Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.

Hirokazu Murase

Atsushi Funada

Ryuji Hattori

Kazunori Koshimori

Hiroaki Okuma

Kei Hirata

Junichi Hama

Hideo Ichikawa

Koichi Tanaka

Shinichi Kuramoto

Takashi Hino

Toshikazu Tsumita

Satoru Yugeta

Tsutomu Uezono

A developer supplying device includes an inflow path; a guide path having an inlet to which a lower end of the inflow path is connected, the guide path extending diagonally downward from the inlet, the guide path guiding the developer to a developing unit; and a transport unit disposed in the guide path, the transport unit including a helical screw blade and a holder that holds the helical screw blade, the transport unit transporting the developer to the developing unit by rotating. In at least a part of a region in the guide path facing the inlet, a pitch of the helical screw blade in a horizontal direction is greater than or equal to a width of the inlet, and the holder is located at a position displaced from the rotation axis of the transport unit.

Developer supplying device and image forming apparatus

An opening/closing member is movable between an open position in which a passage opening through which developer passes is open and a closed position in which the passage opening is closed. The opening/closing member includes a protrusion that protrudes toward an edge of the passage opening with respect to a scrape limiting portion, the protrusion being disposed on each of two sides with respect to a direction that is perpendicular to directions of movement between the open position and the closed position. A front end of the opening/closing member in a closing direction from the open position to the closed position is disposed so as to be separated from a surface of the edge of the passage opening.

Opening/closing member, developer supplying apparatus, and image forming apparatus

An accommodating vessel, which is detachably attached to a vessel receiving part of a casing of an image forming device to accommodate an image forming material, the accommodating vessel including: a vessel main body that includes a tubular part; a cover member that includes a fitted part; at least one positioned protrusion; and at least one positioned positioning protrusion, wherein the at least one positioned protrusion includes: a guide protrusion that extends in a rotating direction of the cover member; and a plurality of rotation stop protrusions that extends in opposite directions to each other relative to the guide protrusion along a pushing and pulling direction of the cover member, and Wherein the positioning protrusion includes a stop wall that abuts on the guide protrusion and the plurality of rotation stop protrusions of the at least one positioned protrusion to be stopped.

Accommodating vessel and image forming device using the same

A removable member-holding device is provided and includes: a pull-out member that is supported so as to be movable between an accommodation position and a pull-out position; a rotatable holder that is supported by the pull-out member so as to be rotatable around a rotation shaft and supported so as to be movable integrally with the pull-out member, and that holds a removable member which is attached to and detached from the image forming apparatus main body, the rotatable holder being movable between an insertion possible position where the pull-out member is movable from the pull-out position toward the accommodation position and an inclined position where the rotatable holder rotates downward in a direction of a gravity around the rotation shaft and is inclined with respect to the insertion possible position; and a regulating member that is disposed at the rotation shaft of the rotatable holder to lessen a movement speed of the rotatable holder when rotationally moving to the inclined position.

Removable member-holding device and image forming apparatus

A conveyor includes a rotation shaft and a plurality of convey members provided along an axial direction of the rotation shaft, wherein at least one part of the plurality of convey members is an arc convey member that includes: an arc part having an outer periphery that forms an arc forming a part of a spiral so that an angle between two perpendiculars extended from two ends of the arc is smaller than 360&#xb0;; and a support part that supports the arc part, with the outer periphery of the arc part inclined to the axial direction of the rotation shaft.

Conveyor, developer cartridge, and filling method

An accommodating container includes: a container main body that has an opening at a part thereof; a cap member; and a seal member, wherein the seal member includes a plurality of seal abutment pieces that abut on a wall surface of the cap member or a wall surface of the container main body, and are elastically deformable, and at least one of the seal abutment pieces is arranged in non-contact with the wall surface of the cap member or the wall surface of the container main body in a first state before the cap member is attached to the container main body, and is arranged in contact with the wall surface of the cap member or the wall surface of the container main body in a second state where the cap member has been attached in an attachment position of the container main body.

