Process cartridge and image forming apparatus

A process cartridge detachably mountable to a main body of an image forming apparatus having a plurality of cartridge mounting portions for mounting process cartridges thereon, and an openable and closable door, the process cartridge comprising:

• an electrophotographic photosensitive drum;
• at least one process means for acting on the electrophotographic photosensitive drum;
• a cartridge frame holding the electrophotographic photosensitive drum and the process means and exposing a portion of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum;
• a shutter member provided for movement between a protection position in which it protects an exposed portion, which is the portion of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum exposed out of the cartridge frame, and a retraction position in which it is retracted from the protection position to expose the electrophotographic photosensitive drum out of the cartridge frame;
• and
• a shutter opening and closing link mechanism for moving the shutter member in operative association with opening and closing operations of the openable and closable door when the process cartridge is mounted to one of the plurality of cartridge mounting portions of the main body of the image forming apparatus,
• wherein the retraction position of the shutter member is set at a position in which it does not hinder image formation between the cartridge frame and the openable and closable door and between adjacent process cartridges.

An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium with a plurality of process cartridges detachably mounted thereto, comprising:

• a plurality of cartridge mounting portions for detachably mounting thereto the process cartridges each having an electrophotographic photosensitive drum, at least one process means for acting on the electrophotographic photosensitive drum, a cartridge frame holding the electrophotographic photosensitive drum and the process means, and exposing a portion of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum, a shutter member provided for movement between a protection position in which it protects an exposed portion, which is the portion of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum exposed out of the cartridge frame, and a retraction position in which it is downwardly retracted from the protection position to expose the electrophotographic photosensitive drum out of the cartridge frame, and a shutter opening and closing link mechanism for moving the shutter member;
• an openable and closable door;
• and
• a main body side shutter opening and closing mechanism for operating the shutter opening and closing link mechanism of each of the process cartridges mounted to the cartridge mounting portions, in operative association with opening and closing operations of the openable and closable door to thereby move the shutter member between the protection position and the retraction position.

A process cartridge detachably mountable to a main body of an image forming apparatus having a cartridge mounting portion for mounting the process cartridge thereto, and an openable and closable door disposed in proximity to the cartridge mounting portion, the process cartridge comprising:

• an electrophotographic photosensitive drum;
• at least one process means for acting on the electrophotographic photosensitive drum;
• a cartridge frame holding the electrophotographic photosensitive drum and the process means, and exposing a portion of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum;
• a shutter member provided for movement between a protection position in which it protects an exposed portion, which is the portion of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum exposed out of the cartridge frame, and a retraction position in which it is downwardly retracted from the protection position to expose the electrophotographic photosensitive drum out of the cartridge frame;
• a shutter opening and closing link mechanism for moving the shutter member in operative association with the opening and closing operation of the openable and closable door when the process cartridge is mounted on the cartridge mounting portion of the main body of the image forming apparatus;
• and
• grips provided on opposite end portions of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum in a longitudinal direction of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum while protruding in a mounting and dismounting direction of the process cartridge, and adapted to be grasped in case of the mounting and dismounting of the process cartridge,
• wherein the shutter member is passed between the grips and moved between the protecting position and the retraction position with its surface side opposed to the electrophotographic photosensitive drum being opposed to the cartridge frame, and
• the shutter opening and closing link mechanism has a shutter shaft member having its opposite end portions pivotally supported on opposite end portions of the cartridge frame, and having its central portion pivotally coupled to the shutter member, and a shutter opening and closing arm having its central portion pivotally supported on the cartridge frame, and having one end portion thereof pivotally coupled to the shutter member, and is designed such that the other end portion of the shutter opening and closing arm is moved to thereby pivotally move the shutter opening and closing arm, thereby moving the shutter member between the protection position and the retraction position.

A process cartridge detachably mountable to a main body of an image forming apparatus having a plurality of cartridge mounting portions for mounting process cartridges thereto, and an openable and closable door, the process cartridge comprising:

