Patent ID: 7925195
Filing Date: 2011-04-12
Classification: G03G,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A developer apparatus, comprising: a housing that stores toner inside; a toner carrier roller that is shaped approximately like a cylinder, is mounted to the housing rotatably about a rotational axis, rotates while carrying toner on a surface thereof to convey the toner to outside the housing, and is provided, on the surface thereof with a plurality of convex sections which are regularly arranged and a concave section which surrounds the convex sections, the convex sections including top surfaces that coincide with a part of a cylindrical surface of a single cylinder; and a seal member that is arranged in abutting contact with the surface of the toner carrier roller moving from the outside the housing toward the inside the housing to prevent toner leakage from the inside the housing, wherein out of surrounding area of the top surface of each of the convex sections, a portion located at front-most in a moving direction associated with rotation of the toner carrier roller is a leading portion of the convex section, and a maximum value of gaps in an axial direction, which is parallel to the rotational axis of the toner carrier roller, between the trajectories which the leading portions of the convex sections follow while the toner carrier roller rotates one round is smaller than a volume average particle diameter of the toner.