Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Shinya Mimura

Toshiaki Ino

Yasuhiro Nishimura

Tatsuhiro Morita

Yohichi Takesawa

Hiroshi Sugimura

Takatsugu Obata

Akihiro Kondoh

Hisayuki Utsumi

Kotaro Fukushima

Tomoko Kanazawa

Katsuya Takano

Masahiro Seki

A developing cartridge includes: a developing roller for developing an electrostatic latent image on a photoconductor with a toner; and a developing tank for storing the toner to be supplied to the developing roller, the developing tank including: a toner receiving port for receiving the toner to be stored; a shutter having a function for sliding to open and close the toner receiving port, the shutter being adapted to be maintained in a closed state by an electrically-releasing adhesive; and a pair of conductive member for supplying an electric current to the electrically-releasing adhesive to open the shutter.

Developing cartridge including shutter maintained in a closed state by an electrically-releasing adhesive and image forming apparatus using the same

To a toner used in an image forming apparatus is added an external additive whose main components are oxide fine particles in which dimethylsilyl groups are introduced to surfaces thereof, and whose volatilizing amount of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane in a first volatilizing test is 0.2 &#x3bc;g or less. Consequently, it is possible to prevent foreign matters from attaching to a discharging electrode included in the image forming apparatus. The first volatilizing test is performed in such a manner that 2 g of the external additive is put in a sealing container and the inside of the sealing container is kept at 120&#xb0; C. for 10 minutes so that octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane volatilizes from the external additive.

External additive, toner, and image forming apparatus

In a toner supply container, an air blowing mechanism includes an air blowing fan, an air blowing tube, and an air inlet coupling member. The air inlet coupling member is in close contact with a side wall of the toner container around an air inlet, and includes a skirt made of elastic silicone rubber that covers a joint part of the air blowing tube and the air inlet. An exhaust mechanism includes an exhaust outlet coupling member, an exhaust tube, and an air cleaning filter. The exhaust outlet coupling member is in close contact with an upper wall of the toner container around an exhaust outlet, and includes a skirt made of elastic silicone rubber that covers a joint part of the exhaust tube and the air outlet.

Image forming apparatus and toner supply container used therefor

An ink cartridge including a main body, a cover member, and an insulating seal member, which are components for constituting the ink cartridge for an inkjet printer, wherein the main body and the cover member are bonded to each other with an electrically-disbonding adhesive having a characteristic of causing a bond dissociation with a passage of an electric current so as to form an ink storing section, the main body has a first electrode for passing the electric current through the electrically-disbonding adhesive, the cover member has a second electrode for passing the electric current through the electrically-disbonding adhesive, the seal member is arranged in the vicinity of a bonding portion where the main body and the cover member are bonded to each other so as to prevent an ink stored in the storing section from being in contact with the first and the second electrodes.

Ink cartridge and its recycling method

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming section and a toner cartridge which is loadable into the image forming section. The toner cartridge includes a seal member which is bonded to a peripheral edge of a toner discharging port by an electro-releasing adhesive, of which adhesive force decreases when a current is applied thereto. The image forming section includes a first electrode and a second electrode that contact the peripheral edge of the toner discharging port and the seal member, respectively, when the toner cartridge is loaded into the image forming section. When a current is applied to the electro-releasing adhesive via the first and second electrodes, the adhesive force of the electro-releasing adhesive decreases, whereby the seal member is released from the toner discharging port.

Image forming apparatus and toner cartridge used for the same

An electrophotographic photoreceptor of high durability capable of providing stable excellent electrical characteristics over a prolonged period of time, which electrophotographic photoreceptor excels in mechanical strength. A photosensitive layer () of an electrophotographic photoreceptor () includes a polyarylate resin having structural units, for example, those of formula (1) and an enamine compound represented by, for example, formula (2) The variables R, R, R, R, R&#x2dc;R, X, Ar, Ar, Ar, Ar, Ar, R, R, R, R, a, m, and n are as defined in the specification. By virtue of these, the electrophotographic photoreceptor () of excellent mechanical strength and favorable electrical characteristics can be realized.

Electrophotographic photoreceptor and image forming apparatus including the same

An electrophotographic photoreceptor using a non-contact type charging process has a creep value Cof is 2.70% or more, preferably 3.00% or more, and a Vickers hardness (HV) at its surface of 20&#x2266;HV&#x2266;25 in a case where a maximum indenting load of 30 mN is loaded to the surface under a circumstance at a temperature of 25&#xb0; C. and at a relative humidity of 50%. Since such an electrophotographic photoreceptor is excellent in flexibility and has plasticity not too soft nor exhibiting fragility, the amount of film reduction due to wear is decreased during long time use, excellent surface smoothness is ensured, and there is no occurrence of injury or unevenness in density to the formed images.

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Nara, Japan

Shinya Mimura