Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Kazuya Koyama

Masanobu Deguchi

Hitoshi Nagahama

Hisashi Yoshimura

Shigeki Hayashi

Kohji Tsurui

Norihiro Ochi

Hiroshi Kubota

Takahiko Kimura

Hajime Horinaka

Masaharu Kimura

Yuhi Akagawa

Ryosuke Mano

Hiroshi Ishii

Takeshi Wakabayashi

Yoshihiro Yoshikawa

Masanori Yamada

Yuhsuke Yoshimoto

Kouzou Yamaguchi

Yoshio Kanayama

Kouichi Irihara

Shigenori Morimoto

Takahiro Horiuchi

Yoshinobu Umetani

Teruyoshi Sudoh

Akiko Tsuji

Hiroo Katsura

Keiji Yao

Hisasi Yosimura

Kouichi Fukushima

Takayuki Higashio

A toner cartridge has a toner storage chamber, a discharge outlet, a conveying screw, and a blocking wall. The discharge outlet serves to send out toner stored in the toner storage chamber, and the conveying screw serves to convey the toner stored in the toner storage chamber. Further, before the toner cartridge mounted into an image forming apparatus, the blocking wall is located in a space between a toner area, which is an area in the toner storage chamber where the toner exists, and the discharge outlet, thereby putting the space in a blocked state. The toner cartridge further includes a driving mechanism for, when the toner cartridge has been mounted into the image forming apparatus, driving the conveying screw by power transmitted from the image forming apparatus, so as to cancel the blocked state.

Toner cartridge and image forming apparatus

A developer supplying apparatus of the present invention includes a toner bottle, a bottle supporting member that is in the shape of substantially a cylinder, and a shutter mechanism for opening and closing a toner discharging opening formed on the bottle supporting member. The shutter mechanism includes (i) a shutter member which is slidably provided on the bottle supporting member and opens/closes the toner discharging opening, and (ii) a protruding portion which is provided on the toner bottle, and when the shutter member is located at such a position that the toner discharging opening is closed, engages with a part of the shutter member so as to stop rotation of the toner bottle. Thus, it is possible to realize the developer supplying apparatus which can stably supply a toner to a development device at high speed.

Developer supplying apparatus

A toner bottle that is composed of a main part, a toner loading portion, a bottle cap that can hermetically close and open a toner loading opening in the toner loading portion, and a bottle-side toner discharge port. This toner bottle is constructed such that the bottle cap that encloses the toner loading opening has a locking projection which can limit the rotation in the loosening direction while the toner loading portion has a cap locking projection which will engage the locking projection and can limit the rotation in the loosening direction.

Toner container

A toner container of the present invention includes a cylindrical portion containing toner used in an electrophotographic type complex machine. When the cylindrical portion is driven to rotate, the toner gets out via an outlet thereof. The cylindrical portion of the toner container has an inner wall provided with a coat layer containing fluorine-containing silica fine particles, which are obtained by modifying a property of the surfaces of silica fine particles by using a fluorine-based silane coupling agent. This coat layer effectively prevents the toner from being adhered to the inner wall of the toner container.

Toner container and image forming apparatus including same

A toner supply device includes: a toner supply assembly having a toner bottle for holding toner; and a toner supply assembly mounting mechanism having the toner bottle mounted, for feeding toner supplied from the toner bottle to a developing unit. In this toner supply device, toner supplied from the toner supply assembly is fed to the developing unit after it being agitated. The toner supply assembly mounting mechanism includes: guide rails for guiding the toner supply assembly when it is mounted; and a stopper for positioning and holding the toner supply assembly. The toner supply assembly has an abutment surface which is guided by the guide rails and positioned and held by the stopper.

Toner supply device and developing unit using the same for use in an image forming apparatus for performing image formation with toner

A toner bottle that is composed of a main body filled with toner and a bottle-side toner discharges port for discharging toner from the main body is adapted to discharge the toner in the main body out of the container whilst the toner bottle is being rotated in the toner bottle's peripheral direction. The toner bottle has a sealing element that seals the bottle-side toner discharge port. This sealing element is formed of a flexible member, and is peeled off the main body of the toner bottle as the toner bottle is rotated so as to open the bottle-side toner discharge port.

Toner container and toner supply device unit using the same

A developing apparatus having agitating/supplying section which is capable of providing enhanced developer stirrability and supplying a developer to a developing roller uniformly in its lengthwise direction is provided. The developing apparatus installed in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes an agitating/supplying section composed of: a rotary shaft member which is made rotatable about its rotation axis; a plurality of blade support members disposed intersectionally with respect to the rotation axis of the rotary shaft member; and a plurality of blade members formed between respective adjacent blade support members so as to be arranged around the rotation axis of the rotary shaft member and extend in a direction of the rotation axis.

