a rotary , multi - bladed cleaner provides increased life expectancy , up to 15 - 25 times the life of a single blade cleaner . such a cleaner has been found to be highly reliable due to its ability to frequently change brush surfaces and by provision of a redundant system that enables multiple blades to contact the surface to be cleaned at once . the blade cleaner has a paddle - wheel type cross - sectional shape with a plurality of radially extending blades spaced around the periphery thereof . the blades are spaced to be closely adjacent one another such that one and preferably two or more blades contact the residual image at one time . the rotary blade cleaner is preferably rotated at a slow rotation rate with the blades being in contact for only a limited time before being displaced by the next blade . such a rotary cleaner is particularly suited for cleaning residual toners and inks from a photoreceptive surface .