Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Kazushi Suzuki

Chikara Imaizumi

Yoichiro Maebashi

Hideki Ohta

Takeshi Sugita

Tamotsu Kaneko

Yoshimi Suzuki

Hisahiro Saito

Hiroshi Kawamura

Takayuki Mizuta

Jiro Moriya

Yoshisuke Kasuya

Kazuhiko Aono

Atsushi Ogata

Atsushi Kimura

Yoshitaka Zaitsu

Seiji Inada

Joji Goto

Kei Sawanaka

Hiroyuki Matsumoto

An image forming apparatus is capable of being attached with a toner supply container. The toner supply container stores a toner that is to be supplied to a developing portion. An attachment location of the toner supply container is below a light scanning portion in a vertical direction.

Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive member, an intermediary transfer member, a transfer portion, a cleaning portion, and an air blowing portion. The air blowing portion blows the air toward an outer peripheral surface of the intermediary transfer member in a moving direction of the intermediary transfer member away from the transfer portion, at a position between the transfer portion and the cleaning portion with respect to a movement direction of the intermediary transfer member.

An image forming apparatus in which at least part of an image scanner is disposed in an area below an original discharge unit and above an image forming unit.

An image forming apparatus, including an image forming unit to form an image on a recording medium, includes a storage unit storing the recording medium and disposed to be drawable toward a front side of the image forming apparatus, a first stacking unit, an image reading unit disposed at an image forming apparatus upper portion, a document stacking unit disposed above the first stacking unit and at an image reading unit front side, and a second stacking unit. The first stacking unit stacks the recording medium having the image and which is discharged toward the front side. The image reading unit reads an image formed on a document having the image formed thereon in advance. The document stacking unit stacks the document. The second stacking unit stacks the document having the image read by the image reading unit and which is discharged toward an image reading unit back side.

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming portion, a fixing portion, a reversing portion, a re-feeding path, a detecting portion, a first feeding path, a second feeding path, an air flow generating portion, and a flow path forming portion. The flow path forming portion forms a flow path along which air flow is passed through between a recording material passing through the second feeding path and a constituent portion constituting the second feeding path on a side toward the detecting portion and guides the recording material passing through the second feeding path, when the recording material passes through the second feeding path.

To efficiently transmit drive through couplings on one and another sides during forward rotation and reverse rotation. When first and second couplings are brought into engagement with each other and rotated in a forward direction, first and third drive transmission surfaces are brought into contact with each other to be rotated in the forward direction while producing components of force in directions in which the first and second couplings are drawn to each other in the rotational axis direction. When the first and second couplings are brought into engagement with each other and rotated in a reverse direction, second and fourth drive transmission surfaces are brought into contact with each other to be rotated in the reverse direction without producing components of force in directions in which the first and second couplings are separated from each other in the rotational axis direction.

An image forming apparatus includes a lever configured to move a secondary transfer roller from an endless belt. The lever is arranged between a primary transfer surface of the endless belt, which opposes a plurality of image bearing members between an opposing roller and a stretching roller, and a surface opposing the primary transfer surface. The lever is engaged with the secondary transfer roller to separate the secondary transfer roller from the endless belt. Such a simple contact-separation configuration for the secondary transfer roller achieves reduction in size and space of the image forming apparatus.

Image forming apparatus having simple and compact configuration to separate secondary transfer member from primary transfer belt

In connection with movement of an opening-closing member when a toner accommodating container is attached to the image forming apparatus, the urging direction of an urging member relative to the opening-closing member changes from a direction that causes the opening-closing member to close an opening portion to a direction that causes the opening-closing member to open the opening portion. By using the urging force of the urging member that acts in the direction that causes the opening-closing member to open the opening portion, the toner accommodating container is pulled into the image forming apparatus.

Toner accommodating container and image forming apparatus

In a case where a belt unit is not attached to an apparatus body, when an opening and closing member is closed against the apparatus body, a switching member cannot press a switch, and image formation operation is prohibited. In a case where the belt unit is attached to the apparatus body, when the opening and closing member is closed against the apparatus body, the switching member presses the switch, and the prohibition of the image formation is released.

An image forming apparatus includes: a transfer unit including a stretching roller and a rotatable transfer belt stretched by the stretching roller; a cleaning unit, including a blade movable toward and away from the transfer belt, for collecting a toner removed from the transfer belt by the blade; a moving member for moving the blade between a contact position where the blade is contacted to the transfer belt and a retracted position where the blade is moved away from the transfer belt; and a drive transmission device for permitting transmission of a driving force between the stretching roller and the movable member. The drive transmission device has an idling region where the drive transmission device is rotatable by a predetermined amount without transmitting the driving force to the stretching roller when the driving force is transmitted from the moving member to the drive transmission device.

Image forming apparatus for collecting toner from a rotatable transfer belt through use of a movable blade

An image fixing apparatus for heating and fixing an unfixed image formed on a recording material, comprising a heater including a substrate, a first electrode provided on one side of the substrate and a second electrode provided on the other side of the substrate; and a connector, connected with the heater, for receiving electric power, the connector including an electrically insulative housing, and a contact terminal provided inside the housing and having first spring contact contacted to the first electrode and a second spring contact contacted to the second electrode, wherein the contact terminal is swingable relative to the housing.

Connector for heater, and fixing apparatus

A container is detachably mountable on an apparatus body in a mounting-detaching direction that is along the same direction as a mounting-detaching direction of a transfer unit and that is in the reverse direction of the mounting-detaching direction of the transfer unit. When the transfer unit and the container are mounted on the apparatus body, a belt, a cleaning device, and the container are arranged in that order in a transport direction of the belt. A discharge portion is provided, the discharge portion extending in the mounting-detaching direction of the container, for discharging the toner removed by the cleaning device to the container.

Growing community of inventors

Suntou-gun, Japan

Kazushi Suzuki