Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Ryuta Takeichi

Yuji Arai

Hiroshi Hosokawa

Kiyonori Tsuda

Masanori Kawasumi

Kazuhiko Umemura

Satoshi Narumi

Narihito Kojima

Hiroshi Nagame

Hiroshi Ishii

Yohta Sakon

Makoto Kikura

Kazuosa Kuma

Yutaka Fukuchi

Kazuki Suzuki

Yuusuke Noguchi

Akiyo Nakajima

Yoshiyuki Kimura

Masaharu Furuya

Akiyo Namiki

Hiroyuki Nagashima

Yukiko Iwasaki

Daisuke Saito

Hiroyuki Fushimi

Nobuo Kuwabara

Atsushi Sampe

Hideki Zemba

Wakako Murakami

Naoto Watanabe

Hiroshi Ono

Satoshi Hatori

Mitsuru Takahashi

Hiromi Ogiyama

Takeo Suda

Shin Kayahara

Tomoji Ishikawa

Yuuji Sawai

Katsuya Kawagoe

Takahiro Nakayama

Masao Yoshikawa

Toshiaki Motohashi

Minoru Umeda

A belt unit including an endless belt that is stretched over a plurality of rollers, a drive roller, and a tension roller. The belt unit also includes a cleaning apparatus which includes a rotary unit and a cleaning member configured to clean a surface of the endless belt. The tension roller is arranged at a position opposing the cleaning apparatus and configured to transmit a driving force to the rotary unit.

Cleaning apparatus for removing toner adhered onto endless belt

A toner bottle includes: a bottle main part to contain toner therein and having a rotational axis; an outlet at an end of the bottle main part; a spiral raised ridge in an inner wall of the bottle main part and arranged to deliver the toner contained in the bottle main part to the outlet by rotation of the bottle main part around the rotational axis; a plurality of toner guiding portions on a side of the spiral raised ridge adjacent to the outlet and arranged to move the toner to the outlet beyond the spiral raised ridge; and a gear adjacent to the outlet to rotate the bottle main part around the rotational axis. The bottle main part has a diameter larger than a diameter of the outlet, and the gear is formed integrally with the bottle main part between the outlet and the plurality of toner guiding portions.

Developer container, developer supplying device, and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus for use with a toner container which dispenses toner to the image forming apparatus, depending on an angular position of a rotatable cap of the toner container. The rotatable cap has a handle attached thereto. There is a toner container holder to support the toner container which permits the cap of the toner container to rotate. The image forming apparatus has a cover to selectively cover and uncover the toner container. There is also a device which moves with movement of the cover which interacts with the handle of the toner container.

A method of installing a toner container and a container. The container includes a body for storing toner, a handle attached to an end of the container, an opening for discharging the toner to an image forming device, and a shutter which selectively opens and closes the opening due to rotation of the handle. There is a gear which protrudes through the end of the container, and rotation of the gear causes toner in the body to be moved from the body of the container into the end of the container and subsequently out through the opening of the end of the container.

A developer container has a main part accommodating a developer therein and is detachably attached to a main part of an image forming apparatus. The developer container comprises an outlet provided at a side of the developer container to discharge the developer from the developer container. An input unit is provided adjacent to the outlet and has a small-diameter portion an inside diameter of which is smaller than a diameter of the container main part wherein, when the developer container is attached to the image forming apparatus, the input unit is engaged with a drive motor of the image forming apparatus to receive a rotating force of the drive motor. A developer guiding unit causes the developer inside the developer container to be moved to the outlet beyond the small-diameter portion of the input unit by rotation of the developer container.

A developer container has a main part accommodating a developer therein and is detachably attached to an image forming apparatus. The developer container comprises a rotation unit which is rotatable to the developer container main part and having an outlet to discharge developer from the developer container, a shutter provided on the rotation unit to open and close the outlet by rotation of the rotation unit, and an engagement unit provided on the periphery side portion of the rotation unit in order to prevent rotation of the rotation unit when attached to the image forming apparatus.

A toner bottle has a main body, an opening, a gear, and an intermediate area. The main body includes a guide used to guide the toner. The intermediate area is located between the main body and the opening. Both the main body and the intermediate area include a guide for guiding toner. An angle of the guide of the main body relative to the axis of rotation of the toner bottle is larger than an angle of the guide of the intermediate area.

