Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Mita Industrial Co., Ltd.

Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.p.

Takahiko Kimura

Jun Yamaguchi

Yoshiaki Sanada

Yasuyuki Ishiguro

Naotaka Funayama

Tsutomu Nagata

Osamu Takemura

Ryosuke Mano

Masanobu Deguchi

Kazuya Koyama

Takeshi Wakabayashi

Yoshiki Ichikawa

Tomoya Usui

Teruyoshi Sudoh

Akiko Tsuji

Hiroshi Kubota

Shuichi Akedo

Fumito Mizoguchi

Toshio Nishino

Atsushi Fujii

Masahiro Tsuji

Kenji Tanaka

Masaaki Yukawa

Shigeki Hayashi

Hisashi Kunihiro

Yasutaka Maeda

Toshihide Ohgoshi

Atsushi Inoue

Jitsuo Masuda

Syouichi Fujita

Masatoshi Kaneshige

Hirofumi Sakita

Wataru Yoshida

Hideji Saiko

Masanori Fujii

Yoshinori Otsuka

Hiroshi Kawamoto

Toshihiko Takaya

Takashi Miyaji

Hidenori Asada

Makoto Uehara

Eiji Sato

Shuhichi Morikuni

Shuuhei Yamamoto

Hiroshi Komata

Shigeru Yamaguchi

Atsushi Yamaguchi

Kiminori Umeda

Shinji Koga

Takao Hiroyasu

Keiji Katou

Kazuhiko Takemoto

Tao Ou

Shunsuke Ogami

A toner-and-developer supply device includes a toner container to contain toner and a developer container to contain a developer. The toner container has a toner discharge port, and the toner container is rotatable about a rotational axis to transport the toner toward the toner discharge port. The developer container has a toner-and-developer discharge port. The developer container is rotatably coupled to the toner container to transport the developer toward the toner-and-developer discharge port when the toner container rotates in a given direction relative to the developer container.

Toner/developer supply device for separate supply of developer and toner

An imaging system comprises a stirring-conveyance member to supply developer to a developing roller. The stirring-conveyance member includes a spiral structure to convey the developer and a reverse spiral structure disposed downstream the spiral structure in a conveying direction of the developer. The reverse spiral structure has a maximum outer diameter at an upstream end in the conveying direction and a minimum outer diameter at a downstream end in the conveying direction. The minimum outer diameter is approximately &#x2157; or less, of the maximum outer diameter.

Developing device using spiral structures

A toner cartridge for an imaging apparatus includes a housing to accommodate toner, and an inlet port and an outlet port formed in the housing. The outlet port supplies the toner to a developing device of the imaging apparatus. The inlet port receives a residual toner removed from an image carrier of the developing device as a recycled toner.

Replaceable toner cartridge with inlet port for recycled toner

An image forming apparatus includes a toner cartridge supporting member which is movable between an insertion position and a draw-out position. An information storage device is provided on a toner cartridge that is mounted on the toner cartridge supporting member. A connector that is configured to engage the information storage device is provided on the image forming apparatus. The connector is movable in a moving direction of the toner cartridge supporting member. When a toner cartridge on the toner cartridge supporting member moves toward the draw-out position, the connector moves with and remains engaged with the information storage device for part of the movement so that information can be read from or written to the information storage device before the toner cartridge arrives at the draw-out position.

Image forming apparatus

A toner cartridge includes: a toner holding container having an outlet formed thereon; a partition wall separating the inside of toner holding container to a toner discharging portion in which the outlet is formed and a toner stirring portion other than the toner discharging portion; a toner discharging member axially and rotatably supported in the toner discharging portion for carrying the toner contained in the toner discharging portion to the outlet; a toner stirring member axially and rotatably supported in the toner stirring portion for stirring and carrying to the toner discharging portion the toner in the toner stirring portion; and an upper lid with a recess formed to surround, like a tunnel, the toner discharging member at a portion above the outlet, together with the partition wall and the toner holding container.

Toner cartridge, developing device and image forming apparatus allowing accurate control of toner replenish amount

The development device of the present invention has a rotating shutter supported rotatably between a supply opening formed on a toner supply device and a receiving opening formed on a developing tank. The rotating shutter has an open section extending in the axial direction of the roller-shaped main section as well as opened in the direction perpendicular to the axial direction thereof, opening and shutting the supply opening in conjunction with attachment and detachment operation of the developing tank. The rotating shutter shuts the supply opening by covering the supply opening with the outer surface of the roller-shaped main section, and opens the supply opening by communicating the supply opening and the receiving opening through the open section. Thus, it is possible to prevent the leakage of toner even after repetitively performing the attachment and detachment operation of the developing tank.

Development device and image forming apparatus comprising same

A toner container of the present invention includes a cylindrical portion containing toner used in an electrophotographic type complex machine. When the cylindrical portion is driven to rotate, the toner gets out via an outlet thereof. The cylindrical portion of the toner container has an inner wall provided with a coat layer containing fluorine-containing silica fine particles, which are obtained by modifying a property of the surfaces of silica fine particles by using a fluorine-based silane coupling agent. This coat layer effectively prevents the toner from being adhered to the inner wall of the toner container.

