Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Yoshiki Ichikawa

Takahiko Kimura

Masahiro Tsuji

Jun Yamaguchi

Hiroshi Kubota

Fumito Mizoguchi

Yoshinori Otsuka

Keiji Katou

Yasuyuki Ishiguro

Hisashi Kunihiro

Kenichi Nagata

Toyoka Aimoto

Hiroshi Kawahito

Syouichi Fujita

Yoshiaki Sanada

Hideyuki Nishimura

Itaru Kawabata

Hiroshi Kawamoto

Yuichi Kazaki

Hiroshige Araki

Takashi Miyaji

Akira Nakakuma

Shigeru Yamaguchi

Takao Hiroyasu

Fumito Mizoguti

Shintarou Hatano

Toner cartridge and image forming apparatus are provided capable of reducing rotation torque on startup even if a toner is solidified. The toner cartridge includes a toner stirring member having a rotating shaft and a stirring blade; a toner discharge member having a spiral-shaped conveyance blade attached to a conveyance shaft; a second gear having a bearing projection protruding radially inwardly from an inner peripheral surface of an annular base part, which is rotatably supported in contact with an outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft; an abutment member protruding from the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft, against which the bearing projection abuts under rotation of the second gear; first and third gears for transmitting rotation of the second gear to the conveyance shaft; and a rotationally driving section for imparting a rotating force to the second gear.

Toner cartridge with differential member and image forming apparatus

A rotary-type toner supply device includes a toner container and a scraping member. The toner container has a peripheral wall section which is shaped so as to surround a side face of an imaginary column Kalong the side face and has a toner discharge port formed therein, and contains toner in space surrounded by the peripheral wall. The scraping member is contained in the space so as to freely rotate around a central axis S of the imaginary column K, and has first and second curved parts, each of the first and second curved parts extending along a portion of a half cycle or more of a spiral on the side face of the imaginary column K.

Toner supply device and image forming apparatus

A toner supplying device and an image forming apparatus that supply toner stably and do not impose a stress on toner, regardless of a remaining amount of toner stored in a storage container of the toner supplying device are provided. Two flexible sheets constituting a toner scooping blade are bonded to each other with a double-sided adhesive tape that functions as a spacer and an adhesive member sandwiched therebetween at an end fixed to a blade support neck and the other end in contact with an inner wall of the toner storage container. Whereby, a gap is formed between the two flexible sheets.

Toner supplying device and image forming apparatus

Toner cartridge and image forming apparatus including the same

A toner cartridge comprises a toner cartridge body, a screw shaft, a paddle member, and a toner inflow block piece coupled to a part of the paddle member. The toner cartridge body comprises a toner storage section where the paddle member is disposed and a toner conveying passage The toner conveying passage, where the screw shaft is stored is adjacent to and communicates with the toner storage section. The toner inflow block piece is disposed at an end on a toner discharge port side of an agitating blade of the paddle member so as to project in a direction perpendicular to a rotary shaft of the screw shaft and has a cutout recess for the rotary shaft of the screw shaft to fit in.

Toner cartridge

A shutoff lid of a toner hopper is formed with locking elements for locking the lid and a fixing element for fixing the locking elements. In the front face of a bottle slider, a pair of projected abutments abutting the fixing element are arranged on the left and right sides and a pair of switching portions for moving the locking elements are formed. The rear face of the fixing element is shaped with a stepped face which corresponds to the projected abutments. As the bottle slider moves forwards, each projected abutment abuts the stepped face of the fixing element and moves the fixing element, to thereby cancel restraint of the fixing element on the locking elements. A further advancement of the bottle slider causes the locking elements to move and release the locked state. If a projected abutment does not match the fixing element, the fixing element cannot be moved thus making release of the lock impossible. On the other hand, when the bottle slider has reached the toner supply position, contact portions of the releasing elements oppose a guide frame. When the releasing element is rotated about bridges by holding its handle, the contact portions abut the guide frame and function as the fulcrum so as to act a leverage force on the bridges, whereby it is possible to break off the bridges by a weak force. Thus, the releasing element is separated from the bottle slider and then a sealing element is peeled off.

Toner supply system and toner cartridge

A developing apparatus comprises a development housing containing developer and disposed opposite to a carrier for carrying a latent image, and a developing roller rotatably provided in the development housing and rotatively driven in a predetermined direction. The developer in the development housing is carried by the developing roller and the developer carried by the developing roller is applied to the carrier through an opening formed in the development housing. A rotation speed F.beta. of the developing roller is higher than a movement speed F.alpha. of the carrier. A gap .beta. between an opening downstream side wall portion of the development housing and the developing roller is greater than a gap .alpha. between the opening downstream side wall portion and the carrier.

Efficient development of an electrostatic latent image

A developer processing apparatus includes a rotary member provided rotatably in a container containing the developer, a sealing member provided at the rotary member and being brought into pressure contact with a portion supporting the rotary member and a sealing layer provided at the portion where the sealing member is brought into pressure contact, and formed of a material having lower hardness than the sealing member.

Developer processing apparatus provided with sealing member and sealing

A developing device incorporating a developer supply unit and a developer discharge section, in which a supply developer including a mixture of toner and carrier is successively supplied to a developer container from the developer supply unit and a deteriorated developer in the developer container is discharged through the developer discharge section. The developer supply unit has a sponge roller for selectively attracting toner to a surface thereof, a magnet roller for selectively attracting carrier to a surface thereof, and a member for scraping and bringing the toner and carrier attracted to these rollers into the developer container. The developer including toner and carrier in a predetermined ratio is thus stably supplied to the developer container. In another example of the developer supply unit, agitating of the developer is performed while shovelling the developer deposited in a lower part of the unit by a transport screw. With this structure, since the toner and carrier are evenly mixed in the unit, the developer having a uniform toner concentration is supplied to the developer container, thereby continuing satisfactory development.

Developing device with developer-supplying mechanism

A developing unit for use in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, which includes a rotation shaft rotatably supported through the wall of the developer tank in such a manner that the gap between the rotation shaft and the supporting wall is sealed with a main sealing member mounted on a bushing holding member, and that the gap between the rotation shaft and the bushing is sealed with a sub-sealing member.

Developing unit having a rotation shaft and sealing member

A developing apparatus using a bicomponent developing material is composed of a toner and a magnetic carrier. Between a developing roller for forming a magnetic brush and a stirring member disposed adjacent the developing roller for stirring the developing material, a flat plate-shaped stirring aiding plate is positioned with spaces defined above and below the stirring aiding plate. The stirring member transports developing material toward the developing roller and stirring aiding plate. The developing material is moved by the developing roller toward the stirring member and stirring aiding plate. In this way, the developing material is allowed to flow in separate streams through the spaces between the developing roller and the stirring aiding plate, and between the stirring member and the stirring aiding plate. This permits uniform distribution of toner concentration on the developing roller along the axis thereof in order to improve the image.

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Osaka, Japan

Yoshiki Ichikawa