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Brother Int'l Issued New Ink Cartridge Patent for Having a Developing Roller
By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Journal of Engineering — Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Nagoya-shi, Aichi-ken, JP) has been issued patent number 8918019.
The patent's inventors are Okabe, Yasushi (Aichi, JP); Sato, Fumikazu (Aichi, JP); Nishiyama, Hideshi (Aichi, JP).This patent was filed on August 30, 2012 and was published online on December 23, 2014.
From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: "An electrophotographic printer known in the art has drum cartridges respectively provided with photosensitive drums, and developer cartridges that supply toner to the corresponding photosensitive drums. One type of developer cartridge known in the art for use in this type of printer includes a developing roller for carrying toner, and a supply roller for supplying toner onto the developing roller.
"Each developer cartridge includes an input gear into which an external drive force is inputted, a supply-roller gear for driving the corresponding supply roller by the drive force received from the input gear, and a developing-roller gear for driving the corresponding developing roller by the drive force transmitted from the input gear via the supply-roller gear. In other words, the drive force inputted into the input gear is transmitted to the developing-roller gear through the supply-roller gear."
Supplementing the background information on this patent, VerticalNews reporters also obtained the inventors' summary information for this patent: "However, in a developer cartridge having the structure described above, the supply roller rotates against a frictional force generated between the developing roller and supply roller and, thus, rotates while sliding against the developing roller at a torque greater than the frictional force. Consequently, the rotation of the supply roller is prone to variation in speed and may be unstable. Accordingly, the rotation of the developing roller may also become unstable when the force for driving the developing roller is transmitted to the developing-roller gear through the supply-roller gear.
"The rotation of the developing roller can be stabilized by transmitting the drive force from the input gear separately to the supply roller and the developing roller. However, this configuration requires two separate paths for transmitting the drive force from the input gear to the supply roller and the developing roller, respectively, and is not conducive to conserving space.
"Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a developer cartridge capable of conserving space while achieving stable rotation of the developing roller.
"In order to attain the above and other objects, the invention provides a developer cartridge. The developer cartridge includes a developing roller, a supply roller, an input gear, a developing roller gear, a supply roller gear, a first intermediate gear, and a second intermediate gear. The developing roller is configured to carry developing agent thereon and rotate about a first axis extending in a prescribed direction. The supply roller is configured to supply the developing agent to the developing roller and rotate about a second axis extending parallel to the first axis. The input gear is inputted with a drive force from an outside. The developing roller gear is configured to rotate about the first axis to drive the developing roller by the drive force inputted to the input gear. The supply roller gear is configured to rotate about the second axis to drive the supply roller by the drive force inputted to the input gear. The first intermediate gear is configured to rotate about the second axis. The first intermediate gear engages the input gear to receive the drive force therefrom. The second intermediate gear is engaged with the first intermediate gear and the developing roller gear so as to transmit the drive force from the first intermediate gear to the developing roller gear.
"According to another aspect, the present invention provides a developer cartridge. The developer cartridge includes a developing roller, a supply roller, an input gear, a developing roller gear, a supply roller gear, a first intermediate gear, and a second intermediate gear. The developing roller is configured to rotate about a first axis. The supply roller is disposed in contact with the developing roller and configured to rotate about a second axis extending parallel to the first axis. The input gear is configured to receive a driving force from an outside. The developing roller gear is configured to rotate about the first axis for driving the developing roller. The supply roller gear is configured to rotate about the second axis for driving the supply roller. The first intermediate gear is configured to rotate about the second axis, the first intermediate gear engaging the input gear. The second intermediate gear is engaged with the first intermediate gear and the developing roller gear."
For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Okabe, Yasushi; Sato, Fumikazu; Nishiyama, Hideshi. Developer Cartridge Having Developing Roller. U.S. Patent Number 8918019, filed August 30, 2012, and published online on December 23, 2014. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=8918019.PN.&OS=PN/8918019RS=PN/8918019
Keywords for this news article include: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha.
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