Accommodating container and image forming apparatus using the same

A developer containing device includes: a developer container configured to contain developer and to be inserted into a receptacle defined in an image forming apparatus main body; a developer feed inlet provided in a forward end of the developer container which is inserted into the receptacle in an insertion direction and for feeding the developer contained in the developer container into the image forming apparatus main body; and an opening and closing member that opens the developer feed inlet with movement of the developer container in the insertion direction when the developer container is inserted into the receptacle and closes the developer feed inlet with movement of the developer container in opposition to the insertion direction when the developer container is removed from the receptacle, when the opening and closing member moves to open the developer feed inlet, the forward end of the opening and closing member in the insertion direction and at least one side of the opening and closing member being pressed against restrainers provided in the receptacle.

Developer containing device and image forming apparatus into/from which developer containing device is installed and removed

A developer containing device includes: a developer container configured to contain developer and to be inserted into a receptacle defined in an image forming apparatus main body; a developer feed inlet provided in a forward end of the developer container which is inserted into the receptacle in an insertion direction and for feeding the developer contained in the developer container into the image forming apparatus main body; and an opening and closing member that opens the developer feed inlet with movement of the developer container in the insertion direction when the developer container is inserted into the receptacle and closes the developer feed inlet with movement of the developer container in opposition to the insertion direction when the developer container is removed from the receptacle, the opening and closing member having a protrusion formed to protrude inward of the opening and closing member and allowed to engage with a recess provided in the developer container and being arranged to be allowed to move on the outside of the developer container in a direction intersecting with the insertion direction of the developer container, and when the developer container is inserted into the receptacle, a developer container outside section sliding into the opening and closing member being brought to one side of the opening and closing member in the direction intersecting with the insertion direction of the developer container, then the protrusion being released from an engageable state.

A developer containing device includes: a developer container having an opening through which developer can be filled in; a closing member that is removably installed to the developer container to close the opening; a stirring and feeding member that is rotatably supported in the closing member and stirs and feeds the developer contained in the developer container by rotating in one direction; and a fitting part that fixes the closing member to the developer container by rotating the closing member in the same direction as the rotational direction of the stirring and feeding member.

Closing member for a developer containing device and method for producing such device

A removable member-holding device is provided and includes: a pull-out member being movably between an accommodating position and a pull-out position; a holding member supported on the pull-out member and having a holding member body, the holding member being extended in a moving direction of the pull-out member and holding a removable member which is removed from the image forming apparatus body, the holding member being movable between an insertion enabling position and a removing position; and a pull-out regulating member provided on a downstream end of the holding member in the pull-out direction and regulating a movement of the removable member to a downstream side in the pull-out direction.

A storage container includes: a storage container main body; a flow-out opening; a shutter; a seal member; a restricting portion; and an open-close movement restricting portion.

Storage container and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming apparatus body that includes a container attaching portion to which a developer container is removably attached; a container put-on member on which the developer container is put; and a support member to which the container put-on member is attached, the support member supporting the container put-on member to perform a movement between a first position in which the container put-on member is at the container attaching portion and a second position in which the container put-on member is pulled out from the container attaching portion, wherein at the second position, at least a part of the container put-on member is displaced downward through a rotating shaft provided on the support member to a lower position than a height of the container put-on member at the second position in the direction of gravity.

Image forming apparatus

A developer storage container includes a container body, an opening formed in the container body, an opening-and-closing cover, a cover holding frame that holds the cover so that the cover is movable between opening and closing positions, a protrusion portion, a blocking portion and a position regulating protrusion. When the opening-and-closing cover moves in the opening-and-closing direction toward the opening position and reaches a certain intermediate position, the blocking portion contacts with the protrusion portion. When the opening-and-closing cover moves from a position where the protrusion portion and the blocking portion are in contact with each other to the closing position, the position regulating protrusion causes the opening-and-closing cover to move in a intersecting direction and regulates a position of the opening-and-closing cover in the intersecting direction so that the blocking portion is overlapped, along the opening-and-closing direction, with the position of the distal end of the protrusion portion.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Hirokazu Murase