Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Hisayoshi Kojima

Kazunari Murayama

Atsushi Numagami

Tomonori Mori

Yosuke Kashiide

Takashi Kimura

Mitsugu Inomata

Kanji Yokomori

Akira Ito

Kazuhiko Kanno

Nobuharu Hoshi

Hironobu Isobe

Toshiki Nagase

Hideki Tada

Takahito Ueno

Tatsuya Kobayashi

Kenji Matsuda

Toshiaki Miyashiro

Kaoru Seto

Haruo Fujii

Akiyoshi Fujita

Takashi Yahagi

Masao Umezawa

Kazufumi Muto

Motoi Katoh

Nobuhiro Imai

Masanori Yamagata

Daisuke Murata

Tatsuya Suzuki

Shinjiro Toba

Hideki Maeshima

Tadashi Horikawa

Takahiro Noguchi

Yasuo Ito

Masaki Ohtake

Satoshi Sugita

To develop a conventional structure of a toner cartridge. Toner cartridge includes a container and an open/close member. The container includes an accommodating portion, a discharge opening and a cartridge side guide. the open/close member includes a closing portion and an engaging portion and is movable between a closing position and an opening position. When the toner cartridge is dismounted from a receiving apparatus, the engaging portion receives a force for moving the open/close member from the opening position toward the closing position, the engaging with a receiving apparatus side guide of the receiving apparatus.

Toner cartridge and toner supplying mechanism

To develop a conventional structure of a toner cartridge. The toner cartridge includes a container and an open/close member. The container includes an accommodating portion for accommodating toner, and a discharge opening. The open/close member includes a closing portion for closing the discharge opening, and a closing force receiving portion. The open/close member a movable relative to the container between a closing position for causing the closing portion to the close the discharge opening and an opening position for causing the closing portion to open the discharge opening. The open/close member including a leading end portion and a trailing end portion which are on downstream and upstream sides of the open/close member with respect to a closing direction in which the open/close member moves to close the discharge opening, respectively. An open/close member extends from the leading end portion to the trailing end portion in a range exceeding 180&#xb0; of a circumference of the container, as the toner cartridge is seen in the longitudinal direction of the container. The closing force receiving portion receives a force for moving the open/close member from the opening position to the closing position when the toner cartridge is dismounted from the receiving apparatus.

Image forming apparatus

There is provided an image forming apparatus including the first developing agent storing section which stores toner, a toner replenishing member for supplying the toner in the first developing agent storing section to the second developing agent storing section, and a controller which controls operation of the toner replenishing member on the basis of information about the amount of toner used in the first developing agent storing section and information about the fluidity of the toner. By more accurately controlling a toner discharge amount of a toner replenishing container and detecting the remaining toner, the toner density in a developing unit can always be kept constant to meet the demand for higher-quality images. There can be provided an inexpensive compact image forming apparatus in which the replacement timing of a developing agent replenishing container is delayed to obtain a longer service life.

Image forming apparatus with a toner replenishing control feature based on stored toner density and fluidity information, related method, and developing agent replenishing container for same

A developer supply container detachably mountable to an image forming apparatus, includes a developer accommodating portion; a developer discharging portion; and a cover cover in the developer discharging portion, the cover being movable between a first position in which the cover covers the developer discharging portion and a second position in which the developer discharging position is exposed, wherein the second position is closer to the developer accommodating portion than the first position.

Image forming apparatus and developer supply container removably mountable in image forming apparatus

A process cartridge detachably mountable to a main assembly of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes: a cartridge frame; an electrophotographic photosensitive drum supported on the cartridge frame; a process device actable on the photosensitive drum; a cartridge drum positioning portion for positioning the photosensitive drum to the main assembly of the apparatus by engagement with a main assembly drum positioning portion provided in the main assembly of the apparatus when the process cartridge is mounted to the main assembly of the apparatus; and a cartridge frame positioning portion for positioning the cartridge frame to the main assembly of the apparatus by engagement with a main assembly frame positioning portion provided in the main assembly of the apparatus when the process cartridge is mounted to the main assembly of the apparatus.

Electrophotographic image forming apparatus to which a process cartridge is detachably mountable and process cartridge comprising cartridge drum positioning portion or recess

A developing apparatus includes a developer container. An agitating member agitates developer contained in the developer container. A drive transmitting member transmits power to the agitating member by engaging a rotary shaft of the agitating member. A bearing is adapted to rotatably hold the drive transmitting member to the developer container. The bearing includes a notched portion having a rotation regulating and positioning function to prevent the bearing from being dislodged from the developer container.

Developing apparatus

A process cartridge detachably mountable to a main assembly of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes an electrophotographic photosensitive drum, a developing roller for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on the electrophotographic photosensitive drum with a developer, a frame for rotatably supporting the electrophotographic photosensitive drum, a developing blade, provided in the frame, for regulating the amount of the developer applied on a peripheral surface of the developing roller, a supporting member, journaled in the frame for rotation about a center of rotation, for rotatably supporting the developing roller at a position away from the center of rotation thereof, and an urging member for elastically urging the supporting member to urge the developing roller toward the electrophotographic photosensitive drum.

ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS TO WHICH A PROCESS CARTRIDGE IS DETACHABLY MOUNTABLE AND PROCESS CARTRIDGE HAVING A SUPPORTING MEMBER FOR ROTATABLY SUPPORTING A DEVELOPING ROLLER AT A POSITION AWAY FROM THE CENTER OF ROTATION THEREOF

A unit detachably mountable to an image forming apparatus includes a developer accommodating portion having a developer inlet hole; a first opening and closing member for opening and closing the inlet hole; and a second opening and closing member for opening and closing the inlet hole, the second opening and closing member being movable above the first opening and closing member.

Cartridge having developer supply opening and image forming apparatus usable therewith

A developing device for developing an electrostatic latent image electrostatic latent image formed on an electrophotographic photosensitive member, the developing device is mountable to a main assembly of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, the developing device includes a developing member for developing the electrostatic latent image formed on the electrophotographic photosensitive member; a first developer accommodation portion for accommodation a developer comprising toner and carrier to be used for developing the electrostatic latent image; a second developer accommodating portion for accommodating a developer including the toner and the carrier to be supplied to the first developer accommodation portion, wherein the second developer accommodation portion, wherein the second developer accommodation portion is provided with an openable discharge opening, and by opening the discharge opening, the developer accommodated in the second developer accommodation portion is supplied into the first developer accommodation portion; a supply opening for supplying the toner to the first developer accommodation portion.

Developing device, process cartridge and electrophotographic image forming apparatus

A process cartridge detachably mountable to a main assembly of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes a cartridge frame; an electrophotographic photosensitive member; a process device actable on the photosensitive member, a first cartridge guiding portion for being guided by a main assembly guide provided in the main assembly of the apparatus when the process cartridge is mounted to the main assembly of the apparatus, the first cartridge guiding portion being provided at one end, with respect to a mounting direction in which the process cartridge is mounted to the main assembly of apparatus of the cartridge frame; and a second cartridge guiding portion for being guided by the main assembly guide provided in the main assembly of the apparatus when the process cartridge is mounted to the main assembly of apparatus, the second cartridge guiding portion being provided at the other end, with respect to the mounting direction, of the cartridge frame, wherein when the process cartridge is mounted to the main assembly of the apparatus, the first and second cartridge guiding portions are at different heights.

Process cartridge having first and second cartridge guiding portions and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus to which the process cartridge is attached

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Mishima, Japan

Hisayoshi Kojima