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:
Nov. 18, 2003
Filed:
Oct. 17, 2001
Noriyuki Tajima, Hirakata, JP;
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
On each of inner surfaces of left and right side plates of an apparatus main body, guide rails for restricting a moving track of development units during the rotation of a carriage are provided. The guide rails are formed to have a downwardly-bent arc shape whose center corresponds to the rotation center of the carriage, and both ends of the development units are supported by these guide rails. The development units can be prevented from dropping out of the carriage without any lock mechanism, thus achieving a color image forming apparatus in which the development units can be attached/removed easily. The position of the developing units may be restricted using a unit positioning pin. The unit positioning pins may be moved in a direction parallel to a rotation axis of the carriage, thereby restricting the position of the developing unit in a particular direction.