Brother Kogyo Kabushiki-kaisha

Borther Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Brother Kogyo Kaubshiki Kaisha

Shougo Sato

Kazuna Taguchi

Hirotaka Mori

Hiroshi Nakano

Hideshi Nishiyama

Naoya Kamimura

Yasushi Okabe

Yasuo Fukamachi

Motoaki Mushika

Atsushi Fukaya

Tsutomu Suzuki

Aya Adachi

Susumu Sakuma

Masashi Imai

Isao Fukuchi

Masahiko Hayakawa

Yoh Nishimura

Atsushi Fukui

Takeyuki Takagi

Makoto Souda

Miho Ishida

Noboru Suzuki

Yasumasa Fujii

Atsushi Miwa

Daisuke Maeta

Hiroshi Igarashi

Hikaru Yoshizumi

Shigeharu Katayama

Masaaki Furukawa

Ryosuke Hayashi

Shunsuke Ishii

Nao Itabashi

Masashi Suzuki

Masahiro Ishii

Masahito Saeki

Keisuke Takahashi

Kazutoshi Kotama

Junichi Yokoi

Makoto Ishii

Keiichiro Egami

Satoru Ishikawa

Tomoya Ichikawa

Yosuke Mase

Yusuke Nakata

Kayo Hasui

Takashi Arakawa

Yasutada Kato

Shintaro Fukuoka

Ryuya Yamazaki

Mitsuru Horinoe

Enao Yamada

Takashi Shimizu

Yasutake Yamaguchi

Saya Minoshima

Kensuke Miyahara

Kenichi Hirata

Naomichi Kobayashi

Hidenori Hisada

Masato Makino

Koji Ogawa

Mitsuko Hanai

Fumikazu Sato

Masatoshi Shiraki

Keigo Nakajima

Katsuyuki Yokoi

Fan Xu

Yoshihiro Okamoto

Takeshi Fuwazaki

Yosuke Aoi

Kiyotaka Ohara

Yukihiko Sato

Makoto Suzuki

Tsuyoshi Ohashi

Tomoaki Hattori

Hideaki Deguchi

Tomoyuki Nanno

Soichiro Nishimura

Hiroaki Yazawa

Kenjiro Nishiwaki

Yoshiteru Hattori

Satoru Hattori

Ryota Kato

Ryoichi Nakagawa

Soichiro Mase

Masanari Yoshikawa

Takehiro Masuda

Yukimasa Yoshida

Shinichi Hirahata

Masaki Ueji

Aya Tamura

Yukiko Kitamura

Ding-Yu Chen

Xu Fan

Shinji Ito

Masato Making

The present disclosure features an image forming apparatus having a first developing unit having a first developing roller; and a first toner supply unit configured to supply toner to the first developing unit, the first toner supply unit having: a first container configured to accommodate the toner therein, the first container having a first inlet opening through which the toner is received in the first container and a first outlet opening through which the toner in the first container is discharged; a first lid configured to close the first inlet opening; and a first shutter configured to open the first outlet opening when the first lid closes the first inlet opening, and to close the first outlet opening when the first lid opens the first inlet opening.

Image forming apparatus having toner supply unit to supply toner to developing unit

An image forming apparatus includes a housing and a first process cartridge. The first process cartridge is attachable to and detachable from the housing. The first process cartridge includes a first photosensitive drum, a first developing roller, and a developing frame. The developing frame has a toner inlet opening. A toner cartridge has a toner supply opening. The toner cartridge is positioned above the developing frame such that the toner supply opening and the toner inlet opening face with each other in upward/downward direction. In the state where the first process cartridge to which the toner cartridge is attached is attached to the housing, the toner cartridge is incapable of being detached from the first process cartridge. In a state where the first process cartridge to which the toner cartridge is attached is detached from the housing, the toner cartridge is detachable from the first process cartridge.

