摘要:
A toner cartridge according to one example embodiment includes a housing having a reservoir for holding toner. An outlet port is positioned on the front of the housing for transferring toner from the reservoir to the developer unit through an inlet port on the developer unit. A first engagement member projecting from the front of the housing is positioned to provide an initial force to begin to open a shutter on the inlet port of the developer unit as the toner cartridge is inserted in the image forming device. A second engagement member projecting from the front of the housing is spaced toward one of the sides of the housing from the first engagement member and positioned to provide a force to continue to open the shutter on the inlet port of the developer unit as the toner cartridge is inserted further in the image forming device.
摘要:
A toner cartridge according to one example embodiment includes a housing having a reservoir for holding toner. An outlet port is positioned on the front of the housing for transferring toner from the reservoir to the developer unit through an inlet port on the developer unit. A first engagement member projecting from the front of the housing is positioned to provide an initial force to begin to open a shutter on the inlet port of the developer unit as the toner cartridge is inserted in the image forming device. A second engagement member projecting from the front of the housing is spaced toward one of the sides of the housing from the first engagement member and positioned to provide a force to continue to open the shutter on the inlet port of the developer unit as the toner cartridge is inserted further in the image forming device.
摘要:
An imaging apparatus includes a toner cartridge within a housing having a rotatable shaft, a cam rotatably mounted on the shaft, an optical sensor mounted on the housing having an emitter and a receiver forming an optical path therebetween, and a flag mounted on the housing having a first arm and a second arm. The optical sensor has an output that changes when the optical path changes from blocked to unblocked and from unblocked to blocked. The flag has a home position where the first arm is disposed in the rotational path of the cam and the second arm either blocks the optical path or unblocks the optical path. Rotation of the rotatable shaft causes the cam to engage and disengage the first arm causing the second arm to change from blocking the optical path to unblocking the optical path or vice versa.
摘要:
An improved sheet printer is provided capable of simultaneously printing both on a “main” surface of a sheet of print media and along edges of that same sheet of print media, such that when the sheets are stacked after being printed, a predetermined image will appear along one or more of the sides of the stack. The “side image” is formed by the dots that have been printed along the edges of the individual sheets. The side image is generated during image processing of the print job, not by a post-processing step of marking or printing against the side of a stack that has already been printed. The printer can form the side images by printing along all four edges of a single piece of the sheet media, and also on one of that sheet's main surfaces, during a single pass through a printing station.
摘要:
An improved electrophotographic (EP) printer is provided having a detachable process cartridge that contains a non-volatile memory device, which is an EPROM that cannot be erased after a bit is burned. A "toner wheel" mounted to the exterior of the toner reservoir of the process cartridge provides, in conjunction with an optoelectronic sensor, an electrical signal that the printer receives and uses to determine toner usage. A toner "gas-gauge" is created which uses "bucket levels" as discrete steps to indicate how much of the measured physical toner material actually remains within the toner reservoir. After a given amount of toner material has been dispensed through the developer unit, one of the bits of the EPROM memory device is irreversibly burned, thereby providing a permanent record on the process cartridge of a certain amount of toner usage. As with a normal automobile gas gauge, the toner gas-gauge reading should never increase unless the amount of toner material inside the toner reservoir has increased. Once the bucket level transitions begin to occur for the toner gas-gauge, the printer becomes aware that a majority of the toner material has been expended from inside the toner reservoir. If the number of bucket gradation levels then increases by more than the hysteresis amount, then the printer will "lock out" the operation of a non-reusable process cartridge. When the lock-out mode occurs, a particular bit is burned on the EPROM mounted to the cleaner housing of the process cartridge. This ensures that this particular process cartridge cannot be removed, then simply placed back into the same (or a different) printer, and then begin supplying toner to a printer. Certain important "machine data" also can be stored in the EPROM memory device on the process cartridge of the present invention. The present invention is also able to declare the "end-of-life" of a process cartridge when the gas-gauge toner sensor is not functional (such as when it has been tampered with).
摘要:
A toner container system includes a reservoir for containing toner having a rotatable member positioned within an opening through the reservoir and a skiving seal for blocking toner from entering a gap between the opening and the rotatable member. The skiving seal is positioned along the length of the rotatable member and is adhesively affixed adjacent to the rotatable member along the gap in the skiving direction of rotation of the rotatable member. The skiving seal includes a flexible sheet having a length corresponding to the length of the gap and a tubular portion adjacent to the gap formed by folding the flexible sheet over itself from an edge extending along the length of the flexible sheet, without creasing the fold, and adhering a portion of the folded portion of the flexible sheet to the surface of the flexible sheet along the length of the flexible sheet.
摘要:
An apparatus for moving waste toner within a printer cartridge includes an auger having a radially inward facing surface, the radially inward facing surface defining an opening having an inner diameter. An elongated drive shaft has an outer surface defining an outer diameter, the outer diameter of the drive shaft being greater than the inner diameter of the auger. The radially inward facing surface of the auger engages the outer surface of the drive shaft with a first pressure when the drive shaft is rotated within the opening of the auger in a first direction with a first load applied on the auger.
摘要:
The present disclosure relates to a device and/or method for conveying a quantity of image forming material between selected regions in a printing device or printer cartridge. A roller is provided having a surface that may include a recess capable of transferring a quantity of image forming material. The recess may include a convex surface. A wiper is configured to engage at least a portion of the roller surface and/or the convex surface in the recess to assist in the removal of image forming material that may otherwise accumulate on the roller surfaces. Such roller design and wiper configuration may therefore cooperate to improve the consistency of image forming material transfer.
摘要:
The weight of toner remaining at any time in a developer housing of a removable toner cartridge installed in a laser printer is determined by ascertaining the weight of the developer housing with the toner when printing is interrupted. The weight of the developer housing with the toner is ascertained through determining the magnitude of a rear reaction force on the side of the developer housing having the input for rotating a developer roll in the developer housing and then subtracting the weight of the developer housing from the weight of the developer housing with the toner. Next, the weight of the remaining toner is correlated to the determined rear reaction force. Then, the amount of the remaining toner is displayed to a user of the laser printer as a percentage of the initial total toner, either numerically or by a bar graph, for example. The developer housing is slidably received in a cleaner housing of the removable toner cartridge and is releasably connected thereto by a pair of biasing springs, which must be at different angles to a line passing through the centers of the developer roll and a photoconductive drum, which is rotatably mounted in the cleaner housing.
摘要:
The present invention provides a toner container system (such as a toner cartridge) and method for determining the toner consumed by each pixel in an image forming apparatus, such as a printer, so to accurately assess the amount of toner remaining in the toner container The pixels printed by the image forming apparatus are counted over a portion of toner container life when a known amount of toner is consumed, the rate of toner consumption per pixel is then calculated, and the calculated rate of toner consumption per pixel is used to determine the amount of toner remaining in the container system.