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:
May. 26, 2009
Filed:
Mar. 22, 2006
Atsuyuki Katoh, Tenri, JP;
Hiroshi Ishii, Osaka, JP;
Atsuyuki Katoh, Tenri, JP;
Hiroshi Ishii, Osaka, JP;
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
An isolating wall is provided for isolating, from a space outside the isolation wall, a space including: a photosensitive drum; a developing unit; a charging device; a transfer device; and a fixing device. With this configuration, the space in which powder toner (toner which is not fixed on a recording material by the fixing device) is present is isolated from the space outside the isolation wall. Thus, in an image forming apparatus using powder developer, this configuration makes it possible to (i) prevent the floating toner from going out of the image forming apparatus, or (ii) prevent the floating toner from deteriorating a function of the image forming apparatus.