Kyocera Mita Corporation

Kyocera Document Solutions Inc.

Mita Industrial Co., Ltd.

Ryoji Nishimura

Hiroaki Ohashi

Masahiro Kashimoto

Satoru Yonemoto

Takeshi Fujimura

Toshinori Nishimura

Ikuo Makie

Takashi Nagashima

Shinsuke Kawashima

Koji Murata

Hideki Kitagawa

Yoshihiro Yamagishi

Hironori Takahashi

Naoyuki Ishida

Tatsuhiko Yoshii

Koji Suenami

Koji Izumi

Chisato Hatakeyama

Yuzo Onishi

Yukihiro Ito

Tsuyoshi Koyanagi

Yasuyuki Hirai

Hideki Takeda

Hirohisa Endou

Tetsuya Toichi

Kotaro Kawasaki

A developer container is fitted in a first direction to an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a sheet. The developer container includes a main body and a protrusion. An inner space filled with a developer is formed in the man body. The protrusion protrudes outward from an outer wall of the main body. The protrusion includes a plurality of wall surface parts facing in a direction opposite to the first direction. An order in which the plurality of wall surface parts are arranged when viewed in the first direction is different from an order in which the plurality of wall surface parts are arranged when viewed in a second direction intersecting with the first direction. A plurality of wall parts are formed integrally to connect the plurality of wall surface parts through the plurality of wall parts.

Developer container, developing device including developer container, and image forming apparatus including developing device

A developing device of the present disclosure includes a developing roller, a toner feeding roller, a thickness regulating member, and a casing. The toner feeding roller feeds toner to the developing roller. The thickness regulating member is disposed opposite to the toner feeding roller at a predetermined distance from the toner feeding roller, and the thickness regulating member regulates a thickness of the toner carried on the toner feeding roller. The casing holds therein the developing roller, the toner feeding roller, and the thickness regulating member. The thickness regulating member is formed in a roller shape and rotatable.

Developing device including developing roller that feeds toner to image carrying member and toner feeding roller that feeds toner to developing roller, and image forming apparatus provided therewith

A developing device of the present disclosure includes a developing roller, a toner feeding roller, a regulating blade, a blade holding member, a toner receiving member, and a casing. The regulating blade regulates a thickness of toner carried on the toner feeding roller. An air flow path is formed inside the blade holding member. The toner receiving member, the regulating blade, and the blade holding member each include a slit hole that leads to the air flow path.

Developing device and image forming apparatus provided therewith

A developer transporting mechanism includes a pipe-like transporting path, sealing member, shutter, and urging member. The pipe-like transporting path, through which a developer is transported, has an discharge port at part of its side surface. The shutter is slidable along the surface of the sealing member to open and close the discharge port. The urging member urges the shutter in a direction in which the discharge port is closed. The sealing member is secured to the outer circumferential surface of the pipe-like transporting path. The sealing member also has a reduced part; its dimension in a width direction orthogonal to a direction in which the shutter moves is gradually reduced from the upstream end in the closing direction of the shutter toward the downstream end.

Developer transporting mechanism, developing device with the same, and image forming apparatus

A developing device includes a developing roller, toner supplying roller, regulation blade, and casing. The developing roller faces an image carrier on which an electrostatic latent image is to be formed, and supplies toner to the image carrier. The toner supplying roller faces the developing roller, and supplies the toner to the developing roller. The regulation blade faces the toner supplying roller at predetermined distance. The casing houses the developing roller, toner supplying roller, and regulation blade. The casing includes a toner catching support member facing the developing roller or the toner supplying roller between the regulation blade and the image carrier. The developing device further includes a toner catching member, which is arranged along a longitudinal direction of the toner catching support member and catches toner that drops from the developing roller, and a vibration generating portion, which vibrates the toner catching member.

Developing device and image forming apparatus including the same

A developing device is provided with a developer conveyance path for conveying a developer containing nonmagnetic toner and magnetic carrier, a wall portion including a wall surface for defining the developer conveyance path, a developing roller for supplying the toner from the developer conveyance path to an image bearing member, a conveying member extending in the developer conveyance path for conveying the developer while agitating it, a toner supply port arranged above the developer conveyance path for supplying new toner into the developer conveyance path from the outside, and a scraping member arranged at a position below the toner supply port in the developer conveyance path and adapted to scrape off the toner adhering to the wall surface while sliding in contact with the wall surface of the wall portion.

Developing device having first and second groups of scraper blades in axially offset positions and image forming apparatus with the same

Provided is a toner dispersing member including a rotary shaft and dispersing protrusions formed of a flexible film member wound along an outer peripheral surface of the rotary shaft, the flexible film member including a large number of cuts formed on one side thereof and are directed outward. The toner dispersing member is rotated about the rotary shaft so that a lump of toner coming into contact with the dispersing protrusions is dispersed.

