Patent ID: 8050599

Claim:
A toner cartridge comprising: a toner receptacle that houses toner; and a stirring mechanism that stirs the toner in the toner receptacle, the stirring mechanism including (1) a pair of stirring members that rotate in the toner receptacle, (2) a scraper attached to each of the stirring members that scrapes off toner adhering to an inner surface of the toner receptacle, (3) a pair of gears rotating together with the stirring members, the gears meshing with each other outside of the toner receptacle and thereby rotating the stirring members synchronously with each other, each of the gears including an end surface exposed to the outside of the toner receptacle, (4) a phase display section that shows a meshing position of the gears so that the gears mesh with each other at a position where a phase difference along a rotating direction of the stirring members occurs between the scrapers of the stirring members that are next to each other, the phase display section including a first mark and a second mark displayed on the end surface of each of the gears, the first mark being provided at a position corresponding to the scraper, and the second mark being provided at a position which is shifted in a rotating direction of the stirring member with respect to the scraper.