Minolta Camera Kabushiki Kaisha

Motohiro Yamada

Hirofumi Hasegawa

Takayuki Ariyama

Takashi Gonda

Koji Shakushi

Mineo Yamamoto

A paper feed path is formed along a substantially vertical plane whereby a transfer sheet is subsequently passed through image forming units vertically stacked for subsequent image forming process in each image forming unit. An opening and closing portion of each image forming unit is separated from a main body portion by the paper feed path and is arranged to move about the vertical rotating axis on one side of the paper feed path to open and close the paper feed path in the horizontal direction irrelevant to the vertical stack of the image forming units.

Image forming apparatus having a plurality of vertically stacked image

An upper unit relative to a unit positioned lower than the upper unit is movably supported between an operating position above the lower unit and a non-operating position retracted from the lower unit.

Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus having a developing device wherein a developing material of a toner and a magnetic carrier is circularly transported from a toner supply portion to a developing region formed between the developing device and a photosensitive member while mixing the developing material. The developing device is provided with a sensor for detecting a toner density of the circulating developing material at a specified detection position in the developing device, and the toner is supplied from the supply portion to the developing material at the specified detection position and to the developing material at a minimum of one position other than the detection position when the detected toner density of the developing material is less than a predetermined standard density.

Developing means and method for supplying toner to a density detection

An image forming apparatus having a plurality of image forming units and a sheet transporting unit for transporting sheets discharged from an arbitrary one of the image forming units to a discharge portion of its own or to that of other image forming unit. When one of the image forming units is incapable of continuous operation during the execution of an operation thereof, another image forming unit is operated in place thereof which feeds recording sheets of the same size as those of the former image forming unit and forms images with toner of the same color as that of the former image forming unit, and the image bearing sheets discharged from the latter image forming unit are discharged onto the same discharge portion as that of the former image forming unit.

Growing community of inventors

Okazaki, Japan

Motohiro Yamada