Image forming apparatus with accommodation spaces
AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsHiroshi Nakano, Hiroshi Igarashi, Atsushi Kato
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A laser printer is detachably provided with a carrier belt, support rollers for supporting the carrier belt, and a belt unit provided with a belt frame. A unit support portion for supporting a bearing portion of the support roller and a unit support portion for supporting a bearing portion of the support roller are provided at a side of the main body of the apparatus. Urging by a coil spring allows the bearing portion to press the unit support portion against the support roller. An image forming unit that contains four process cartridges is detachably provided above the belt unit opposite to the belt. The belt unit may be removed from the main body by detaching the image forming unit.
Claims27
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a main body having an opening formed in a side portion, which contains a first accommodation space able to communicate with said opening and a second accommodation space able to communicate with at least said first accommodation space;
- and
- a first unit detachably installed in said first accommodation space within said main body through said opening;
- a second unit detachably installed in said second accommodation space within said main body through said opening and comprising a belt unit including:
- a belt;
- a plurality of support rollers provided with at least first and second support rollers for supporting said belt;
- and
- a frame portion that retains said support rollers, wherein
- said second unit is detached and attached through at least a portion of said first accommodation space between said second accommodation space and said opening.
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a main body provided with a cover member that is opened and closed to cover an opening formed in a side portion;
- a belt unit including an endless belt, a plurality of support rollers including at least first and second support rollers for supporting said belt, and a frame portion that retains said support rollers, which is detachably installed in said main body through said opening;
- a reference protrusion including a constant positional relationship with said first support roller, provided to said belt unit;
- a locate member provided in said main body and including a first wall portion that supports said reference protrusion from one side, and an abutment portion provided at a side different from that of said first wall portion, which is structured such that an angle formed by a wall surface of said first wall portion and a wall surface of said abutment portion is smaller than 90°;
- and
- an urging member provided in said main body and applying a force such that said reference protrusion and said second support roller move away from each other and said reference protrusion is interposed between said first wall portion and said abutment portion.
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a main body provided with a cover member that is opened and closed to cover an opening formed in a side portion;
- a belt unit including a belt, a plurality of support rollers including at least first and second support rollers for supporting said belt, and a frame portion that retains said support rollers, which is detachably installed in said main body through said opening, wherein:
- said belt unit is further provided with a first bearing member that bears said first support roller and includes a first reference protrusion, and a second bearing member moveably attached to said frame relative to said first bearing member and includes a second reference protrusion;
- said main body is further provided with
- a first locate member including a first wall portion on which said first reference protrusion is positioned, and a first abutment portion that abuts against said first reference protrusion on a plane opposite to said second reference protrusion;
- a second locate member including a second wall portion on which said second reference protrusion is positioned, and a second abutment portion that abuts against said second reference protrusion on a plane opposite to said first reference protrusion;
- an urging member that moves said second abutment portion of said second locate member so as to apply a tensile force to said belt;
- and
- a release mechanism that is brought into a released state in which said second abutment portion is moved against an urging force applied by said urging member in response to an operation force.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.