In a fuser for xerographic printing, stripper fingers remove the print sheet from a fuser roll. Each stripper finger is a thin member which is urged against the fuser roll with a spring force caused by deformation of the stripper finger against the roll. Each stripper finger is mounted on a mount which is itself springably urged against a stop, so that the spring force of the stripper finger is largely independent of the spring force associated with the mount. The arrangement enables design lati...

Toner exhaustion is sensed in cartridge (1) having a toner chamber (3), a rotation paddle (7) extending across the long dimension. Chamber (3) has a transparent window (21) at its bottom and a reflective surface (23) in chamber (3), also at the bottom. An optical emitter and receiver (31) periodically senses for returned light, which indicates toner low. Paddle (7) carries a wiper to clean window and reflective surface. This provides improved accuracy by a cost-effective system.

A sheet moisturizing apparatus, including a vertical conveyance route in which a sheet is guided upward or downward and paired moisturizing units which are mounted symmetrically to sandwich the vertical conveyance route.

An apparatus and method for taking up the slack in the web material between the supply roller and the take-up roller in the web cleaning assembly of an electrophotographic apparatus. A clutch mechanism is positioned between the drive gear on the take-up roller and the hub of the motor that drives the drive gear. A spring-biased pawl on the hub engages a tooth of an inner gear on the drive gear to provide a driving connection between the hub and the take-up gear when the motor drives the hub in a...

A toner container holding device that engages with a toner container having a first opening to supply toner to a developing device is provided. The toner container holding device includes a container holder that detachably holds the toner container and has a second opening at a position coinciding with the first opening, and a hopper frame that stores the toner received from the toner container. A first seal member if provided between the toner container and the container holder, when the toner ...

In order not to expel toner excessively when bias is applied, a cleanerless image forming apparatus includes a first developer charge amount controlling device 7, provided on a downstream side of a transfer device 5 in a moving direction of an image bearing member 1, e.g. a photosensitive drum, for applying a DC bias for making uniform a charge amount of residual developer remaining on the image bearing member 1, and/or a second developer charge amount controlling device 8, provided on a downstr...

A toner container used with a developing device in an image forming apparatus is disclosed having a toner accommodating portion adapted for accommodating toner; a stirring member adapted for stirring toner in the toner accommodating portion, toner supplying openings for output of toner from the toner container to the developing device, a sliding cover adapted for closing/opening the toner supplying openings, and projections respectively protruded from the sliding cover and adapted for engaging i...

A high yield laser printer toner cartridge for use with a Lexmark Optra series of laser printers and a method of modifying the toner cartridge so as to contain a added volume of toner without producing an error message. The toner cartridge including a hopper with a shaft having a first end and a second end extending through the hopper, such that a paddle disposed in the hopper rotates about the shaft, an encoder wheel which measures the volume of toner in the hopper secured to the first end of t...

A toner replenishing device of the present invention includes a container support unit for supporting a removable toner container, which stores toner therein, in a substantially horizontal position. A base unit supports the container support unit such that the support unit is movable between a first position for mounting or dismounting the toner container and a second position for replenishing the toner from the toner container to the body of an image forming apparatus. The container support uni...

An image forming apparatus has an endless belt which serves as an image carrier is characterized by reduced image misregistration and reduced machining cost. When the endless belt feed path is divided into a path from a drive roller to a tension roller, and a path from the tension roller to the drive roller, the eccentricity of an idle roller located on the path on the side including a latent image forming point is set to a value smaller than that of an idle roller located on the path not includ...