G03G15/00

CARTRIDGE, PHOTOSENSITIVE MEMBER UNIT AND ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS

The present invention provides a cartridge which is dismountable from the main assembly without deteriorating usability performance in a predetermined direction substantially perpendicular to the rotational axis of an image bearing member, the main assembly being not provided with the mechanism for moving the main assembly side engaging portion in the rotational axis direction in response to the opening and closing operation of the main assembly cover of the main assembly.

With the movement of the cartridge in such a direction perpendicular to the rotational axis of the image bearing member in the dismounting of the cartridge from the main assembly of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus, the coupling member movable in a direction parallel with the rotational axis of the image bearing member enters a inside of a recess of the main assembly side engaging portion provided in the main assembly of the apparatus to receive a rotational force from the main assembly side engaging portion.

SHEET POST-PROCESSING APPARATUS
20170322508 · 2017-11-09 ·

According to an embodiment, a sheet post-processing apparatus according to the embodiment includes a paddle member and a controller. The paddle member rotates around a rotating shaft, presses a plurality of sheets held on a processing tray against a stopper and aligns ends of the sheets in a sheet transport direction. After the ends of the sheets in the sheet transport direction are aligned, the controller further rotates the paddle member, and stops rotation of the paddle member in a state that the paddle member comes in contact with the sheets held on the processing tray.

SHEET CONVEYING APPARATUS THAT FEEDS SHEET MEMBERS, AND DOCUMENT READING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS THAT INCLUDE THE SHEET CONVEYING APPARATUS
20170320688 · 2017-11-09 ·

A sheet conveying apparatus includes: a feeding unit configured to feed a sheet member; a conveying roller that is provided downstream of the feeding unit in a conveying direction, and that is configured to convey the sheet member fed by the feeding unit downstream in the conveying direction; a motor configured to drive the conveying roller. In a state where the conveying roller is conveying a first sheet member that was fed by the feeding unit, if a value of a torque current component of a drive current flowing in a winding of the motor changes from a value greater than or equal to a predetermined value to a value less than the predetermined value, the feeding unit starts feeding of a second sheet member that is to be fed after the first sheet member.

REMOVABLE DUPLEXER TRAY MODULE FOR AN IMAGING APPARATUS

A removable media handling module includes a body that is horizontally slidable into and removable from an imaging apparatus. The media handling module includes a lower media guide extending between a front and a rear of the body in a direction of insertion of the body into the imaging apparatus. With the media handling module inserted into the imaging apparatus, the lower media guide is positioned parallel to and spaced from a corresponding upper media guide mounted in the imaging apparatus to form at least a portion of a duplex media path therebetween. The media handling module includes a media feed through channel extending from a bottom of the body to an entrance of a simplex media path to allow media to be fed from a media tray below the media handling module and into the simplex media path when the media handling module is installed in the imaging apparatus.

SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS AND AN IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS
20170320686 · 2017-11-09 ·

Disclosed is a sheet feeding apparatus including a tray unit capable of stacking a sheet at an opened position; a feeding member which feeds the sheet stacked on the tray unit; a feed supporting portion which supports the feeding member such that the feeding member is capable of moving to a feeding position for feeding the sheet stacked on the tray unit and to a storage position at which the feeding member is stored in the apparatus main body; and an urging portion which urges the feeding member toward the feeding position, wherein the feed supporting portion includes an abutting portion which abuts against a region other than a sheet stacking region of the tray unit for moving the feed supporting portion and for moving the feeding member to the storage position when the tray unit moves from the opened position to the closed position.

IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS
20170322502 · 2017-11-09 ·

An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive member, a charging member, an exposure member, a rotatable developer carrying member, a voltage source, and a controller configured to control the voltage source so that when a humidity of an inside of the apparatus is a first humidity, a developing bias voltage including an oscillating portion having an oscillating voltage and a rest portion having a substantially constant voltage are alternately repeated is outputted and so that when the humidity of the inside of the apparatus is a second humidity lower than the first humidity, a developing bias voltage in which the rest portion is not included or is shorter than the rest portion when the humidity of the inside of the apparatus is the first humidity.

ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC PHOTORECEPTOR, PROCESS CARTRIDGE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS

An electrophotographic photoreceptor includes an electroconductive substrate, an organic photosensitive layer on the electroconductive substrate and an inorganic protective layer on the organic photosensitive layer, wherein a layer that forms a surface of the organic photosensitive layer contains a charge transporting material, a binder resin, and a silica particle; the inorganic protective layer contains a group 13 element, an oxygen atom, and a hydrogen atom; a sum of element constitution ratios of the group 13 element, the oxygen atom, and the hydrogen atom to all elements constituting the inorganic protective layer is equal to or more than 90 atomic %; and an element composition ratio (oxygen atom/group 13 element) of the oxygen atom and the group 13 element is 1.0 or more and less than 1.5.

CONDUCTIVE SUPPORT FOR ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC PHOTORECEPTOR, ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC PHOTORECEPTOR, AND PROCESS CARTRIDGE

A conductive support for an electrophotographic photoreceptor includes a cylindrical member containing aluminum, wherein the cylindrical member has an arithmetic mean roughness Ra of 1.3 μm or less, a maximum height of roughness profile Rz of 5.0 μm or less, and a mean width of roughness profile elements RSm in an axial direction of 80 μm to 400 μm.

IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS
20170322507 · 2017-11-09 ·

An image forming apparatus includes a main assembly including an image forming portion; a rotatable member capable of feeding a sheet and configured to rotate; and a detecting unit including an interrelating member configured to rotate in interrelation with rotation of the rotatable member, a detecting member configured to detect rotation of the interrelating member, and a holding member configured to integrally hold the interrelating member and the detecting member. The interrelating member, the detecting member and the holding member are integrally assembled into a unit. The detecting unit is detachably mountable to the main assembly.

PRINTER AND COMPUTER READABLE STORAGE DEVICE

A printer includes a casing, a print mechanism disposed inside the casing, and a paper tray. A conveying route extends from the tray to the print mechanism, with a first roller disposed adjacent the tray to feed a sheet from the tray to the conveying route. A second roller is disposed in the conveying route and conveys the sheet fed by the first roller to the print mechanism. A driving source provides a driving source to the first roller and the second roller. A controller is configured to, in response to a printing request, apply the driving force from the driving source to the first and second rollers such that the first and second rollers rotate. In response to a magnitude of a load of the driving source, the controller applies the driving force to the second roller such that the second roller rotates, and the controller does not apply the driving source to the first roller such that the first roller does not rotate.