Image forming apparatus including coupling member selectively coupled to photosensitive drum

摘要

An image forming apparatus includes a main body, endless belt, photosensitive drums, setting unit, contacting/separating mechanism, transmitting mechanism, and coupling members. The photosensitive drums are disposed in confrontation with the endless belt and are arranged in a first direction. Each photosensitive drum has an axis extending in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The setting unit sets the image forming apparatus to a monochrome mode or color mode. The contacting/separating mechanism controls at least one photosensitive drum to contact or separate from the endless in accordance with the set mode. The transmitting mechanism selectively transmits drive power to photosensitive drums. Each coupling member is selectively coupled to the corresponding photosensitive drum and has a coupling axis extending in the second direction. Each coupling member is uncoupled from the corresponding photosensitive drum when the contacting/separating mechanism controls the corresponding photosensitive drum to separate from the endless belt.

主权项

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
a main body; an endless belt; a plurality of photosensitive drums that are disposed in confrontation with the endless belt and are arranged in a first direction, each photosensitive drum having an axis extending in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction; a mode setting unit that sets the image forming apparatus to one of a monochrome printing mode and a color printing mode; a contacting/separating mechanism that controls at least one of the plurality of photosensitive drums to contact or separate from the endless belt in accordance with a set mode; a transmitting mechanism that selectively transmits drive power to the plurality of photosensitive drums; a plurality of coupling members that correspond respectively to the plurality of photosensitive drums, each coupling member being coaxially disposed with a corresponding photosensitive drum and being selectively coupled to the corresponding photosensitive drum; and a translation cam provided with a plurality of cam parts, the plurality of cam parts being provided in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of coupling members, each cam part being configured to uncouple a corresponding coupling member from the corresponding photosensitive drum when the contacting/separating mechanism controls the corresponding photosensitive drum to separate from the endless belt, the translation cam being linearly movable relative to the main body in a predetermined direction.