Electrophotography – Having particular structure – Modular or displaceable
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-26
2001-12-04
Royer, William J. (Department: 2852)
Electrophotography
Having particular structure
Modular or displaceable
C399S113000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06327448
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connecting member, a process cartridge and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus.
Here, the term “electrophotographic image forming apparatus” relates to an apparatus that forms an image on a recording medium by using an electrophotographic image forming system. For example, an electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes an electrophotographic copying machine, an electrophotographic printer (e.g., a laser beam printer, a LED printer, etc.), a facsimile telegraph, a word processor, etc.
The process cartridge integrally combines charging means, developing means or cleaning means, and an electrophotographic photosensitive member into a cartridge that is detachably mountable to a main body of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus. The process cartridge also integrally combines the electrophotographic photosensitive member and at least one of the charging means, the developing means and the cleaning means into a cartridge that is detachably mountable to the main body of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus. Further, the process cartridge integrally combines at least the developing means and the electrophotographic photosensitive member into a cartridge which is detachably mountable to the main body of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
The electrophotographic image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic image forming process conventionally adopts a process cartridge system in which the electrophotographic photosensitive member and process means acting on this electrophotographic photosensitive member are integrally made into a cartridge which is detachably mountable to the main body of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus. In accordance with this process cartridge system, the electrophotographic image forming apparatus can be personally maintained by a user instead of a service man so that operability can be greatly improved. Therefore, this process cartridge system is widely used in the image forming apparatus.
Such a process cartridge has a cleaning container (first frame) for holding a photosensitive drum as the electrophotographic photosensitive member, and a developing container (second frame) for holding the developing means for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum by toner (developer). The above cleaning container and the above developing container are rotatably connected to each other by a connecting member having a round bar shape.
In recent years, a used process cartridge is collected, disassembled and cleaned and is then reutilized (recycled). In a disassembly process of the used process cartridge, the connecting member connecting the developing container and the cleaning container is first detached. In this case, the connecting member is pulled out of an outside side surface of the cleaning container. However, it is necessary to pull out the connecting member without damaging the cleaning container so as to reutilize the cleaning container.
The disassembly process will next be explained with reference to
FIGS. 14
,
15
A,
15
B and
16
.
When the process cartridge
100
is disassembled into the developing container
102
and the cleaning container
103
to reutilize (recycle) this process cartridge, it is necessary to first detach connecting pins
108
a
,
108
b
(no connecting pin
108
a
is illustrated) connecting the developing container
102
and the cleaning container
103
. However, as shown in
FIG. 14
, the connecting pins
108
a
,
108
b
are connected to connecting holes
106
a
,
106
b
,
107
a
,
107
b
,
107
c
,
107
d
(no connecting holes
106
a
,
107
a
,
107
c
are illustrated) such that no end face
108
d
of a connecting portion
108
c
is projected from outer walls
103
a
,
103
b
(no outer wall
103
a
is illustrated) of the cleaning container
103
. Therefore, it is difficult to detach the connecting pins
108
a
,
108
b
without damaging the cleaning container
103
.
Therefore, it has been considered to connect the developing container
102
and the cleaning container
103
in the process cartridge
100
by using a connecting pin
200
as shown in
FIG. 15A
so as to improve the disassembly property of the process cartridge.
FIG. 15A
is a front view of the connecting pin
200
in which the disassembly property of the process cartridge is improved.
FIG. 15B
is a cross-sectional view of the connecting portion of the developing container
102
and the cleaning container
103
using the connecting pin
200
shown in FIG.
15
A.
The connecting pin
200
has a connecting portion
200
a
, a head portion
200
b
and a grip portion
200
c
. The connecting portion
200
a
is fitted into each of connecting holes
106
b
,
107
b
,
107
d
(
106
a
,
107
a
,
107
c
) of the developing container
102
and the cleaning container
103
, and rotatably connects the cleaning container
103
and the developing container
102
to each other. The head portion
200
b
has a diameter larger than that of the connecting portion
200
a
and comes in contact with the outer wall
103
b
(
103
a
) of the cleaning container
103
. The grip portion
200
c
has a diameter larger than that of the head portion
200
b
and is formed to easily detach the connecting pin
200
. When the process cartridge
100
is disassembled, the grip portion
200
c
of the connecting pin
200
is gripped by a tool such as pliers, etc., and the connecting pin
200
is pulled out of the cleaning container
103
. Thus, the process cartridge
100
can be easily disassembled into the developing container
102
and the cleaning container
103
.
However, it has become desirable to narrow the clearance between a longitudinal outside face of the process cartridge and an inside face of the image forming apparatus main body at a mounting time of the process cartridge onto the image forming apparatus main body, i.e., the clearance t (see
FIG. 16
) between a frame
150
of the image forming apparatus main body A
1
and the outer wall
103
b
of the cleaning container
103
as much as possible so as to make compact the image forming apparatus main body A
1
and the process cartridge
100
. Therefore, it is necessary to arrange a connecting pin for easily disassembling the process cartridge
100
without projecting an end face (the head portion
200
b
and the grip portion
200
c
) from the outer wall
103
b
of the cleaning container
103
as in the above connecting pin
200
.
The present invention is obtained by further developing the above discussed conventional art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a connecting member able to be simply pulled out, a process cartridge using the connecting member, and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus to which the process cartridge can be detachably attached.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a connecting member not projected from an external surface of a frame in connection of the frames, a process cartridge using the connecting member, and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus to which the process cartridge can be detachably attached.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a connecting member able to make compact a process cartridge and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus capable of detachably attaching the process cartridge thereto, the process cartridge using the connecting member, and the electrophotographic image forming apparatus to which the process cartridge can be detachably attached.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a reusable connecting member, a process cartridge using the connecting member, and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus to which the process cartridge can be detachably attached.
Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide a connecting member having a connecting portion inserted into a hole formed in a first frame and a hole formed in a second frame to connect t
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Royer William J.
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