Source: https://insight.rpxcorp.com/pat/US20160109828A1
Timestamp: 2020-08-10 12:28:45
Document Index: 245146800

Matched Legal Cases: ['arts 38', 'arts 35', 'arts 38', 'arts 38', 'arts 38', 'arts 38', 'art 38', 'art 38', 'arts 38', 'art 154', 'art 154', 'art 154', 'art 154', 'art 153', 'art 153']

Patent US 20160109828A1
13. An image-forming device, comprising:
a photosensitive body held by the holding member;
a developing unit having a developer material bearing body, the developer material bearing body being configured to bear developer material thereon and supply developer material from the developer material bearing body to a surface of the photosensitive body;
a developer cartridge that can be mounted in and detached from the developing unit and that has a case and a shutter, the case being formed with a through-hole, through which developer material accommodated inside the case is supplied to the developing unit, the shutter being configured so as to be capable of moving between an open position opening the through-hole and a closed position closing the through-hole; and
a developing unit movement control mechanism that is configured to allow the developing unit to move in a pressing direction for pressing the developer material bearing body against the photosensitive body when the shutter is in the open position and to restrict the movement in the pressing direction when the shutter is in the closed position.
14. The image-forming device as claimed in claim 13, wherein the developing unit movement control mechanism includes:
a first operating member that is provided to the developer cartridge and that is coupled to the shutter;
a second operating member that is provided to the developing unit, that has a guided portion, and that is configured to be engaged with the first operating member when the developer cartridge is mounted in the developing unit; and
a guiding member that is provided to the holding member and that is configured to be in a guiding orientation extending in the pressing direction to guide the guided portion in the pressing direction when the shutter is in the open position, and to be in a non-guiding orientation extending in a direction intersecting the pressing direction to restrict movement of the guided portion in the pressing direction when the shutter is in the closed position.
15. The image-forming device as claimed in claim 14, whereinthe first operating member is configured to rotate together with the shutter,the second operating member is configured to rotate together with the first operating member when the second operating member is engaged with the first operating member, andthe guiding member is configured to rotate relative to the holding member, andwherein when the guiding member is rotated from the guiding orientation to the non-guiding orientation, the guiding member rotates the first operating member and the second operating member to move the shutter from the open position to the closed position, while moving rotational centers of the first operating member and the second operating member in a direction to separate the developer material bearing body away from the photosensitive body.
FIG. 7 is a left side view of the drawer unit, while showing the cross-section of the outer conveying unit, in which the outer shutter is in an open position;
The drawer unit 3 is provided with a drawer frame 5. Four photosensitive drums 6 are rotatably retained in the drawer frame 5. More specifically, the photosensitive drums 6 are retained in the drawer frame 5 so that the peripheral surfaces of the photosensitive drums 6 are capable of circulating about axes extending in the left-to-right direction. The four photosensitive drums 6 are respectively provided for the colors black, yellow, magenta, and cyan and are arranged at regular intervals along the front-to-rear direction from the front to the rear according to the order of colors given above. In other words, the photosensitive drums 6 are juxtaposed with one another and arm arranged spaced apart from one another by the same gap in the front-to-rear direction.
As shown in FIG. 2, guide parts 38 are provided in the main casing 2. The guided parts 35 are guided within the respective guide parts 38 as the drawer unit 3 is moved into and out of the main casing 2. The guide parts 38 are positioned below the exposure device 12 and extend in the front-to-rear direction. In a side view, the guide parts 38 have an angular C-shape that is elongated in the front-to-rear direction and open on the front side. The bottom portion of the guide parts 38 is a step lower near the rear end. The lower stepped portion of the guide part 38 is longer than the interval between the two rollers 36. A stopper arm 39 is attached to the front end of each guide part 38 on the upper portion thereof. The stopper arms 39 extend in the front-to-rear direction and are pivotably disposed on the guide parts 38 so that their front ends can move up and down. Springs 40 urge the front ends of the respective stopper arms 39 downward. An engaging protrusion is formed on the front end of each stopper arm 39. The engaging protrusions are V-shaped in a side view and protrude downward.