Image forming apparatus permitting user to imagine clear detachment procedure of toner cartridge from process cartridge

An image forming apparatus includes: a main housing; a first drum cartridge including a first photosensitive drum; a second drum cartridge including a second photosensitive drum; a first toner cartridge to be coupled to the first drum cartridge; and a second toner cartridge to be coupled to the second drum cartridge. The first drum cartridge and the second drum cartridge are attachable to and detachable from the main housing. The first drum cartridge further includes: a first frame; a second frame; a third frame immovable relative to the first photosensitive drum; a developing housing movable relative to the first photosensitive drum; and a sealing member sealing a gap between the developing housing and the third frame. The third frame has a first passage opening configured to allow toner from the first toner cartridge to pass therethrough. The sealing member is positioned around and away from the first passage opening.

Image forming apparatus including main housing, first drum cartridge having first photosensitive drum, and second drum cartridge having second photosensitive drum

A toner cartridge includes a housing configured to contain toner. The housing includes a main body, a first side plate, and a second side plate. The main body has a tubular shape extending in a first direction. The main body is made of paper. The first side plate is located at one end of the main body in the first direction. The first side plate is made of resin. The second side plate located at an other end of the main body in the first direction. The second side plate is made of resin. The main body includes a peripheral surface having a discharge opening. The discharge opening is configured to discharge toner in the housing.

Toner cartridge

An image forming device is provided with a housing formed with an opening, a cover configured to move between a closing position and an opening position, and a plurality of process cartridges including a first process cartridge and a second process cartridge. The first and second process cartridges respectively include first and second photosensitive drums configured to rotate about first and second drum axes both extending in a first direction. The first and second developing devices are configured to supply toner to the first and second photosensitive drums, respectively. The first and second supplying devices are formed with first and second supply ports through which the toner to be supplied to the first and second developing devices are provided, respectively. Both the first and second supplying ports are opened to outside the housing.

Image forming device and process cartridge therefor

An image forming apparatus includes a main casing, a developing roller, a connecting tube, and a toner container. The main casing includes a sheet supply tray. The developing roller is provided in the main casing. The connecting tube has one end portion and another end portion inside the main casing. The toner container is for accommodating toner. The one end portion of the connecting tube is connected to the toner container. The toner container has an inlet opening for replenishing toner. The toner container is pivotally movable between a first position and a second position about the connecting tube. A position of the inlet opening at the second position is higher than a position of the inlet opening at the first position.

Image forming apparatus capable of facilitating toner replenishment to toner supply unit

A drum cartridge is configured to be detachably mounted on an apparatus main body in a state where a toner cartridge is mounted on the drum cartridge. A first shutter and a second shutter are configured such that: when the drum cartridge is mounted onto the apparatus main body in a state where the toner cartridge is mounted on the drum cartridge, the first shutter moves from a first closed position to a first open position and the second shutter moves from a second closed position to a second open position, and when the drum cartridge is detached from the apparatus main body in a state where the toner cartridge is mounted on the drum cartridge, the first shutter moves from the first open position to the first closed position and the second shutter moves from the second open position to the second closed position.

Image forming apparatus

An image-forming apparatus includes a housing, a cover, first and second drum cartridges, first and second exposing heads, first and second guides, a waste toner tube, a shutter driving member, and an interlocking mechanism. Each of the first and second drum cartridges includes: a photosensitive drum rotatable about an axis extending in a first direction; a drum cleaner; a discharging part; and a shutter. The first and second exposing heads are mounted on the cover. The first and second guides guide respective ends of the first and second exposing heads in the first direction while the cover is opened and closed. The shutter driving member is movable in a second direction in interlocking relation to the respective shutters through the interlocking mechanism. The shutter driving member is overlapped with at least one of the first and second guides in a third direction crossing both the first and second directions.

