Brother Kogyo Kabushiki-kaisha

Brother Industries, Ltd.

Yasushi Okabe

Junichi Hashimoto

Shougo Sato

Isao Kishi

Tsutomu Suzuki

Naoya Kamimura

Makoto Ishii

Yoshiya Tomatsu

Hiroshi Igarashi

Shinji Kimura

Yasutake Yamaguchi

Shigeharu Katayama

Yoshito Takakuwa

Takashi Shimizu

Koji Abe

Masatoshi Shiraki

Hitoshi Nakai

Hideshi Nishiyama

Fumikazu Sato

Atsushi Kato

Masashi Suzuki

Yasuo Tamaru

Soichiro Nishimura

Shota Shinoya

Katsuyuki Yokoi

Shusaku Tsusaka

Nao Itabashi

Tomitake Aratachi

Shuichi Kato

Atsushi Hayakawa

Atsushi Ozawa

Masanari Yoshikawa

Aya Tamura

In an image forming apparatus, a process frame is movable into and out of a main casing in a first direction. The process frame includes a first wall and a second wall spaced apart from the first wall in a second direction. A first cartridge is detachably mountable to the process frame in a third direction crossing the second direction. A first electrode protrudes from an outer surface of the first cartridge outwardly in the second direction. In a state where the first cartridge is mounted to the process frame, the first cartridge is positioned between the first wall and second wall of the process frame in the second direction and a portion of the first wall aligns with the first electrode in the third direction such that the portion of the first wall is overlapped with the first electrode as viewed in the third direction.

Image forming apparatus including coupling member selectively coupled to photosensitive drum

In an image forming apparatus, a tray having first and second receiving portions is configured to move between a first position, at which at least part of the tray is positioned inside an apparatus body, and a second position, at which the tray is outside the apparatus body. The tray in the first position allows a first recording medium to be conveyed from the first receiving portion. When the tray is in the first position, the second receiving portion is configured to move between a third position, which is at an upstream side relative to a first opening of the apparatus body in a second direction, and a fourth position, which is at a downstream side relative to the third position in the second direction. The second receiving portion at the third position allows a second recording medium to be conveyed from the second receiving portion in the second direction.

Image forming apparatus having tray for receiving recording medium

An image forming apparatus has a body frame and a slide frame. The slide frame is configured to be pulled out from the body frame along a sliding direction. A plurality of image forming cartridges is detachably mounted on the slide frame. A plurality of electrode members is mounted on the slide frame and aligned along the sliding direction so as to correspond to the image forming cartridges. A body-side contact portion of each of the electrode members is electrically connected to the body frame. A cartridge-side contact portion of the electrode member is electrically connected to the image forming cartridge. The image forming cartridge is connected to the body via the corresponding electrode member when the slide frame mounting the image forming cartridges is inserted to the body frame.

Image forming apparatus, image forming cartridge supporter, and image forming unit

A developing cartridge includes: a casing; a developing roller rotatable about an axis extending in a first direction; a first cam positioned at one end portion of the casing; a second cam positioned at another end portion of the casing; and a connection member connecting the first cam and the second cam to each other. The first cam is movable relative to the casing and the developing roller in the first direction between a first position and a second position, and the second cam is movable relative to the casing and the developing roller in the first direction between a third position and a fourth position. The second cam is movable from the third position to the fourth position due to a tensile force of the connection member in accordance with movement of the first cam from the first position to the second position.

Developing cartridge including first and second cams connected by connection member and movable relative to casing

An image forming apparatus includes a main body, endless belt, photosensitive drums, setting unit, contacting/separating mechanism, transmitting mechanism, and coupling members. The photosensitive drums are disposed in confrontation with the endless belt and are arranged in a first direction. Each photosensitive drum has an axis extending in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The setting unit sets the image forming apparatus to a monochrome mode or color mode. The contacting/separating mechanism controls at least one photosensitive drum to contact or separate from the endless in accordance with the set mode. The transmitting mechanism selectively transmits drive power to photosensitive drums. Each coupling member is selectively coupled to the corresponding photosensitive drum and has a coupling axis extending in the second direction. Each coupling member is uncoupled from the corresponding photosensitive drum when the contacting/separating mechanism controls the corresponding photosensitive drum to separate from the endless belt.

A developing cartridge includes: a developing roller rotatable about a first axis extending in a first direction; a developing roller gear rotatable together with the developing roller; a coupling gear rotatable about a second axis extending in the first direction; and a joint rotatable together with the coupling gear. The coupling gear is meshingly engaging with the developing roller gear. The joint is pivotally movable relative to the coupling gear about a third axis extending in a second direction. The joint includes: a first protrusion extending in a first radial direction; and a second protrusion extending in a second radial direction opposite to the first radial direction. The second protrusion is positioned away from and is aligned with the first protrusion in a diametrical direction including the first radial direction and the second radial direction. The second direction crosses the first radial direction and the second radial direction.

Developing cartridge including developing coupling, and image forming apparatus including main body coupling connectable to developing coupling

An image forming apparatus is described. An image forming apparatus may include an image forming apparatus body and a tandem type photosensitive unit slidable with respect to the body, wherein the unit includes: a frame; a plurality of photosensitive bodies; a plurality of developer cartridges, including developer carriers, detachably mountable on the frame; and a pressing portion provided on the frame for pressing each of the cartridges so that the developer carrier thereof is directed toward the corresponding photosensitive body, each of the cartridges is pivoted to be movable to an imaging position pressed by the pressing portion and a detached position released from the pressing by the pressing portion, and the body is provided with an abutting portion abutting the cartridge located on the detached position thereby pivoting the cartridge and moving the same to the imaging position when the unit is mounted on the body.

Image forming apparatus and tandem type photosensitive unit

Growing community of inventors

Nagoya, Japan

Yasushi Okabe