Brother Kogyo Kabushiki-kaisha

Atsushi Hayakawa

Yoshiya Tomatsu

Takuya Yamaguchi

Yoshiteru Hattori

Hiroshi Nobe

Yoshito Takakuwa

Naoya Kamimura

Atsuhisa Nakashima

Yoshihito Takakuwa

Yasushi Okabe

Tomoya Yamamoto

Yuichi Ikeno

Hideaki Nagasaka

Ryosuke Sakai

Daisuke Ishizuka

Kazuya Taira

Tatsuaki Mori

Zhang Wei

A document scanner includes a casing and a document cover disposed above the casing. The casing includes a document glass and houses an image scanner. The document cover has one end portion and the other end portion opposite to the first end portion in a first direction and is configured to pivotally move about the one end portion between a closed position in which the other end portion covers the document glass and an open position in which the other end portion uncovers the document glass. The other end portion has an end surface that intersects, when the document cover is at the closed position, with an upper surface of the document glass. The end surface has an indication indicating a location to which an external device is to be brought into proximity to establish short-range wireless communication between the document scanner and the external device.

Image forming apparatus including USB port and NFC mark

Document scanner and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a developing cartridge, a photosensitive drum, a lever, and an electrical connector. The developing cartridge includes a developing roller rotatable about a first axis extending in a first direction, a memory storing information related to the developing cartridge, and an electrical contact electrically connected to the memory. The photosensitive drum is rotatable about a second axis extending in the first direction. The lever moves the developing cartridge between a first position where a surface of the developing roller contacts a surface of the photosensitive drum and a second position where the surface of the developing roller separates from the surface of the photosensitive drum. The electrical connector contacts the electrical contact in the second position of the developing cartridge, and separates from the electrical contact in the first position of the developing cartridge.

Image forming apparatus having developing cartridge movable relative to photosensitive drum

An image forming apparatus, having a body, a fuser to fix an image on a recording medium by heat, an interface to accept a value for a first time, which is between an end of fixing by the fuser until entry into a low power-consuming condition for the heater, a fan, and a controller, is provided. The controller sets a second time being a predetermined length and subtract the second time from the first time to obtain a third time. If the third time is given a positive value, the controller continues driving the fan after the end of the fixing and throughout the third time, and inactivates the fan after the third time. If the third time is given a value smaller than or equal to zero, the controller inactivates the fan during the first time before the entry into the low power-consuming condition.

Image forming apparatus with a fan operable under noise-reducible control

An image forming apparatus includes a conveyer roller exposed to an attachment space and a drive force transmission mechanism for transmitting a drive force from a drive source. The drive force transmission mechanism includes a plate driving gear exposed to the attachment space, a transmission gear train transmitting a drive force to the conveyer roller and to the plate driving gear, and a switching mechanism. The switching mechanism includes a driven gear transmitting the drive force to the transmission gear train, a pendulum gear revolvable between a coupled position in which the pendulum gear is engaged with the driven gear and an uncoupled position in which the pendulum gear is separated from the driven gear, and a transmission switch movable between a first position for holding the pendulum gear in the uncoupled position and a second position for allowing the pendulum gear to revolve between the coupled and uncoupled positions.

Image forming apparatus provided with switching mechanism for switching transmission state of drive force

An image forming apparatus includes a main body; a process unit configured to be attached to and removed from the main body, the process unit being configured to integrally hold a plurality of image carriers arranged in a first direction; a plurality of developing cartridges provided in corresponding association with the image carriers, the developing cartridges configured to be attached to and removed from the process unit, each of the developing cartridges including a corresponding developer carrier, each of the developing cartridges being configured to supply developer to a corresponding image carrier; and a pressing mechanism provided in the main body, the pressing mechanism configured to press the developing cartridges, when attached to the process unit, in a direction that the developer carriers contact the image carriers.

Pressing mechanism for a developing cartridge

An image forming apparatus has a drawer accommodating a plurality of photosensitive drums. The photosensitive drums are arranged in an arrangement direction. A supporting member is configured to support the drawer, inside the casing, such that the drawer is movable, in the arrangement direction, between an accommodated position and an exposed position at which the drawer is partially protruded outside the casing. A belt is arranged to convey the sheet, and has a stretched surface extending in the arrangement direction and facing the photosensitive drums. A registration roller pair serves to adjust an orientation of the sheet conveyed from the sheet feed tray and conveys the sheet through a nip between the first registration roller and the second registration roller toward the stretched surface of the belt. The registration roller pair is integrally secured to the drawer so as to be movable in the arrangement direction together with the drawer.

Image forming apparatus having drawer

An image forming apparatus, including a main body with a first sheet outlet tray and an image forming unit, a feed path configured to guide a sheet from the image forming unit toward the first sheet outlet tray, is provided. The feed path includes a first exit path to guide a sheet toward the first sheet outlet tray and a first duplex path diverging from the feed path to guide a sheet to return to the image forming unit. The main body is attachable with a sheet-exit unit. The sheet-exit unit includes a second sheet outlet tray, a second exit path, and a second duplex path. The second exit path guides a sheet to the second sheet outlet tray. The second exit path is connected with the first exit path when the sheet-exit unit is attached to the main body.

Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a main casing and a cartridge detachably mountable therein. The cartridge includes a photosensitive drum and a developing roller disposed to oppose each other. The main casing includes: a metal frame for supporting the cartridge; a lock member supported to the metal frame and movable about a first axis to allow or restrict movement of the photosensitive drum relative to the metal frame; and a contact-separation member supported to the metal frame and movable about a second axis to allow contact and separation of the developing roller relative to the photosensitive drum. The lock member and the contact-separation member are aligned in an orthogonal direction orthogonal to an axis of the photosensitive drum such that the first axis is not overlapped with the contact-separation member or the second axis is not overlapped with the lock member in an axial direction of the photosensitive drum.

Image forming apparatus provided with mechanism to move developing roller relative to photosensitive drum

An image forming apparatus includes a cartridge and a casing. The cartridge includes a photosensitive drum, a developing roller, a developing frame, and a drum frame. The developing frame is movable between a contact position and a separated position. A separating member provided on the drum frame acts on the developing frame, so that a reaction force is exerted in a reaction force direction. The casing includes a positioning member, an urging member, and a separation pressing member. The positioning member has a first surface and a second surface. The urging member is configured to urge an end portion of the photosensitive drum toward the positioning member in an urging direction. The first surface is configured to support the end portion at a position downstream of the urging direction. The second surface is configured to support the end portion at a portion downstream of the reaction force direction.

Image forming apparatus for maintaining positions of photosensitive drums relative to casing

There is provided an image forming apparatus including a main apparatus body, a photoconductor, an exposure mechanism, a frame, and a regulating mechanism. The regulating mechanism includes a fixing member, a movable member, and a biasing member. The frame includes a first contacting surface. The exposure mechanism includes second and third contacting surfaces, and the fixing member includes a fourth contacting surface, first and second facing surfaces. The movable member includes third and fourth facing surfaces. When the exposure mechanism is disposed at the approach position, the biasing member allows the second and third facing surfaces to make a contact with the second and third contacting surfaces, respectively. When the exposure mechanism is disposed at the separation position, the biasing member allows the first and fourth facing surfaces to make a contact with the first and fourth contacting surfaces, respectively.

Growing community of inventors

Okazaki, Japan

Atsushi Hayakawa