Image forming apparatus

• US 20010019418A1
• Filed: 02/12/2001
• Published: 09/06/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Fukunaga, Keizo, Taniguchi, Tadasu, Kataoka, Hiroshi
• Granted Patent: US 6,721,521 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.12
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/0194 primary transfer to the final recording medium G03G15/0184 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 21/1609 for space saving, e.g. structural arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2221/1603 for multicoloured copies
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2221/1684 using extractable subframes, e.g. on rails or hinges

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes the first image forming section for forming color images, and the second image forming section for forming monochrome images, wherein the first image forming section is slidable through an opening formed on the front face of the main body, while the second image forming section is slidable through an opening formed on the side face of the main body so that the first and second image forming sections slide in mutually orthogonal directions. With this arrangement, various maintenance operations of each unit can be performed while suppressing a reduction in strength of the main body, whereby degradation of image quality with life can be avoided for a long period of time.

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:

a plurality of image forming stations for respectively forming images in different colors,

wherein at least one of said plurality of image forming stations and rest of said plurality of image forming apparatuses are slidable in mutually different directions respectively through openings formed on an apparatus main body in respective sliding directions.

2. An image forming apparatus, comprising:

a first image forming section for forming an image;

a second image forming section for forming an image in different color from the image formed by said first image forming section; and

an intermediate transfer medium disposed between said first image forming section and said second image forming section,

wherein the image formed by said first image forming section and the image formed by said second image forming section are transferred onto a recording medium by said intermediate transfer medium, and

said first image forming section and said second image forming section are slidable in mutually different directions respectively through openings formed on an apparatus main body in respective sliding directions.

3. The image forming apparatus as set forth in

claim 2

, wherein:

said first image forming section and said second image forming section include, for respective different colors, image holding members for holding electrostatic latent images according to the image data, said image holding members being rotatable about respective axes aligned in a same direction, and

one of said first image forming section and said second image forming section is slidable in an axial direction of the image holding members, and other of said first image forming section and said second image forming section is slidable in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction.

4. The image forming apparatus as set forth in

claim 2

, wherein:

one of said first image forming section and said second image forming section is provided for forming black-and-white images, and other of said first image forming section and said second image forming section is provided for forming color images.

5. The image forming apparatus as set forth in

claim 4

, wherein:

said first image forming section is slidable in an axial direction of the image holding members, and said second image forming section is slidable in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction.

6. The image forming apparatus as set forth in

claim 4

, wherein:

said first image forming section is slidable in a direction orthogonal to an axial direction of the image holding members, and said second image forming section is slidable the axial direction.

7. The image forming apparatus as set forth in

claim 2

, further comprising:

guide means for guiding sliding movements of said first image forming section or said second image forming section in such a manner that said first image forming section or said second image forming section is separated from or is in contact with said intermediate transfer medium interlocking with the sliding movements of said first image forming section or said second image forming section, respectively.

8. The image forming apparatus as set forth in

claim 2

, wherein:

said first image forming section and said second image forming section include for respective different colors pairs of i) image holding member units for forming electrostatic latent images according to image data and ii) developing units for developing the electrostatic latent images.

9. The image forming apparatus as set forth in

claim 8

, wherein:

each of said image holding member units includes a developing section for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on an image holding member with toner in corresponding color, and a developer vessel for supplying the toner to said developing section.

10. The image forming apparatus as set forth in

claim 8

, wherein:

each of said image holding member units includes an image holding member for holding the electrostatic latent image, a charger for charging a surface of the image holding member, and a cleaning unit for cleaning the surface of the image holding member.

11. The image forming apparatus as set forth in

claim 7

, wherein:

said guide means including guide rails and guide pins is a sliding mechanism of said first image forming section or said second image forming section.

12. The image forming apparatus as set forth in

claim 3

, wherein:

a diameter of respective image holding members of said first image forming section is smaller than a diameter of an image holding member of said second image forming section.