Image forming apparatus with a removable waste toner container and an exposable feeding path
AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorShougo Sato
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes a chassis having an opening, a cover, photosensitive members, an intermediate transfer belt, a primary-transfer member, a secondary-transfer roller, a cleaner device, an external-sheet inlet, a waste toner container, a connector, and a conveying roller, which is arranged within the feeding path to feed the recording sheet inserted through the external-sheet inlet in the feeding path. The conveying roller is mounted on the waste toner container and removable from the chassis along with the waste toner container.
Claims13
An image forming apparatus to form an image on a recording sheet, comprising:
- a chassis having a first opening, which is formed on a first side of the chassis;
- a cover, which is movable between an open position and a closed position to expose and close the first opening;
- a plurality of photosensitive members, which are set in the chassis and carry toner images;
- an intermediate transfer belt, which is an endless rolling belt arranged to have a surface thereof facing the plurality of photosensitive members and to have the toner images on the plurality of photosensitive members transferred onto the surface in cooperation with a plurality of primary-transfer members;
- a secondary-transfer roller, which is arranged on a second side opposite from the first side within the chassis and transfers the toner images on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt onto the recording sheet;
- a first feed roller, which is arranged in vicinity of the second side and conveys the recording sheet in a feeding path toward the secondary-transfer roller;
- a cleaner device, which is arranged in a position between one of the plurality of photosensitive members being in a most upstream position along a rolling direction of the intermediate transfer belt and the secondary-transfer roller, to collect residual toner from the surface of the intermediate transfer belt;
- a waste toner container, which is movable along a predetermined direction to be removably installed in the chassis through the first opening and settled in a position opposite from the plurality of photosensitive members across the intermediate transfer belt, to store the residual toner collected by the cleaner device;
- a connector, which is connected to the cleaner device, and to which the waste toner container is detachably attached, to convey the residual toner collected by the cleaner device to the waste toner container;
- a first feeding path, which extends in a range between the first feed roller and the secondary-transfer roller;
- an external-sheet inlet, which is formed on the first side of the chassis and through which a recording sheet is externally supplied to the image forming apparatus;
- a second feeding path, which is a path for the recording sheet being inserted through the external-sheet inlet and merges into the first feeding path in vicinity of the first feed roller;
- and
- an in-second-feeding-path conveying roller, which is arranged in the second feeding path to convey the recording sheet in the second feeding path,
- wherein the in-second-feeding-path conveying roller is mounted on the waste toner container and removable from the chassis along with the waste toner container.
An image forming apparatus to form an image in toner on a recording sheet being conveyed, comprising:
- a chassis having an opening formed on one side thereof;
- an external-sheet inlet, which is formed on the one side of the chassis and through which the recording sheet is externally supplied to the image forming apparatus;
- a waste toner container, which is movable along a predetermined direction to be removably installed in the chassis through the opening and stores residual toner;
- a feeding path, which is a path for the recording sheet being inserted through the external-sheet inlet;
- and
- a conveying roller, which is arranged within the feeding path to convey the recording sheet in the feeding path,
- wherein the conveying roller is mounted on the waste toner container and removable from the chassis along with the waste toner container.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.