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US 4,989,754 AGranted
Toner level detection system
AssigneeXerox Corporation
InventorsPatrick J. Grasso, John L. Webb, Glen A. Woodhams, Michael A. Kelly
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AssigneeXerox Corporation
InventorsPatrick J. Grasso, John L. Webb, Glen A. Woodhams, Michael A. Kelly
Estimating the term…
A toner cartridge is modified by the addition of a low toner sensing mechanism internal to the cartridge. An arm is pivotably mounted within the cartridge; the suspended end of the arm having a magnet secured thereto. When the cartridge is filled to a relatively high level with toner and rotated, the suspended arm is at least partially submerged in the toner bed and is subjected to a viscous drag force which moves the arm from the vertical position and prevents the arm from returning to the vertical or plumb orientation until a sufficiently low toner level occurs. At this point the arm is sufficiently free from the viscous drag effects of the rotating toner bed and attains a plumb position which brings it into alignment with a switching circuit which is closed by action of the proximate magnet. The switching circuitry generates signals which are used to produce a visible or audible signal to the operator, and/or which cause machine shut down to occur.
In a system for dispensing toner particles from a rotatable cylindrical toner cartridge to a developer mixture, a sensing system for detecting a low toner condition within said cartridge, said sensing system comprising:
In a reproduction machine having a movable recording member on which latent electrostatic images are created, developing means for developing the images, and transfer means for transferring the developed images to a coy substrate material, said copy substrate being conveyed along a copy path, the developing means including a developer housing having a sump for a developer mixture for developing the images on the recording member, the developer housing further including a cylindrical toner cartridge having a series of longitudinally extending toner discharge ports;
An apparatus for dispensing toner particles including in combination a cylindrical rotating toner housing having a series of longitudinal toner dispensing ports for a toner supply contained therein, an arm assembly pivotably mounted within the housing on the central axis thereof, said arm assembly including a downwardly extending arm member which attains a plumb position when the toner level falls below a certain low level while maintaining an out of plumb position when toner is above said low level;
An apparatus for dispensing toner particles including in combination a cylindrical rotating toner housing having a series of longitudinal toner;
A toner low level detection or system including in combination,
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.