Patent ID: 7904004

Claim:
A method of filling a powder into a powder supplying device comprising: a housing that accommodates the powder; a rotating member disposed rotatably within the housing; a sheet-shaped conveying member fixed to the rotating member, whose free end side region, which is different from a fixed portion, slidingly-contacts and moves along an inner wall of the housing by rotation of the rotating member to convey the powder and is configured to contact an upper face of the inner wall of the housing after passing through the powder; and a powder supply opening provided at the housing at a downstream side in a direction of conveying the powder, wherein, as seen from an axial direction of the rotating member, the housing has a substantially flat-rectangle shape and a length of a planar floor wall is longer than a length of a side wall of the housing, the housing has a curved all extending from a lower portion of the side wall to planar floor wall, the powder supply opening is provided on the curved wall and a slope is formed on the powder supply opening provided at the curved wall of the housing, the rotating member is disposed at a predetermined position apart from the planar floor wall and the side wall, the method comprising filling, into the housing, the powder in an amount such that, at a time when usage of the powder supplying device starts, a height of the powder is greater than or equal to a height of a bottom surface of the rotating member.