Belt unit and image forming apparatus

{
  "publication_number": "US9323204B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Belt unit and image forming apparatus",
  "abstract": "A belt unit, including an endless belt, a first roller, a second roller, and a guiding member, is provided. The endless belt includes a belt strip and a guided section protruding from an inner circumferential surface of the belt strip. The guiding member with a groove is arranged on one of axial-end sides of the first roller coaxially with the first roller. The guided section of the endless belt is set in the groove. The groove includes a first face and a second face facing each other along a direction in parallel with a central axis of the first roller. The guiding member includes a first piece containing the first face and a second piece containing the second face. The first face protrudes outwardly with respect to the inner circumferential surface of the belt strip.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A belt unit, comprising: an endless belt comprising a belt strip and a guided section, the guided section protruding from an inner circumferential surface of the belt strip at one of widthwise sides along a widthwise direction of the belt strip; a first roller and a second roller, around which the endless belt is strained; and a guiding member arranged on one of axial-end sides of the first roller along an axial direction of the first roller coaxially with the first roller, the guiding member being formed to have a groove, in which the guided section is set, wherein the groove comprises a first face and a second face, which face each other along a direction in parallel with a central axis of the first roller, the first face being arranged in a position closer to the one of widthwise sides with respect to the second face along the direction in parallel with the central axis, wherein the guiding member comprises a first piece containing the first face and a second piece containing the second face, the first piece and the second piece being separately formed and subsequently assembled to form the guiding member, and the first face protrudes outwardly with respect to the inner circumferential surface of the belt strip, and wherein the first piece is molded so as to have a parting line on an end of an axially extending and radially outmost edge of the first piece, the end of the edge being spaced from the first face.",
    "2. The belt unit according to claim 1, wherein the guiding member is rotatable about the central axis; and wherein the first piece and the second piece are assembled integrally.",
    "3. The belt unit according to claim 2, further comprising: a bearing configured to support the guiding member rotatably on a shaft of the first roller; and wherein the bearing is arranged in one of the first piece and the second piece.",
    "4. The belt unit according to claim 3, wherein the bearing is arranged in the first piece.",
    "5. The belt unit according to claim 4, wherein the bearing is formed to extend along a direction in parallel with the central axis from a side of the first face toward a side of the second face with an end thereof being extended beyond the second face to reach a position in vicinity of the first roller.",
    "6. The belt unit according to claim 2, wherein one of the first piece and the second piece is formed to have a press-fit hole, and the other one of the first piece and the second piece is formed to have a press-fit part; wherein the press-fit part is pressed into the press-fit hole along the direction in parallel with the central axis to assemble the first piece and the second piece integrally; and wherein a length of a part, in which the press-fit part and the press-fit hole contact each other, along the direction in parallel with the central axis is one of greater and equal to a width of the groove.",
    "7. The belt unit according to claim 1, wherein the groove is a circular-shaped dent and is formed to have: the first face; the second face; and a bottom surface, which extends in parallel with the central axis and forms an annular surface connecting one end of the first face closer to the central axis and one end of the second face closer to the central axis; wherein the bottom surface is integrally formed with one of the first piece and the second piece; and wherein a tip end of a part forming the bottom surface and extending in parallel with the central axis is in contact with the other of the first piece and the second piece.",
    "8. The belt unit according to claim 1, wherein guiding member is movable in the axial direction; and wherein the belt unit further comprises: a shaft support arranged on the one of axial-end sides of the first roller along the axial direction and configured to support the first roller; a first restricting section formed in the first piece in a position to face the shaft support and configured to restrict the guiding member from being moved toward the one of axial-end sides of the first roller; and a second restricting section formed in the second piece in a position to face the first roller and configured to restrict the guiding member from being moved toward the other one of axial-end sides of the first roller.",
