Abstract: A developer supply container detachably mountable to an image forming apparatus, includes a container body, having a non-circular cross-section, for containing a developer, the container body having an arcuate portion and an extension upwardly extending from the arcuate portion; a discharge opening, formed in the arcuate portion for discharging the developer from the container body; a stirring member for stirring the developer in the container body, the stirring member having a rotation shaft provided in the arcuate portion and a flexible resin material sheet mounted on the rotation shaft; wherein the flexible resin material sheet includes a feeding blade for feeding the developer toward the discharge opening, the feeding blade being slidable relative to an inner surface of the arcuate portion and being non-slidable relative to a ceiling portion of an inner surface of the extension, and includes a stirring blade for stirring the developer, the stirring being slidable relative to a ceiling portion of the inner

Abstract: The positioning of an image read sensor for accurately reading the toner image on the belt member becomes easy. The image read sensor 21 is located on the supporting frame 26 provided to the casing of the image forming apparatus so that it faces the belt member such as an intermediate transfer belt 45 between the driving roller 46 and follower roller 48 when the belt unit is mounted to the casing of the apparatus. The supporting frame 26 is provided with shaft supporting recesses 27. The shaft member is supported for rotation in the belt unit such that it contacts the inside surface of the belt member and pushes the belt member outward at the position it faces the image read sensor across the belt member when the belt unit is mounted to the casing of the apparatus.

Abstract: A charging device including: a charging roller having a metal cylinder and an elastic layer located on the metal cylinder; a cleaner configured to clean the charging roller, which includes an electroconductive brush roller including a roller having a shaft; and hair located overlying the roller, wherein the hair includes a fiber which has a width of from 0.1 to 20 denier, and a length of from 0.3 to 2.5 mm and which is planted at a density of from 7,000 to 46,000 lines/cm2, and a member configured to impart substantially the same potential as that of the charging roller to the electroconductive brush roller when a bias voltage is applied to the charging roller. A process cartridge and an image forming apparatus including the charging device are also provided.

Abstract: A housing assembly includes a housing having an access opening and a cover movable between a closed position wherein the cover generally covers the access opening and an open position wherein the cover generally does not cover the access opening. The assembly further includes a protrusion located on one of the housing or the cover, and a track located on the other one of the housing or the cover. The protrusion is slidably received in the track, and the track forms a generally closed loop shape such that the protrusion slides in the track when the cover is moved between the open and the closed positions. Additionally ramps may be provided on portions of the track to provide user feed back and to inhibit reverse motion of the protrusion.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus operable to perform functions. The functions include a function involving a printing operation. The apparatus includes an activator for activating a function. A determiner determines whether the activated function is the function involving the printing operation. The apparatus includes an image forming unit for forming an image on a print medium. A fuser can fuse the image on the print medium with heat. A controller controls the fuser to start heating if the activated function involves the printing operation.

Abstract: A fusing apparatus and method for an image forming apparatus comprise a housing, a first roller mounted in the housing, a second roller rotated in contact with the first roller, a heater movably mounted in at least one of the first and the second rollers and comprising a first heater and a second heater, a first power supplying terminal and a second power supplying terminal movably supported in the housing, and a pair of connection units movably supported in the housing to connect the respective heater terminals to the corresponding power supplying terminals. The power supplying terminals and the connection units have a predetermined gap with an outer surface of the housing, such that when the housing expands in a lengthwise or horizontal direction of the heater, the outer surface of the housing tightly contacts with at least one of the heater terminals, the power supplying terminals and the connection units, thereby fixing or securing the heater in the housing.

Abstract: A method and apparatus to prevent a transfer roller from being contaminated by toner in an image forming system, the method comprising setting a print region for a scanning operation according to a comparison result between a previous paper size in a paper cassette and a paper size in a driver; determining a current paper size in the paper cassette based on a time when front and rear ends of the paper are detected by a paper feeding sensor; comparing the current paper size in the paper cassette with the paper size in the driver; and if the paper size in the driver size is larger than the paper size in the paper cassette and the print region for the previous paper size in the paper cassette has not been set, determining a separation time of a transfer roller from a transfer belt in consideration of a delay time when the transfer roller is mechanically separated from the transfer belt after a separation command is applied to the transfer roller.

Abstract: A color-image forming device is provided with: a color-image forming unit for forming a color image by superimposing a plurality of images corresponding to a plurality of colors onto a recording medium. An automatic color-drift correction executes color-drift correction of color drift generated during the superimposition of the images. A color-drift correction execution interval setting unit variably sets the color-drift correction execution intervals, at which intervals the automatic color-drift correction executes the color-drift correction. The functions of the automatic color-drift correction and the color-drift correction execution interval setting unit are realized by the system control unit.

Abstract: A developer supply apparatus includes a holding member for detachably holding a developer supply container having a developer discharge opening and a sealing member for sealing the developer discharge opening; a rotatable member rotatably supported on the holding member; a converting mechanism, provided at a connecting portion between the rotatable member and the holding member, for converting a rotation of the rotatable member to a sliding operation of the holding member; wherein the sealing member moves from a closing position to an opening position by the sliding operation.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention can suppress overshoot by shifting the OFF timing of the central heater lamp from that of the end heater lamp or the recovering timing of the central heater lamp from that of the end heater lamp, when the heating member at a second temperature dropped from a first temperature (optimum fixing temperature) is returned to the first temperature again.

