The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 02, 2026
Filed:
Nov. 06, 2024
Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Nagoya, JP;
Masaki Ueji, Nagoya, JP;
Shougo Sato, Seto, JP;
BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Nagoya, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes a main-body housing, a drum unit, and a toner cartridge. The drum unit includes a photosensitive drum, a drum frame, a developing roller, a toner-inlet shutter to open and close a toner-inlet opening, a cleaning member, and a collected-toner outlet shutter to open and close a collected-toner outlet opening. The toner cartridge includes a toner casing having a toner container and a collected-toner container, and a shutter-driving member having a transmission device and an operable device. The transmission device is movable by the operable device between a first position, at which the toner-inlet shutter and the collected-toner outlet shutter are located at positions to close the toner-inlet opening and the collected-toner outlet opening, and a second position, at which the toner-inlet shutter and the collected-toner outlet shutter are located at positions to open the toner-inlet opening and the collected-toner outlet opening.