Patent ID: 8655234

Claim:
A toner supply assembly to supply toner to an image forming apparatus, the toner supply assembly comprising: a toner container mount provided in the image forming apparatus and including a bottom slide surface on which the toner container slides, a bottom projection projecting from the bottom slide surface, and a pressing member positioned in a lateral side portion of the toner container mount; and a toner container removably installable in the toner container mount horizontally, the toner container including, a cylindrical container body having an opening in one end thereof from which toner contained in the container body is discharged, a cap, into which the end of the container body having the opening is inserted, having a toner outlet to discharge the toner discharged from the container body vertically downward, the cap including a shutter guide rail, a contact portion, and a pressed rail provided on a lateral side of the cap to be pressed by the pressing member of the toner container mount, the pressed rail, and a shutter, slidably held in a bottom portion of the cap, to move horizontally along an outer surface of the cap to open and close the toner outlet, the shutter including a shutter body to engage the shutter guide rail of the cap and slide along the shutter guide rail for opening and closing the toner outlet, and a deformable portion united with the shutter body to deform vertically about a connection portion between the shutter body and the deformable portion, wherein the deformable portion of the shutter includes a stopper to contact the contact portion of the cap for inhibiting the shutter from moving in a direction to open the toner outlet relative to the toner container, and a stopper release projection projecting downward from a bottom surface of the shutter and pressed from below by the bottom projection formed in the toner container mount in conjunction with installation of the toner container, wherein, when the bottom projection formed in the toner container mount presses the stopper release projection, the deformable portion of the shutter deforms upward, disengaging the stopper from the contact portion of the cap, wherein the pressing member of the toner container mount engages and pushes from the lateral side the pressed rail of the cap in conjunction with installation of the toner container to determine a position of the cap in the direction perpendicular to an installation direction in which the toner container is installed relative to the slide bottom surface of the toner container mount, and wherein, while the stopper of the shutter is in contact with the contact portion of the cap, the pressing member of the toner container mount engages the pressed rail of the cap to inhibit the cap from moving upward.