IMAGE-FORMING DEVICE HAVING PHOTOSENSITIVE DRUMS AND ENDLESS BELT

• US 20120213547A1
• Filed: 01/31/2012
• Published: 08/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Original Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Inventors: SATO, Shougo
• Granted Patent: US 8,792,816 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 399/101
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/0189 primary transfer to an intermediate transfer belt G03G15/0184 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 21/105 Arrangements for conveying toner waste
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 21/12 Toner waste containers
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/0132 vertical medium transport path at the secondary transfer
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2221/1684 using extractable subframes, e.g. on rails or hinges
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2221/1869 Cartridge holders, e.g. intermediate frames for placing cartridge parts therein

Abstract

In an image-forming device, photosensitive drums are held by the holding member. Developer material accommodating units are held by the holding member so as to form a row of developer material accommodating units along an alignment direction, the developer material accommodating units including one end developer material accommodating unit that is located at one end of the row of developer material accommodating units. An endless belt extends in the alignment direction. A waste developer material accommodating part is provided integrally with the one end developer material accommodating part. A waste developer material conveying mechanism conveys waste developer material from a recovering unit to the waste developer material accommodating part. The holding member includes: a first side plate and a second side plate; and a first beam and a second beam, at least part of a waste developer material conveying mechanism being provided on the first beam.

Claims

1. An image-forming device, comprising:

a holding member;

a plurality of photosensitive drums that are held by the holding member, that are juxtaposed with one another in an alignment direction, and that are arranged spaced apart from one another to form a row of photosensitive drums along the alignment direction;

a plurality of developer material accommodating units that are held by the holding member in one to one correspondence with the plurality of photosensitive drums so as to form a row of developer material accommodating units along the alignment direction and that are configured to accommodate developer material to be supplied to the photosensitive drums, the developer material accommodating units including one end developer material accommodating unit that is located at one end of the row of developer material accommodating units;

an endless belt extending in the alignment direction and confronting all of the plurality of photosensitive drums at the same time;

a recovering unit that is held by the holding member and that is configured to remove, from the belt, waste developer material to be discarded from the belt and collect the waste developer material;

a waste developer material accommodating part that is provided integrally with the one end developer material accommodating part and that is configured to accommodate waste developer material collected by the recovering unit; and

a waste developer material conveying mechanism that is configured to be connected to both of the recovering unit and the waste developer material accommodating part and to convey the waste developer material from the recovering unit to the waste developer material accommodating part,

the holding member including;

a first side plate and a second side plate that are disposed on a pair of opposite sides of the photosensitive drums along an axial direction of the photosensitive drums and that confront with each other along the axial direction; and

a first beam and a second beam that are disposed on a pair of opposite sides of the photosensitive drums along the alignment direction and that span between the first and second side plates,

at least part of the waste developer material conveying mechanism being provided on the first beam.

2. The image-forming device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the waste developer material conveying mechanism includes:

a first conveying member that is configured to receive, from the recovering unit, waste developer material collected by the recovering unit and to convey the waste developer material to an inner side along the axial direction of the photosensitive drums; and

a second conveying member that is configured to receive waste developer material from the first conveying member and to convey the waste developer material to the waste developer material accommodating part.

3. The image-forming device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the second conveying member is provided on a center region of the first beam along the axial direction.

4. The image-forming device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the waste developer material conveying mechanism further includes a third conveying member that is disposed outside the waste developer material accommodating part and that is configured to couple the second conveying member to the waste developer material accommodating part.

5. The image-forming device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the third conveying member includes:

a main body part that is configured to be connected with the second conveying member; and

a connecting part that extends from the main body part in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction and connects to the waste developer material accommodating part.

6. The image-forming device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the connecting part is connected to a center region of the waste developer material accommodating part along the axial direction.

7. The image-forming device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the connecting part is connected to the waste developer material accommodating part so as to be capable of moving relative to the waste developer material accommodating part.

8. The image-forming device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the waste developer material accommodating part is formed with a piston guide part that has a cylindrical shape with its central axis extending orthogonal to the axial direction,

the connecting part has a cylindrical shape with its central axis extending orthogonal to the axial direction, and is inserted into the piston guide part, and

a sealing member of a cylindrical shape is interposed between the connecting part and the piston guide part.

9. The image-forming device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the main body part is cylindrically shaped with its central axis oriented in the axial direction, and

wherein the main body part is formed with a through-hole that is in fluid communication with the connecting part, and

the third conveying member includes:

a shutter that is provided so as to be capable of moving along an inner peripheral surface of the main body part between an open position opening the through-hole and a closed position closing the through-hole; and

an operating lever that is configured so as to be operated to move the shutter between the open position and closed position.

10. The image-forming device as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a main casing, the holding member being configured to move horizontally along the alignment direction between an accommodated position, in which the holding member is accommodated inside the main casing, and a pulled-out position, in which part of the holding member is pulled outside of the main casing.

11. The image-forming device as claimed in claim 10, further comprising

a pair of guide parts that are provided in the main casing, that are disposed on both sides along the axial direction and extend along the alignment direction, the accommodated position being located between the pair of guide parts;

and

a pair of guided parts that are formed on the first and second side plates and that are configured to be guided by the guide parts when the holding member is moved.

12. The image-forming device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the second conveying member extends upwardly from the first conveying member.

13. The image-forming device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an accommodation-part-inside conveying member that is disposed inside the waste developer material accommodating part and is configured to convey waste toner in an inside of the waste developer material accommodating part in directions toward both outer sides along the axial direction.