Patents Examined by George E. Wendal, Jr.
  • Patent number: 6009291
    Abstract: A toner cartridge (1) contains a photoconductive drum (49) having a central shaft (47). Gear (145) turns with the drum and has a stud (602). A coil spring (604) is mounted on the stud to form a spring clutch which is unwound by the rotation of the drum during imaging. Alternatively, a flat frictional surface is pressed against the side wall (600b) of the gear. Both contact areas have a light grease. The drag forces provide accurate, smooth operation during imaging.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 28, 1999
    Assignee: Lexmark International, Inc.
    Inventors: Steven Alan Curry, Paul Douglas Horrall, David Lee Merrifield, Daniel George Mlejnek, James John Molloy, Harald Portig, Gregory Lawrence Ream, Richard Andrew Seman, Jr.
  • Patent number: 5913093
    Abstract: Structure is provided to efficiently discharge sheets outputted from an image forming apparatus to a plurality of bins. In a copier, for an original supplied from a document feeder, an image forming apparatus forms an image on a sheet supplied from a sheet feeder, and the sheet is discharged through a sheet discharging port. A sheet outputting apparatus receives discharged sheets through a sheet receiving port. In accordance with information of a job relating to the sheets copied supplied through an operation panel, a control unit causes the sheets to be distributed to be discharged to a plurality of bins. The number of acceptable sheets to each bin is detected by a detecting device. A control unit controls discharge of sheets to that the number of bins is a minimum, so that discharge to bins is easily conducted in a subsequent copying job.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 1997
    Date of Patent: June 15, 1999
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takashi Yamanaka, Toyoaki Nanba, Tomomi Tanaka, Masao Matsui