US Patent Issued to BROTHER KOGYO on March 25 for "Image forming apparatus" (Japanese Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,259,680, issued on March 25, was assigned to BROTHER KOGYO K.K. (Nagoya, Japan).

"Image forming apparatus" was invented by Shougo Sato (Seto, Japan), Yasuo Fukamachi (Aichi, Japan), Motoaki Mushika (Hashima, Japan) and Kazuna Taguchi (Aichi, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An image forming apparatus, including a process cartridge and a main body with an opening and a cartridge supporter is provided. The process cartridge includes a drum cartridge; a toner cartridge attachable to the drum cartridge; and a switching member switchable states in the process cartridge between a first state, wherein detachment of the toner cartridge is r...