Toner dispensing member and toner dispersing mechanism provided therewith

A developing device includes: a developer carrying member for supplying a developer to an image bearing member at an opposing region opposing to the image bearing member, the developer carrying member being arranged so as to be opposed to the image bearing member on which an electrostatic latent image is to be formed; a blade for regulating an amount of the developer carried on the developer carrying member; a casing for housing the developer carrying member and the blade, the casing including a wall portion opposed to the developer carrying member between the blade and the opposing region; a sheet member that is flexible, provided on the wall portion, has a free end, forms a part of an inner wall surface of the wall portion, and is movable in a direction perpendicular to the inner wall surface; and a moving portion provided on the wall portion, for moving the sheet member.

Developing device with moveable flexible sheet for preventing toner deposition on developing device casing and image forming apparatus including the same

To realize easier assembly of the photosensitive drum with appropriate contact force to the end face of the drum body, while restricting manufacture cost increase and avoiding need for high skill and/or experience for the factory worker who assembles the drum. A photosensitive drum for use in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus. The drum includes a cylindrical drum bodyhaving a photosensitive layer, a pair of flangesattached to opposed end faces of the drum body, a reinforcing stayprovided inside the drum body, a drum shaftfor rotatably supporting the drum body via the flanges. The flanges are fixed to the reinforcing stay in such a manner that outer peripheries of the flanges are elastically contacted against the end faces of the drum body. Each flange includes, as a cantilever-like extension thereof, a fixing armfor the reinforcing stay, a leading end of the fixing arm being fixed to the reinforcing stay with the fixing arm being elastically deformed toward the inside of the drum body, such that the fixing arm provides an elastic resilience for causing the outer periphery of the flange to be elastically contacted against the corresponding end face of the drum body.

Photosensitive drum

A developing device includes a casing, a first mixing conveying screw, and a developer removing unit. The casing is able to store toner. The first mixing conveying screw has a shaft arranged to be able to rotate freely in the interior of the casing, and a spiral in a spiral shape formed on the outer circumference portion of the shaft. The developer removing unit has a plurality of spring members arranged to be lined up in the axial direction corresponding to the spiral pitch of the spiral and are able to contact the spiral, and a retaining member that is retained in the casing and retains the plurality of the spring members.

Developing device and image forming device having the same

In a developing device according to the present invention, a developing roller has a fixed shaft and a sleeve . The length of a draw-up magnetic pole N provided in the fixed shaft is made shorter than the length of a main magnetic pole N . Accordingly, the amount of a developer adhering to both ends of an outer peripheral surface of the sleeve is reduced, so that the density of the developer at both the ends of the sleeve is maintained in suitable conditions in a state where the developer is over the main magnetic pole N

Developing device for preventing thickening of the developer at both ends of a sleeve

A cleaning device according to the present invention has first seals and a second seal adhered so as to partly overlap each other for sealing a space between a housing of the cleaning device and the surface of a photoreceptive member. The first seals include seal bases and a flocked sheet layered on the seal bases. The portion of the seal base where the second seal overlaps is made smaller in thickness than the portion of the seal base where the second seal does not overlap. Therefore, no step is formed in the overlapped portion, thereby preventing toner leakage.

Toner seal for a cleaning device

A toner replenishing device for an image forming machine has a hopper housing with a toner agitating passageway and a toner carrying passageway, a toner agitator disposed in the toner agitating passageway for agitating recovered toner and fresh toner supplied to the toner agitating passageway and lifting them to the toner carrying passageway, and a toner carrier disposed in the toner carrying passageway for carrying the recovered toner and the fresh toner agitated and lifted by the toner agitator. The toner agitator has a first paddle disposed in a first end part of the toner agitating passageway, and a second paddle disposed on the other end part side of the toner agitating passageway and adjacent to the first paddle. The first paddle has the function of sending the toner to the other end part side of the toner agitating passageway, while the second paddle has the function of sending the toner to the first end part side of the toner agitating passageway.

Image forming machine toner replenishing device capable of agitating the

A toner density controlling apparatus adapted to control toner density by sensing a T/D level in a developer vessel by using a toner sensor performs a toner density controlling operation on the basis of an output of the toner sensor while maintaining an input control voltage to be applied to the toner sensor at a predetermined level in a definite control range where the toner sensor output decreases proportionally to the T/D level in a linear relation. Conversely, in an indefinite control range where the relationship between the toner sensor output and the T/D level is nonlinear, the input control voltage to be applied to the toner sensor is variably controlled so that the toner sensor output can be adjusted to an upper or lower limit level of the definite control range, and the toner density controlling operation is performed on the basis of the input control voltage. With such an arrangement, even if the definite control range where the toner sensor output decreases proportionally to the T/D level in a linear relation is narrow, the toner density controlling operation can be performed on the basis of the input control voltage in the other control ranges. Therefore, even if an image forming apparatus provided with such a toner density controlling apparatus is used in an extensively varied environment, the toner density can properly be controlled by using a single toner sensor.

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Osaka, Japan

Ryoji Nishimura