Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Sony Corporation

Tatsuya Kubo

Shinnosuke Koshizuka

Susumu Tateyama

Kentaro Nodera

Teppei Kikuchi

Yoshitaka Fujinuma

Akihiro Takayama

Hideki Kosugi

Emi Kita

Akira Fujimori

Masayoshi Nakayama

Junichi Matsumoto

Hiroaki Okamoto

Kazuki Yogosawa

Shuntaroh Tamaki

Atsushi Nakamoto

Koichi Yamazaki

Kazunori Suzuki

Nobuo Takami

Hiroyuki Uenishi

Takuya Suganuma

Naohiro Kawashima

Yuji Suzuki

Hideo Yoshizawa

Kenji Kikuchi

Takashi Suzuki

Seiji Terazawa

Shinji Tamaki

Ichiro Kadota

Tetsuro Hirota

Hiroshi Hosokawa

Yoshihiro Fujiwara

Shinya Karasawa

Yuuki Tsuchiya

Masashi Hommi

Tsutomu Nakagawa

Hotaru Hashikawa

Yuki Osato

Yuusuke Tomura

Ryotaro Konno

Susumu Takeyama

Kentarou Nodera

Yuta Yabuta

Takuya Sekine

Shuntaro Tamaki

Tatsumi Yamada

Gen Kitamura

Kohichi Yamazaki

Ryo Tamaki

Teruo Shibata

Shohtaroh Hoshi

Yosio Sano

A filter holding device includes an opening portion and a filter. The opening portion communicates between an inside and an outside of the filter holding device. The filter is disposed in the opening portion and includes a first side and a second side. The first side is located adjacent to the inside of the filter holding device. The second side is located adjacent to the outside of the filter holding device. The filter has a larger weight density per unit volume at the second side than a weight density per unit volume at the first side and has a larger area of a surface intersecting a communication direction at the second side than an area of a surface intersecting the communication direction at the first side.

Filter holding device, developing device, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus

A packing member, a toner container, and a packing method. The packing member contains the toner container, and the packing member includes a box containing the toner container with a gap between one side of the box and a container body and between the one side of the box and a large-dimension portion of the toner container, a first pressing portion that presses the container body, and a second pressing portion that presses the large-dimension portion. In the packing member, the large-dimension portion of the toner container is disposed at one end of the container body, and the large-dimension portion has a wider dimension than the container body in a direction orthogonal to a longitudinal direction of the toner container. In the packing member, the container body contacts, with first contact force, a first bearer inside the box to maintain the gap.

Packing member, toner container, and packing method

A toner container is attachable to and detachable from a body of an image forming apparatus and includes a substantially cylindrical container body and a substantially cylindrical cap. The container body conveys toner stored inside the container body. The cap has a through hole through which a toner conveying nozzle disposed in the body of the image forming apparatus is to be inserted into the container body. The through hole is in a central portion of the cap. The cap has a fitted portion to be fitted with a fitting portion disposed in the body of the image forming apparatus to position the cap non-rotatably to the body of the image forming apparatus. The fitted portion is disposed in each of an upper portion and a lower portion of the cap when the cap is attached to the body of the image forming apparatus.

Toner container and image forming apparatus

Toner container

A positioning member defines a facing distance between a first rotating body and a second rotating body. The positioning member includes a fitting portion, a groove, and a restricting member. A fitted portion of the first rotating body is to be rotatably fitted into the fitting portion. The groove has a groove shape extending in a predetermined direction from an opening to an abutting portion. A shaft portion of the second rotating body is to be slidably movable in the groove. The restricting member restricts movement of the shaft portion in the predetermined direction in a state in which the shaft portion abuts on the abutting portion in the groove. The restricting member is detachably disposed on the groove.

Positioning member, holding device, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus

A powder container includes a powder chamber for containing powder for forming images, a powder outlet formed in a face of the powder container, and a shutter assembly to open and close the powder outlet and including first and second shutters. The first shutter is movable between a sealing position to close the powder outlet and an open position to open the powder outlet and includes a pressed member to cancel retention of the first shutter at the sealing position. The second shutter includes a pressing projection that interferes with the pressed member of the first shutter and is movable between a shielding position to cover the pressed member without interference between the pressing projection and the pressed member and a releasing position to press the pressed member with the pressing projection.