An auger 120 is disposed inside the waste toner conveying chamber 117. The auger 120 is configured of an auger shaft 121 extending in the left-to-right direction, and an auger screw 122 formed in a helical shape around the circumference of the auger shaft 121. The right end of the auger shaft 121 is rotatably supported in the right side plate 32. The left end of the auger shaft 121 extends farther leftward than the left edge of the chamber wall 118.
3-1. Black Toner Unit
As shown in FIGS. 15 through 18, the black toner unit 11 has a case 151. The case 151 has a larger font-to-rear dimension than a case 201 of the yellow, magenta, and cyan toner units 11 described later.
In the toner unit 11 for each of yellow, magenta, and cyan, the auger 209 and agitators 212 and 213 are rotated. The rotating agitators 212 and 213 supply toner from the case 201 of the toner unit 11 into the inner cylindrical body 206. The rotating auger 209 conveys toner received in the inner cylindrical body 206 toward the center of the inner cylindrical body 206 in left and right directions so that the toner is supplied into the developing chamber 63 of the developing unit 8 primarily through the center second inner-body-side supply through-hole 208 and center second outer-body-side supply through-hole 204.
Waste toner transferred to the sheet-conveying belt 13 is recovered by the belt cleaner 10. Specifically, a first cleaning bias and a second cleaning bias are respectively supplied to the primary belt cleaning roller 111 and secondary belt cleaning roller 112. When waste toner on the sheet-conveying belt 13 moves opposite the primary belt cleaning roller 111, the toner is attracted to the primary belt cleaning roller 111. The waste toner transferred onto the primary belt cleaning roller 111 is subsequently attracted to the secondary belt cleaning roller 112. When the waste toner carried on the secondary belt cleaning roller 112 rotates against the scraper 119, the waste toner is scraped off the secondary belt cleaning miller 112 by the scraper 119 and falls into the waste toner conveying chamber 117.
(7-1) As described above, the color printer 1 is provided with the endless sheet-conveying belt 13. The sheet-conveying belt 13 is arranged to confront all four of the photosensitive drums 6 at the same time. The color printer 1 is also provided with the belt cleaner 10 and the waste toner accommodating part 154. The belt cleaner 10 removes toner to be discarded from the sheet-conveying belt 13 and collects this toner. A mechanism for conveying waste toner is connected to the belt cleaner 10 and waste toner accommodating part 154 and includes the auger 120, outer conveying unit 131, and upper conveying member 171. This waste toner conveying mechanism conveys waste toner collected by the belt cleaner 10 from the belt cleaner 10 to the waste toner accommodating part 154. The waste toner accommodating part 154 is integrated with the toner accommodating part 153 of the black toner unit 11. The developing roller 66 provided in the black developing unit 8 supplies toner accommodated in the toner accommodating part 153 to the corresponding photosensitive drum 6.
Further, by coupling the operating lever 180 to a portion of the shutter 178 in the left-to-right center thereof, the operating lever 180 is easy to operate. Further, the operating lever 180 can be used as a grip when moving the toner unit 11 to prevent the toner unit 11 from tipping left or right.
10-1. First Variation
As shown in FIG. 34, the belt cleaner 10 may be configured so that the primary belt cleaning miler 111 contacts the upper flat portion of the sheet-conveying belt 13 near the front end thereof. In this case, a backup roller 221 is disposed in a position confronting the primary belt cleaning roller 111 through the flat portion of the sheet-conveying belt 13.
An auger 404 is disposed inside the case 402. The auger 404 is configured of an auger shaft 405 oriented in the left-to-right direction, and an auger screw 406 that is formed in a helical shape around the circumference of the auger shaft 405.
The right end of the auger shaft 405 is rotatably supported in the right side plate 32 (see FIG. 8).