Abstract: There is described an image forming apparatus comprising a toner container installation section for mounting a toner container which stores the toner, a developing device which develops an electrostatic images formed on an image carrier based on an image information, an operating mechanism which is capable of moving the toner container from a mounting position in the toner container installation section in a predetermined direction when the toner stored in the toner container is not more than a first predetermined amount, and a movement detecting device which detects the movement of the toner container caused by the operating mechanism and outputs movement information.

Abstract: There is described an image forming apparatus comprising a toner container installation section for mounting a toner container which stores the toner, a developing device which develops an electrostatic images formed on an image carrier based on an image information, an operating mechanism which is capable of moving the toner container from a mounting position in the toner container installation section in a predetermined direction when the toner stored in the toner container is not more than a first predetermined amount, and a movement detecting device which detects the movement of the toner container caused by the operating mechanism and outputs movement information.

Abstract: A gear assembly comprises at least two gears, each of which is formed by injection molding and has a plurality of ribs on their bases. The two gears have a gear ratio of 1:N and a ratio of the number of ribs is 1:M (N and M are integers). Alternatively, the two gears are supported in positions where one of ribs on one gear and one of ribs on the other gear lie on the same line at a predetermined number of times while one of gears rotates once. The two gears can also be supported in positions where the ribs on the two gears have predetermined positional relationships so that the two gears rotate at a constant angular speed.