Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Mita Industrial Co., Ltd.

Takeshi Okuda

Takeshi Wakabayashi

Jun Yamaguchi

Yasuyuki Ishiguro

Hiroshi Kawahito

Masanobu Deguchi

Shigeki Hayashi

Hiroshi Kubota

Koichi Mihara

Tetsuro Kawashima

Yoshiyuki Takeda

Hideki Takeda

Yasuyuki Hirai

Tsutomu Sugaya

Yoshihiro Ueda

Satoshi Kimura

Makoto Okado

Toshiyuki Osaka

An image forming apparatus includes a cartridge storage portion that is installed in an image forming apparatus main body, and a toner cartridge that is configured so as to be able to be inserted into and removed from the cartridge storage portion. The cartridge storage portion has a storage opening that receives the toner cartridge, and has a gap between an end part of the toner cartridge and the storage opening, through which the end part of the toner cartridge is not able to be held, when the toner cartridge is stored in the cartridge storage portion.

Image forming apparatus

A toner storage device includes a toner storage case that stores toner, and a stirring paddle rotatably supported in the toner storage case and includes at least one stirring blade that stirs the toner stored in the toner storage case, and a rotating shaft that rotates the at least one stirring blade, wherein the toner storage case includes a first supporting portion that rotatably supports an end of the rotating shaft of the stirring paddle, a second supporting portion that rotatably supports an other end of the rotating shaft, and a tapered portion that is tapered toward the first supporting portion.

Toner storage device, toner cartridge, image forming unit, and image forming apparatus

Provided is a toner cartridge comprising: a toner storage case configured to store toner; and an auger screw rotatably supported in the toner storage case and configured to convey the toner stored in the toner storage case, wherein the toner storage case comprises: a first supporting portion that rotatably supports a downstream end along a toner conveyance direction of the auger screw; a second supporting portion that rotatably supports an upstream end along the toner conveyance direction of the auger screw; a discharge port provided at a downstream side along the toner conveyance direction and below the first supporting portion so as to discharge therefrom the toner conveyed by the auger screw; and an inclined portion that is provided above the discharge port and inclines by a predetermined angle from a plane perpendicular to a rotating shaft of the auger screw toward an upstream side along the toner conveyance direction.

Toner cartridge, image forming unit, and image forming apparatus

A toner cartridge that makes it possible to prevent outflow of a large amount of toners at any other time but supplying of a toner, and an image forming apparatus are provided. A toner cartridge includes a container having an outlet; a conveyance member for conveying a toner inside the container toward the outlet by rotation motion of a conveyance blade associated with rotation of a conveyance shaft; and an opening/closing member disposed so as to have a distance from an inner wall of the container, the opening/closing member being fixed to the conveyance shaft and opening or closing at least a part of the outlet in conjunction with the rotation of the conveyance shaft.

Toner cartridge and image forming apparatus using the toner cartridge

A toner cartridge includes a toner containing section which contains a toner therein; a toner discharging unit which is disposed in one side of the toner containing section and has a toner discharging port; a screw member which is disposed inside the toner containing section and transports a toner inside the toner containing section to the toner discharging unit; a bearing member which holds an end of the screw member; a rotary shutter which is disposed in the toner discharging unit to be rotatable about a rotation axial line of the screw member and has a circular-arc-shaped cross-section; and a shutter opening and closing mechanism which opens the rotary shutter in conjunction with rotation of the screw member.

Toner cartridge with shutter opening/closing and image forming apparatus using the same

A toner stirring member includes a stirring blade made of a flexible sheet having a first insertion hole, and a rotation shaft having a nipping section for nipping an edge the flexible sheet such that the flexible sheet can be inserted into and pulled out from the nipping section. An inclining projection on the rotation shaft is inserted into the first insertion hole. The flexible sheet is nipped by the nipping section, and the inclining projection is inserted into the first insertion hole, so that the stirring blade is fixed to the rotation shaft. The inclining projection has a first inclining surface that inclines in a direction in which the flexible sheet is pulled out from the nipping section.

Toner stirring member and toner cartridge including thereof

A toner cartridge includes a toner container that contains a toner, an auger screw, a toner discharge port, a shutter, an internal opening/closing valve and a stirring paddle. The internal opening/closing valve is provided as a member for closing the toner discharge port, in addition to the shutter. The shutter is fixed to a position at which the toner discharge port is always opened in a state where the toner cartridge is mounted in the image forming apparatus. The internal opening/closing valve is provided at a position facing the toner discharge port of a driving side end of a rotation shaft of the auger screw. The internal opening/closing valve is composed of a rectangular sheet member having flexibility, and closes the toner discharge port by blocking the entire toner discharge port.

Toner cartridge comprising internal valve with flexible sheet member and image forming apparatus including the same

A toner cartridge includes a container body and a screw conveyer section. The screw conveyer section includes a rotation shaft and a toner conveying blade. The toner rotation shaft includes a first rotation shaft portion and a second rotation shaft portion concentrically communicated to the first rotation shaft portion and having a diameter smaller than that of the first rotation shaft portion. The toner conveying blade includes a first blade portion formed on the first rotation shaft portion, and a second blade portion formed on the second rotation shaft portion, a period of a spiral of the second blade portion winding around the second rotation shaft portion being smaller than a period of a spiral of the first blade portion winding around the first rotation shaft portion.

Toner cartridge, image forming apparatus and image forming method

A toner cartridge includes: a toner storing portion for storing toner; a toner discharging portion having a toner discharge port; and a screw auger having a rotary shaft and a helical blade for conveying the toner in the toner storing portion to the toner discharging portion. The helical blade includes a first helical blade portion located over the toner discharge port and a second helical blade portion located in the toner storing portion. The first toner thrust face of the first helical blade portion, located on the downstream side with respect to the toner conveying direction is formed at a first inclination angle to the axial direction of the rotary shaft. The second toner thrust face of the second helical blade portion, located on the downstream side with respect to the toner conveying direction is formed at a second inclination angle to the axial direction of the rotary shaft. The first inclination angle is formed to be smaller than the second inclination angle.

Toner cartridge and image forming apparatus using the same

A toner cartridge includes: a toner container for containing a toner, the toner container being removably mounted in an image forming apparatus; and a storage section for electronically storing specific information held by the toner container, the storage section being electrically connected to a to-be-connected portion of the image forming apparatus when the toner container is mounted in the image forming apparatus, the storage section having: a board assembly including a board on which a storage element for storing the specific information held by the toner container as electronic information is mounted; a housing member for holding the board assembly; and a covering member for detachably integrating the board assembly and the housing member, the storage section being attachable to and removable from the toner container.

A toner conveyance unit is provided that can reliably prevent a toner from leaking and scattering. And an image forming apparatus is also provided having the toner conveyance unit. When a circular arc-shaped shutter member and a rotary shutter member are closed, a first conveyance part and a second conveyance part are adapted to separate from each other. When the circular arc-shaped shutter member and the rotary shutter member are open, the circular arc-shaped shutter member and the rotary shutter member rotate integrally so as to be enclosed in the tubular cylinder part, and to move a through hole to a position such as to constitute a portion of a second toner conveyance path, whereby the first conveyance part and the second conveyance part are adapted to be connected to each other so that a first toner conveyance path and the second toner conveyance path communicate with each other.

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Takeshi Okuda