Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Yusuke Yamada

Fumio Tazawa

Katsuya Murakami

Yutaka Ban

Hironori Minagawa

Ayatomo Okino

Toshiaki Nagashima

Manabu Jimba

Nobuyuki Yomoda

Nobuo Nakajima

Tetsuo Isomura

Yasuhide Goseki

Akihito Kamura

Shigemori Tanaka

Masayoshi Kato

Hitoshi Kanda

Kazuhiko Omata

Satoshi Mitsumura

Junko Yoshikawa

Kenta Koyama

Hiroyuki Fujikawa

Kunihiko Nakamura

Masato Yamaoka

Emi Watanabe

Toshie Kaneko

Mitsuru Miyamoto

Tomohiro Kimura

Tadayuki Tsuda

Isao Ikemoto

Toshiyuki Yoshihara

Hiroaki Ohashi

Akira Unno

Kenji Fujishima

Masami Maetani

Saijiro Endo

Takashi Nakanishi

Masafumi Takagi

Hiroshi Chiba

Suguru Onuma

A toner cartridge includes a chamber containing toner, a feeding portion configured to feed the toner toward an opening in the toner cartridge, and a pump configured to discharge the toner through the opening to outside of the toner cartridge, the pump being configured to move the toner by changing pressure inside of the toner cartridge relative to pressure outside of the toner cartridge. A rotatable coupling is configured to receive a rotational force from outside of the toner cartridge, the coupling being operatively connected to the feeding portion and the pump so as to transmit the rotational force to the feeding portion and the pump to thereby rotate the feeding portion and drive the pump.

Developer supply container and developer supplying system

Provided is a developer replenishing container including: a developer containing part capable of containing a developer; a discharge port through which the developer contained in the developer containing part is discharged; a conveyance part conveying the developer in the developer containing part by rotating; and a displacement part displaceable in conjunction with rotation of the conveyance part in the developer in a vicinity of the discharge port, and including a moving member capable of reciprocating in conjunction with the rotation of the conveyance part and a biasing member which biases the moving member and which is expandable according to movement of the moving member.

Developer replenishing container and image forming apparatus

A developing device includes a detachably mounted developer supply container configured to supply a developer with compressed air. A developer storage container includes a first opening portion through which the developer is supplied from the developer supply container to the developer storage container with the compressed air, a filter provided on a wall constituting the developer storage container to permit passage of air and restrict passage of the developer, and a stirring member to stir the developer. The developer storage container further includes a second opening portion through which the developer is supplied to a developing portion provided with a developing member. The filter is disposed between the first opening portion and the second opening portion in a rotational axis direction of the stirring member and disposed closer to the second opening portion.

Developer supply container using compressed air, developer supplying system and image forming apparatus

A toner cartridge includes a first chamber configured to accommodate toner and a second chamber provided with an opening that is configured to discharge the toner. A feeding portion is configured to feed the toner from the first chamber toward the second chamber. An air flow generating portion is configured to generate an air flow and blow the air flow into the second chamber to thereby discharge the toner to outside of the cartridge through the opening. A rotatable coupling including a projection is configured to receive a rotational force from outside of the cartridge, the rotatable coupling being operatively connected to the feeding portion and the air flow generating portion so as to drive the feeding portion and the air flow generating portion with rotation of the rotatable coupling.

A toner cartridge includes a container accommodating toner and including a discharge opening. A pump is configured to alternately generate (i) a first air flow from outside to inside of the toner cartridge and (ii) a second air flow from inside to outside of the toner cartridge, with the pump being configured to supply the toner from the discharge opening to outside of the toner cartridge with the second air flow. The cartridge also includes a rotational force receiving portion configured to receive a rotational force from outside of the toner cartridge, with the rotational force receiving portion being configured to drive the pump with rotation of the rotational force receiving portion.

A toner cartridge includes a container containing toner and including an opening configured to discharge the toner. The toner cartridge also includes a feeding portion configured to feed the toner toward the opening and a pump that is configured to move the toner from the opening of the container to outside of the cartridge by generating an air flow. The toner cartridge further includes a rotatable coupling including a projection configured to receive a rotational force from outside of the cartridge, with the coupling being operatively connected to the feeding portion and the pump so as to drive the feeding portion and the pump with rotation of the coupling.

