Toner cartridge with external planar installation guides

US5768661A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Lexmark International, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Johnnie Coffey · Winchester, US
• Larry Steven Foster · Lexington, US
• Paul Douglas Horrall · Lexington, US
• John Randolph McIntyre · Lexington, US
• Richard Alden Ramsdell · Lexington, US
• David Erwin Rennick · Georgetown, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Dec 20, 1996
• Grant date: Jun 16, 1998
• Expiry date: Dec 20, 2016

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G03G2221/1884
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A toner cartridge (1) has wing-like guides (9a, 9b) on opposite sides, the guides being curved to follow a curved guide track in a printer in which the cartridge is installed. The cartridge may be readily grasped by handles (3a, 3b) and inserted in the guide tracks of the printer near the top and front and then readily directed down and into the rear area of the printer. The guides are thin at their initial location of entry into the printer for easy insertion and increase to larger thickness regions (9aa, 9bb) to better guide the cartridge. The guides are a part of a unitarily molded cover assembly which includes the side walls (33, 241, 245).