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:
Dec. 22, 1998
Filed:
Aug. 01, 1997
Hirotaka Hatta, Ebina, JP;
Shigemi Kanda, Atsugi, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A toner magazine for feeding a developing device including in an electrophotographic apparatus, and a cleaner and toner magazine (CTM) including a cleaning unit and a developing unit are disclosed. The cleaning unit has a cleaning blade for removing toner remaining on a photoconductive element and collecting it as waste toner. The developing unit has a fresh toner tank for storing fresh toner. The toner magazine and CTM are easy to handle and facilitate replacement and maintenance. The fresh toner tank is capable of storing a great amount of toner therein without increasing the overall size of the toner magazine and CTM. The toner magazine and CTM can be recycled by a simple procedure and reduce the amount of a seal material used to prevent the toner from leaking.