Brother Kogyo Kabushiki-kaisha

Brother Industries, Ltd.

Shinji Kimura

Yasushi Okabe

Hiroshi Igarashi

Makoto Ishii

Hiroshi Tokuda

Takashi Nakata

Naoya Kamimura

Yasutake Yamaguchi

Noritsugu Ito

Kazuhito Ishida

Tsuyoshi Kushida

Hiroo Ogawa

Tasuku Sugimoto

Mamoru Imaizumi

Toshiaki Mizuno

Mikio Sakuma

Toshiaki Sugiura

Shogo Suzuki

Kazuya Asano

An image forming device including a casing having a front wall formed with a first opening and an upper wall continuous to the front wall and formed with a second opening. The first and second openings together form a single opening. The device further includes a door for covering the single opening, a belt unit, and a guide member. The belt unit includes first and second rollers, and a conveyer belt. The drawer is configured to accommodate a plurality of cartridges. The guide member is configured to movably guide the drawer. The first roller is disposed nearer to the single opening than the second roller to the single opening. In a state where the door is opened and the drawer is inside the casing, one of the plurality of cartridges closest to the door is detachably attachable to the drawer through the single opening.

Configuration of an image forming device for accessing an image forming unit

An image forming device includes: a main body; a plurality of image forming units; a holding unit; and an engagement mechanism. Each of the plurality of image forming units has a developing portion. The holding unit holds the plurality of image forming units. The plurality of image forming units are aligned in the holding unit in a predetermined drawing direction. The holding unit is configured so as to be drawn out in the predetermined drawing direction from a storage position where the holding unit is stored in the main body. The holding unit sequentially reaches a plurality of different drawing positions while moving in the predetermined drawing direction. The plurality of image forming units are sequentially exposed to the outside while the holding unit sequentially reaches the plurality of drawing positions. The engagement mechanism is configured to engage the holding unit with the main body when the holding unit reaches each of the plurality of drawing positions.

Image forming device with drawer

Image forming device with holding unit engagement mechanism

A first cartridge and a second cartridge are detachably mounted in a housing of the image-forming device. The first cartridge is formed thicker than the second cartridge in a thickness direction orthogonal to a mounting direction of the first and second cartridges. The housing has a cartridge-accommodating section that accommodates the first and second cartridges. The cartridge-accommodating section includes first and second accommodating sections that are disposed continuously along the mounting direction and that are partly displaced with respect to each other in the thickness direction. The second accommodating section is disposed upstream of the first accommodating section with respect to the mounting direction and is formed thicker than the first cartridge and thinner than both the first and second cartridges together when the first and second cartridges are accommodated in the cartridge-accommodating section. The first accommodating section is formed thicker than the first and second cartridges together when the first and second cartridges are accommodated in the cartridge-accommodating section.

Image-forming device having cartridge-accommodating section

Image forming device for printer

Toner cartridge

A hot-melt type ink jet printer includes a nozzle head for ejecting a hot-melt type ink onto a sheet. The printer has a sheet feed passage defined by, in order from an upstream side in a sheet feeding direction, a sheet supply roller, a preheat platen, a sheet feed roller, a main platen, a cooling platen, discharge roller and a sheet discharge opening. The preheat platen and main platen have preheater and main heater, respectively, and these platen and the cooling platen are supported on a frame. A first suction port is formed between the main platen and the cooling platen and a second suction port is formed between the cooling platen and the frame. A power board and a cooling fan is provided within the frame for cooling the power board. By rotation of the cooling fan, air is introduced from the sheet discharge opening into the frame through the first and second suction ports to also cool the cooling platen and the heating platen.

Hot-melt type ink jet printer having heating and cooling arrangement

An ink jet printer includes a print head having ink nozzles, which is movable in a direction across the feeding path. A supply mechanism is provided at one side of the feeding path, which supplies ink to the print head located in the ink supply station. A maintenance mechanism is provided at the other side of the feeding path, which operates a predetermined operation. The ink jet printer is further provided with a first clutch which transmits the rotation of the actuator to the supply mechanism only when the print head is located in the above-mentioned one side, and a second clutch which transmits the rotation of the actuator to the maintenance mechanism only when the print head is located in the above-mentioned the other side. With this, the supply mechanism and the maintenance mechanism are actuated by a common actuator.

Ink jet printer

An ink jet recorder includes a recording head, a carriage for reciprocating the head, a sheet conveying roller, a motor for driving the roller, a maintenance mechanism and an ink supply mechanism. The driving force from the motor can be transmitted through a first clutch to the maintenance mechanism, and through a second clutch to the ink supply mechanism. One of the clutches is connected to a turn lever, and the other is connected to a shift lever. Each of the clutches can be switched mechanically by the carriage engaging with the associated lever. The single motive power source can drive a plurality of mechanisms. There is no need of a special switch for changing over the source.

Ink jet recorder

A sheet feeding device has a correction value storage memory which stores a plurality of correction values for the previously set sheet feed error of the sheet feeding mechanism. The drive-control section operates to control the sheet feed amount by one correction value which allows the feed error of the sheet feeding mechanism to be minimized, the value being selected from the correction values stored in the correction value storage memory. In such the manner, the sheet feed amount is corrected by the correction value, so that the feed error of each component of the sheet feeding mechanism can be easily corrected.

Sheet feeding device and correction method of sheet feed amount in the

A sheet feeding device has a correction value storage memory which stores correction values for the sheet feed error of the sheet feeding mechanism which appears in a specific cycle from a reference point to correct the sheet feed error, and a sensor which detects a particular point in the specific cycle. In accordance with the input from the sensor, the sheet feed amount is corrected by the correction value stored in the correction value storage memory. By correcting the feed error of each component of the sheet feeding mechanism, an exact and reliable sheet feed can be achieved without needing the increase of precision of the components of the sheet feeding mechanism.

An elongated toner box extending in a horizontal direction has a cylindrical portion where a toner discharge port is formed. A wrapping member serving as a shutter is rotatably disposed over the cylindrical portion for selectively shutting off the toner discharge port. The wrapping member has a circular shape concentrical with the cylindrical portion. A developing case is provided to which the toner box is detachably installable. The developing case has a wall confronting the toner box, and a toner inlet port is formed at the wall. A toner inlet shutter is slidably movably supported to the partition wall. When the wrapping member opens and closes the toner discharge port, the wrapping member is positioned close to the outer surface of the toner box and does not largely protrude from the toner box. Further, the discharge port shutter and the inlet port shutter are movable in interlocking relation with each other.

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Kani, Japan

Shinji Kimura