Image-forming apparatus including mechanism for opening and closing shutter of attached drum cartridge in interlocking relation to opening and closing movement of cover

A drum frame includes first and second frames supporting a photosensitive drum, and a support frame configured to support a toner cartridge. The support frame is not movable relative to the photosensitive drum. The support frame has a passage opening through which toner from the toner cartridge passes in a state where the toner cartridge is supported by the support frame. A development housing has a reception opening configured to receive toner that has passed through the passage opening. The reception opening is larger than the passage opening. The development housing supports a development roller. The development housing is movable relative to the photosensitive drum. A seal is located around the passage opening and away from the passage opening. The seal is in contact with the support frame and an edge of the reception opening. The seal seals between the support frame and the edge of the reception opening.

Process cartridge having support frame with passage opening, developing housing with reception opening, and seal

An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive drum, a developing device, a toner container, a cleaner, a waste toner container, and a waste toner conveying pipe. The cleaner is configured to clean a peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum after a toner image has been transferred to the printing medium. The waste toner container is configured to accommodate therein waste toner removed from the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum by the cleaner. The waste toner conveying pipe is configured to convey the waste toner from the cleaner to the waste toner container. The cleaner is located between the photosensitive drum and the fixing device in a vertical direction. The developing device is located below the photosensitive drum. The waste toner container is located below the cleaner. The toner container covers at least a part of an upper surface of the waste toner container.

A process unit includes a photosensitive drum rotatable about a rotational axis extending in a first direction. A development unit includes a development roller configured to supply toner to the photosensitive drum. A scanner unit is configured to expose the photosensitive drum. A reception portion is configured to receive toner from a toner container for supplying toner into the development unit. The scanner unit and the photosensitive drum overlap each other as viewed from a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and a gravitational direction. The scanner unit is arranged at a center in the first direction in an apparatus main body. The reception portion is arranged on a same side as the scanner unit with respect to the photosensitive drum in the second direction. The reception portion is closer to an end of the apparatus main body in the first direction than the scanner unit is.

A toner housing extends in a first direction. The toner housing stores toner. The toner housing includes a reception portion and a discharge port. The reception portion is located at an end surface of the toner housing at one end in the first direction. The reception portion has a reception port for receiving toner into the toner housing. The discharge port is located between the one end of the toner housing and an other end of the toner housing in the first direction. The discharge port is located on a surface crossing the end surface. The discharge port is for discharging toner in the toner housing. A reception shutter is attached to the reception portion. The reception shutter is movable between a reception shutter closed position at which the reception port is closed and a reception shutter open position at which the reception port is open.

Cartridge having rotatable reception shutter, cartridge having lever for opening and closing reception shutter, and method of supplying toner

A developer cartridge includes a developing roller, a developer housing supporting the developing roller, and a toner storage unit including a first storage chamber capable of storing toner, and a second storage chamber storing the developer housing. The toner storage unit supports the developer housing such that the developer housing is movable with respect to the first storage chamber.

Developer cartridge and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a chassis having an opening, a cover, photosensitive members, an intermediate transfer belt, a primary-transfer member, a secondary-transfer roller, a cleaner device, an external-sheet inlet, a waste toner container, a connector, and a conveying roller, which is arranged within the feeding path to feed the recording sheet inserted through the external-sheet inlet in the feeding path. The conveying roller is mounted on the waste toner container and removable from the chassis along with the waste toner container.

Image forming apparatus with removable waste toner container and exposable feeding path

An image forming apparatus, including a casing, a toner cartridge, and a process cartridge, is provided. The toner cartridge detachably attached to the casing stores toner therein. The process cartridge detachably attached to the casing includes a developing unit and a drum unit. The developing unit includes a developer roller and a toner conveyer tube. The toner conveyer tube has a first opening, through which the toner from the toner cartridge is acceptable into the toner conveyer tube while the toner cartridge and the process cartridge are attached to the casing. The drum unit includes a photosensitive drum supporting the toner conveyer tube by contacting a circumferential surface of the toner conveyer tube. The developing unit is pivotable with respect to the drum unit with the toner conveyer tube and the drum unit being slidable on each other.

Image forming apparatus including LED array attached to top cover

Growing community of inventors

Seto, Japan

Shougo Sato