Brother Kogyo Kabushiki-kaisha

Shusaku Tsusaka

Yoshiteru Hattori

Sakae Ito

Yasuo Tamaru

Tomitake Aratachi

Terumasa Ito

Yasushi Okabe

Soichiro Nishimura

Hitoshi Nakai

Hideo Yoshihara

Ryoichi Matsushima

Yoshikatsu Kameyama

Takamasa Tsukada

Junki Ueyama

Yoshiyuki Okazaki

Eiji Kawahara

Takeshi Yamanaka

Koichi Kubo

In a printer, a scanner unit is formed into a taper shape having a thinner thickness on a side of a pick-up roller in a removing direction of a process unit, to allow the process unit to be removed from the printer. A part of a sheet feeding path is formed in an area between the process unit and a sheet cassette. An image forming position on the sheet feed path is set lower than an upper end of the pick-up roller. Thus, removal of the process unit can be readily performed. Further, the height of the printer at a position of the pick-up roller can be reduced as compared with a case where the scanner unit is not formed into a taper shape.

Image forming apparatus having lowered image forming position and recessed sheet stacking portion

A toner recovery machine comprising: a first roller having a radius and rotatable about a first axis, the first axis along a first direction; a cleaner touching the first roller; a container for accommodating toner, the container comprising: a first conveyer movable along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction; and a second conveyer rotatable about a second axis and having a radius defined by the rotation about the second axis, the second axis along the first direction, wherein the second conveyer, the first roller, and the first conveyer are positioned in this order along the second direction, wherein the sum of the radius of the first roller and the radius defined by the second conveyer is smaller than a distance in the second direction between the first axis and the second axis.

Toner recovery machine and image forming apparatus

A sheet discharging device that includes: a discharge roller that discharges a transported sheet to outside the sheet discharging device, the discharge roller being integrally formed with a flexible rotating shaft; first and second bearing members that rotatably hold one end side and another end side of the rotating shaft, respectively; a nipping member that nips the transported sheet in cooperation with the discharge roller, the nipping member being opposed to a peripheral surface of the discharge roller; and an abutment member abutting against one of the rotating shaft and the nipping member between the first bearing member and the second bearing member to curve the rotating shaft.

Sheet discharging device and image forming apparatus

A high-voltage circuit board and a main circuit board are arranged on the outer side surface of a left frame, and a conveyance path is provided so as to downwardly incline from a feed position near the uppermost part of the outer peripheral surface of a paper feed roller, toward an image formation position. Thus, the height position of an image forming section within a body casing can be lowered. As a result, the height of a laser printer can be made lower.

Image forming apparatus having power circuit board arranged on side thereof

A waste collecting device includes a first box including a top surface having a first opening, a bottom surface opposed to the top surface, and side surfaces connecting the top surface and the bottom surface and having a second opening, wherein the top surface, the bottom surface, and the side surfaces define a space allowing waste to be accommodated therein; a second box including a top surface, a bottom surface opposed to the top surface, and side surfaces connecting the top surface and the bottom surface and having a third opening, the third opening being in communication with the second opening; and a sending unit disposed in the first box and configured to send the waste in a direction away from the second box.

Waste collection device and image forming apparatus

Image forming apparatus having power source circuit board arranged on side portion thereof

An image forming apparatus includes a main casing; a photosensitive member; a process cartridge that can be installed or removed with respect to the main casing along a removal path; a pick-up roller located above a sheet accommodating portion; and a feed path along which a sheet can be conveyed from the sheet accommodating portion to a discharge port. At least a part of the feed path is substantially parallel to the removal path and located between the sheet accommodating portion and the process cartridge when the process cartridge is installed in the main casing; and an image forming position where an image is transferred from the photosensitive member to the sheet is located along the feed path at a position lower than an upper surface of the pick-up roller in a verticle direction.

An image forming apparatus includes a recording medium accommodating portion that is capable of accommodating a recording medium; a feed path along which the recording medium is capable of being fed from the recording medium accommodating portion; and a detector, disposed on the feed path, capable of detecting (1) a cartridge that is capable of being installed in the image forming apparatus when the cartridge is installed in the image forming apparatus and (2) the recording medium when the recording medium passes through the feed path when the cartridge is installed in the image forming apparatus.

Image forming apparatus and cartridge with a recording medium and cartridge detecting device

A laser printer includes a guide member for guiding a paper. The guide member includes an outer guide and an inner guide, and a top surface of the outer guide serves as a portion of a bottom surface of an accommodating space where a process cartridge is accommodated. If a paper jam occurs in a transport path defined between the outer guide and the inner guide, then a user opens a front cover and removes the process cartridge from the accommodating space. Then, the user grabs and pulls the jammed paper out of the casing. While the paper bends at an acute angle at the end of the guide member, rollers provided at the end of the guide member enable the paper to be pulled out without being torn.

Image-forming device

A dial is provided to a laser printer such that only a portion of the dial is exposed in an accommodating area for accommodating a process cartridge. A user can manually rotate a conveying roller to convey a paper through a conveying path by operating the dial. The dial is disposed coaxial with an auger. The auger operates in association with the conveying roller because of an auger gear being engaged with a conveying gear. A driving force from a driving motor is transmitted to the conveying gear via a planetary gear. When a paper jam occurs, the user operates the dial in order to move the planetary gear, thereby switching the state for communicating the driving force from the drive motor to the conveying roller from a communicating state to a non-communicating state.

Image forming device capable of easily resolving paper jam

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit having an image forming portion positioned over a partition wall that vertically partitions a body frame above a cover plate. A second circuit board in which a tall electronic component-mounting side is upward directed is placed in a space between the partition wall and the cover plate. A first circuit board in which an electronic component-mounting side is downward directed is placed on a lateral side of the second circuit board. The first and second circuit boards are placed in a stepwise manner so that the level of the first circuit board is higher than that of the second circuit board. A return path for reversely transporting a sheet is formed between the cover plate and the upper face of a return tray.

Image forming apparatus

Left and right frames are formed of a resin containing no glass fibers and bridged together by a tray formed of steel, a chute formed of resin, and underbars formed of steel. Each frame has a box-shape configured of a plate surface and side surfaces formed by bending the edges of plate surface in a common direction perpendicular to the plate surface, thereby preventing the plate surface from bending significantly. When the tray and underbars expand, then the frames bend slightly to absorb the load.

Image forming device including frames formed of resin containing no glass fibers

An image forming apparatus includes a body frame having left and right side frame parts and a partition wall frame part that is placed below a sheet path passing through an image forming unit in a process unit. The process unit and a drive transmission system frame having a drive mechanism for transporting sheets are placed in a longitudinal direction on an outer face of the left side frame part. A high voltage power board, a low voltage power board, and an engine control board for the drive mechanism are fixedly placed horizontally on a lower face side of the partition wall frame part. A main control board is placed substantially vertically so as to become adjacent to the drive transmission system frame and extend along the outer face of the left side frame part. The boards and parts are connected by connection lines.

Assembly structure for image forming apparatus

A drive mechanism for rotating a drive roller includes an input transmission mechanism for transmitting a drive force from a motor, an output transmission mechanism for transmitting the drive force to the drive roller, an intermediate transmission mechanism for selectively transmitting the drive force from the input transmission mechanism to the output transmission mechanism in either a first direction or a second direction, and a switching mechanism for moving the intermediate transmission mechanism to a first position to drive the output transmission mechanism in the first direction or a second position to drive the output transmission mechanism in the second direction.

Growing community of inventors

Nagoya, Japan

Shusaku Tsusaka