Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090154973 | WASTE-TONER COLLECTING DEVICE, PROCESS CARTRIDGE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A waste-toner collecting device includes a cleaning unit that collects waste toner remaining on an image carrier; a conveying belt that conveys the waste toner collected by the cleaning unit in a first direction; and a conveying screw that conveys the waste toner conveyed by the conveying belt in a second direction. An end of the conveying screw on a side of the conveying belt is rotatably supported by an inner wall of a body of the waste-toner collecting device in a state where the end of the conveying screw is in contact with the inner wall. | 06-18-2009 |
20090162101 | TONER AGITATING UNIT, TONER HOPPER, PROCESS CARTRIDGE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A toner agitating unit is located in a toner hopper that houses toner used for developing a latent image. The toner agitating unit includes a rotary shaft and an agitating member. The agitating member is a flat plate made of resin. The agitating member has a plurality of slits extending from an outer edge of the agitating member toward the rotary shaft. | 06-25-2009 |
20090169246 | DEVELOPING DEVICE, PROCESS UNIT, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A developing device includes a main body that is arranged between a pair of supporting members and includes a developing roller. Both end portions of the developing roller are supported by the supporting members in a first direction in which the developing roller is movable toward and away from an image carrier. A groove is formed on each of the supporting members. Either one of an end portion of the developing roller and a bearing that supports the end portion is inserted into the groove. Either one of at least one of the end portions of the developing roller and at least one of the bearings is movable in the groove in a second direction that intersects the first direction. | 07-02-2009 |
20090169265 | POWDER TRANSPORT SCREW, AND DEVELOPMENT DEVICE, PROCESS UNIT AND IMAGE-FORMING APPARATUS COMPRISING THIS POWDER TRANSPORT SCREW - A toner transport screw that is capable of maintaining a smooth and stable transport function. The toner transport screw, in which a helical blade is disposed on the circumference of a rotating shaft, has at least one spiral direction reversal part formed by connecting the respective ends of a first blade part and a second blade part, the directions of spiral of the first blade part and the second blade part being in opposite directions. A passage, which allows the toner to pass through the blades in the circumferential direction of the rotating shaft, is formed in the spiral direction reversal part. | 07-02-2009 |
20100028045 | Cleaning device, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus - A cleaning device includes a casing including an opening facing the rotary member, a cleaning member disposed at the opening to contact the rotary member to remove a substance adhering thereto, an entrance seal disposed at the opening to prevent leakage of the removed substance through a gap between the opening and the rotary member, a pair of lateral end seals respectively disposed both end portions of the cleaning member as well as the entrance seal in an axial direction of the rotary member, and a compressing member. A first face of each lateral end seal is attached to the casing. The compressing member compresses each lateral end seal by pressing a second face thereof opposite the first face-and presses a third face of the lateral end seal against the casing in a direction in which the lateral end seal is expanded by the compression. | 02-04-2010 |
20110002720 | Toner conveyance device, process unit, and image forming apparatus - A toner conveyance device includes a toner conveyance path to convey toner from a lower position to an upper position, a lower holding member and an upper holding member provided in the toner conveyance path, a toner conveyance belt extended among the upper holding member and the lower holding member, running obliquely upward at a lower-side region, running obliquely downward at an upper-side region, and including engagement grooves communicating an inner side and outer side of the conveyance belt formed at predetermined intervals in a running direction of the conveyance belt so as to transfer a drive force, and a guide member provided inside a circulating loop of the conveyance belt to prevent the conveyance belt from entering inside. The lowest portion of the guide member at the upper-side region is placed on a substantially vertical line drawn from a belt delivery part of the lower holding member. | 01-06-2011 |
20110052255 | Process cartridge and image forming apparatus - A process cartridge collectively accommodates at least a latent image carrier and a developer carrier carrying tonner for visualizing an electrostatic latent image formed on the latent image carrier and includes a side plate unit rotatably supporting the latent image carrier and the developer carrier. The side plate includes a bearing that rotatably supports a rotation shaft of the developer carrier; an elastic body that pushes the bearing against a rotation shaft of the latent image carrier; and a guiding unit that guides the bearing in a direction of the pushing. The guiding unit includes an abrasion preventing structure at a wall surface of the guiding unit that comes in contact with the bearing. | 03-03-2011 |
20110103837 | Mechanism for electrifying, method of electrifying, and conductive member - A mechanism for electrifying a rotator that is used in an image forming apparatus includes a cloth-like or sheet-like conductive member, wherein part of the conductive member comes into contact with an object to be electrified and the other part of the conductive member comes into surface contact with any one contact member of the rotator, a rotating shaft that rotates together with the rotator, and a shaft where the rotator is rotatably supported, so that the object to be electrified and the contact member are electrically connected to each other through the conductive member. | 05-05-2011 |
20120114373 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS CAPABLE OF EFFECTIVELY UTILIZING INTERIOR SPACE - An image forming apparatus comprises a exposure device as a light source, a developer container storing developer and attached to a main body of the image forming apparatus perpendicular to a lengthwise direction of the photoconductor, a developing unit and a photoconductor unit having a photoconductor for bearing a latent image thereon each detachably attached to the main body substantially in the same direction as the developer container. An exposure device displacing mechanism displaces the exposure device between a first position enabling the exposure device to function as the light source and a second position disabling the exposure device to function as the light source. The photoconductor unit is detached when the developer container is either displaced from an initially attached position or is removed from the main body and the exposure device displacing device has displaced the exposure device to the second position. | 05-10-2012 |
20120189327 | DEVELOPER AMOUNT DETECTOR, AND DEVELOPER CONTAINER, DEVELOPMENT DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCORPORATING SAME - A development device includes a development housing, a first developer conveyance member, a developer bearer, and a developer amount detector to detect an amount of developer in the development housing. The developer amount detector includes a light-emitting element, a right-receiving element, a first light guide including a first end from which light enters and a second end disposed inside the development housing, and a second light guide including a first end positioned inside the development housing across a predetermined distance from the second end of the first light guide and a second end from which the light exits. The second end of the first light guide and the first end of the second light guide are arranged in an axial direction of the first developer conveyance member with a light transmission path therebetween partly inside a locus of rotation of the first developer conveyance member. | 07-26-2012 |
20120213544 | ROTATING-BODY ELECTRIFICATION MECHANISM, IMAGE CARRIER UNIT, PROCESS CARTRIDGE, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND METHOD FOR ELECTRIFYING IMAGE CARRIER UNIT - According to an embodiment, there is provided a mechanism for electrification of a rotating body used in an image forming apparatus. In the mechanism, compression of an elastically-deformable pressing member brings a portion of a cloth-like or sheet-like conductive member into contact with an electrification object and presses the rest of the conductive member against a conductive contact member, which is any one of the rotating body, a rotating shaft that rotates together with the rotating body, and a shaft that rotatably supports the rotating body. A connecting between the electrification object and the contact member is achieved via the conductive member. | 08-23-2012 |