Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Katsuya Murakami

Ayatomo Okino

Toshiaki Nagashima

Fumio Tazawa

Yusuke Yamada

Yutaka Ban

Manabu Jimba

Hironori Minagawa

Nobuo Nakajima

Hiromasa Katayama

Akihito Kamura

Masato Yamaoka

Tetsuo Isomura

Nobuyuki Yomoda

Kyota Miyazaki

Ayumu Murakami

Kazuhiko Omata

Koji Katayama

Shogo Yamasaki

Tsukasa Mine

Keisuke Isobe

Hiroyuki Fujikawa

Kunihiko Nakamura

Shinichi Onodera

Emi Watanabe

Yuji Suzuki

Motoaki Takeuchi

Tatsuya Hisatomi

Yasuhiro Morishita

Miyabi Orihashi

Kyoichi Ando

Kazuhisa Horikoshi

Kouzou Nishimura

Teruo Suzuki

Mamoru Nagatsuma

Tetuo Isomura

An engaging portionis provided which is engageable with a portion-to-be-engageda displaceable integrally with a developer receiving portionwith a mounting operation of a developer supply containerto displacein an upward direction U to bring a receiving opening into communication with a discharge opening. An engaging portionincludes a first engagement surfaceextending in the upward direction U as going toward a developer accommodating portion of the developer supply container, and a second engagement surfaceprovided at a position closer to the developer accommodating portion than the first engagement surface. When the receiving opening in communication with a shutter opening, a height of an end of the first engagement surfaceclose to the developer accommodating portion is higher than the second engagement surface

Developer supply container and developer supplying system

A developer supply container includes a developer accommodating body that is rotatable about a rotational axis relative to a developer discharging body. A shutter is movable relative to the developer discharging body between an open position wherein a discharge opening is open and a closed position wherein the discharge opening is closed by the shutter. The developer accommodating body is provided with a gear portion provided about the rotational axis. The developer discharging body is provided with a shutter support movably supporting the shutter. As viewed in a direction towards the bottommost side of the container, the shutter support extends at least from the discharge opening toward the developer accommodating body but does not to overlap the gear.

A toner cartridge includes a chamber containing toner, a feeding portion configured to feed the toner toward an opening in the toner cartridge, and a pump configured to discharge the toner through the opening to outside of the toner cartridge, the pump being configured to move the toner by changing pressure inside of the toner cartridge relative to pressure outside of the toner cartridge. A rotatable coupling is configured to receive a rotational force from outside of the toner cartridge, the coupling being operatively connected to the feeding portion and the pump so as to transmit the rotational force to the feeding portion and the pump to thereby rotate the feeding portion and drive the pump.

There are provided a developer accommodating portion for accommodating the developer, a discharge portion formed with a discharge opening for discharging the developer accommodated in the developer accommodating portion, and an engaging portion. The engaging portionis engaged with an engaged portionwith a mounting operation of a developer supply containerto displace a developer receiving portionin an upward direction U so that the receiving opening communicates with the discharge opening. The engaging portionhas a holding portionwhich is provided rotatably about a rotation shaftand is provided with holding portionto be engaged with the engaged portionto hold the engaged portion. With the mounting operation, the engaging portionrotates about the rotation shaftso that the engaged portionheld by the holding portionmoves upward U.

A developer supply container includes a developer discharging portion that is provided with a discharge passageway. A track is provided at a first side of the developer discharging portion. A shutter is provided with a shutter opening configured to permit discharge of the developer from the discharge passageway, with the shutter including a recessed portion on an outer side of the shutter. The recessed portion includes an inclined surface.

