Lexmark International, Inc.

Christopher Kent Washing

Michael James Shanor

Darin Michael Gettelfinger

Benjamin Charles Devore

Matthew Ryan Keniston

Jie Chen

Brian Allen Blair

Franklin Joseph Palumbo

Jay Scott Siekmann

Brian Lester Boettcher

James Anthany Carter, Ii

Mark William Amann

Paul Douglas Horrall

David Anthony Schneider

Andrew Charles Hogan

James Marion Nimmo

Peyman Kermanshahi Nejad

Peyman Kermanshani Nejad

Ryan Jay Alfonso Dumaquita

A system for an electrophotographic image forming device includes a basket for holding multiple toner cartridges. A guide rail assembly operatively connected to an access door moves between a raised position and a lowered position to raise and lower the basket when the access door moves between an open position and a closed position. The basket is slidable along the guide rail assembly into and out of the image forming device when the guide rail assembly is in the raised position, and is in an operational position within the image forming device when the guide rail assembly is in the lowered position. A rail lock mechanism locks the access door in the open position when the guide rail assembly is in the raised position and the basket is extended out of the image forming device and unlocks the access door from the open position when the basket is inserted.

Door lock assembly for an image forming device

A system for an electrophotographic image forming device includes a basket including a plurality of positioning slots each including cartridge datum locators that position a plurality of toner cartridges relative to the basket. A first guide rail and a second guide rail, each movable between a raised position and a lowered position, raise and lower the basket when the first and second guide rails move between the raised and lowered positions. In the raised positions the first and second guide rails support the basket permitting the basket to slide along the first and second guide rails into and out of the image forming device. When the first and second guide rails are in the lowered positions basket datum locators within the image forming device support the basket and position the basket relative to the image forming device in order to position the toner cartridges relative to the image forming device.

Guide rail assembly for supporting a toner cartridge basket in an image forming device

A system for an electrophotographic image forming device includes a basket insertable into and extendable out of the image forming device. The basket includes a plurality of positioning slots each configured to receive a corresponding toner cartridge of a plurality of toner cartridges. The basket includes a cartridge latching assembly configured to apply a hold-down force on each toner cartridge to rigidly hold each toner cartridge against corresponding datums of the basket. A basket latching assembly in the image forming device is configured to apply a hold-down force on the basket when the basket is inserted into the image forming device to rigidly hold the basket against corresponding datums of the image forming device for positioning the plurality of toner cartridges in respective operational positions within the image forming device with only the cartridge latching assembly of the basket directly applying hold-down forces on the plurality of toner cartridges.

Latching assembly for securing toner cartridges in an image forming device

Front panel of multi-function electrophotographic printer scanner

Printer panel

An access door of an imaging device is movable between a raised closed position, a lowered open position, and a raised open position. A linkage assembly includes a lower link connected to the access door using a first revolute joint and an upper link connected to the access door using a compound joint. The compound joint is transformable between a prismatic joint and a second revolute joint, with the compound joint forming the prismatic joint as the access door moves between the raised closed position and the lowered open position and forming the second revolute joint as the access door moves between the lowered open position and the raised open position. The compound joint as the prismatic joint allows translational motion of the access door relative to the upper link. The compound joint as the second revolute joint allows rotational motion of the access door relative to the upper link.

Imaging device access door assembly having a low closing force

A capacitive sensor for sensing amount of waste toner in a waste toner box of an imaging apparatus includes a capacitor that has a pair of separated plates disposed within the interior of the waste toner box. The capacitance of the capacitor changes with the amount of toner in between the plates of the capacitor. A sensor circuitry is connected to the plates of the waste toner box that measure the capacitance of the capacitor as a voltage value. This voltage value is provided to a controller that determines a relative change in the capacitance value by determining a change in capacitance of the capacitor with respect to a number of pages printed by the imaging apparatus. The controller then determines the state of the waste toner box based on this relative change in capacitance.

Capacitive sensor for sensing state of waste toner box in an imaging apparatus

The present invention provides a waste particulate toner collection container system for an image forming apparatus that includes a waste particulate toner spreading device movably disposed within the container in a reciprocating manner generally along its length, the device including a spine member having on a first end a first plurality of spaced apart raking tine members and on a second end a second plurality of spaced apart raking tine members disposed substantially transversely of the length of the spine member, and a crank arm attached at the first end of the spine member. A post disposed on an inner wall of the container supports the device at a point along the length of the spine member between the first and second pluralities of raking tine members, and a drive mechanism is operatively connected to the crank arm for imparting reciprocating movement to the device.

Rake mechanism for distributing waste toner in a printer

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Lexington, KY, United States of America

Christopher Kent Washing