An image forming apparatus includes a main body provided with a mounting portion and an interference member, and a toner cartridge inserted into the mounting portion. The toner cartridge includes a housing containing toner, a coupling portion, a front cover coupled to one end of the housing via the coupling portion, and a switching member to weaken a coupling force of the coupling portion by interfering with the interference member when the toner cartridge is mounted on the mounting portion.

There is provided a consumable supply method for supplying a refill consumable stored in a refill consumable container to a consumable container installable in an equipment body. The consumable supply method includes removing a refill information storage device storing information on the refill consumable from the refill consumable container; removing an information storage device storing information on a consumable contained in the consumable container, the information being for exchange with the equipment body, from the consumable container; and attaching the refill information storage device removed from the refill consumable container as an information storage device to the consumable container in place of the information storage device removed from the consumable container.

An assembly for use in an electrophotographic image forming device includes a housing having a reservoir for holding toner. The housing includes a wall having an inner surface forming a boundary of the reservoir and an outer surface opposite the inner surface. A toner agitator is positioned in the reservoir and has a rotatable shaft. The shaft includes an end portion that passes through an opening in the wall. A gear is mounted on the end portion of the shaft outside of the reservoir and is rotatably coupled to the shaft. An annular seal encircles and is in contact with an outer circumferential surface of the shaft. The annular seal is positioned between an inner axial face of the gear and the outer surface of the wall. The inner axial face of the gear contacts the annular seal and presses the annular seal against the outer surface of the wall.

A developing device includes a developer cartridge and a developing unit. The developer cartridge, in some instances, may include a shutter. This shutter may have a wall for closing a developer supply hole, and be movable, with respect to a developer cartridge casing, between an open position where the supply hole is opened by the wall and a closed position where the supply hole is closed by the wall. The shutter may further include a protrusion that is movable with respect to the wall of the shutter between a first position and a second position in an axial direction. The protrusion, in the first position, is engageable with a developing unit and, in the second position, would be disengaged from the developing unit.

An image forming apparatus includes a main body provided with a mounting portion and an interference member, and a toner cartridge inserted into the mounting portion. The toner cartridge includes a housing containing toner, a coupling portion, a front cover coupled to one end of the housing via the coupling portion, and a switching member to weaken a coupling force of the coupling portion by interfering with the interference member when the toner cartridge is mounted on the mounting portion.

An image forming system includes an image forming apparatus having an image forming unit and a supplier having a first supply port though which a first consumable item is supplied to a first accommodating portion and a second supply port through which a second consumable item is supplied to a second accommodating portion, and a guide. The image forming system further includes a first bottle including a first connector having a first outlet port connectable to the supplier and a first guided portion configured to be guided by the guide in a state in which the first connector is attached to the supplier, and a second bottle including a second connector having a second outlet port connectable to the supplier and a second guided portion configured to be guided by the guide in a state in which the second connector is attached to the supplier.

An image forming apparatus to which a toner container is detachably mountable includes a mounting portion to which the toner container is detachably mountable and which includes a receiving port for receiving toner supplied from the toner container, a passage for permitting passing of the toner received through the receiving port and provided with a through hole, and a filter portion provided so as to cover the through hole and for permitting passing of air; and an accommodating portion configured to accommodate the toner received through the receiving port. At least a part of the through hole overlaps with the receiving port as viewed in a horizontal direction perpendicular to a direction of gravitation.

A first contact portion provided on a first shutter member that opens and closes a receiving port for receiving a developer from a cartridge and a second contact portion provided on the cartridge are configured to contact each other in an attachment and detachment direction of the cartridge so that the first shutter member is in a position at which the receiving port is opened. The first shutter member is urged by a first urging member so that a contacting state between the first contact portion and the second contact portion is maintained until a second shutter member that opens and closes a supplying port of the cartridge closes the supplying port when the cartridge is discharged from the apparatus body.

An example image forming apparatus includes a frame, a first shaft supported by the frame, and a first coupler. The first coupler includes a body coupled to one end of the first shaft and a first protrusion protruding from the body in an axial direction of the first shaft, the first protrusion having a first surface and a second protrusion protruding from the first surface. The second protrusion is to lock with a groove to mount a cartridge on the frame, the first shaft is to provide a rotational force in a first rotational direction to rotate the second protrusion of the first coupler and to insert the second protrusion into the groove to lock with the cartridge, and the first surface of the first protrusion of the first coupler is to contact a second surface to transmit the rotational force to the second coupler in the first rotational direction.

A mounting/demounting structure includes: a mountable/demountable object including a body, a first projection provided at a first end of the body in a movable manner, and a second projection provided at a second end of the body in a shiftable manner; and a receptacle including a housing configured to house the object when mounted while covering it in at least two directions, first and second stoppers provided in the housing and configured to stop the first and second projections, respectively by engagement, the object including an abutment portion provided on the body and configured to abut against a part of the housing to keep a posture reduced in terms of an engagement amount between the second projection and the second stopper when the first projection is disengaged from the first stopper and the object is stopped at a tilt in the housing during demounting of the object from the receptacle.