Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Nobuyuki Taguchi

Masayuki Yamane

Takeroh Kurenuma

Goro Katsuyama

Hideo Yoshizawa

Seiji Terazawa

Takayasu Nakao

Naohiro Kumagai

Satoshi Hatori

Kaoru Yoshino

Hideyasu Seki

Yuta Azeyanagi

Hiromichi Ninomiya

Ryohta Gotoh

Yasuhito Kuboshima

Masashi Hasegawa

Takayuki Tamaki

Fumie Satoh

Teruo Hitosugi

Takashi Hisazumi

Masahiro Kurita

Misaki Uchiyama

Takuya Seshita

Takeshi Uchitani

Satoru Yoshida

Kiyonori Tsuda

Kunihiro Ohyama

Kazuhisa Sudo

Kenzo Tatsumi

Emi Kita

Ichiro Kadota

Satoshi Narumi

Akira Fujimori

Takamasa Ozeki

Fumio Ogata

Katsumi Masuda

Kyohta Koetsuka

Yuuki Satoh

Masayuki Ohsawa

Toshiki Hayashi

Yoshio Hattori

Shigeru Horiguchi

Noriyuki Kamiya

Akira Azami

Masateru Kohno

Toshio Kojima

Takumi Terasaka

Keisuke Katoh

Yuji Suzuki

Takeshi Shintani

Yasufumi Takahashi

Shinichi Kawahara

Nobuo Kuwabara

Takeshi Fukao

Yoshiyuki Fukuda

Hiroyuki Uenishi

Michiya Okamoto

Takuma Iwasaki

Keiichi Yoshida

Shinya Karasawa

Kenji Honjoh

Norio Kudo

Kentaro Nodera

Yoshiyuki Takano

Masanari Shimamoto

Seiji Terasawa

An image forming apparatus includes a rotatable image bearer, an exposure device, a development unit, an adjuster, and a magnetic member. The exposure device forms a latent image on a surface of the image bearer. The developing unit renders the latent image visible with developer including toner and carrier. The adjuster contacts each of the image bearer and the exposure device to regulate a distance between the image bearer and the exposure device. The magnetic member is arranged side by side with the adjuster in a direction of rotation of the image bearer.

Image forming apparatus and process cartridge

A toner container detachably attached to a toner-container holder of a main body of an image forming apparatus includes a container body that includes an opening, and discharges toner contained in the container body, from the opening; and a held portion that is held by the toner-container holder in a non-rotating manner. The held portion includes an open/close member for opening/closing the toner outlet in synchronization with an attachment/detachment operation of the held portion to/from the toner-container holder.

Toner container and image forming apparatus

A lubricant supplying device includes: lubricant; a supplying member that supplies the lubricant to a lubricant supply target; and a remaining amount detecting unit that detects that a remaining amount of the lubricant is equal to or smaller than a certain amount. The remaining amount detecting unit includes a first electrode member and a second electrode member. The lubricant supplying device includes a member that causes at least a part of the second electrode member to move and causes the second electrode member to abut the first electrode member with an increase in consumption of the lubricant.

Lubricant supplying device, image forming apparatus, and process cartridge

A lubricant supply device includes a solid lubricant, a lubricant holder to hold the solid lubricant, a lubricant supply member to supply lubricant to a lubrication target, a pressing member to press the solid lubricant toward the lubricant supply member, and a pressing force adjuster to change an amount of pressing force exerted by the pressing member.

Lubricant supply device, process unit, image forming apparatus, and process unit manufacturing method

A toner container for use with an image forming apparatus. The toner container comprises a toner storage section, a toner outlet at a circumferential surface of the toner container, and a shutter at the circumferential surface of the toner container. The toner container further comprises an electronic element, disposed at the same end of the toner container as the toner outlet to communicate with the image forming apparatus. The toner outlet and the electronic element are disposed along a line which is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the toner storing section. Further, there is a projection on the circumferential surface of the toner container.

A detachable device, which can be included in an image forming apparatus, includes a unit drive mechanism, and a cover disposed at one end and an opposite end in the given attachment/detachment direction to cover the unit drive mechanism thereof. The cover includes a first cover and a second cover. The first cover includes at least one first inlet port to intake air from the apparatus body and guide the air to the detachable unit. The second cover includes a second inlet port to intake the air guided into the detachable unit and an air outlet port to exhaust the air introduced from the second inlet port to the apparatus body.