Conventionally, when a developer is supplied into a developer receiving apparatus from a developer supply container using the air, a filter is provided in the developer receiving apparatus side, but the pressure feeding type wherein a mixture of the air and the developer is continuously fed from the developer supply container into the developer receiving apparatus side involves a problem of filter clogging. The developer supply container side is provided with a pump portion which effects a suction operation for moving the air from inside of the developer receiving portion to the developer accommodating portion side and a discharging operation for moving the air from the inside of the developer accommodating portion to the developer receiving portion side. By this, a back washing effect of dusting the developer from the filter is applied to the filter portion during the suction operation, so that the clogging of the filter is suppressed.

Developer supply container, developer supplying system and image forming apparatus

Conventionally, the developer in the developer supply container is discharged by an air-supply pump and a suction pump which are provided in the main assembly side of the image forming apparatus, and therefore, the developer is compacted by the increase of the internal pressure of the developer supply container resulting from the air-supply. Therefore, the proper suction of the developer from the developer supply container becomes difficult with the result of shortage of the developer amount to be supplied. A bellow-like pump is provided on the side of the developer supply container, and the pump alternately repeats the suction operation and the discharging operation through the discharge opening by a driving force inputted from the image forming apparatus side. By this, the developer can be sufficiently loosened, thus properly discharging the developer.

Developer supply container

A developer supply includes a developer container body configured to accommodate developer, a gear portion configured and positioned to receive a force for rotating the developer container body, and a pump portion configured and positioned to act upon the developer container body to discharge the developer out of the developer supply container, with the pump portion having a volume that changes with reciprocation of the pump portion. A weight is configured and positioned to reciprocate the pump portion with a rotation of the developer container body by the force received by the gear.

A developer container includes a developer accommodating body, a discharge body including a developer discharge opening, and a rotatable member including a plurality of rotation portions arranged in a rotational direction of the rotatable member with a space therebetween. In addition, a storing portion stores a predetermined amount of the developer to be discharged and forms a communication path for fluid-communication between an inside of the discharge body and the discharge opening. A coil spring is provided in the communication path and contractable and expandable in a direction of the communication path, with the coil spring capable of being urged by the rotation portions while the rotatable member rotates.

A developer supply container is detachably mountable to a developer receiving apparatus, which includes a developer receiving portion for receiving a developer, and a filter for permitting venting of the developer receiving portion in and out. The developer supply container includes a developer accommodating portion for accommodating a developer, a discharge opening for permitting discharging of the developer from the developer accommodating portion toward the developer receiving portion, a driving force receiving portion for receiving a driving force from the developer receiving apparatus, and a pump portion capable of being driven by the driving force received by the driving force receiving portion to alternate repeatedly a discharging operation and a suction operation through the discharge opening while venting into and out of the developer receiving portion through the filter.

Developer supply container, developer supplying system and image forming apparatus having filtered venting

In the case that a developer supply container is provided with a feeding portion for feeding a developer by receiving a rotational force and a pump portion for discharging the developer by reciprocation, and the rotational force and a reciprocating force are received from a main assembly side of an image forming apparatus, there is a liability that a driving connection is not properly established between a portion of the developer supply container for receiving the reciprocating force and a portion of the main assembly side for applying the reciprocating force. The developer supply container is provided with a drive converting mechanism for converting the rotational force received from the main assembly side to a force for operating a volume changing type pump.

A developer supply container includes a developer accommodating portion configured to accommodate developer, and a discharge opening configured and positioned to permit discharging of the developer in the developer accommodating portion, with the discharge opening having an area not more than 12.6 mm. In addition, a driving force receiving portion is configured and positioned to receive a driving force, and a pump portion is configured and positioned to act on the developer accommodating portion by the driving force received by the driving force receiving portion to alternately change an internal pressure of the developer accommodating portion between a pressure lower than an ambient pressure and a pressure higher than the ambient pressure to discharge the developer through the discharge opening.

Developer supply container and developer supplying system having pump operated developer discharge

A developer supply kit detachably mountable to a developer supplying apparatus comprising a developer supply container and a developer accommodated therein, wherein the developer supply container includes, a developer accommodating portion accommodating the developer, a discharge opening for discharging the developer accommodated in the developer accommodating portion, a drive receiving portion to which a driving force is inputted from the developer supplying apparatus, and a pump portion operable so that an internal pressure of the developer accommodating portion alternately and repetitively changes between a pressure lower than a ambient pressure and a pressure higher than the ambient pressure, by the driving force received by the drive receiving portion, wherein the developer accommodated in the developer supply container includes toner containing binder resin material and a coloring material, the developer satisfies,10&#x2264;(mJ)&#x2264;80,0.4&#x2264;(mJ)&#x2264;2.0,

Growing community of inventors

Toride, Japan

Yusuke Yamada