Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.

Masaaki Tokunaga

Fumio Furusawa

Nobuo Hyakutake

Koichi Sato

Yoshihiro Enomoto

Masakazu Shirai

Masatoshi Yamada

Tetsuya Fujita

Takashi Kawabata

Keiji Yamamoto

Kazuyoshi Hagiwara

Kiyotoshi Kaneyama

Kiyohito Horii

Hiroyuki Koide

Satoshi Fukada

Takeshi Okoshi

Nobuyoshi Komatsu

Ryoichi Tsuruoka

Kazutoshi Sugitani

Satoru Torimaru

Naoto Yoshino

Tsutomu Komiyama

Mabumi Kashihara

Akihiko Terao

Yasuo Nakamura

Masaaki Takahashi

Atsuyuki Kitamura

Atsushi Kaneko

Tomoya Ichikawa

Wataru Suzuki

Hideaki Ozawa

Tsuneo Fukuzawa

Junichirou Sameshima

Hirohisa Hoshino

Satoshi Honobe

Yousuke Hasegawa

Yuzo Ichikawa

Akiko Kimura

Kazuyuki Yagata

Katsunori Kikuchihara

Hitoshi Funato

Shiroh Suzuki

Hiroaki Yagi

Kazuhiko Miyazato

Shinichi Kawamata

Hirofumi Goto

Takahiro Shinkawa

Kazumi Yamanaka

A transfer assembly includes a support member having a side wall that extends in such a direction as to intersect a line extending from the rotation axis of a transfer roller and that has a hole through which a support shaft is inserted with some play being present. The hole has such a shape that, at the beginning of a period when a door is rotated from an open state to a closed state and a positioned portion is in contact with a positioning member, gaps are formed between the support shaft and a wall surface of the hole on both sides of the support shaft in a radial direction crossing an arc that is drawn from a center of the arc at the center line of rotation of the door and that passes through the support shaft.

Image forming apparatus and transfer device having a rotatable door

A cleaning device includes first to third cleaning members that clean a surface of an endless belt that is looped over rollers including a driving roller. The first cleaning member is brought into contact with and separated from the surface at a predetermined timing. The second cleaning member is disposed upstream of the first cleaning member and downstream of the driving roller in a movement direction of the endless belt. The second cleaning member is in contact with the endless belt so as to prevent a tension variation of the endless belt caused by the first cleaning member from affecting the driving roller. The third cleaning member is disposed downstream of the first cleaning member. A contact state in which the third cleaning member is in contact with the endless belt is switched from a first contact state to a second contact state so as to reduce the tension variation.

Cleaning device and image forming apparatus including the same

A cleaning device includes at least one first cleaning member that removes residual substances that remain on a surface of an endless belt by being in contact with the surface of the endless belt while rotating in a direction that is opposite to a movement direction in which the endless belt moves; a second cleaning member that is brought into contact with and separated from the surface of the endless belt at a predetermined timing and removes the residual substances that remain on the surface of the endless belt; and a switching unit that switches a rotation direction of the first cleaning member to a direction the same as the movement direction of the endless belt when the second cleaning member is brought into contact with the surface of the endless belt and cleans the surface.

An image forming apparatus includes a body frame, a transport unit, an image carrier, a transfer device, a fixing device, a guide member assembly, a door, and a positioning member. The guide member assembly includes a guide member, a positioned portion, and a support member. The support member supports the guide member and has a side wall that extends in such a direction as to intersect a line drawn in the width direction and that has a hole through which a support shaft is inserted with some play being present. The guide member assembly is supported by the door with some play being present between the guide member assembly and a base plate and is urged by an urging member. The hole is a long hole having a major axis extending in an opening direction of the door away from a center line of rotation of the door.

Image forming apparatus and transport guiding device having a smoothly operating door

A developer collecting device includes a housing provided with an opening opposed to a developer carrying member, a collecting member provided along an edge of the opening at a downstream end of the opening in a transporting direction in which the developer carrying member transports the developer, a sealing member provided along an edge of the opening at an upstream end of the opening in the transporting direction, a suction path that extends along a longitudinal direction of the housing and that is connected to a suction unit for sucking the developer into the housing, a developer transporting unit that is provided between the opening and the suction path and that transports the developer collected in the housing, a filter member disposed between the developer transporting unit and the suction path, and a hood member disposed between the opening and the filter member and separated from the filter member.

Developer collecting device and image forming apparatus

A developer-conveying apparatus is provided, the developer-conveying apparatus including: a conveying member that has a rotational axis rotatably set in a container and a blade formed around the rotational axis, the conveying member conveying a developer along the rotational axis by rotation; and a static eliminating member set in the container and eliminating static electricity of the developer in the container by being brought into contact with the developer.

Developer conveying apparatus and image forming apparatus

A powder container includes a containing portion having an opening and including: an opening/closing member movable between an open position and a closed position, an opening restrained portion on one of the opening/closing member and the containing portion, an opening restraining portion on the other of the opening/closing member and the containing portion at a position corresponding to the opening restrained portion when the opening/closing member is at the closed position, the opening restraining portion restraining movement of the opening/closing member toward the open position by contacting the opening restrained portion, an urged portion on one of the containing portion and the opening/closing member, and an urging portion on the other of the containing portion and the opening/closing member at a position corresponding to the urged portion when the opening/closing member is at the closed position, the urging portion making the opening restraining portion contact the opening restrained portion.

