Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Kissei Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

Takano Co., Ltd.

Ken Kikuchi

Tsutomu Nishiuwatoko

Takashi Akutsu

Kenji Matsuda

Masao Uyama

Jun Miyamoto

Jun Miyazaki

Yoshiyuki Batori

Daisuke Hiramatsu

Kensuke Suzuki

Toru Oguma

Akiyoshi Yokoi

Yuichi Sakakibara

Daisuke Abe

Masanari Morioka

Takeshi Arimitsu

Takahiro Sakamoto

Nobuyuki Tanaka

Tetsuro Tamai

Hideyuki Muranaka

Makio Kitazawa

Kosuke Okazaki

Hiroaki Kobayashi

Masaru Saito

Tomonori Mori

Minoru Kubota

Toshiyuki Karakama

Hiroaki Sasaki

Toshiaki Yamaguchi

Tetsuji Ozawa

Takashi Yanagi

Kazushi Watanabe

Noriyuki Komatsu

Tetsuya Numata

Osamu Anan

Ryuta Murakami

Tadashi Horikawa

Masahiro Kobayashi

Naoki Matsumaru

Hiroki Ogino

Shigemi Kamoshida

Nobuhiko Fushimi

Kiyoshi Kasai

Hidetoshi Isawa

Isao Okamoto

Masaaki Ban

Junichi Sonehara

Ikuo Tsuchiya

Yousuke Shirotori

A cartridge includes a drum unit and a developing unit. The developing unit is mountable in a space between first and second walls of the drum unit. While the developing unit is being mounted to the drum unit, in a posture in which the drum unit is mounted in the main assembly, the handle portion is moved downward in a direction of gravity and the developing unit is rotated so that the developing roller is moved closer to the photosensitive drum. In a state in which the developing unit is mounted to the drum unit, an urged portion of the developing unit is urged by an urging portion of the drum unit so that the developing roller and the photosensitive drum are in contact with each other.

Photosensitive member cartridge and process cartridge

A photosensitive member unit includes a photosensitive member, a transfer roller, a mounting portion capable of mounting a development unit including a development roller, a first gear and a second gear each provided at one end of the photosensitive member in an axial direction of the photosensitive member, and a third gear provided at one end of the transfer roller in an axial direction of the photosensitive member and configured to engage with the second gear. The first gear, the second gear, and the third gear are helical gears. A direction in which helical teeth of the first gear are inclined is opposite to a direction in which helical teeth of the second gear are inclined, and the direction in which the helical teeth of the first gear are inclined matches a direction in which helical teeth of the third gear are inclined.

Photosensitive member unit and development unit

An image forming apparatus includes a first unit movable to a first inside position of a main assembly and a second unit movable to a second inside position of the main assembly. The first unit includes a mounting portion for detachably mounting the second unit, and a contacting and spacing member movable between a first position for permitting a developing member of the second unit to contact an image bearing member of the first unit and a second position for spacing the developing member from the image bearing member.

Electrophotographic image forming apparatus

A photosensitive member cartridge detachably mountable to a main assembly of an image forming apparatus for forming an image, includes a frame; a photosensitive drum on which and which is provided in the frame; a transfer member for transferring an image formed on the drum onto the sheet; a mounting portion for detachably mounting a developing cartridge including a developer carrying member onto the drum and a memory for storing information; a first electrical contact provided on the frame and electrically connectable with a main assembly electrical contact provided in the main assembly when the cartridge is mounted to the main assembly; and a second electrical contact provided on the frame for electrically connecting the memory and the first electrical contact portion with each other when the developing cartridge is mounted to the mounting portion.

An image forming apparatus includes a first unit movable to a first inside position of a main assembly and a second unit movable to a second inside position of the main assembly. The first unit includes a first shutter that is rotatable from a first position in which the first shutter opposes a surface of an image bearing member and covers a part of the surface of the image bearing member to a second position in which the first shutter opens the part of the surface of the image bearing member. The second unit includes a second shutter provided with a second contacting portion, with the second shutter being rotatable from a third position in which the second shutter opposes a surface of a developing member and covers a part of the surface of the developing member to a fourth position in which the second shutter opens the part of the surface of the developing member. A moving amount of moving the first shutter from the first position to the second position is less than a moving amount of moving the second shutter from the third position to the fourth position.

An image forming apparatus includes a first unit that is movable to a first inside position of the main assembly. The first unit includes a first shutter provided with a first contacting portion. The apparatus also includes a second unit movable to a second inside position of the main assembly. The second unit includes a second shutter provided with a second contacting portion. The main assembly includes a first contacted portion causing the first shutter to move from a first position toward a second position by contacting of the first contacting portion while moving the first unit to the first inside position, and a second contacted portion causing the second shutter to move from a third position toward a fourth position by contacting of the second contacting portion while moving the second unit to the second inside position.

A gear unit for transmitting a rotational force to a rotatable member carrying developer and to which a coupling member is mountable. The gear unit includes a hole portion which opens outwardly in a direction along a rotational axis of the cylinder gear and which has an opening capable of accommodating the spherical portion, a groove portion which continues from the hole portion and which is capable of accommodating the projected portion, and a limiting portion for limiting inward movement of the spherical portion in the direction along the rotational axis of the gear. A closing member is provided for partially covering the opening of the hole portion and mounted to the gear to limit outward movement of the spherical portion in the direction along the rotational axis of the gear. The closing member is constituted by a plurality of independent pieces.

Photosensitive drum unit, assembling method therefor, and disassembling method therefor

An image forming apparatus includes a first developing cartridge including a first developing roller and a first projection, the first developing cartridge being detachably mounted to a first mounting portion of a frame such that the first developing cartridge is movable relative to the frame between a position where the first developing roller contacts a first photosensitive drum and the first projection is located in a first lower position and a position where the first projection is located in a first upper position above the first lower position. The apparatus also includes a first contacting member contactable with the first projection. The force applying portion is configured to apply a force to the first developing cartridge such that the first projection being held in the first upper position by the first contacting portion is moved to the first lower position.

Growing community of inventors

Mishima, Japan

Ken Kikuchi