Back to results
US 10,310,411 B2Granted
Image forming apparatus
AssigneeSharp Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorTakeshi Okuda
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes a cartridge storage portion that is installed in an image forming apparatus main body, and a toner cartridge that is configured so as to be able to be inserted into and removed from the cartridge storage portion. The cartridge storage portion has a storage opening that receives the toner cartridge, and has a gap between an end part of the toner cartridge and the storage opening, through which the end part of the toner cartridge is not able to be held, when the toner cartridge is stored in the cartridge storage portion.
Claims8
An image forming apparatus, comprising:
- a cartridge driver that is installed in an image forming apparatus main body;
- a toner cartridge that is configured so as to be removable from the cartridge driver, wherein an area of the toner cartridge when viewed from a horizontal direction becomes smaller from a front of the toner cartridge to a periphery of the front of the toner cartridge, and
- a lock member controller that determines whether or not replacement of the toner cartridge is necessary, wherein
- the cartridge driver has a locking member to prevent the toner cartridge from being detached from the cartridge driver, and
- the locking member is released when the lock member controller determines that it is necessary to replace the toner cartridge and the toner cartridge can be removed.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.