Toner container and image forming apparatus including same

A toner supply device includes: a toner supply assembly having a toner bottle for holding toner; and a toner supply assembly mounting mechanism having the toner bottle mounted, for feeding toner supplied from the toner bottle to a developing unit. In this toner supply device, toner supplied from the toner supply assembly is fed to the developing unit after it being agitated. The toner supply assembly mounting mechanism includes: guide rails for guiding the toner supply assembly when it is mounted; and a stopper for positioning and holding the toner supply assembly. The toner supply assembly has an abutment surface which is guided by the guide rails and positioned and held by the stopper.

Toner supply device and developing unit using the same for use in an image forming apparatus for performing image formation with toner

A support element for supporting a coil spring that rotates to transport toner, and transmitting a rotational force of driving means to the coil spring. The support element includes: an end inserting member with a recess in which an end portion of the coil spring is inserted; a first support member, a second support member with a projection, a third support member, and a fourth support member, which support non-end portions of a first coil spring; and joint members for joining the end inserting member and the support members. This realizes a coil spring support element with which the flow rate of toner from a toner bottle can be increased, and the rotational force of driving means such as a motor can be efficiently transmitted to the coil spring.

Support element, toner replenishing device, toner supply apparatus, and image forming apparatus

A toner supplying device includes: a toner density sensor for detecting a density of toner contained in a developer tank; a toner hopper for supplying toner to the developer tank; a toner cartridge for supplying toner to the toner hopper; and a control section, when a request to supply toner to the developer tank is made in accordance with a signal detected by the toner density sensor, for controlling a hopper driving motor and a cartridge driving motor so that (i) the toner hopper supplies toner to the developer tank and (ii) the toner cartridge supplies toner to the toner hopper. Thus, in a structure having first and second toner supplying sections disposed on top of each other, toner can be stably supplied to a developer tank.

Toner supplying method, toner supplying device, developing device, and image forming apparatus with controlled toner supply

A toner supply device includes: toner supply assembly for holding toner; and a toner supply assembly mounting mechanism having a housing for reserving toner supplied from the toner supply assembly and rotary parts for agitating the toner reserved in the housing. In this toner supply device, toner supplied from the toner supply assembly is fed to a developing unit after it being agitated. The toner supply device includes a multiple number of toner supply assemblies for storing toners of one color, wherein the housing is configured so as to reserve the toners supplied from the multiple toner supply assemblies in a single space, and the rotary parts mix and agitate the toners from the multiple toner supply assemblies.

Toner supply device and developing unit using the same

A toner supply device for supplying toner to a developing unit includes: a toner cartridge; and a toner feed device having a casing for reserving toner and a toner agitator shaft for agitating and conveying the toner. The toner feed device includes a toner input port for allowing entrance of toner into the casing and a toner feed port for feeding toner to the developing unit, the toner input port and toner feed port being arranged on the outer side of the developing roller with respect to the direction of the developing roller's axis of the developing unit, and the toner agitator shaft conveys and supplies the toner from the toner input port along the direction of the developing roller's axis to the toner feed port.

Toner supply device providing toner agitation and developing unit using the same

An object of the present invention is to provide a remaining amount of toner detecting apparatus capable of highly accurately detecting the remaining amount of toner with a simple configuration, a toner cartridge in which the remaining amount of toner is highly accurately detected with a simple configuration, and an image forming apparatus which enables the operator to easily recognize time to resupply toner and is capable of forming an image of high image quality. A holding member () is flexible, one end () in the longitudinal direction is connected to a stirring member (), and the other end () in the longitudinal direction holds a detection auxiliary member () disposed in a housing (). Consequently, the holding member () and the detection auxiliary member () rotate as the stirring member () rotates. Moreover, as to the detection auxiliary member (), since the holding member () is flexible, the rotation radius of the detection auxiliary member () changes in response to the reference amount of toner (). A detecting component () detects the distance to the detection auxiliary member () that changes in response to the amount of the toner () in the housing (), and a CPU () calculates the remaining amount of the toner ().

Remaining amount of toner detecting apparatus, toner cartridge and image forming apparatus

A toner supply device for supplying toner to a developing unit, includes: a toner cartridge for storing toner; and a toner feed device disposed adjacent to the toner cartridge and composed of a casing for reserving the toner supplied from the toner cartridge and first and second toner agitator shafts for agitating and conveying the toner inside the casing, and is constructed such that the toner feed device agitates the toner supplied from the toner cartridge first, then feeds the agitated toner to the developing unit.

A developing device is arranged such that Dg&#x3c;ds&#x3c;3Dg, and 3Dg&#x3c;dc&#x3c;6Dg, where ds is an end gap, Dg is an upstream gap, and dc is a center gap. The gap ds is a gap between a developer tankand either end portion of a developing rollerin the downstream of a transportation direction of the developing roller. The end portion of the developing rolleris an end portion thereof with respect to a rotation direction of the developing roller. The gap Dg is a gap between the developing rollerand a doctor blade. The gap dc is a smallest gap between the developer tankand the center portion b of the developing roller. With this arrangement, it is possible to prevent the toner scattering appropriately in the developing device for use of a two-component developer containing toner and carrier.

Developing device and image forming apparatus provided with same

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Ikoma, Japan

Takahiko Kimura