Detachable unit and image forming apparatus incorporating same

In an embodiment, provided is a lubricant supplying device that includes: a solid lubricant; a supplying member that supplies lubricant of the solid lubricant to a lubricant supplying target; and a remaining amount detecting unit that detects an amount of the solid lubricant being at a given amount or less. The remaining amount detecting unit is provided on a downstream side in a rubbing direction of the supplying member with respect to the solid lubricant.

An image carrier includes a tubular image carrier body to carry an image on an outer circumferential surface thereof, a shaft disposed inside the image carrier body, a first flange mounted on the shaft, and a second flange spaced apart from the first flange in an axial direction of the image carrier and mounted on the shaft. Each of the first flange and the second flange includes a through-hole contacting the shaft, a first engagement portion to engage a lateral end of the image carrier body in the axial direction of the image carrier, and a second engagement portion, constituting at least a part of the through-hole, to engage the shaft. The second engagement portion is disposed inboard from the first engagement portion in the axial direction of the image carrier.

Image carrier, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus

A toner container and an image forming apparatus are disclosed. The toner container includes a guiding member formed at a part surrounding a toner outlet to be protruded from a circumferential surface of the toner container for guiding an opening or closing operation of a shutter member in a circumferential direction of the toner container. The image forming apparatus includes an image forming apparatus main body. The image forming apparatus main body includes a main body side shutter for opening or closing a toner supplying opening to be connected to the toner outlet. When the shutter member is opened, an end surface of the guiding member pushes the main body side shutter together with the opening operation of the shutter member, and the toner supplying opening is opened and is connected to the toner outlet.

In the present invention, a lubricant supplying device includes a lubricant end determining unit that determines that a solid lubricant is in an end state when the amount of a lubricant supplying operation reaches a threshold after a residual amount detecting unit detects that the residual amount of the solid lubricant is equal to or smaller than a predetermined amount. The lubricant end determining unit makes a threshold of the amount of the lubricant supplying operation at temperature or humidity of equal to or lower than a predetermined value lower than a threshold of the amount of the lubricant supplying operation at temperature or humidity of higher than the predetermined value.

Lubricant supplying device, and image forming apparatus

A development device includes a developer container, a developer carrier, exposed partly from a casing, facing a latent image carrier in a development area, a magnetic field generator inside the developer carrier, having multiple magnetic poles including a conveyance pole to convey the developer downstream from the development area to a developer release portion, a developer agitator, and a developer regulator. A predetermined gap is kept between an outer surface of the developer carrier and an inner wall of the casing downstream from an opening of the casing, upstream from a developer release portion, in a direction in which the developer carrier rotates. Multiple recesses are formed in the outer surface of the developer carrier at a pitch in a circumferential direction shorter than half a width of a magnetic flux density of the developer conveyance pole in a direction perpendicular to an axial direction of the developer carrier.

Development device, and process cartridge and image forming apparatus incorporating same

A development device including a developer container, a developer bearer, a magnetic field generator, a developer agitator to supply the developer to the developer bearer, and a developer regulator to adjust a layer thickness of the developer carried on the developer bearer. Multiple oval recesses oblique to the axial direction of the developer bearer are formed in the outer circumferential surface of the developer bearer and arranged in a circumferential direction and the axial direction thereof. An upstream inner wall of the recess in the rotational direction of the developer bearer applies a force to the developer as the developer bearer rotates, and an angle between a long axis of the recess and the axial direction is set so that the force applied by the upstream inner wall of the recess has a component in a direction substantially identical to the developer conveyance direction of the developer agitator.

Development device, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus including same having multiple recesses formed on a developer bearer

The toner bottle exchangeably used in an image forming apparatus. The toner bottle includes a bottle body having a substantially cylindrical shape and configured to contain toner, a gear configured to rotate a part of the toner bottle, a cap attached to the bottle body and including an opening arranged in a circumferential surface of the cap and configured to output toner to a development apparatus of the image forming apparatus, a toner conveyance mechanism arranged in the bottle body and configured to convey the toner to the opening.

Method and toner bottle for image forming apparatus capable of effectively supplying toner to image forming apparatus

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Kanagawa, Japan

Nobuyuki Taguchi