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:
Oct. 14, 2014
Filed:
Jan. 19, 2012
Hideji Hayashi, Okazaki, JP;
Hideji Hayashi, Okazaki, JP;
Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc., Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
In a transport pipe having a first opening portion through which toner is fed in from a toner hopper and a second opening portion through which the toner is discharged to a development device, a transport screw in which a helical blade is formed on a rotational shaft is rotatably provided. The width of the first opening portion in the direction of the rotational shaft is greater than the pitch (L) of the blade at the first opening portion, and, at the downstream end of the first opening portion in the transport direction, the pitch of the blade is switched from the pitch (L) to a pitch (L) which is narrower than the pitch (L). In this way, the amount of transport of the toner from the toner hopper to the development device with the transport screw is stabilized.