Mita Industrial Co., Ltd.

Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Arihiro Tsunoda

Toshio Watanabe

Eiji Tsutsui

Masao Otsuka

Toshinobu Katafuchi

Syuji Yamada

Toshiyuki Osaka

Fumio Hatanaka

Atsushi Kanou

Yasuhiro Nakamatsu

Kiyoshi Morimoto

Haruo Yamamoto

Hisashi Kunihiro

Naoki Mizutani

Kikunosuke Tsuji

Takeshi Wakabayashi

Fumito Mizoguchi

Kenji Oda

Masahiko Fukano

Kazunori Akiyama

Atsushi Kano

Akira Nakakuma

Katsuhide Yamaguchi

Satoshi Tanaka

Tetsuya Matsushita

Hiroshi Tanizawa

Hiroyoshi Omuras

A flexible element for converting an opening port of a toner supply container in an openable and closable manner is provided so that, when the toner supply container is joined to a developing unit, an external force acting on the developing unit or toner supplying container, deforms the flexible element to uncover the opening and when the toner supply container and developing unit are separated one from another, the opening port is covered by the flexible element.

Toner supplying unit for a developing apparatus

Paper regulating mechanism in a paper feed cassette for accomodating paper sheets, has: a regulation guide plate disposed below a bottom plate, on which are placed the paper sheets, and formed with a slit having a predetermined width; upper plate-shaped portions against which the paper sheets come into abutment; lower guided portions disposed at the lower ends of said upper plate-shaped portions and so loosely fitted in said slit as to easily move; rollers connected to said upper plate-shaped portions or said lower guided portions and rotatably abutting against said regulating guide plate; and lock members for fixing said upper plate-shaped portions in arbitrary positions with respect to said regulation guide plate.

Paper regulating mechanism and paper cassette

Paper regulating mechanism in a paper feed cassette for accommodating paper sheets , has: a regulation guide plate disposed below a bottom plate, on which are placed the paper sheets, and formed with a slit having a predetermined width; upper plate-shaped portions against which the paper sheets come into abutment; lower guided portions disposed at the lower ends of said upper plate-shaped portions and so loosely fitted in said slit as to easily move; rollers connected to said upper plate-shaped portions or said lower guided portions and rotatably abutting against said regulating guide plate; and lock members for fixing said upper plate-shaped portions in arbitrary positions with respect to said regulation guide plate.

A transmission member is fitted to a flange member to which a photosensitive drum is fitted. The transmission member is made of a synthetic resin and includes an output gear that engages with a drive gear of a transfer drum. The output gear is formed on the outer periphery of a cylindrical portion formed on one end side of the transfer member. An outer peripheral support surface is formed along the circumference on one end side of the flange member. The inner peripheral surface of a cylindrical portion of the output gear is fitted onto, and is supported by, the outer peripheral support surface of the flange member.

Drive device in an image-forming machine

A transfer unit of an image forming apparatus includes a transfer device, a pressing member, and a regulative member. The transfer device is provided adjacent to a photoconductor of the image forming apparatus and is separable from the photoconductor under its own weight. The pressing member presses the transfer device against the photoconductor. The regulative member regulates the distance by which transfer device is separated from the photoconductor when the pressing member disengages the transfer device therefrom. In this transfer unit, if a printing sheet is large, the pressing member disengages the transfer device after a given transfer operation. As a result, the transfer device separates from the photoconductor under its own weight, with the distance separating the transfer device from the photoconductor being regulated by the regulative member. Then, the transfer device idles in the separated state, wherein preparation for a subsequent transfer operation is made. In this manner, the transfer device is idled simply by regulating the movement of the transfer device through means of the regulative member. Consequently, little distortion occurs to the transfer unit support frames, and deterioration of the quality of the transferred images is thus checked.

