Waste-toner conveyance device and image forming apparatus
US9158267B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 3, 2014 |
| Grant date | Oct 13, 2015 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 3, 2034 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG03G2215/0129
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An image forming apparatus including multiple image forming units; a waste-toner container; and a waste-toner conveyance device including a common conveyance channel member disposed in an arrangement direction of the image forming units and provided with toner inlets to receive the waste toner from toner outlets of the cleaning units, communicating channel members identical in structure and respectively disposed between the toner outlets and the toner inlets of the common conveyance channel member, and a rotatable conveying member to transport the waste toner inside the common conveyance channel member linearly along a rotation axis thereof. The common conveyance channel member is shaped to equalize relative positions of each of the toner outlets and a corresponding one of the toner inlets of the common conveyance channel member among the multiple image forming units among which a distance from the toner outlet to the rotation axis differs.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.