A reusable media shell has a frame to hold sheets of media in an interior. A removable cap connects to the frame and its manipulation unveils the media for picking by an imaging device. The cap resides on a terminal end of the frame so the frame covers a majority of the media. A lift plate in the interior forces upward the sheets for picking. Two magnets on the frame magnetically secure the frame to magnets in a base of the imaging device and position the sheets in the base. Upstanding walls, a lid and bottom define the interior of the frame. Inserts attached to the walls allow adjustment to accommodate various sizes of the media.

An electrophotographic image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material includes an upright sheet feeding inlet, an upright sheet discharging outlet, a permanently mounted electrophotographic photosensitive drum, and toner replenishing means for refilling a toner reservoir as needed, rendering the device compact, portable, and inexpensive to maintain.

A remanufactured toner cartridge and related method includes a modified driven gear that is associated with an internal seal removal mechanism. The driven gear is modified so that driving rotational force from a printer is not transmitted to the seal removal mechanism during a post test of the remanufactured cartridge. When the post test is complete a fixing member, which may include a pin, is used to return the modified driven gear to an operational configuration so that when the cartridge is subsequently installed in a printer, driving rotational force from the printer is transmitted to the removal mechanism to remove the internal toner seal, thereby permitting cartridge operation.

A developing agent filling device includes a jig retaining a developing device with a filling inlet oriented upward, the developing device including a stirring chamber, a bladed wheel that stirs a developing agent stored in the stirring chamber, a developing roller that retains the developing agent stirred by the bladed wheel, the filling inlet located at an end portion of the stirring chamber in an axial direction of the bladed wheel and opened in the axial direction, a support member supporting a shaft of the bladed wheel inside of the filling inlet, a regulation blade opposed to an outer circumferential surface of the developing roller, and a biasing member that presses the regulation blade against the developing roller, a pressure relief device that releases the developing roller from a pressure of the regulation blade, against the biasing member, and a vibration generating device that vibrates the developing device.

A toner sealing system is described including a seal having first and second alignment features. The seal is selectably installable on one of a first toner container of a first type and a second toner container of a second type. The first alignment feature is matable with a first corresponding alignment feature on the first toner container when the seal is installed on the first toner container for aligning the seal to the first toner container. The second alignment feature is matable with a second corresponding alignment feature on the second toner container when the seal is installed on the second toner container for aligning the seal to the second toner container. Embodiments include those wherein the first alignment feature does not align the seal to the second toner container, and the second alignment feature does not align the seal to the first toner container.

In one example, a detachable adapter to adapt a drive shaft on a printer to a drive mechanism on a toner cartridge and to transmit rotation of the drive shaft to the drive mechanism. The adapter includes a cylindrical part having a first end and a second end opposite the first end, the first end configured to detachably receive and engage an end of the drive shaft so that the part will rotate with the drive shaft when the part is attached to the drive shaft, and a driver mounted to or integral with the second end and configured to drivingly connect the part to the drive mechanism on the toner cartridge when the part is attached to the drive shaft and the toner cartridge is installed in the printer.

A developing device includes a developing container, a developer carrier, a seal member, and a pair of pressing members. The developing container has an opening. The seal member includes a contact end part that makes contact with an entire region of an outer circumferential surface of the developer carrier in its rotary shaft direction and is one of end edges of the seal member in a longitudinal direction thereof on a side near the developer carrier and an interposed end part that is interposed between each of both end parts of the developer carder and a corresponding one of the pressing members and is an end edge of the seal member orthogonal to the contact end part, and a chamfered shape is formed at a corner between the contact end part and the interposed end part.

A method of remanufacturing a toner cartridge includes installing a modified end cap in which a portion of a drive assembly for an internal toner seal removal mechanism has been disabled. With the modified end cap installed, the toner cartridge may be post tested without removing the internal toner seal. When the post test is complete the modified end cap is removed and a non-modified end cap with a functional drive assembly is installed in its place.

An operation method of an image forming apparatus including determining a state of a toner refill operation of injecting toner from a toner reload kit (TRK) to a cartridge in the image forming apparatus; when determined the injecting of the toner into the cartridge is completed, controlling the TRK to store information indicating a toner refill completion in a memory of the TRK; and updating information of an amount of remaining toner of the cartridge, based on an amount of the toner injected into the cartridge from the TRK.

An image forming apparatus includes a toner container information storage section, a toner container information acquisition section, a toner container information readout section, a number-of-refills comparing section, a genuine product determining section, and a toner container information update section. The toner container information acquisition section is configured to acquire an identification code and a number of refills from a toner container. The number-of-refills comparing section is configured to read out, based on the acquired identification code, the number of refills of the corresponding toner container from the toner container information storage section and determine whether or not the number of refills acquired from the toner container is smaller than the read number of refills. If the number of refills acquired from the toner container is smaller than the read number of refills, the genuine product determining section determines that the toner container is a non-genuine product.