Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Eisuke Hori

Hideki Kimura

Yuji Suzuki

Kenji Kikuchi

Nobuo Takami

Noriyuki Kimura

Masato Suzuki

Junji Yamabe

Nobuhiko Umezawa

Kikuchi Kenji

Yuji Arai

Tetsuya Kaneko

Hiroshi Ono

Takeshi Uchitani

Hiroyuki Nagashima

Toshio Koike

Kiyofumi Nagai

Masayuki Yamane

Tadashi Hayakawa

Ken Amemiya

Akihiko Gotoh

Tomomi Katoh

Akiko Bannai

Nobuo Kuwabara

Masahiko Shakuto

Michiya Okamoto

Toshiroh Tokuno

Fumihito Itoh

Takuya Suganuma

Takafumi Kondo

Tomokazu Mochizuki

Kenji Satoh

A system with a container including a protrusion, and a receiver to receive the container. The receiver includes a slide block that is movable relative to a body of the receiver, the slide block including two surfaces, a first surface, initially contacted by the protrusion of the container during insertion of the container into the receiver, having a first slope to resist movement of the container towards the receiver, and a second surface, subsequently contacted by the protrusion of the container during the insertion of the container into the receiver, having a second slope to interact with the protrusion of the container to assist movement of the container towards the receiver. This construction provides the user with a changing insertion force to indicate proper mounting of the container.

Toner container having protrusions projecting from opposite sides of the toner container

Toner container and image forming apparatus including a shutter having extension

A toner container that is detachably attached to a main body of an image forming apparatus such that a longitudinal direction of the toner container is parallel to a horizontal direction includes: a cylindrical container body that has an opening on one end thereof in the longitudinal direction, and is configured to convey toner contained therein toward the opening; a cap portion into which the opening of the container body is inserted, and which includes a toner outlet at a bottom portion thereof for discharging toner discharged from the opening of the container body to the outside of the toner container in a vertically downward direction; and a shutter member that is held on the bottom portion of the cap portion, and moves along an outer periphery of the cap portion to thereby open and close the toner outlet, wherein the cap portion is formed by integral molding.

Toner container and image forming apparatus

Toner container including a cap with two shoulders and image forming device

A toner container and system for mounting and/or securing the toner container includes a toner container having a toner dispensing hole, a shutter, a protrusion. The shutter is movable relative to the toner dispensing hole, and is to selectively close the toner dispensing hole. The protrusion is connected to the shutter and movement of the protrusion causes the shutter to move relative to the toner dispensing hole to cover the toner dispensing hole. There is a receiver including a movable catch, the movable catch being in a first position when the toner container is initially inserted into the receiver, and the movable catch moving to a second position upon insertion of the toner container into the receiver. The movable catch interacts with the protrusion of the toner container when the toner container is being removed from the receiver such that the movable catch in the second position restricts movement of the protrusion of the toner container which closes the shutter as the toner container is withdrawn from the receiver.

Toner container and image forming apparatus with a mechanism to secure the toner container

Toner container and image forming apparatus in which the toner container has protrusions which interact with the image forming apparatus

A toner container and system for mounting and/or securing the toner container includes a toner container having a toner dispensing hole, a shutter, a protrusion. The shutter is movable relative to the toner dispensing hole, and is to selectively close the toner dispensing hole. The protrusion is connected to the shutter and movement of the protrusion causes the shutter to move relative to the toner dispensing hole to cover the toner dispensing hole. There is a receiver including a movable catch, the movable catch being in a first position when the toner container is initially inserted into the receiver, and the moveable catch moving to a second position upon insertion of the toner container into the receiver. The moveable catch interacts with the protrusion of the toner container when the toner container is being removed from the receiver such that the moveable catch in the second position restricts movement of the protrusion of the toner container which closes the shutter as the toner container is withdrawn from the receiver.

A toner container for use with an image forming apparatus which includes a horizontally mounted toner body mounted within the image forming apparatus, a toner outlet to discharge toner in a downward direction, and a shutter to open and close the toner outlet which moves along a first and second rail. The second rail is disposed downstream of the first rail in the insertion direction of the toner body and parallel to the length of the toner body. The longitudinal length of the first rail is smaller than the longitudinal length of the second rail.

Toner container including first and second rails and a shutter which moves along the rails

A toner container includes a cylindrical container body, a cap having a toner outlet, and a shutter. The cap includes a primary positioning primary positioning hole, formed in a top front surface perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the toner container, extending in the longitudinal direction, to determine an installation position of the cap relative to the image forming apparatus, a secondary positioning hole, formed in a bottom front surface perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the toner container, extending in the longitudinal direction forward the toner outlet, to subsidiary determine the installation position of the cap, and a first restriction member to position the cap in a horizontal direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, projecting vertically upward from an outer circumferential surface of the cap and symmetrical about a virtual perpendicular line passing through a cross-sectional center position of the primary positioning hole perpendicular to the longitudinal direction.

Toner container, image forming apparatus including same, and connecting structure for connecting toner container and image forming apparatus

A toner container that is detachably attached to a main body of an image forming apparatus such that a longitudinal direction of the toner container is parallel to a horizontal direction is provided. The toner container includes: a cylindrical container body that has an opening on one end, and is configured to convey toner inside the body toward the opening; a cap portion into which the opening of the container body is inserted, and which includes a toner outlet at a bottom portion for discharging toner discharged from the opening of the container body to the outside of the toner container in a vertically downward direction; and a shutter member that is held on the bottom portion of the cap portion, and moves along an outer periphery of the cap portion to open and close the toner outlet. The cap portion is formed by integral molding.

Toner container and image forming apparatus in which the toner container has protrusions which interact with the image forming device

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Eisuke Hori