Cartridge, image forming apparatus and toner agitation member

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a toner storage chamber provided with a toner supply opening;
• a toner agitation member including:
• a connection portion configured to rotate around a rotation shaft within the toner storage chamber and extending radially outwards from the rotation shaft;
• and
• an agitation plate, provided at a distal end of the connection portion, configured to scrape a toner deposited on a bottom of the toner storage chamber and to supply the scraped toner to the toner supply opening as the connection portion is rotated, the connection portion and the agitation plate being integrally formed of the same material,
• wherein a face of the agitation plate on a downstream side in a rotation direction is an inclined face that is inclined toward an upstream side in the rotation direction as the inclined face extends from the connection portion to a distal end of the agitation plate,
• wherein when the distal end of the agitation plate reaches a position of the same height as a lower opening edge part of the toner supply opening, the inclined face is inclined to gradually descend toward its distal end,
• wherein when the distal end of the agitation plate reaches a position of the same height as the lower opening edge part, an inclination angle of the inclined face is from 20° to 80° relative to a horizontal axis, and
• wherein the agitation plate is configured to be rotated without contacting an inner wall face of the toner storage chamber;
• an image carrier on which an electrostatic latent image is formed;
• an exposure unit for exposing the electrostatic latent image by applying a laser beam to the charged image carrier;
• a developing unit for developing the electrostatic latent image formed on the image carrier as a toner image with a toner supplied through the toner supply opening;
• and
• a transfer unit for transferring the toner image carried on the image carrier onto a recording medium.

A toner agitation member comprising:

• a connection portion configured to rotate around a rotation shaft within a toner storage chamber and extending radially outwards from the rotation shaft;
• an agitation plate, provided at a distal end of the connection portion, configured to scrape a toner deposited on a bottom of the toner storage chamber and to supply the scraped toner to a toner supply opening provided in the toner storage chamber as the connection portion is rotated,
• wherein the connection portion and the agitation plate are integrally formed of the same material,
• wherein a face of the agitation plate on a downstream side in a rotation direction is an inclined face that is inclined toward an upstream side in the rotation direction as the inclined face extends from the connection portion to a distal end of the agitation plate,
• wherein when the distal end of the agitation plate reaches a position of the same height as a lower opening edge part of the toner supply opening, the inclined face is inclined to gradually descend toward its distal end, and
• wherein when the distal end of the agitation plate reaches a position of the same height as the lower opening edge part, an inclination angle of the inclined face is from 20° to 80° relative to a horizontal axis.

A cartridge comprising:

• a toner storage chamber provided with a toner supply opening;
• and
• a toner agitation member including
• a connection portion configured to rotate around a rotation shaft within the toner storage chamber and extending radially outward from the rotation shaft;
• an agitation plate, provided at a distal end of the connection portion, and configured to scrape a toner deposited on a bottom of the toner storage chamber and to supply the scraped toner to the toner supply opening as the connection portion is rotated, the connection portion and the agitation plate being integrally formed of the same material;
• and
• a wiper mounting portion extending from the rotation shaft in a direction opposite to the connection portion and including a wiper mounting pin configured to receive a wiper.