Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Konica Minolta, Inc.

Takatoshi Hamada

Naoya Asanuma

Hiroaki Nosho

Tetsuya Numata

Yohei Kusano

Toru Oguma

Takuya Kawakami

Daisuke Hiramatsu

Go Torii

Takayuki Yada

Noriyuki Komatsu

Masato Tanabe

Daisuke Makiguchi

Naoki Matsumaru

Tomofumi Kawamura

Ryuta Murakami

Naoki Maeda

Hideki Kakuta

Yusuke Atsu

Masanari Morioka

Naoki Hayashi

Hiroyuki Munetsugu

Tachio Kawai

Teruhiko Sasaki

Yosuke Kashiide

Yoshiyuki Batori

Toshiaki Takeuchi

Goshi Ozaki

Hiroki Shimizu

Yuichiro Hirata

Kodai Hayashi

Masahito Kato

Takuya Oka

Yuko Harada

Yuichi Sakakibara

Yu Akiba

Koji Yamaguchi

Hiroomi Matsuzaki

Yuuki Nakamura

Masaaki Matsushita

Junichi Matsumura

Koichi Ooishi

Harunobu Maeda

Joji Goto

Yuhei Kurigata

Kiyoshi Furuta

Shota Nakamura

A toner cartridge includes a toner accommodation chamber containing toner, a toner discharging chamber having a discharge opening for discharging the toner, and a passage for fluid communication between the toner accommodation chamber and the toner discharging chamber. The toner cartridge also includes a screw, with at least a part of the screw being positioned in the passage. In a first cross-sectional plane perpendicular to a toner feeding direction of the screw, a minimum cross-sectional area of the passage is Asmin, and in a second cross-sectional plane perpendicular to the toner feeding direction, the toner accommodation chamber has a cross-sectional area Cs that is larger than Asmin.

Toner cartridge having feeding member and pump for discharging toner

A cartridge configured to be attachable to an apparatus main body of an image forming apparatus includes a first unit including a photosensitive drum, a second unit attached to the first unit and including a developing roller, and a second frame member including a toner storage portion and including a toner reception port, the toner storage portion including a first end portion and a second end portion in a rotational axis direction of the photosensitive drum, the toner reception port provided in the first end portion, a toner container configured to be attachable to the second unit, the toner container including a toner discharge port configured to discharge the toner to the toner storage portion through the toner reception port, and a memory, the memory provided in an end portion of the cartridge on the same side as the second end portion of the toner storage portion.

Cartridge used in image forming apparatus

A cartridge for an image forming apparatus includes: a process unit to be used to form an image; a first member including a first resin material; a second member including a second resin material having higher flame retardant capability than the first resin material; and an electrode member including a contact section configured to be supplied with power from an apparatus main body of the image forming apparatus. The electrode member is configured to electrically connect the apparatus main body to the process unit. The second resin material of the second member has a greater density than the first resin material of the first member. The contact section is located in the vicinity of the first and second members and is closer to the second member than to the first member.

Process unit including first and second resin materials and image forming apparatus

A toner cartridge includes a casing, a feeding member, and a pump. The casing includes a toner accommodation chamber accommodating toner, a toner discharging chamber having a discharge opening for discharging the toner, and a communication passage for fluid communication between the toner accommodation chamber and the toner discharging chamber such that the toner can move from the toner accommodation chamber to the toner discharging chamber. A part of the feeding member is positioned inside the communication passage. In a first cross-sectional plane perpendicular to a toner feeding direction of the feeding member, a minimum cross-sectional area of the communication passage is Asmin, in a second cross-sectional plane perpendicular to the toner feeding direction, the toner discharging chamber has a cross-sectional area Bs that is larger than Asmin, and in a third cross-sectional plane perpendicular to the toner feeding direction, the toner accommodation chamber has a cross-sectional area Cs that is larger than Asmin.

Toner cartridge having feeding member and pump for discharging pump

A developing device includes a stirring member including a flexible sheet member having a first sheet portion and a second sheet portion overlapping each other with respect to a thickness direction of the sheet member. With respect to a lateral direction of the sheet member which is a direction from a fixed end fixed to a rotating shaft portion to the free end, a length of the first sheet portion is longer than a length of the second sheet portion, and when the stirring member is rotated, a free end of the first sheet portion is capable of contacting an inner wall surface of a toner accommodation chamber. The sheet member is provided with a through hole penetrating in a thickness direction of the sheet member in a region where the first sheet portion and the second sheet portion overlap each other.

Developing device, cartridge, image forming apparatus

Process cartridge for image forming apparatus

Cartridge and image forming apparatus

A developing device includes a frame having an accommodation chamber where a developer is accommodated, and a replenishing port replenishing a developer to the accommodation chamber from outside, and a stirring member stirring the developer in the accommodation chamber. The stirring member includes a rotating shaft portion rotatably supported by the frame and a sheet member having one end fixed to the rotating shaft portion and another end as a free end and being rotatable with the rotating shaft portion. When the stirring member is rotated, the free end of the sheet member is capable of contacting an inner wall surface of the accommodation chamber in which the replenishing port is formed, and a through hole penetrating in a thickness direction of the sheet member is provided in a region of the sheet member that comes into contact with the inner wall surface of the accommodation chamber.

A toner transport apparatus includes a toner, a transport container having a transport path for transporting the toner toward the developing apparatus, and a pipe through which the toner is transported from the toner container to the transport container, with the pipe having an outlet hole from which the toner is discharged into the transport container. An air pump transports the toner from the toner container to the transport container, and an optical sensor includes a light-emitting element to emit a light and a light-receiving element to receive the light so that an optical path from the light-emitting element to the light-receiving element intersects with a passage area of the toner through which the toner passes after being discharged from the outlet hole of the pipe and before landing at a landing point of the transport container.

Toner transport apparatus

A process cartridge includes a first unit including an image bearing member to bear a developing agent image, a second unit including a development frame member in which a developing agent bearing member to bear a developing agent to be supplied to the image bearing member is supported, and a coupling portion that can couple the first and second units such that the second unit is swingable with the coupling portion as a rotation center. The development frame member includes a replenishing opening for the developing agent, and an elastically-deformable sealing member that seals the supply portion and the replenishing opening. As viewed along a compression direction of the sealing member, in a section orthogonal to a longitudinal direction of the process cartridge, the rotation center is disposed at a position overlapping with the sealing member.

Process cartridge, developing apparatus, and image forming apparatus

A developer accommodating container includes a developer accommodating portion, a stirring member, and a drive transmitting member. The developer accommodating container further includes an elastic member fixed to the stirring member at one end portion thereof and capable of expanding and contracting in a direction along a longitudinal direction of the developer accommodating portion. With respect to the longitudinal direction, the stirring member is disposed so as to form (1) a first gap between one end portion thereof and an inner surface of the developer accommodating portion on one side and (2) a second gap between the other end portion thereof and another inner surface of the developer accommodating portion on the other side. The stirring member is supported by the developer accommodating portion so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction relative to the developer accommodating portion.

Developer accommodating container, developing device and process cartridge

An image forming unit including a photosensitive member including a gear portion on a one end side of the photosensitive member in a rotational axis direction, a roller that comes in contact with the photosensitive member, a bearing member that rotatably supports the roller, and an elastic member that urges the bearing member. In the image forming unit, directions of moments about a rotational axis of the roller acting on the bearing member disposed on the one end side of the photosensitive member in the rotational axis direction are the same in a case in which the roller is rotated and in a case in which the roller is stopped.

Photosensitive drum unit to address vibration of a charge roller

Growing community of inventors

Mishima, Japan

Takatoshi Hamada