    "9. The belt unit according to claim 1, wherein the first face protrudes radially outwardly beyond an outer circumferential surface of the belt strip; and wherein a dimension of protrusion of the first face beyond the outer circumferential surface of the belt strip is one of greater than and equal to a sum of a thickness of the belt strip and a height of the guided section.",
    "10. The belt unit according to claim 1, wherein the belt strip is made of a resin in a polyamide series.",
    "11. The belt unit according to claim 1, wherein the guided section is arranged in a displaced position with respect to the one of widthwise ends of the belt strip toward the other of the widthwise ends of the belt strip.",
    "12. The belt unit according to claim 1, wherein the guiding member is arranged solely on the one of axial-end sides of the first roller along the axial direction.",
    "13. The belt unit according to claim 1, wherein the first face is in a form of a circular plane.",
    "14. The belt unit according to claim 1, wherein the first piece and the second piece are mold-formed pieces, which are unmolded along the direction in parallel with the central axis of the guiding member.",
    "15. The belt unit according to claim 1, wherein the widthwise direction of the belt strip coincides with the axial direction of the first roller.",
    "16. An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image forming unit configured to form an image on a sheet; and a belt unit, comprising: an endless belt comprising a belt strip and a guided section, the guided section protruding from an inner circumferential surface of the belt strip at one of widthwise sides along a widthwise direction of the belt strip; a first roller and a second roller, around which the endless belt is strained; and a guiding member arranged on one of axial-end sides of the first roller along an axial direction of the first roller coaxially with the first roller, the guiding member being formed to have a groove, in which the guided section is set, wherein the groove comprises a first face and a second face, which face each other along a direction in parallel with a central axis of the first roller, the first face being arranged in a position closer to the one of widthwise sides with respect to the second face along the direction in parallel with the central axis, wherein the guiding member comprises a first piece containing the first face and a second piece containing the second face, the first piece and the second piece being separately molded and subsequently assembled to form the guiding member, and the first face protrudes outwardly with respect to the inner circumferential surface of the belt strip, and wherein the first piece is molded so as to have a parting line on an end of an axially extending and radially outmost edge of the first piece, the end of the edge being spaced from the first face."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "1. Technical Field\n\nAn aspect of the present invention relates to a belt unit including an endless belt and an image forming apparatus with the belt unit.\n\n2. Related Art\n\nA belt unit, in which a strained endless belt strip rolls around a pair of roller, has often been used in, for example, an image forming apparatus. The belt unit may include the belt strip being an endless belt and a guided part, which is arranged at one of widthwise ends of the belt strip to protrude inward from the belt strip. The guided part may be engaged with a groove formed in a rotatable guiding member, which is arranged at one of axial ends along an axial direction of each roller. With the guided part guided in the groove, the endless belt may be prevented from drifting in the axial direction of the rollers.\n\nWhile an image forming apparatus may be equipped with the belt unit with the endless belt, if the endless belt unsteadily drifts in the axial direction, quality of an image formed in the image forming apparatus may be lowered.\n\nThe guiding member with the groove may be often made by, in view of reduction of manufacturing cost, molding. In molding, however, a molded item may have a linear burr or tier called a parting line at a position corresponding to edges of divided faces of the molds.\n\nGenerally, in molding, a filler material such as resin is filled in a hollow space formed by two or more pieces of mold pattern, and the mold patterns are separated apart to unmold the solidified resin piece.",
  "cpc": [
    "G03G 15/6529",
    "B65G 15/60",
    "B65G 15/64",
    "B65H 2404/2222",
    "B65H 2404/251",
    "B65H 2404/252",
    "B65H 2801/06",
    "B65H 5/021",
    "G03G 15/1615",
    "G03G 2215/00143"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "B65G 15/60",
    "B65G 15/64",
    "B65H 5/02",
    "G03G 15/00",
    "G03G 15/16"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Brother Industries Ltd"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Kotaro TAKIFUJI",
    "Hiroshi Nakano",
    "Wataru Yamaguchi"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2013-03-18",
  "publication_date": "2016-04-26",
  "grant_date": "2016-04-26",
  "priority_date": "2012-06-22",
  "application_number": "US-201313845540-A",
  "family_id": "49148399",
  "cited_by_count": 0,
  "citations": [
    "JPH1179458A",
    "US6505026B2",
    "JP2002082531A",
    "US20030091373A1",
    "JP2003149951A",
    "US20040076455A1",
    "US20060159489A1",
    "JP2008170478A",
    "JP2009008917A",
    "US20090238614A1",
    "US20090294256A1"
  ]
}