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. 21, 1995
Filed:
Nov. 24, 1993
Makoto Arai, Tokyo, JP;
Yasushi Koichi, Yamato, JP;
Toshitaka Yamaguchi, Niiza, JP;
Yoshiyuki Tanimoto, Tokyo, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A toner recovery system is adapted to an image forming apparatus which carries out an image forming operation to form prints of a toner image on a photosensitive body using a toner. The toner recovery system includes a toner recovery unit for recovering the toner which remains on the photosensitive body after the image forming operation for each print, a recovered toner tank for accommodating the toner recovered by the toner recovery unit, a transport unit for transporting the toner recovered by the toner recovery unit to the recovered toner tank by moving in a first direction with a first force, a detector for detecting a movement of the transport unit in a second direction which is opposite to the first direction caused by an overflow of the recovered toner in the recovered toner tank, and a control circuit for controlling the transport unit to transport the recovered toner by moving in the first direction with a second force which is greater than the first force if the detector detects the movement of the transport unit in the second direction.