Powder container, powder supply device, and image forming apparatus including same

A filter holding device includes an opening portion and a filter. The opening portion communicates an inside of the filter holding device with an outside of the filter holding device. The filter includes a first side and a second side. The first side faces the inside of the filter holding device. The second side faces the outside of the filter holding device. The filter has a lower weight density per unit volume at the first side than at the second side. At least a side face of the first side of the filter is covered with an air-impermeable member. The side face is a lateral face of the filter at the first side.

Filter holding device, developing device, process cartridge, image forming apparatus, and filter

A process cartridge includes an image bearer, a developer bearer, and a positioning member. The image bearer is rotatable. The developer bearer is rotatable and opposite to the image bearer. The positioning member determines an opposing distance between the image bearer and the developer bearer, and includes a fitting portion and a groove. A fitted portion of the image bearer rotatably fits to the fitting portion. The groove extends from a ceiling portion to a bottom portion. A shaft portion of the developer bearer is slidingly movable in the groove. The groove is formed such that the shaft portion of the developer bearer contacts the bottom portion and is supported by the bottom portion. The ceiling portion of the groove is open upward so that the shaft portion of the developer bearer is insertable to and removable from the groove.

Process cartridge and image forming apparatus incorporating same

An amount-of-remaining-toner detecting device includes: a toner housing portion in which a toner bottle is housed, the toner bottle having a bottle body that is cylindrical and in which toner is housed, and a cap that is attached to one end of the bottle body in an axial direction of the bottle body and from which the toner housed in the bottle body is discharged; and circuitry configured to detect an amount of remaining toner in the toner bottle housed in the toner housing portion. The toner housing portion includes a first pair of electrodes facing each other with the bottle body interposed between the first pair of electrodes, and a second pair of electrodes facing each other with the bottle body interposed between the second pair of electrodes, at respective positions closer to the cap than the first pair of electrodes are. The circuitry detects the amount of remaining toner in the bottle body, based on at least one of a capacitance value between the first pair of electrodes or a capacitance value between the second pair of electrodes.

Amount-of-remaining-toner detecting device, image forming apparatus, method for detecting amount of remaining toner, and non-transitory recording medium

A remaining toner amount detection device includes four electrodes and a controller. Each electrode has an arc shape along an outer circumferential surface of a toner bottle, and the four electrodes are spaced a certain distance apart in a circumferential direction so as to surround the toner bottle. The controller detects a remaining toner amount inside the toner bottle by using the four electrodes. The controller determines whether at least one of a first electrostatic capacity value between one pair of adjacent electrodes and a second electrostatic capacity value between the other pair of adjacent electrodes falls within a threshold range. In response to determination that at least one of the electrostatic capacity values falls within the threshold range, the controller detects a remaining toner amount inside the toner bottle based on an electrostatic capacity value, and outputs the detected remaining toner amount.

Remaining toner amount detection device, image forming apparatus, and remaining toner amount detection method

A powder collection device includes a collection container configured to store powder collected and a powder amount detector including a pair of electrodes. The powder amount detector detects an amount of powder in the collection container based on capacitance between the pair of electrodes.

Powder collection device and image forming apparatus incorporating same

A powder amount detector detects an amount of powder in a powder container of a cylindrical shape arranged horizontally. The powder amount detector includes a pair of measuring electrodes configured to detect capacitance between the pair of measuring electrodes to detect the amount of powder. The pair of measuring electrodes is disposed around the powder container. One of the pair of measuring electrodes has a flat shape, and the other of the pair of measuring electrodes has an arc shape following a shape of the powder container.

Powder amount detector including a pair of measuring electrodes

A developing device includes a developing roller to rotate in a predetermined direction of rotation and opposed to or in contact with an image bearer to form a development range, a cover to cover the developing roller downstream from the development range in the predetermined direction of rotation, a sheet member cantilevered by the cover to contact the developing roller with a flat face of the sheet member while trailing along the predetermined direction of rotation at a position downstream from the development range. The cover includes a large gap portion to form a first gap in a first predetermined range in the predetermined direction of rotation and a small gap portion disposed adjacent to and downstream from the large gap portion in the predetermined direction of rotation to form a second gap smaller than the first gap in a second predetermined range in the predetermined direction of rotation.

Developing device, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Tatsuya Kubo