Patent ID: 7995954

Claim:
A developing device, comprising: a developer container casing; a developer bearing member housed partially within the developer container casing and rotated while bearing developer on a surface thereof to supply toner to a latent image to develop the latent image with the toner; a supply path inside the developer container casing to convey the developer in an axial direction of the developer bearing member while supplying the developer to the developer bearing member; a supply conveyance member disposed within the supply path to apply a force to the developer in the supply path to convey the developer; a recovery path inside the developer container casing to return the developer reaching a downstream end of the supply path to an upstream end of the supply path relative to a direction of conveyance of the developer; and a recovery conveyance member disposed within the recovery path to apply a force to the developer in the recovery path to convey the developer, an interior of the developer container casing being divided by a partition that separates and defines the supply path and the recovery path, the partition containing a hole through which the supply path and the recovery path communicate, a bottom surface of the supply path tilted such that the bottom surface at the downstream end of the supply path relative to the direction of conveyance of the developer is lower than the bottom surface at the upstream end of the supply path, wherein a bottom surface of the recovery path is tilted such that the bottom surface at a downstream end of the recovery path relative to the direction of conveyance of the developer is higher than the bottom surface at an upstream end of the recovery path.