Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.

Konica Minolta, Inc.

Syuichi Katogi

Masashi Kawai

Tomiko Imoto

Takeru Kinoshita

Noboru Oomoto

Shoichi Yoshikawa

Tetsuya Sakai

Yoshiyuki Toso

Takayuki Ito

Fuminori Moro

Tetsuya Kagawa

Hiroshi Mizuno

Shigeru Tashiro

Yasuhiro Suzuki

Nozomu Kondo

Hiromasa Ueno

Kou Yamada

Hideto Sakurai

Tooru Watanabe

Katsuhisa Ichikawa

A device that replenishes developer to a developer unit and includes a storage for storing developer, an agitation member, and a vibration plate. The agitation member has a blade shape and is rotationally driven to agitate the developer in the storage. The vibration plate extends from a top portion towards a bottom portion of the storage along a rotation direction of the agitation member, and includes a vibration portion that vibrates due to contact with the agitation member undergoing rotation. A top end of the vibration plate is fixed and a bottom end of the vibration plate is a free end, and there is a gap between the vibration portion and an inner wall of the storage. The vibration plate is provided with an engagement protrusion towards the free end that engages with the agitation member and causes the agitation member undergoing rotation to deform then spring back.

Developer replenishing device, developer device, and image forming device having a vibration plate that engages an agitation member

A document feeder includes: a first conveyer that picks up sheets from a sheet bundle sheet by sheet, where rear edge of a preceding sheet overlaps front edge of a succeeding sheet; a second conveyer that conveys each sheet picked up by the first conveyer; a front edge sensor that is disposed on a conveyance path from the first conveyer to the second conveyer, and senses whether the sheet falls within a sensing range; and a shift unit that shifts, while the first and second conveyers convey the sheet, positional relation between the sheet and the front edge sensor by increasing distance therebetween in a direction crossing a sheet conveyance direction, such that the sheet falls outside the sensing range. When the preceding sheet falls outside the sensing range, the first conveyer picks up the succeeding sheet such that the front edge of the succeeding sheet enters the sensing range.

Document feeder and image forming device

In a retainer member for retaining a noise reduction member, a retaining portion for retention of a noise reduction member wound with a cable is provided with a claw for locking the cable wound on the noise reduction member.

Electric noise reduction device with retainer

A developer containing device for containing a developer includes a partition arranged between an outer space and an inner space for containing the developer, a bearing arranged on the partition, a rotation shaft carried by the bearing and extending from the outer space to the inner space, a sealing member arranged on the inner space side, having one end side fixed to the partition and the other end side being in contact with a surface of the rotation shaft, and thereby isolating the bearing from the inner space, a communication groove arranged at the surface of the rotation shaft, and connecting the outer space to a closed space isolated from the inner space by the sealing member, and a communication passage arranged on the partition for connecting the outer space to the closed space.

Developer containing device and image forming apparatus

A slide rail includes an outer rail and an inner rail. The inner rail includes a top face portion, main-portion side walls, outer deck portions, and end-portion side walls. The outer rail includes a bottom wall and a storage portion. The main-portion side walls and the end-portion side walls are both provided adjacently on both sides of the top face portion in a width direction thereof, and bent toward outer rail. The main-portion side walls are provided in a portion other than one end portion in the longitudinal direction. The end-portion side walls are provided in the one end portion. Each outer deck portion extends outward in the width direction to be continuous to an edge of each main-portion side wall opposite the top face portion. The storage portions are provided adjacently on both sides of the bottom wall in the width direction and bent toward the inner rail to cover the outer edge portions.

Slide rail and image forming apparatus with the same

In a single-body type imaging unit including a toner bottle provided with a drive shaft, and a print unit provided with a drive shaft, the toner bottle and the print unit are coupled to each other via an elastic member.

Imaging unit and image formation apparatus provided with the same

In a beltless tandem-type image forming apparatus, a plurality of pairs of transfer rollers are placed side by side at intervals along a conveying direction of sheets. A control section independently conveys sheets in sequence through nip sections of respective pairs of transfer rollers driven by a driving section while sequentially transferring images formed by an imaging section onto the sheets. Conveying speeds of the respective pairs of transfer rollers controlled by the driving section are gradually decreased for every pair of transfer rollers from an upstream side toward a downstream side along a conveying direction of the sheets, and consequently, a driving period for driving the respective pairs of transfer rollers to convey each sheet is gradually increased for every pair of transfer rollers from the upstream side toward the downstream side along the conveying direction of the sheets.

Beltless tandem-type image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus comprises a cartridge equipped with a toner reservoir, and an apparatus body. The cartridge is attached to the apparatus body when used and developer in the toner reservoir is used for image development. The cartridge comprises a storage unit which is provided inside the toner reservoir and capable of communicating with the apparatus body. The apparatus body comprises a communication unit which is capable of communicating with the storage unit and communication state between the storage unit and the communication unit varies depending on amount of residual developer in the toner reservoir. Thus there is provided a developer cartridge and an image forming apparatus surely capable of carrying out both residual-toner-amount detection and transmission of cartridge information with space saving design.

Developer cartridge having different communication states with an image forming apparatus

It is intended to provide an image forming apparatus capable of securing rotation transmission accuracy among input/output axes without giving stress to a holding portion despite shaft misalignment and without using material of high strength. A color printercomprises a main bodyand an image forming unitremovable from the main body. The main bodyincludes a gearfor receiving rotary driving force to the image forming unitand a jointand the image forming unithas a couplingfor receiving rotary driving force from the main body. Furthermore, a joint holder sectionfor the gearand the couplinghas a contact hole, and contact hole, respectively and both ends of the jointare inserted in those holes. The contact holesandare in not-twisted triangle pole shape and the jointis in twisted triangle pole shape.

Image forming apparatus with a removable process unit capable of securing rotation transmission accuracy without stressing a holding portion despite shaft misalignment

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Toyokawa, Japan

Syuichi Katogi