Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Dow Corning Toray Company, Ltd.

Naoki Matsuda

Masahiro Ishida

Shinya Shimizu

Toshihiro Shimada

Kohta Takenaka

Shogo Sakamoto

Hiroki Ishimitsu

Narumi Sugita

Keisuke Shimizu

Toshiyuki Kabata

Hiroaki Nieda

Junichi Murano

Tsuyoshi Endo

Shoji Asanuma

Kouta Hirakawa

Teruyoshi Tanaka

Kumiko Seo

Hiroshi Ishii

Kazuhiro Kobayashi

Toshiyuki Uchida

Yoshihide Ohta

Jun Yasuda

Takayuki Isaka

Wataru Hojo

Tatsuya Suzuki

Yutaka Naitoh

Junichi Kawase

Ryuta Kaneda

An image forming apparatus includes an apparatus body, a detachable unit detachably attached to the apparatus body, a metal plate component, an insertion cover, and a stopper. The insertion cover has an insertion opening into which the detachable unit is insertable in an insertion direction. The stopper includes a blocking projection and a contact. The blocking projection is inside the insertion opening of the insertion cover. The blocking projection has a shape that matches with a groove of the detachable unit compatible with the apparatus body and does not match with a groove of the detachable unit incompatible with the apparatus body. The contact contacts the metal plate component in a direction orthogonal to the insertion direction.

Image forming apparatus with a stopper to block insertion of a toner container

An image forming apparatus includes a housing. The housing stores a toner bottle and has an insertion opening and a cover. The toner bottle is insertable to the insertion opening. The cover has an opening and openably closable the insertion opening. The toner bottle is visible from the opening of the cover at a closed position.

Image forming apparatus including a housing with a cover to store a toner bottle

An image forming apparatus includes an apparatus main body and a cover to openably close the apparatus main body in a front-back direction. The cover includes an inner cover and an exterior cover outside the inner cover in the front-back direction. The exterior cover is fitted to the inner cover to form a single body with the inner cover.

Image forming apparatus including a double-structured bottle cover

An image forming apparatus includes a unit, a housing, an outer cover, a lock, a detector, and circuitry. The unit is disposed in the image forming apparatus. The housing stores a toner bottle and has an insertion opening and an inner cover openably closable the insertion opening. The outer cover is openably closable to expose the inner cover and the unit or cover the inner cover and the unit. The lock locks the inner cover at a closed position. The detector detects an amount of toner remaining in the toner bottle. The circuitry controls the lock to unlock the inner cover based on the amount of the toner detected by the detector.

Image forming apparatus

A drive device includes a bracket, a fixed shaft, and a drive transmitter. The fixed shaft is fixed to the bracket and has a groove. The drive transmitter is rotatably mounted on the fixed shaft. The drive transmitter includes an opening through which the fixed shaft is inserted, and a projection disposed on an inner circumference of the opening and configured to fit into the groove of the fixed shaft. The drive transmitter is configured to hold the fixed shaft over a range including both ends of the opening in a thrust direction of the drive transmitter with the drive transmitter being attached to the fixed shaft.

Drive device, image forming apparatus, rotary body support device, and rotary body

A drive device includes a drive source, a drive train including a plurality of drive transmitters, and a positioning member. The drive train transmits a driving force of the drive source to a driven member. The plurality of drive transmitters include a first group of the drive transmitters and a second group of the drive transmitters. The drive source and the first group of the drive transmitters together serve as an integrated unit attached to one side of a facing member facing a side panel of an image forming apparatus. The integrated unit includes a positioning object. The second group of the drive transmitters is supported by a shaft disposed on another side of the facing member. The positioning member includes a positioning portion with which the positioning object is engaged on the one side or said another side of the facing member.

Drive device and image forming apparatus incorporating the drive device

A sound absorber includes at least one cavity and at least one mouth to communicate the at least one cavity with an outside of the sound absorber. The at least one cavity includes a top surface, a bottom surface, and a side wall. The top surface includes the mouth. The bottom surface opposes the top surface. The side wall is extended to connect the top surface with the bottom surface. At least one of the top surface and the bottom surface is inclined with respect to the side wall.

Sound absorber, electronic device with sound absorbing device, and image forming apparatus with sound absorber

A housing includes at least one openable cover and at least one adjacent cover. The at least one openable cover swings on a hinge to separate an interior of the housing from an exterior of the housing. The at least one openable cover has a first side edge on a side of the hinge. The at least one adjacent cover is adjacent to the at least one openable cover. The at least one adjacent cover has a second side edge neighboring the first side edge of the at least one openable cover across a gap. One of the at least one openable cover and the at least one adjacent cover includes at least one projection projecting into the gap and another one of the at least one openable cover and the at least one adjacent cover includes a recess that accommodates the at least one projection in the gap.

Housing, electronic device with housing, and image forming apparatus with electronic device

A cabinet structure includes multiple cover members configured to spatially partition an inside from an outside of a cabinet, and a clearance communicating between the inside and the outside of the cabinet is left between two cover members, the two cover members being adjacent to each other, of the cover members, and a passage defined by the clearance and leading from the inside to the outside of the cabinet through the clearance has a shape with multiple bends.

Cabinet structure, electronic equipment, and image forming apparatus

A sound absorbing device includes: a plurality of sound absorbing units. A frequency of sound absorbed by at least one of the sound absorbing units overlaps, at least partially, with a frequency of sound with a volume increased by installation of another sound absorbing unit.

Sound absorbing device, electronic device, and image forming apparatus

A stirring device includes a stirrer configured to stir a stirred object, at least another component of the stirring device, and a coating layer. The coating layer is disposed on at least one of a contact part of the stirrer that contacts the at least another component and a contacted part of the at least another component contacted by the stirrer.

Stirring device with a lubricating layer, toner container, waste toner receptacle, and image forming apparatus

A drive transmitter includes a group of gears to which grease is applied, at least one gear of the group of gears being an internally toothed gear, multiple pulleys, and a drive belt wound around the multiple pulleys to drive the group of gears. An image forming apparatus includes the drive transmitter.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Naoki Matsuda