Developing apparatus for stirring and supplying developer uniformly to a developing roller

A toner bottle that is composed of a main body having a bottle-side toner discharge port for discharging toner and a bottle holder that encloses the bottle-side toner discharge port and rotatably holds the main part and is constructed such that the main part is rotated in its peripheral direction to thereby discharge the toner charged in it out of the bottle. The toner bottle is characterized in that the bottle holder has a guide portion that is able to position and hold the main part at a position with respect to its rotational direction, and the main part has a hooking piece that is able to position and hold itself with respect to the direction of rotation by means of the guide portion.

Toner container and toner supply device using the same

A developer supplying apparatus of the present invention includes a toner bottle and a bottle supporting member which supports the toner bottle so that the toner bottle can rotate in a peripheral surface direction. The toner bottle has a bottle-side toner discharging opening for discharging a developer stored therein, and a groove portion for conveying the stored toner toward the bottle-side toner discharging opening by rotation of the toner bottle in the peripheral surface direction. The bottle supporting member has (i) a toner discharging chamber for temporarily storing the toner discharged from the bottle-side toner discharging opening of the toner bottle and (ii) a supporting body-side toner discharging opening for discharging the toner, stored in the toner discharging chamber, by rotation of a scraper of the toner bottle. Thus, it is possible to realize the developer supplying apparatus which can stably supply the toner at high speed.

A developer supplying apparatus of the present invention includes a toner bottle and a bottle supporting member that is in the shape of substantially a cylinder. A slip ring is attached to an inner peripheral surface of the bottle supporting member so as to be slidable on one end portion, supported by the bottle supporting member, of the toner bottle. A V ring is attached to the end portion, supported by the bottle supporting member, of the toner bottle, and the slip ring contacts a seal strip of the V ring. Thus, it is possible to surely seal the developer supplying apparatus which can stably supply toner to a development device at high speed.

Developer supplying apparatus with developer container supporting body

An object of the invention is to provide a developer container in which a container main body is protected against damage by an external torsional and bending force and an impact as much as possible, developer in the vicinity of conveying means is prevented from aggregating as much as possible, and developer in the vicinity of a discharge hole is prevented from aggregating as much as possible. The developer container includes a cylindrical container main body () for containing developer for use in image formation, and is detachably mounted on an image forming apparatus, the container main body () being rotated about an axis thereof by drive means provided in the image forming apparatus to supply developer to the image forming apparatus, wherein conveying means for conveying the developer in an axial direction when the container main body is rotated about the axis is provided in an inner circumferential portion of the container main body (), and the conveying means has a plurality of first and second protrusions () extending in first and second extending directions and arranged at intervals in a circumferential direction and the axial direction.

Developer container and image forming apparatus

A developer container () for an image forming apparatus includes a developer container main body () having an axial intermediate portion radially opened and a supporting member () for supporting an intermediate portion in an axial line direction of the developer container main body () over the entire periphery thereof from radially outside as the developer container main body () is rotatable around the axial line (L). A through hole () for guiding the developer from the developer container main body () to outside.

A toner supply device includes: toner supply assembly for holding toner; and a toner supply assembly mounting mechanism having a housing for reserving toner supplied from the toner supply assembly and rotary parts for agitating the toner reserved in the housing. In this toner supply device, toner supplied from the toner supply assembly is fed to a developing unit after it being agitated. The toner supply device includes a multiple number of toner supply assemblies for storing toners of one color, wherein the housing is configured so as to reserve the toners supplied from the multiple toner supply assemblies in a single space, and the rotary parts mix and agitate the toners from the multiple toner supply assemblies.

Toner supply device and developing unit using the same

A toner cartridge is provided, which comprises a toner bottle containing toner, and a support member supporting the toner bottle in an axially rotatable manner. The toner bottle has a toner outlet port provided in a portion thereof supported by the support member. The support member has an outlet port shutter provided slidably on an outer surface thereof for opening and closing the toner outlet port, and a projecting engagement portion for positioning the toner cartridge with respect to a cartridge insertion port of an image forming apparatus when the toner cartridge is mounted in the image forming apparatus. The support member and the toner bottle respectively have a projection and a recess serving as a locking portion and a to-be-locked portion for restricting rotation of the toner bottle with respect to the support member when the toner cartridge is not mounted in the image forming apparatus.

Toner cartridge and image forming apparatus to be mounted with the toner cartridge

An image forming apparatus includes a communication section that wirelessly communicates with an RFID tag on a toner supply container. Based on a state of communication between the RFID tag and the communication section, an amount of toner in the toner supply container is measured, or a rotational angle of the toner supply container is detected. Since it is unnecessary to additionally provide a member for measuring the amount of the toner or detecting the rotational angle, the number of components can be reduced.

Growing community of inventors

Ikoma, Japan

Kazuya Koyama