A developer unit for an electrophotographic image forming device includes a developer roll rotatably mounted on a housing. The developer roll includes a shaft defining a rotational axis and a roll body cylindrically disposed around the shaft to form an outer circumferential surface of the developer roll. An end seal includes a curved rotary seal portion sandwiched between a pocket portion of the housing and the outer circumferential surface of the developer roll, such that an outer circumferential surface of the curved rotary seal portion contacts the pocket portion of the housing and an inner circumferential surface of the curved rotary seal portion contacts the outer circumferential surface of the developer roll. The pocket portion of the housing includes protrusions that contact the outer circumferential surface of the curved rotary seal portion to restrict movement of the end seal along an operative rotational direction of the developer roll.

Disclosed is a development cartridge detachable from a main body of an image forming apparatus. The development cartridge includes a lateral waste toner sealing member contacting an end portion of a photosensitive drum in a lengthwise direction of the photosensitive drum to prevent a waste toner from leaking through the end portion of the photosensitive drum, and a photosensitive frame including a waste toner container to contain the waste toner, a first attachment surface, to which the lateral waste toner sealing member is attached, and a side wall to form a boundary at an upstream side of the first attachment surface with respect to a rotation direction of the photosensitive drum. The lateral waste toner sealing member includes an opposite surface facing the side wall, and a protrusion protruding towards the side wall is provided on the opposite surface.

In one example, a seal for a developer roller in a liquid electrophotographic printer includes an arcuate body curved along a body arc. The body has an inboard face that defines an annular sealing surface along the body arc to contact a face on one end of the developer roller and a guide surface across the body arc at a first end of the annular sealing surface. The guide surface is oriented along a chord of the body arc and intersects the body arc at an obtuse interior angle, to guide any ink encountering the guide surface outward toward the circular outer surface of the developer roller.

A development device includes a layer thickness regulating blade including a support sheet metal, a blade rubber section, and a side edge seal, the support sheet metal having a first end portion, a second end portion, and a center portion between the first end portion and the second end portion, in an axial direction of a development roller. In a width direction of the support sheet metal, the first end portion of the support sheet metal in the axial direction is shorter than the center portion of the support sheet metal in the axial direction. In the width direction, a distal-end edge of the first end portion of the support sheet metal is closer to a base end portion of the support sheet metal than a distal-end edge of the blade rubber section.

A sealing material 10 for sealing between a hole 21 of a structure 20 and a shaft 30 inserted into the hole 21. The sealing material 10 includes a sliding layer 11 and an elastic integument layer 12. The sliding layer 11 has a ring shape or cylindrical shape whose inner peripheral surface slides with the shaft 30 during movement of the shaft 30 relative to the structure 20. The sliding layer 11 has a fiber and an elastomer integrated with each other. The elastic integument layer 12 is laminated on an outer peripheral surface side of the sliding layer 11, and has a porous structure.

Disclosed is a development cartridge detachable from a main body of an image forming apparatus. The development cartridge includes a lateral waste toner sealing member contacting an end portion of a photosensitive drum in a lengthwise direction of the photosensitive drum to prevent a waste toner from leaking through the end portion of the photosensitive drum, and a photosensitive frame including a waste toner container to contain the waste toner, a first attachment surface, to which the lateral waste toner sealing member is attached, and a side wall to form a boundary at an upstream side of the first attachment surface with respect to a rotation direction of the photosensitive drum. The lateral waste toner sealing member includes an opposite surface facing the side wall, and a protrusion protruding towards the side wall is provided on the opposite surface.

A cleaning device includes a cleaning portion including a blade and a blade supporting member having a flat surface portion, and a cleaning frame including a mounting portion, a disposing portion and an accommodating portion. The disposing portion opposes the flat surface portion with a gap with respect to a thickness direction. The accommodating portion is adjacent to respective sides of the disposing portion with respect to a height direction. A distance between the flat surface portion and the accommodating portion with respect to the thickness direction is larger than the gap. The cleaning device includes a sealing member formed of a thermoplastic resin material and configured to seal the gap by a portion extending in a longitudinal direction between the disposing portion and the flat surface portion. A part of the sealing member is accommodated in the accommodating portion.

In one example, a sealing system for a developer roller in a liquid electrophotographic printer includes a pair of arcuate seals each with an annular sealing surface to seal one end of the developer roller; a pair of washers each having a low friction surface to contact one of the sealing surfaces; and a pair of retainers each to hold one of the washers flat against the end of the roller.

A developer conveying mechanism includes a pipe-shaped conveying path that conveys developer and includes a discharge port formed in part of a side surface thereof, a shutter that is slidably attached to the pipe-shaped conveying path and that is selectively arranged at a closing position overlapping with the discharge port and an opening position retreated from the discharge port, a seal member that is fixed to a seal affixing surface of the shutter, and a biasing member that biases the shutter toward the closing position. The shutter includes the seal affixing surface, which is a flat surface, and a pair of engagement portions that are opposite to each other across the seal affixing surface in a circumferential direction of the pipe-shaped conveying path. The pipe-shaped conveying path includes a pair of guide ribs with which the pair of engagement portions slidably engage.

A developing device includes a developer carrying member, a developing frame, and a regulating member. The regulating member includes a curved surface portion contactable to a surface of the developer carrying member, and satisfies the following relationships: 200 MPaHM1100 MPa, and 0.08 mmRb0.3 mm, where HM is a Martens hardness of toner contained in the developer under a maximum load of 2.010.sup.4 N, and Rb is a radius of curvature of the curved surface portion.