Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Kasumi Yamamoto

Tsutomu Sato

Hiroyuki Saito

Tomoyuki Nishikawa

Masatoshi Takano

Tsukasa Yanashima

Yutaka Ishikawa

An ozone-exhaust duct is incorporated in an electrophotographic printer to exhaust air, containing ozone and dust articles, and an exit structure of the duct is associated with an ozone-filter. In the exit-structure, a dust trapper is provided under an exit end portion of the duct near the ozone-filter to define a dust-trapping chamber such that a cross-sectional area of the exit end portion of the duct is increased in comparison with a cross-sectional area of a remaining portion of the duct, whereby a velocity of the air, introduced from the remaining portion of the duct into the exit end portion thereof, slows down, due to the existence of the ozone-filter and the increased cross-sectional area of the exit end portion of the duct, resulting in trapping of a part of the dust particles, contained in the introduced air, in the dust-trapping chamber of the dust trapper due to gravity.

Exit-structure of ozone-exhaust duct incorporated in electrophotographic

A fixing unit, used for fixing images on a recording sheet, includes a heat roller accommodating a heater, and a press roller movable between a retracted position and an operating position. The heat roller is rotated by a driving mechanism. A moving mechanism opens and closes a gap between the press roller and the heat roller by moving the press roller between the retracted position and the operating position. An assist gear rotates the press roller in a predetermined direction when the opening/closing mechanism moves the press roller toward the operating position.

Fixing unit

A fixing unit includes a heat roller accommodating a heater and a press roller movable toward and away from the heat roller. Both shaft members of the heat roller are supported by two receiving members, with a clearance provided between each shaft member and respective receiving member. A driven gear is provided to one of the shaft member, which engages a rotating mechanism for rotating the heat roller. The fixing unit further includes a biasing member which biases the other shaft of the heat roller away from the press roller within the clearance, in such a manner that the heat roller and the press roller become parallel when the above-described one shaft member is urged away from the press roller due to the meshing engagement of the driven gear and the rotating mechanism.

A fixing unit includes a heat roller accommodating a heater and a press roller movable between an operating position in which the recording sheet is nipped by the rollers and a retracted position. A driven gear is provided to one axial end of heat roller, which engages a rotating mechanism for rotating the heat roller. An opening/closing mechanism is arranged to move a first axial end (at the same side as the driven gear of the heat roller) of said press roller to said operating position before moving a second axial end of the press roller to the operating position.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Kasumi Yamamoto