Claims
- 1. An image forming apparatus comprising an image forming apparatus body, a plurality of different types of photoconductor units, said different types of photoconductor units being defined by photoconductor units which are different in a mounting structure for mounting a photoconductor layer on a photoconductor base, and mounting means for interchangeably mounting said different types of photoconductor units in said image forming apparatus body, wherein a single type of photoconductor unit is mounted in said image forming apparatus body at one time.
- 2. A method of supplying a photoconductor unit in an image forming apparatus having an image forming apparatus body, comprising the steps of:
- providing a plurality of different types of photoconductor units which are different in a mounting structure for mounting a photoconductive layer on a photoconductor base;
- providing mounting means for interchangeably mounting said different types of photoconductor units in said image forming apparatus body, wherein a single type of photoconductor unit is mounted in said image forming apparatus body at any one time;
- selecting any one of said plurality of different types of photoconductor units; and
- assembling the selected one of said photoconductor units into the image forming apparatus body.
- 3. An image forming apparatus, comprising:
- a base machine; and
- mounting means for interchangeably mounting a plurality of different types of photoconductor units to said base machine, wherein a single type of photoconductor unit is mounted to said base machine at any one time, said different types of said photoconductor units having different internal configurations so as to have at least one of different printing speeds and different duties, while having external configurations of substantially the same dimensions.
- 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said mounting means comprises a print section module detachably mounted on said base machine wherein each one of said plurality of different types of photoconductor units is operative to be removably set to said print section module.
- 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said plurality of different types of photoconductor units includes a take-up type photoconductor unit, a clamp type photoconductor unit, and a drum-type photoconductor unit.
- 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein at least one of said plurality of different types of photoconductor units comprises a belt-type photoconductor unit.
- 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising photoconductor supporting means which is provided commonly to both said take-up type photoconductor unit and said clamp type photoconductor unit.
- 8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said mounting means further comprises an interface through which each one of said plurality of different types of said photoconductor units is freely and commonly mounted to said print section module and in turn on said base machine.
- 9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said interface is a mechanical interface comprising power transmission means removably set.
- 10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said interface is an electrical interface including signal transmission means.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
4-261187 |
Sep 1992 |
JPX |
|
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 08/407,280 filed Mar. 20, 1995, now abandoned which is a Continuation-In-Part of application Ser. No. 08/129,361 filed Sep. 30, 1993, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (10)
Foreign Referenced Citations (4)
Number |
Date |
Country |
2840891 |
May 1980 |
DEX |
3146301 |
Jul 1982 |
DEX |
3240026 |
May 1983 |
DEX |
4139427 |
Jun 1992 |
DEX |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
407280 |
Mar 1995 |
|
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
129361 |
Sep 1993 |
|