| 摘要 |
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To regulate the rotational torque of a toner carrying screw and to effectively prevent the clogging of a toner pipe without specially providing a torque limiter in the case of recovering waste toner by constituting a spring part regulating torque transmitted from a driving means to the toner carrying screw of a part of the toner carrying screw. SOLUTION: The spring part 14a of a waste toner carrying screw 14 presses a cam 18 to a limiter gear 16, and the cam 18 is engaged with the gear 16. By rotating a screw motor 19 and rotating the screw 14 in a waste toner carrying rotating direction, waste toner is carried to a recovery container 12. When the rotational torque of the screw 14 is larger than a specified value because of the adhesion of the toner to the inner surface of a pipe 13 and the screw 14, the pawl part 18a of the cam 18 and the recessed part 16a of the gear 16 slide each other owing to their shape against energizing by the spring part 14a, so that they are disengaged. Then, the driving force is not transmitted to the screw 14 and the damage of a driving device is prevented. |