Transfer unit of an image forming apparatus

A nipping device is provided in a transfer unit having a fixed support and rotating element rotatably supported by the fixed support. The nipping device retains a printing sheet against the circumferential surface of the rotating element, and separates the printing sheet from the transfer unit. The nipping device includes a nipper, a pivoting lever device and a drive device. The nipper is disposed pivotally on the circumferential surface of the rotating element, and retains the feed-leading edge of the printing sheet. The levers of the pivoting lever device are disposed within the rotating element, pivotal on an axes intersecting the circumferential surface of the transfer unit, and functions therein to open and close the nipper by which the printing sheet is nipped against and separated from the transfer unit. The drive device is disposed in the fixed support, and functions to turn the pivoting levers. Due to the structure of this device, it is possible to impel the pivoting levers in a uniform direction by the use of tension springs, and furthermore the setting of the impelling force of the springs to the minimum necessary, is facilitated, such that the load applied to the driving system of the transfer unit can be reduced.

Nipping device of a transfer unit

A supporting apparatus for optical unit having an optical unit to expose an original set on a contact glass, a reciprocatingly movable supporting frame body equipped with the optical unit, a sliding member provided on both ends of the supporting frame body, and an eccentric cam mechanism provided on one end of the supporting frame body to vertically adjust one of the sliding member. By operating the eccentric cam mechanism, one end of the supporting frame body can be adjusted to a desired height so as to enable to adjust horizontality of the optical unit mounted on the supporting frame body. Furthermore, because a large gap is provided between a pair of sliding members provided on one end of each supporting frame body and the ends of the two supporting frame bodies where the sliding members are mounted are mutually disposed at reverse side, both supporting frame bodies can be caused to come as close at their home positions as possible.

Support and adjusting apparatus for an optical unit

A copying machine, including a photosensitive drum; a corona charger; an exposure device for exposing the photosensitive drum to an optical image of an original; a developing unit for developing a toner image on the photosensitive drum; a transfer corona charger for transferring the developed toner image to copy paper; a device for mechanically separating the imaged copy paper from the photosensitive drum; and a system for cleaning the drum after the image transfer, which includes an eraser lamp disposed adjacent the copy paper delivery side of the transfer corona charger at a position for illuminating copy paper from the rear side thereof upon image transfer thereto, and a control unit for controlling the operation of the transfer corona charger and the eraser lamp, thereby assuring smooth separation of copy paper after image transfer and efficient transport of the paper.

Eraser lamp and transparent guide plate in electrostatic image transfer

The present invention relates to a driving apparatus for the optical systems of a photocopier comprising 1st and 2nd optical systems, 1st and 2nd wires stretched out facing with each other through the wire-fixed ends of the 1st optical system, moving pulleys of the 2nd optical system, fixed pulleys of both systems and a common wire drum for both wires. The common wire drum has two wire drum bodies with a shallow and smooth dented portion, and a screw for pressing and fixing the approximate center of the wires against the bottom surface and/or side surface of the dented portion.

Driving apparatus for optical systems of photocopier

An optical unit holding device for copying machines having a pair of stationary slide members attached to one end of a support frame proper which holds an optical unit reciprocating for document exposure, and another pair of slide members which is turnably attached to the other end of the support frame proper, thereby holding the support frame proper on a slider at four points by a manner that each pair of the slide members is supported on the slider, and further a driving wire is connected respectively to each end of the support frame proper.

Optical unit holding device for copying machines

A sheet material conveying device includes a feed roller assembly and a temporary hampering device disposed downstream of the roller assembly. The conveying device includes a driven shaft to be rotated by a driving source and a plurality of driven rollers mounted on the shaft. The driven rollers comprise at least one positively driven roller having a non-slip rotary connection with the driven shaft and at least one negatively driven roller having a slip connection with the driven shaft. The positively driven roller is mounted on the driven shaft so as to be rotated continuously with rotation of the driven shaft. The negatively driven roller has an inside diameter larger than the outside diameter of the driven shaft and is rotatably mounted on the driven shaft. When the forward movement of the sheet material fed by the feed roller assembly is hampered by the temporary hampering device, the rotation of the negatively driven roller is stopped by the resistance of the sheet material exerted on the negatively driven roller in spite of the continued rotation of driven shaft.

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Higashiosaka, Japan

Arihiro Tsunoda