• an electrophotographic photosensitive drum;
• at least one process means for acting on the electrophotographic photosensitive drum;
• a cartridge frame holding the electrophotographic photosensitive drum and the process means, and exposing a portion of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum;
• a shutter member provided for movement between a protection position in which it protects an exposed portion, which is the portion of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum exposed out of the cartridge frame, and a retraction position in which it is retracted from the protection position to expose the electrophotographic photosensitive drum out of the cartridge frame,
• wherein the retraction position is set at a position in which the shutter member does not hinder image formation between the cartridge frame and the openable and closable door and between adjacent process cartridges;
• a shutter opening and closing link mechanism for moving the shutter member in operative association with the opening and closing operation of the openable and closable door when the process cartridge is mounted to one of the plurality of cartridge mounting portions of the main body of the image forming apparatus;
• and
• grips provided on opposite end portions of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum in a longitudinal direction of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum while protruding in a mounting and dismounting direction of the process cartridge, and adapted to be grasped in case of the mounting and dismounting of the process cartridge,
• wherein the shutter member is passed between the grips and moved between the protecting position and the retraction position with its surface side opposed to the electrophotographic photosensitive drum being opposed to the cartridge frame, and
• wherein the shutter opening and closing link mechanism has a shutter shaft member having its opposite end portions pivotally supported on opposite sides of the cartridge frame, and having its central portion pivotally coupled to the shutter member, and a shutter opening and closing arm having its central portion pivotally supported on the cartridge frame, and having one end portion thereof pivotally coupled to the shutter member, and is designed such that the other end portion of the shutter opening and closing arm is moved to thereby pivotally move the shutter opening and closing arm, thereby moving the shutter member between the protection position and the retraction position.

An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium with a process cartridge detachably mounted thereto, comprising:

• a cartridge mounting portion for detachably mounting thereto the process cartridge having an electrophotographic photosensitive drum, at least one process means for acting on the electrophotographic photosensitive drum, a cartridge frame holding the electrophotographic photosensitive drum and the process means and exposing a portion of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum, a shutter member provided for movement between a protection position in which it protects an exposed portion, which is the portion of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum exposed out of the cartridge frame, and a retraction position in which it is downwardly retracted from the protection position to expose the electrophotographic photosensitive drum out of the cartridge frame, a shutter opening and closing link mechanism for moving the shutter member in operative association with opening and closing operations of an openable and closable door when the process cartridge is mounted to the cartridge mounting portion of the main body of the image forming apparatus, and grips provided on opposite end portions of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum in a longitudinal direction of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum while protruding in a mounting and dismounting direction of the process cartridge, and adapted to be grasped in case of the mounting and dismounting of the process cartridge, the shutter member being passed between the grips and moved between the protection position and the retraction position with its surface side opposed to the electrophotographic photosensitive drum being opposed to the cartridge frame, the shutter opening and closing link mechanism having a shutter shaft member having its opposite end portions pivotally supported on opposite sides of the cartridge frame, and having its central portion pivotally coupled to the shutter member, and a shutter opening and closing arm having its central portion pivotally supported on the cartridge frame, and having one end thereof pivotally coupled to the shutter member, and being designed such that the other end portion of the shutter opening and closing arm is moved to thereby pivotally move the shutter opening and closing arm, thereby moving the shutter member between the protection position and the retraction position;
• the openable and closable door disposed in proximity to the cartridge mounting portion;
• and
• a main body side shutter opening and closing mechanism for operating the shutter opening and closing link mechanism of the process cartridge mounted to the cartridge mounting portion, in operative association with the opening and closing operation of the openable and closable door to thereby move the shutter member between the protection position and the retraction position.

An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium with a plurality of process cartridges detachably mounted thereto, comprising:

• a plurality of cartridge mounting portions for detachably mounting thereon the process cartridges each having an electrophotographic photosensitive drum, at least one process means for acting on the electrophotographic photosensitive drum, a cartridge frame holding the electrophotographic photosensitive drum and the process means and exposing a portion of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum, a shutter member provided for movement between a protection position in which it protects an exposed portion, which is the portion of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum exposed out of the cartridge frame, and a retraction position in which it is retracted from the protection position to expose the electrophotographic photosensitive drum out of the cartridge frame, the retraction position being set at a position in which the shutter member does not hinder image formation between the cartridge frame and an openable and closable door and between adjacent process cartridges, a shutter opening and closing link mechanism for moving the shutter member in operative association of the opening and closing operation of the openable and closable door when each process cartridge is mounted to each cartridge mounting portion of the main body of the image forming apparatus, and grips provided on opposite end portions of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum in a longitudinal direction of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum while protruding in a mounting and dismounting direction of the process cartridge, and adapted to be grasped in case of the mounting and dismounting of the process cartridge, the shutter member being passed between the grips and moved between the protection position and the retraction position with its surface side opposed to the electrophotographic photosensitive drum being opposed to the cartridge frame, the shutter opening and closing link mechanism having a shutter shaft member having its opposite end portions pivotally supported on the opposite sides of the cartridge frame and having its central portion pivotally coupled to the shutter member, and a shutter opening and closing arm having its central portion pivotally supported on the cartridge frame and having one end portion thereof pivotally coupled to the shutter member, and being designed such that the other end portion of the shutter opening and closing arm is moved to thereby pivotally move the shutter opening and closing arm, thereby moving the shutter member between the protection position and the retraction position;
• the openable and closable door;
• and
• a main body side shutter opening and closing mechanism for operating the shutter opening and closing link mechanism of the process cartridge mounted on the cartridge mounting portion to thereby move the shutter member between the protection position and the retraction position.