Process cartridge mounting and demounting mechanism and process cartridge

A mounting and demounting mechanism for a process cartridge detachably mountable to a main assembly of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, said process cartridge including an electrophotographic photosensitive member and a process means actable on said electrophotographic photosensitive member, and the electrophotographic image forming apparatus including a transfer roller for transferring an image onto a recording material,

• said mounting and demounting mechanism comprising:
• an opening through which said process cartridge is mounted and demounted;
• an opening and closing member for opening and closing said opening;
• a cartridge mounting member for demountably mounting said process cartridge;
• a mounting member holding means for holding, for movement in interrelation with opening and closing operation of said opening and closing member, said cartridge mounting member a first position in which said process cartridge is detachably mountable and a second position in which said process cartridge is capable of image forming operation,
• wherein said cartridge mounting member is moved from the first position to the second position by said mounting member holding means in an earlier part of closing operation of said opening and closing member from a full-open state, and said process cartridge is mounted in a direction crossing with a nip formed between said electrophotographic photosensitive member and said transfer roller;
• and said cartridge mounting member is moved from the second position to the first position by said mounting member holding means in a latter part of opening operation from a full-close state of said opening and closing member.

A mounting and demounting mechanism for a process cartridge detachably mountable to a main assembly of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, said process cartridge including an electrophotographic photosensitive member, process means actable on said electrophotographic photosensitive member, a cartridge frame supporting said electrophotographic photosensitive member and/or said process means, and a shatter member, supported on said cartridge frame, movable between a first orientation in which a surface of said electrophotographic photosensitive member is not exposed and a second orientation in which a surface of said electrophotographic photosensitive member is exposed;

• an opening through which said process cartridge is mounted and demounted;
• an opening and closing member for opening and closing said opening;
• a cartridge mounting member for detachably mounting said process cartridge and movable between optical means and feeding means;
• mounting member holding means for holding said cartridge mounting member in interrelation with opening and closing operation of said opening and closing member, said mounting member holding means positions said cartridge mounting member at a first position in which said process cartridge is detachably mountable when said opening and closing member is in an opening state and positions said cartridge mounting member at a second position in which said process cartridge is capable of image forming operation when said opening and closing member is in an opening state,
• wherein when said cartridge mounting member moves in interrelation with opening and closing operations of said opening and closing member, said shutter member which is provided on said cartridge mounting member, moves to the first orientation and to the second orientation.

A process cartridge detachably mountable to a main assembly of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, sad electrophotographic image forming apparatus including an opening and closing member movable between an opening position and a closing position, and a first main assembly side guide and a second main assembly side guide movable in interrelation with opening and closing operation of said opening and closing member, comprising:

• an electrophotographic photosensitive drum;
• process means actable on said photosensitive drum;
• a first cartridge frame portion extended in a mounting direction in which said cartridge dismounted to the main assembly of said apparatus and provided at one axial end of said electrophotographic photosensitive drum;
• a first cartridge guide, projected from said first cartridge frame portion, for conveying said cartridge toward a mounting position by movement of said first main assembly side guide while being supported on the first main assembly side guide;
• a second cartridge frame portion extended in the mounting direction at the other axial end portion of said photosensitive drum;
• a first cartridge guide, projected from said first cartridge frame portion, for conveying said cartridge toward a mounting position by movement of said first main assembly side guide while being supported on the first main assembly side guide;
• a first cartridge positioning portion for positioning said process cartridge to the main assembly of said apparatus when said process cartridge is mounted to the main assembly of the apparatus, said first cartridge positioning portion being projected outwardly from said first cartridge frame portion coaxially with said photosensitive drum at one axial end or said photosensitive drum and being engageable with a main assembly positioning portion provided in the main assembly of the apparatus;
• a second cartridge positioning portion for positioning said process cartridge to the main assembly of said apparatus when said process cartridge is mounted to the main assembly of the apparatus, said second cartridge positioning portion being projected outwardly from said second cartridge frame portion coaxially with said photosensitive drum at one axial end or said photosensitive drum and being engageable with a main assembly positioning portion provided in the main assembly of the apparatus;
• a movable shutter for protecting a portion of said photosensitive drum exposed through said cartridge frame, said shutter being movable between a protecting position in which said shutter covers said photosensitive drum and a retracted position in which said shutter is retracted from said protection position;
• a first projection contactable to a first contact portion provided in t main assembly of the apparatus to move said shutter from said protecting position to said retracted position when said cartridge is conveyed toward said mounting position by movement of said first main assembly side guide and said second main assembly side guide, said first projection being projected upwardly from a side which takes a top side when said cartridge is conveyed;
• and
• a second projection contactable to a second contact portion provided in the main assembly of t said apparatus to maintain said shutter at t said retracted position when said cartridge is conveyed, said second projection is projected in a longitudinal direction of said cartridge frame,
• wherein said first cartridge guide, said second projection and said first projection are disposed in this order with respect to the longitudinal direction of said cartridge frame.

A process cartridge mounting mechanism for mounting a process cartridge to a main assembly of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, said process cartridge mounting mechanism comprising:

• (a) a process cartridge including,
• an electrophotographic photosensitive drum;
• process means actable on said electrophotographic photosensitive drum;
• a cartridge frame for supporting said electrophotographic photosensitive drum and said process means;
• first and second cartridge guides, projected from opposite sides of said cartridge frame, for being supported by a first main assembly side guide and a second main assembly side guide;
• a first cartridge positioning portion projected from said cartridge frame coaxially with a rotational axis of said electrophotographic photosensitive drum;
• and
• a second cartridge positioning portion;
• (b) an electrophotographic image forming apparatus including,
• an opening through which said process cartridge is mounted and demounted;
• an opening and closing member for opening and closing said opening;
• wherein the first main assembly side guide and the second main assembly side guide are provided on opposite inner sides of said opening and are movable while supporting said first cartridge guide and second cartridge guide in interrelation with opening and closing operation of said opening and closing member;
• a first main assembly positioning portion for supporting a positioning portion of said process cartridge;
• a second main assembly positioning portion;
• and
• a transfer roller urged by an urging member toward said electrophotographic photosensitive drum;
• wherein when said opening and closing member is at an opening position, said first main assembly side guide and second main assembly side guide takes an inclined downward direction in a process cartridge inserting direction, and said process cartridge is inserted in the inclined downward direction along the main assembly side guide, and wherein said first main assembly side guide and said second main assembly side guide supporting said process cartridge conveys said electrophotographic photosensitive drum substantially in a horizontal direction, and when said electrophotographic photosensitive drum reaches a neighborhood of said transfer roller, said first main assembly side guide and said second main assembly side guide changes the feeding direction such that electrophotographic photosensitive drum is conveyed in an inclined downward direction toward said transfer roller.