A developer supply includes a developer accommodating body and a developer discharging body. A track is positioned at a side of the developer discharging body, with the track including a surface that extends from a first position to a second position. When the developer supply container is oriented with the track and the shutter positioned below a horizontal plane that includes the rotational axis and a discharge passageway through which developer is discharged to outside of the developer supply container is formed at the bottommost side of the developer supply container, the track is positioned between the horizontal plane and a shutter in a direction perpendicular to the horizontal plane, the second position is closer to the horizontal plane than the first position is to the horizontal plane, the surface faces upward, and the track extends such that a plane perpendicular to the rotational axis and passing through the track passes through the end of the discharge passageway.

A developer supply container includes a developer accommodating body and a developer discharging body in fluid communication with the developer accommodating body. A track is positioned at a side of the developer discharging body, with the track including a surface that extends from a first position to a second position. When the developer supply container is oriented with the track positioned below a horizontal plane that includes a rotational axis of the developer accommodating body and a discharge passageway through which developer is discharged to outside of the developer supply container is formed at the bottommost side of the developer supply container, the second position is closer to the horizontal plane than the first position is to the horizontal plane, the surface faces upward, and the track extends such that a plane perpendicular to the rotational axis and passing through the track passes through an end of the discharge passageway.

A developing device includes a detachably mounted developer supply container configured to supply a developer with compressed air. A developer storage container includes a first opening portion through which the developer is supplied from the developer supply container to the developer storage container with the compressed air, a filter provided on a wall constituting the developer storage container to permit passage of air and restrict passage of the developer, and a stirring member to stir the developer. The developer storage container further includes a second opening portion through which the developer is supplied to a developing portion provided with a developing member. The filter is disposed between the first opening portion and the second opening portion in a rotational axis direction of the stirring member and disposed closer to the second opening portion.

Developer supply container using compressed air, developer supplying system and image forming apparatus

A developer supply container includes a developer accommodating body configured to contain developer and a developer discharging body in fluid communication with the developer accommodating body. The developer discharging body has a discharge opening configured to form at least a part of a discharge passageway through which developer may be discharged to outside of the developer supply container. A track is positioned at a side of the developer discharging body. A cover is attached to the developer discharging body, with the cover being configured to cover the developer discharging body and the track, with the cover including a front wall that crosses a rotational axis of the developer accommodating body, and with the front wall being provided with a slit.

A toner cartridge includes a first chamber configured to accommodate toner and a second chamber provided with an opening that is configured to discharge the toner. A feeding portion is configured to feed the toner from the first chamber toward the second chamber. An air flow generating portion is configured to generate an air flow and blow the air flow into the second chamber to thereby discharge the toner to outside of the cartridge through the opening. A rotatable coupling including a projection is configured to receive a rotational force from outside of the cartridge, the rotatable coupling being operatively connected to the feeding portion and the air flow generating portion so as to drive the feeding portion and the air flow generating portion with rotation of the rotatable coupling.

A developer supply containeris detachably mountable to a developer receiving apparatus including a developer receiving portionprovided with a receiving portfor receiving a developer, a portion-to-be-engageda displaceable integrally with the developer receiving portion. The developer supply containerincludes an engaging portionand a discharging portion provided with a shutter openingfor discharging the developer accommodated in a developer accommodating portion. The engaging portionis provided at only one side with respect to a predetermined direction crossing with a mounting direction of the developer supply containerin the crossing with a displacing direction of the developer receiving portion. The engaging portionengages with the portion-to-be-engagedwith a mounting operation of the developer supply containerto bring the receiving portin the communication with the shutter opening

A toner cartridge includes a container accommodating toner and including a discharge opening. A pump is configured to alternately generate (i) a first air flow from outside to inside of the toner cartridge and (ii) a second air flow from inside to outside of the toner cartridge, with the pump being configured to supply the toner from the discharge opening to outside of the toner cartridge with the second air flow. The cartridge also includes a rotational force receiving portion configured to receive a rotational force from outside of the toner cartridge, with the rotational force receiving portion being configured to drive the pump with rotation of the rotational force receiving portion.

Growing community of inventors

Toride, Japan

Katsuya Murakami