY; INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES B29B, B29C OR B29D, RELATING TO MOULDING MATERIALS; LIGHTING; MAGNETOGRAPHY; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHYSICS; ROTARY BODIES OTHER THAN GEARING ELEMENTS; SHAFTS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDEDFOR; SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL; TRANSPORTING; WEAPONS; WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE, IN GENERAL

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of inexpensively manufacturing a polyurethane foam roller suitable for an electrophotographic image forming device, such as a copier, image recording device, printer, fax machine, or the like, with improved toner supplying and scraping performance.SOLUTION: An intermediate molding 21 is formed by arranging cylindrical polyurethane foam 23 larger in diameter than the diameter of a roller product, on an outer periphery of a metal shaft 15. The surface of the polyurethane foam 23 of the intermediate molding 21 is compressed with heat while rotating the intermediate molding 21 around the shaft 15 of the intermediate molding 21, to manufacture a polyurethane foam roller with the diameter of the polyurethane foam 23 as the diameter of the product.