Powder container and image forming apparatus for causing restraining portion to contact restrained portion

An image forming apparatus includes: an image carrier; an intermediate transfer unit including an intermediate transfer body onto which an image on the image carrier is transferred, and plural rotation members around which the intermediate transfer body is wound, each rotation member rotating around a rotation axis, the intermediate transfer unit detachably attached, in the rotation axis direction, to an apparatus main body; a secondary transfer unit that makes contact with and separates from the intermediate transfer body, the secondary transfer unit provided at an opposite side of the rotation members across the intermediate transfer body; a positioning unit that, when the intermediate transfer unit is attached to the apparatus main body, positions the intermediate transfer unit in the secondary transfer unit side at least at two points differently located in the rotation axis direction; and a securing unit that secures the intermediate transfer unit to the apparatus main body.

Image forming apparatus

A cleaning unit includes: a cleaning member that cleans the surface of the image carrier; a cleaning container that stores developer removed by the cleaning member; a cleaning support that is formed by bending a plate and includes a cleaning-supporting portion supporting the other end portion of the cleaning member and a supported portion angled with respect to the cleaning-supporting portion by bending; a supporting-portion-of-support that includes a facing portion facing the supported portion, is provided at the cleaning container, and supports the cleaning support; a damping member that is disposed between the supported portion and the facing portion, is formed so as to be elastically deformable, and regulates vibration of the cleaning member; and a securing member that secures the cleaning support to the supporting-portion-of-support at a position adjacent to the damping member.

Cleaning unit, image carrier unit, and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a transfer member that retains developer; a housing provided with a removing member that removes the developer and having an intake opening that is opposed to the transfer member, the developer removed by the removing member being taken into the housing through the intake opening; a guiding pipe connected to the housing and having a suction hole through which the developer is sucked and an outlet through which the developer is discharged; and a suction member that applies a suction force to an inner space of the housing through the guiding pipe. A capturing area for capturing the developer that flows through a flow channel from the suction hole to the outlet is provided in the flow channel. A cross section of the capturing area in a radial direction of the flow channel is larger than that of other areas.

A powder container includes a containing portion having an opening; an opening/closing member that is movable between an open position and a closed position and supported with play; an opening restraining portion provided on the containing portion; an opening restrained portion provided on the opening/closing member; an urging member that urges the opening/closing member; and an opening/closing contact portion provided on the opening/closing member and contactable with an opening/closing contacted portion of an apparatus into which the containing portion is installed, wherein the opening restrained portion is disposed such that a direction of force generated when the containing portion is installed into the apparatus is inclined with respect to the direction in which the opening/closing member moves, and the opening restrained portion is disposed downstream of an imaginary line extending from a contact position at which the opening/closing contact portion contacts the opening/closing contacted portion.

Powder container and image forming apparatus having an opening/closing member

An image forming apparatus includes a sensor member having first and second ends opposite to each other in a longitudinal direction of the sensor member and supported by support structures consisting of the first and second ends, and first and second support portions supporting the first and second ends; a first support structure including a first protruding portion fitted on a first recess portion supporting the first protruding portion; and a second support structure including a second protruding portion fitted on a second recess portion supporting the second protruding portion. The second protruding portion has first and second cylinder portions extending in a longitudinal direction of the second protruding portion. The second recess portion has an insertion portion allowing the second protruding portion to be inserted, a pass portion allowing the first cylinder portion to pass therethrough, and a positioning portion fitted on the second cylinder portion.

Sensor member and image forming apparatus

A developer collecting device includes a housing provided with an opening opposed to a developer carrying member, a collecting member provided on a support member and capable of coming into contact with and separating from the developer carrying member, a suction path provided between the opening and a suction member for sucking developer removed from the developer carrying member, an opening-closing plate that opens or closes the suction path, an urging member that urges the opening-closing plate, a retaining member that retains the opening-closing plate, and an opening-closing unit including a rotating member and an elastic member whose ends are connected to the rotating member and the support member. The elastic member is pulled so as to rotate the rotating member in association with a movement of the collecting member, thereby rotating the opening-closing plate so as to open or close the suction path.

An image forming apparatus including: an image carrier, provided to a main body of the image forming apparatus, that carries a toner image; an opening and closing member provided to be openable and closable against the main body; a transfer unit movably provided against the opening and closing member, the transfer unit including: a transfer body transferring the toner image onto a transfer receiving medium; and a holding member holding the transfer body and having a contact portion that is in contact with a counterpart contact portion provided to the main body when the opening and closing member is closed; and a maintaining unit maintaining a posture of the transfer unit against the opening and closing member when the contact portion is brought into contact with the counterpart contact portion during the course of transition of the opening and closing member from an opened state to the closed state.

Image forming apparatus having an image transfer unit movably attached to an opening and closing member

A transfer device includes: a transfer roll that transfers a toner image formed on an image holding body to a transfer subject medium; a first holding member that holds the transfer roll rotatably; a pressure contact member that brings, via the first holding member, the transfer roll into pressure contact with the image holding body; a second holding member that holds the first holding member swingably and movably; and a pressing member that produces a pressing force for bringing the pressure contact member into pressure contact with the first holding member and the second holding member in a state that the first holding member is inclined from the second holding member.

Transfer device and image forming apparatus

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Masaaki Tokunaga