Toner conveyer device, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorsYoshiyuki Shimizu, Tomofumi Yoshida, Hirobumi Ooyoshi, Koji Kato, Kenzo Tatsumi, Yoshihiro Kawakami, Tomohiro Kubota
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A toner conveyer device for use din an image forming apparatus includes a toner conveyer belt conveys waste toner, a screw member that receives the waste toner from the toner conveyer belt and conveys the waste toner to a housing unit, and a scraping member that scrapes waste toner that adheres to the screw member.
Claims16
A toner conveyer device for use in an image forming apparatus, the toner conveyer device comprising:
- a toner conveyer belt that conveys waste toner;
- a screw member that receives the waste toner from the toner conveyer belt and conveys the waste toner to a housing unit;
- and
- a scraping member that scrapes waste toner that adheres to the screw member,
- wherein the scraping member is arranged between the toner conveyer belt and the screw member, and
- wherein the screw member has a free-end portion, the free-end portion being a circular rounded surface, an external diameter of the free-end portion being equal to or larger than an external diameter of a thread of the screw member.
A process cartridge detachable from an image forming apparatus, the process cartridge comprising:
- a photoconductor that carries a latent image;
- a cleaning device that removes waste toner remaining on the photoconductor;
- and
- a toner conveyer device that includes:
- a toner conveyer belt that conveys waste toner;
- a screw member that receives the waste toner from the toner conveyer belt and conveys the waste toner to a housing unit;
- and
- a scraping member that scrapes waste toner that adheres to the screw member,
- wherein the scraping member is arranged between the toner conveyer belt and the screw member, and
- wherein the screw member has a free-end portion, the free-end portion being a circular rounded surface, an external diameter of the free-end portion being equal to or larger than an external diameter of a thread of the screw member.
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a photoconductor that carries an electrostatic latent image;
- a developing device that receives toner from a developing-agent carrier and develops the latent image with the toner to form a toner image;
- a transfer device that transfers the toner image onto a recording medium;
- a cleaning device that removes residual waste toner from the photoconductor;
- and
- a toner conveyer device that includes:
- a toner conveyer belt that conveys the waste toner;
- a screw member that receives the waste toner from the toner conveyer belt and conveys the waste toner to a housing unit;
- and
- a scraping member that scrapes waste toner that adheres to the screw member,
- wherein the scraping member is arranged between the toner conveyer belt and the screw member, and
- wherein the screw member has a free-end portion, the free-end portion being a circular rounded surface, an external diameter of the free-end portion being equal to or larger than an external diameter of a thread of the screw member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.