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:
Feb. 03, 1998
Filed:
Jul. 18, 1996
Mita Industrial Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A toner conveyer applied to a housing having a pair of side walls and a through hole formed in at least one of the pair of side walls. The toner conveyer includes a shaft which is inserted at its one end portion in said through hole formed in one of said pair of side walls and is mounted between said pair of side walls to rotate. A main spiral vane is formed on the outer peripheral surface of a main portion of the shaft. An inside limiting piece is formed at the one end portion of the shaft. The inside limiting piece has protruded portions that extend in the radial direction beyond the inner diameter of the through hole and non-protruded portions located on the inside of the inner diameter of the through hole in the radial direction. The shaft is limited from moving toward one of the pair of side walls as the protruded portions come into contact with the inner surface of one of the pair of side walls but the communication is maintained between the through hole and the interior of the housing owing to the presence of the non-protruded portions. An auxiliary spiral vane is formed on the one end portion of the shaft at a position on the outer side of the inside limiting piece and is located in the through hole to send back the toner that has entered into the through hole to the housing when the shaft is rotated in a predetermined direction.