A cleaning apparatus is for removing a toner from a surface of an endless belt. The cleaning apparatus includes a blade, a blade holding structure, and an abutment maintaining structure. The blade abuts on the endless belt that is supported on a tension roller. The blade holding structure holds the blade with its rotation restricted, in a movable manner in the direction of motion adjustment to adjust tension on the endless belt, and causes the blade to abut on a winding area of the endless belt with respect to the tension roller. The abutment maintaining structure allows the blade to follow up movement of the tension roller to thereby maintain abutment of the blade on the endless belt.

An image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a process cartridge including a developing device that includes a developer carrier and a toner storing portion storing toner for replenishment. The developer carrier conveys a developer deposited thereon to a developing zone where the developer carrier faces and image carrier. The developing device feeds the toner from the toner storing portion to the developer carrier or the developer deposited on the developer carrier. A toner container stores toner to be replenished to said the storing section. The process cartridge and toner container each are removably mounted to the apparatus independently of each other. A toner conveying device configured to convey the toner from toner container to toner storing portion by using the weight of the toner is mounted on the image forming apparatus.

Image forming apparatus using a toner container and a process cartridge

An endless belt device includes an endless belt and a plurality of rotary members rotatably supporting the endless belt. One of the plurality of rotary members includes a marker formed on a part of a circumferential surface of a rotation axis thereof. A reflection-type sensor is arranged to oppose the circumferential surface of the rotation axis of the one of the plurality of rotary members to detect the marker formed on the circumferential surface. A rotation speed of the endless belt is detected by detecting the marker on the circumferential surface of the rotation axis of the one of the plurality of rotary members by the reflection-type sensor.

Endless belt device and image forming apparatus using the device

An image forming apparatus that transfers a toner image on a photosensitive element to a recording medium includes a transfer unit that includes a transfer member in a form of an endless belt pressed against an outer surface of the photosensitive element, and that is detachable from a main unit of the image forming apparatus; a first cleaning unit that cleans residual toner on the transfer member; and a waste toner receptacle that collects the residual toner cleaned by the first cleaning unit. The waste toner receptacle is arranged in an inner circumference of the transfer member. The waste toner receptacle is held inside the main unit, so that the transfer unit is detachable from the main unit.

Image forming apparatus that recovers waste toner inside thereof

An image forming apparatus of the present invention includes an apparatus body, an image carrier for carrying a latent image on its surface, and a developing device for developing the latent image to thereby produce a corresponding toner image. A removable member is removably mounted to the apparatus body and positioned in the apparatus body such that a distance between the removable member and a surrounding member around it varies when the removable member is being mounted to or dismounted from the apparatus body. A frame surrounds at least one of the removable member and surrounding member. A contact member contacts, when the removable member is being mounted to or dismounted from the apparatus body, the frame to thereby determine a distance between the removable member and the surrounding member.

Image forming apparatus and process cartridge removably mounted thereto

An electrophotographic photoreceptor including a photosensitive layer on an electroconductive substrate, wherein nitrate ion is present on the surface of the photosensitive layer in an amount of from 50 to 300 &#x3bc;g per 1 mof the surface of the photosensitive layer when the nitrate ion is determined by an ion chromatographic method. Preferably a material having a fluorine atom and a carbon atom or a fatty acid metal salt such as zinc stearate is further present on the surface of the photosensitive layer such that the F/C ratio is from 0.05 to 0.5 or the Zn/C ratio is from 0.001 to 0.1. An image forming apparatus using the photoreceptor is also provided.

Electrophotographic photoreceptor and image forming apparatus using the photoreceptor

A method and apparatus of image forming include a process cartridge detachably mounted therein. The process cartridge includes a photoconductive element and a housing storing the photoconductive element and including a guide portion guiding the process cartridge. The guide portion faces an inner wall of the image forming apparatus or another process cartridge adjoining thereto and guides the adjoining process cartridge. The guide portion slidably engages with a portion of the process adjoining cartridge. The guide portion varies in shape according to its position in the image forming apparatus. The guide portion may be separately formed from or integrated with the housing. A method and apparatus of an image forming includes an image transfer mechanism and a plurality of process cartridges arranged in parallel. Each of the process cartridges includes photoconductive elements and a housing, and forms an image for a single separated color.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Ryuta Takeichi