Toner container and method of determining abnormality of toner container
First Claim
1. A toner container detachably mountable on an image forming apparatus, said toner container comprising:
- a container body for containing toner therein;
an agitating member, disposed within said container body, for agitating the toner within said container body; and
first and second rotating portions that rotate together with a rotary shaft of said agitating member at both end sides of said rotary shaft, said first and second rotating portions being exposed to an exterior of said container body, wherein said container body includes a first mark at a position corresponding to a predetermined position of said first rotating portion and a second mark at a position corresponding to a predetermined position of said second rotating portion.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A toner container is detachably mountable on an image forming apparatus and includes a container body that contains toner therein. An agitating member is disposed within the container body and agitates the toner within the container body. First and second rotating portions rotate together with a rotary shaft of the agitating member at both end sides of the rotary shaft. The first and second rotating portions are exposed to the exterior of the container body, wherein the container body includes a first mark at a position corresponding to a predetermined position of the first rotating portion and a second mark at a position corresponding to a predetermined position of the second rotating portion.
37 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A toner container detachably mountable on an image forming apparatus, said toner container comprising:
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a container body for containing toner therein;
an agitating member, disposed within said container body, for agitating the toner within said container body; and
first and second rotating portions that rotate together with a rotary shaft of said agitating member at both end sides of said rotary shaft, said first and second rotating portions being exposed to an exterior of said container body, wherein said container body includes a first mark at a position corresponding to a predetermined position of said first rotating portion and a second mark at a position corresponding to a predetermined position of said second rotating portion. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of determining an abnormality of a toner container detachably mountable on an image forming apparatus, the toner container comprising a container body for containing toner therein;
- an agitating member disposed within the container body for agitating the toner within the container body; and
first and second rotating portions that are exposed to an exterior of the container body and rotate together with a rotary shaft of the agitating member at both end sides of the rotary shaft;
wherein the container body includes a first mark at a position corresponding to a predetermined position of the first rotating portion and a second mark at a position corresponding to a predetermined position of the second rotating portion, said method comprising the steps of;rotating the first rotating portion so that the predetermined position of the first rotating portion faces the first mark; and
recognizing whether the predetermined position of the second rotating portion substantially faces the second mark, in order to determine an abnormality of the agitating member in a state where the rotating step has been conducted. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
wherein said recognizing step is conducted after said cleaning step.
- an agitating member disposed within the container body for agitating the toner within the container body; and
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22. A method according to claim 20 or 21, wherein if it is determined that there is no abnormality in the agitating member in said recognizing step, a filling step of filling the container body with the toner is conducted without exchanging the agitating member.
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23. A method according to claim 19, wherein before the toner container is used, when the first rotating portion rotates so that the predetermined position of the first rotating portion faces the first mark, the predetermined position of the second rotating portion substantially faces the second mark.
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24. A method according to claim 19, wherein the first and second rotating portions are engaged with the rotary shaft, respectively, and the first and second rotating portions are rotatably supported by the container body.
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25. A method according to claim 24, wherein the rotary shaft has restricting portions for restricting engaging angles of the first and second rotating portions with respect to the rotary shaft at both end sides of the rotary shaft, respectively.
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26. A method according to claim 24, wherein a third mark is disposed at the predetermined position of the first rotating portion.
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27. A method according to claim 26, wherein the first rotating portion includes an engaging portion, which is engaged with the image forming apparatus.
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28. A method according to claim 27, wherein the engaging portion is the third mark.
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29. A method according to claim 27, wherein the first rotating portion includes a transmitting portion that transmits a drive force from the image forming apparatus to the rotary shaft in a state where the engaging portion is engaged with the image forming apparatus.
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30. A method according to claim 26, wherein a fourth mark is disposed at the predetermined position of the second rotating portion.
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31. A method according to claim 30, wherein one of the second mark and the fourth mark is disposed to indicate a predetermined angle range.
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32. A method according to claim 31, wherein the fourth mark is disposed to indicate the predetermined angle range.
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33. A method according to claim 32, wherein graduations are provided within the predetermined angle range.
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34. A method according to claim 24, wherein the first rotating portion and the second rotating portion are portions of the rotary shaft, and the rotary shaft is rotatably supported by the container body through the first and second rotating portions.
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35. A method according to claim 19, wherein the container body contains the toner which is supplied to the image forming apparatus in a state where the toner container is mounted on the image forming apparatus.
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36. A method according to claim 19, wherein the agitating member rotates to be in contact with an inner wall of the container body.
Specification