Abstract: A method of preventing a flow pattern in a wet-type color image forming apparatus and a system adopting the same includes a material layer directly contacting a developing roller of a developing unit of a photosensitive body of the image forming apparatus and having a thickness of 7–15 ?m. A size of an essential composition used for representing corresponding one of colors in high-concentration ink is 0.7–1.5 ?m. A hold up volume is not formed between the developing roller and the photosensitive body during a developing process, and a flow pattern such as a stripe, is not formed in a final image, and even though the flow pattern is formed in the final image, the flow pattern can be minimized.

Abstract: A developer cartridge includes: a casing that stores a developer and is provided with a window hole; a stopper nail provided adjacent to the window holes; and a window member having a transmission portion that transmits light passing through the window hole, and a stopped portion in which the stopper nail is fitted, wherein the window member is closely retained in the window hole by fitting the stopper nail in the stopped portion.

Abstract: In order to collect sufficiently the toner in the toner collecting section so as to prevent the toner from overflowing from the toner collecting section, a toner collection apparatus is provided. The toner collection apparatus comprises a removing member for removing the toner in the toner carrier; a toner collecting section which is used for collecting the toner and has displacement section displaced corresponding to the piled amount of the toner; and the detecting section for detecting the displacement of the displacement section.

Abstract: A color image forming apparatus includes a developing unit to which a developing bias with an AC component superposed is applied, wherein the DC voltage of the developing bias is adjusted to set the detected density of a solid image at a specified value, the light amount of radiation for exposing an image area having a width of a few dots adjacent to the white paper is adjusted to set the detected density of an image developed under a peripheral electric field at a specified value, and the gradation density curve is regulated by alternately adjusting the DC voltage, the light amount of radiation for exposing the image area having a width of a few dots adjacent to the white paper, and the amplitude of the AC component until the detected density of a mesh point image having an area ratio from 60 to 80% falls within a specified range.

Abstract: A printing device is capable of externally detecting: (a) a toner concentration in a developing unit; and (b) a reduction in the usable amount of toner. This eliminates the conventional need of disposing the toner concentration sensor in a narrow developing unit or the need of disposing the toner remaining amount detection sensor in the toner supply unit. Further, it is possible to detect reduction in the amount of toner every time the toner in the developing unit is out, thereby detecting reduction in the usable amount of toner stepwise and issuing an adequate warning whose level is changed depending on the detection result. Thus, the printing device meets the need for miniaturization and is capable of favorably performing printing operation and maintenance work.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member that bears a toner image; an intermediate transferring material; a transferring unit that transfers a toner image on the image bearing member to the intermediate transferring material; a bias applying unit that applies a bias to the transferring unit; a cleaning unit that contacts and cleans the surface of the image bearing member; a toner supplying unit that, when an image is not being formed, passes a toner image for supply that is formed on the image bearing member through a transferring position to supply the toner image for supply to the cleaning unit; and a switching unit that switches from a state in which the power supply portion is electrically connected to the bias applying unit to a state in which a resistance value between the power supply portion and a ground is 100 M? or more.

Abstract: A first component part formed of a first styrene resin composition and a second component part formed of a second styrene resin composition are fastened by solvent welding by means of a terpene type solvent, to provide a cartridge which is almost free of deformation at the peripheries of joints, has a high positioning precision for component parts and has a high rigidity.

Abstract: A toner cartridge used with an electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes a developing roller that develops an electrostatic latent image formed on an outer circumferential surface of a photosensitive drum, a toner supplying roller that supplies toner onto the developing roller, a main chamber that stores the toner, a guide member that is disposed under the toner supplying roller to receive the toner and to guide the toner toward the developing roller, a toner recovery chamber that is formed under the guide member to form a space where the toner remaining on the guide member, which is not supplied to the developing roller, can accumulate, a recovery roller that rotates in the toner recovery chamber to return the toner in the toner recovery chamber to the main chamber, and a toner blocking film that is installed on a lower portion of the guide member to prevent the toner from directly leaking to the toner recovery chamber.

Abstract: A developing method of the present invention is practicable with a developing unit of the type including a rotatable, nonmagnetic sleeve and a rigid metering member. A two ingredient type developer made up of magnetic carrier grains and toner grains is magnetically deposited on the sleeve. The metering member meters the amount of the developer deposited on the sleeve. The sleeve has surface roughness Rz ranging from 5 ?m to 20 ?m. The carrier grains each are covered with a coating layer containing at least binder resin and grains. The ratio of the diameter D of the individual grain contained in the coating layer to the thickness h of the binder resin layer lies in the range of 1<D/h<10. The carrier grains have a weight-mean grain size ranging from 20 ?m to 60 ?m.

Abstract: An image forming method including a charging step, a latent image forming step, a developing step, a transfer step, and a cleaning step, wherein remaining toner recovered in the cleaning step is used as recycled toner, and a ratio of the recycled toner to a total amount of supply toner supplied to a developer is 15% by weight or greater.