US 12,078,941 B2
Toner container, image forming apparatus, and shutter unit
Takashi Uesugi, Shizuoka (JP); Gen Kitamura, Shizuoka (JP); and Seiji Terazawa, Shizuoka (JP)
Assigned to RICOH COMPANY, LTD., Tokyo (JP)
Appl. No. 18/029,670
Filed by Takashi Uesugi, Shizuoka (JP); Gen Kitamura, Shizuoka (JP); and Seiji Terazawa, Shizuoka (JP)
PCT Filed Nov. 4, 2021, PCT No. PCT/IB2021/060193
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 31, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/106945, PCT Pub. Date May 27, 2022.
Claims priority of application No. 2020-191163 (JP), filed on Nov. 17, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0384713 A1, Nov. 30, 2023
Int. Cl. G03G 15/08 (2006.01)
CPC G03G 15/0886 (2013.01) [G03G 15/0872 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system, comprising:
an image forming apparatus; and
a toner container to be detachably attached to the image forming apparatus, the toner container comprising:
a shutter to:
be pushed by a nozzle of the image forming apparatus in conjunction with a movement of the toner container in an installation direction to the image forming apparatus;
cause the nozzle to insert into a through-hole of the toner container; and
communicate the nozzle with the toner container via an opening on a circumferential surface of the nozzle; and
a seal, including an elastic material, disposed at an inner circumferential surface of the through-hole to:
cover a circumferential surface of the shutter in a closed state in which the shutter is not pushed by the nozzle; and
slidingly contact the circumferential surface of the shutter and the circumferential surface of the nozzle during an opening operation in which the shutter is pushed by the nozzle, and
wherein a length of the seal in the installation direction is longer than a length of the opening of the nozzle in the installation direction.