Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Hideaki Kurimoto

Koichi Mihara

Toshihide Ohgoshi

Hiroshi Kubota

Yasuyuki Ishiguro

Mitsuhiro Murata

Hideaki Kadowaki

Kiyofumi Morimoto

Masatoshi Kaneshige

Tohru Nishikawa

Shinji Imagawa

Akira Nakakuma

A transport roller pair including: a first-side roller provided with a plurality of roller portions spaced apart in a rotation axial line direction; a fixing device; and an image forming device is provided. The first-side roller includes roller portions. The transport roller pair further includes a second-side roller including a plurality of contact areas and a plurality of non-contact areas as areas other than the plurality of contact areas. At least the contact areas are covered with a release layer, and an outer diameter of each of the plurality of non-contact areas is smaller than an outer diameter of each of the plurality of contact areas. The second-side roller includes a shaft member integrally formed to have a stepped shape.

Transport roller pair, fixing device, and image forming device

A document feeding deviceof an image forming apparatusincludes a housingthat houses a document conveyance mechanism, and a document set tray. An upper coverof the housingis openable and closable with respect to a fixed cover, and the document set trayis swingably supported. A closed position of the upper coverwith respect to the fixed coveris set to a position overlapping with a movement trajectory M of the document set trayduring a swinging operation, and it is possible to open the upper coverin connection with the swinging operation of the document set tray

Document feeding device and image forming apparatus

A developing device includes a developer tank holding a developer, and a transporting member stirring and transporting the developer. The transporting member includes first and second screws each provided with a rotary shaft having a spiral blade disposed on an outer circumferential face of the rotary shaft. The first and second screws are disposed such that the rotary shafts are parallel to each other. The developer tank includes a first compartment accommodating the first screw, a second compartment accommodating the second screw, a partition separating the first compartment and the second compartment, and a circulation zone. The circulation zone includes an opening in the partition that allows the developer to flow through. The first and second compartments have bottom faces at different heights. A protrusion is formed on a bottom face in the circulation zone.

Developing device and image forming apparatus

A toner supply container according to this invention includes a toner containing portion, a support member and a container holding member. The toner containing portion is a cylindrical container having a magnet at an outer periphery thereof and configured to discharge fluid contained therein. The support member supports the toner containing portion for rotation. The container holding member has a counterpart magnet at a position opposed to the former magnet and is configured to hold the toner containing portion supported by the support member.

Fluid container device and image forming apparatus

A toner bottle for containing toner has a cylindrical body and a scraper. The bottle body can be rotated on its axis by a driving source. The scraper is supported movably in the bottle body. The bottle body has an opening and ribs. The toner in the toner bottle is supplied through the opening to a developing unit. When the bottle body rotates, the ribs convey the toner toward the opening. The scraper includes a shaft and a scraping part. The shaft extends over the whole length of the bottle body and supports the scraping part. A portion of the scraping part is in contact with the inner cylindrical surface of the bottle body. When the bottle body rotates, the scraper moves perpendicularly to the axis of the body.

Toner bottle and apparatus for image formation

A toner replenishing apparatus is provided. The toner replenishing apparatus includes a toner replenishing container for replenishing toner stored therein to a developing section by a rotation of the container itself, a toner scraping member provided to be movable without being fixed in the toner replenishing container and to rub against an inner wall surface of the container, including a plurality of magnetic bodies arranged in a predetermined direction and a support section that extends in an arranging direction of the magnetic bodies and supports an one end portion of each of the magnetic bodies, and a magnet for attracting the magnetic bodies with a magnetic force, disposed along an outer peripheral surface of the toner replenishing container.

Toner replenishing apparatus and image forming apparatus

A toner replenishing apparatus capable of, without increasing a drive torque for rotating the toner replenishing container, scraping toner adhered in a toner replenishing container to reduce the quantity of residual toner that remains unfed from the toner replenishing container, is provided. The toner replenishing apparatus includes a toner replenishing container for replenishing toner stored therein to a developing section by rotation of the toner replenishing container, a magnetic body movably provided in the toner replenishing container, and a magnet disposed closely to an outer peripheral surface of the toner replenishing container and attracting the magnetic body with a magnetic force.

The toner transport device of the present invention includes a toner transport pipe, internally having a toner transport path for allowing toner to pass therethrough, which is disposed so that the toner transport path extends in an up-and-down direction and which vibrates in upward and downward directions. Further, on an upper joint section and a lower joint section of the toner transport pipe are provided an upper foamed elastic member and a lower foamed elastic member which internally has a toner passage for allowing the toner transported to/from the toner transport path to pass therethrough, wherein a wall surface of the toner passage is coated with a resin layer which does not allow the toner to pass therethrough. As a result, it is possible to properly prevent retention and solidification of toner in the toner transport path by the upward-and-downward vibration of the toner transport member and it is possible to properly prevent toner from leaking from the toner transport device.

Toner transport device and image forming apparatus

A toner bottle stores toner in a cylindrical section having an inner circumferential surface provided with a plurality of protruding portions raised inward the cylindrical section. When the cylindrical section is driven to rotate on its central axis, the toner is discharged from the cylindrical section via an outlet. When cross-sections perpendicular to the central axis of the cylindrical section are projected from a longitudinal direction of the cylindrical section, the cylindrical section has an inner circumference provided with one or more regions where the protruding portions are not projected. This prevents the toner from making contact with the protruding portions. Therefore, the toner can be conveyed while suppressing the generation of frictional heat by reducing the resistance between the toner and the protruding portions.

Developer container, developer supply device, and image forming apparatus

A pair of indentations is formed with a vertical spacing on a side wall of a toner cartridge, respective translucent windows are arranged on opposing upper and lower surfaces of the indentations protruding into the toner cartridge, and a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element of a remaining toner sensor are inserted to the indentations such that the light-emitting element and the light-receiving element of the remaining toner sensor face each other via the translucent windows of the indentations. When there is sufficient toner remaining in the toner cartridge, there is toner in the space between the transparent plates, and the space between a light-emitting diode and a phototransistor is blocked such that light is not incident on the phototransistor, whereas when there is little toner remaining in the toner cartridge, there is no toner in the space between the transparent plates, and the light is incident on the phototransistor via the space between the light-emitting diode and the photoresistor.

Growing community of inventors

Yamatokoriyama, Japan

Hideaki Kurimoto