Brother Kogyo Kabushiki-kaisha

Eiji Yokota

Kazuhiko Takagi

Hiroyuki Funahashi

Makoto Hasegawa

Isao Kagami

Mitsuyoshi Uehara

Kazumasa Makino

Atsuo Hirose

Hiroyuki Kashima

Kiyoshi Takahashi

Takanobu Hirayama

Eiji Tanaka

Mitsuaki Inoue

Masaru Mizuno

Masaaki Tsukamoto

An image forming apparatus is provided with a cassette configured to accommodate printing sheets, a casing of the image forming apparatus, a belt member which circularly moves inside the casing, a cleaning device configured to remove particles adhering on the belt member, and a collection box in which the particles removed by the cleaning unit is collected. The casing has a cassette accommodating section for accommodating the cassette, a box accommodating section defined inside the casing and communicating with the cassette accommodating section and an opening formed on the casing and communicating with the cassette accommodating section. The cassette is removably installable into the cassette accommodating section through the opening, and the collection box is detached from or inserted in the box accommodating section through the opening.

Image forming apparatus having collection box

An image-forming device includes: a cartridge receiving portion; a drive engaging unit; and a coupling member. The cartridge receiving portion receives a process cartridge detachably mounted therein. The drive engaging unit can move between an engaged position, in which the drive engaging unit transfers a driving force to the process cartridge, and a disengaged position, in which the drive engaging unit fails to transfer a driving force to the process cartridge. The coupling member moves the drive engaging unit between the engaged position and the disengaged position in association with mounting and detaching of the process cartridge in the cartridge receiving portion.

Image-forming device and process cartridge

A recording medium discharging apparatus which can be mounted on top of the image forming apparatus includes a plurality of recording medium storers and a locking mechanism for locking the discharging apparatus to the image forming apparatus when the discharging apparatus is mounted on the image forming apparatus. The locking mechanism includes a release lever for unlocking the discharging apparatus by being manipulated to shift in the same direction as the discharging apparatus moves away from the image forming apparatus to be dismounted from it. The locking mechanism prevents the discharging apparatus from falling off the image forming apparatus even if external force is applied to the discharging apparatus mounted on the image forming apparatus. The release lever for unlocking the discharging apparatus makes it easy to dismount the discharging apparatus from the image forming apparatus.

Recording medium discharging apparatus and image forming apparatus provided therewith

Structuring the lower surface side of the body case of a printer to space heat generating sources apart from the cooling fan, improves the cooling efficiency and reduces the manufacturing cost of a printer. In a position close to a front portion of a main frame of a body case of a printer, an upper plate portion for an air duct extending in the transverse direction through the interior of the body case is formed in a generally inverted V shape in section. This isolates a processing unit incorporating a photosensitive drum, a developing device for forming a toner image on the photosensitive drum and a transfer roller, and a fixing unit to heat-fix the toner image after transfer onto paper from each other. Both lower ends of the upper plate portion having this shape are interconnected integrally to form an air duct. On the lower surface side of the main frame there is formed a receptacle portion communicating with both the air duct and an air passage for passing air to a drive motor. A power source is disposed in a rear space formed on the lower surface side of the main frame. A cooling fan is accommodated within the receptacle portion and is fixed with a bottom plate slantwise at an angle with respect to a horizontal plane.

Cooling device for image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus in which probability of sheet jamming is reduced and jammed sheet can be easily removed. The apparatus is provided with a guide plate, a movable guide plate defining a sheet feed passage therebetween, and a first sheet feed roller. A detachable sheet cassette is provided for attachment to a main body portion of the apparatus. In the sheet cassette, are provided a second sheet feed roller and a leaf spring which urges the second sheet feed roller toward the first sheet feed roller when the sheet cassette is attached to the main body portion. The sheet feed passage is opened by pivotal movement of the movable guide plate when the sheet cassette is detached from the main body portion, to thereby facilitate removal of the jamming sheet from the sheet feed passage.

Image forming apparatus having detachable sheet cassette

A sheet feed cassette capable of preventing a sheet of a sheet stack from diagonal feeding when the sheet is delivered out of the cassette. The sheet feed cassette has sheet guides at lateral sides thereof whose inner surfaces serve as sheet guide surfaces. In the sheet guide, box like portions are provided. In the box-like portions, sub-guides are provided protrudable from upper ends of the sheet guides. The sub-guides have sub-guide surfaces flush with the guide surfaces of the sheet guides. Each lateral side edge of the sheet is abuttable with each of the sub-guide surfaces if the sheet is positioned above the upper ends of the sheet guides for guiding the sheet in a sheet feeding direction. Thus, the diagonal travel of the sheet can be obviated by the sub-guides.

Image forming apparatus having sheet cassette having lateral guides

A paper feeding apparatus for the printer having an intermittent mechanism between a driving motor and both a paper feed roller and a platen. The intermittent mechanism allows both the platen and the paper feed roller to rotate simultaneously and also allows only the platen to rotate while the paper feed roller is suspended, so that a sheet of printing paper is set straight along the platen. When the rotational direction of the driving motor is reversed to reverse that of the platen, the driving motor stops rotating for a limited period. Under such conditions the sheet is fed properly in response to the rotation of the platen, being free from the inertia force of the sheet and from the platen's vibration.

Paper feeding apparatus for printer

A paper feeder for a printer in which a paper separator roller 15 is rotatably provided in the end portion of a paper holder 12 so that when a paper feed roller 14 is rotated in the paper feed direction, the paper separator roller 15 is arranged to stop at a predetermined position and act similarly to a conventional friction pad, while when the paper feed roller 14 is rotated in the paper return direction, the paper separator roller 15 also rotates in synchronization with the above rotation. By way of vibrating the paper separator roller 15 in the rotational direction or another direction, paper sheets P stacked on the paper holder 12 are vibrated for the purpose of being successively moved in the portion at which the two rollers 14 and 15 are positioned in contact with each other. As a result of this structure, the paper feeder of the printer according to the present invention can be prevented from local abrasion of the paper separator roller 15 causing papers to be fed in an overlap manner, and stop of paper feed can be prevented, and papers can be assuredly fed one at a time to the printing mechanism portion 1.

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Aichi, Japan

Eiji Yokota