Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Yohei Gamo

Ayatomo Okino

Yusuke Oizumi

Nobuyuki Yomoda

Daijiro Kato

Tsukasa Mine

Manabu Jimba

Akihito Kamura

Masato Yamaoka

Koji Katayama

Yusaku Makino

Keisuke Isobe

Toshiyuki Iwata

Hitoshi Kubota

Hideki Kushida

Hiromasa Katayama

Hideto Abe

Naoto Tokuma

Yuichiro Maeda

Shogo Yamasaki

Masafumi Takahashi

Kenzo Kumagai

Kazuhiro Akiba

A developer supply container is detachably mountable to a developer receiving apparatus, the developer receiving apparatus including a developer receiving portion provided with a receiving port for receiving a developer and including a portion-to-be-engaged of displacing integrally with the developer receiving portion. The developer supply container includes a discharging portion provided with a shutter opening for discharging the developer accommodated in the developer accommodating portion, and an engaging portion. The engaging portion engages with the portion-to-be-engaged with a mounting operation of the developer supply container to displace the developer receiving portion so as to bring the receiving opening into fluid communication with the shutter opening. The engaging portion includes a curved portion having an angle relative to a mounting direction of the developer supply container, the angle decreasing with approach toward an upstream side in the mounting direction.

Developer supply container and developer supplying system

A developer supply container includes a developer accommodating portion accommodating developer, and a developer discharging portion in fluid communication with the developer accommodating portion. The developer accommodating portion is rotatable about a rotational axis and relative to the developer discharging portion, with the developer discharging portion being provided with a developer discharge opening at a bottommost side of the developer discharging portion and configured to permit discharging the developer to outside of the developer supply container. A lifter is linearly liftable relative to the developer discharging portion in a direction perpendicular to a horizontal plane that includes the rotational axis when the developer supply container is oriented with the developer discharge opening positioned at a bottom side of the developer discharging portion.

A developer supply container includes a developer accommodating body configured to accommodate developer, with the developer accommodating portion being provided with a gear portion. The developer supply container also includes a developer discharging body in fluid communication with the developer accommodating body, with the developer accommodating body being rotatable about a rotational axis thereof relative to the developer discharging body. A track is provided at each of opposite sides of the developer discharging body, each track including a fixed portion fixed on the discharging body and an elastically deformable portion extending from the fixed portion to a free end portion that is displaceable from the discharging body such that the elastically deformable portion intersects a horizontal plane that is parallel to the rotational axis.

A developer supply container is detachably mountable to a developer receiving apparatus including a developer receiving portion provided with a receiving opening for receiving a developer, and a portion-to-be-engagedintegrally displaceable with the developer receiving portion. The developer supply container includes a discharging portion provided with a shutter opening for discharging the developer accommodated in the developer accommodating portion. An operation portiondisplaces the developer receiving portion to bring the receiving opening into communication with the shutter opening by engagement between the engaging portionand the portion-to-be-engagedby a predetermined operation executed after the developer supply container is mounted to a predetermined position of the developer receiving apparatus.

Developer supply system, developer supply container mounting method and developer supply unit

With a mounting operation of a supply container, a supported portionof a developer receiving portionis supported by a receipt supporting portionof a lifting portion. With further mounting operation, a shutter sliding portionof the lifting portionslides on a shutter inclined portionof a shutter. The developer receiving portionis displaced so as to bring a receiving opening into communication with a discharge opening by operating, using the shutter, the lifting portionsupporting the supported portionof the developer receiving portion. By this, a load required for movement of the developer receiving portionis reduced to achieve smooth mounting of the supply container.

An image forming apparatus includes an attachment portion, an attachment detection unit, an output portion, a first cover, a first detection portion, a second cover, and a control unit. A control unit is configured to control opening movement of the first cover to open the first cover linked with movement that the second cover is opened when the output portion outputs information of replacing the developer accommodating container. After the first detection portion detects that the first cover is in a closed state after the first cover has been opened based on information output by the output portion, the first detection portion detects whether the developer accommodating container is attached to the attachment portion or not, and if the first detection portion detects that the developer accommodating container is not attached to the attachment portion, the control unit controls the first cover to open.

Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member on which an electrostatic image is formed, a developing unit to develop the electrostatic image, a driving unit, a driving gear to drive the driving unit, and a toner replenishing container to attach to an attaching portion of the image forming apparatus and to accommodate the toner to replenish to the developing unit. In addition, a door opens and closes the attaching portion, a first mechanism changes an open/close state of the door, and a second mechanism changes an input state of the driving force to a shaft of the first mechanism.

Developer container storage apparatus

A developer supply container is detachably mountable to a developer receiving apparatus, the developer receiving apparatus including a developer receiving portion provided with a receiving port for receiving a developer and including a portion-to-be-engaged capable of displacing integrally with the developer receiving portion. The developer supply container includes a discharging portion provided with a shutter opening for discharging the developer accommodated in the developer accommodating portion, and an engaging portion. The engaging portion engages with the portion-to-be-engaged with a mounting operation of the developer supply container to displace the developer receiving portion so as to bring the receiving opening into fluid communication with the shutter opening. The engaging portion includes a curved portion having an angle relative to a mounting direction of the developer supply container, the angle decreasing with approach toward an upstream side in the mounting direction.

A developer container storage apparatus includes a storage portion, a door, a locking member, a lock urging portion, a driving source, a rotation shaft, a cylindrical sleeve, and an engage portion. When the door is in the close state, the rotation shaft is located at the engage position, and if the rotation shaft rotates, the engage portion switches the locking member from the first position to the second position so that the door is made unlockable in the close state. When the door is in an open state, the rotation shaft is located at the disengage position, and the lock urging portion switches the locking member from the second position to the first position so that the door is made lockable in the close state.

An image forming apparatus including a rotatable developer container, a receiving device which receives the container and is inserted in a direction along a rotational axis of the container and which receives the developer discharged from the container when the container is in a first position, and a regulating member provided on the container. The regulating member prevents, during transportation of the image forming apparatus, the container from moving to the first position from a second position which is upstream of the first position with respect to an inserting direction of the container and in which the developer is not discharged from the container.

Growing community of inventors

Abiko, Japan

Yohei Gamo