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:
Mar. 27, 1984
Filed:
Jul. 15, 1983
Riccardo Forlani, Turin, IT;
Ing. C. Olivetti & C., S.p.A., Ivrea, IT;
Abstract
A magnetic brush (10) comprises a sleeve (16) of nonmagnetic material which rotates about magnets (14) fixed on a shaft (12) which rotates in the opposite direction to the sleeve. A toner container (20) adjacent to the sleeve feeds the toner (T) on to the outer surface of the sleeve through a slit (36) which extends over the entire length of the sleeve. In order to prevent the formation of lumps of toner at the feed slit and break up any lumps already in the container, a portion (32) of the base wall of the toner container is of arcuate shape and is spaced from the sleeve by a distance equal to the thickness of the toner layer (52) on the sleeve. The arcuate wall defines the toner feed slit (36) in cooperation with a side wall (60) of the container. A baffle (26) divides the container into a main chamber (42) and secondary chamber (46) which communicate with each other by way of a narrow passage between the baffle and the arcuate wall (32). The magnetic field of the brush magnets urges the toner along the arcuate wall in order to fill the secondary chamber to a certain level, from which it emerges from the feed slit. Any lumps of toner or foreign particles are blocked by the dividing baffle. Lumps of toner are agitated by the variations in the magnetic field, so that they gradually disintegrate to allow recovery of the toner.