An image from the patent document
The OEM has been granted a patent for a method of replacing a photosensitive drum in a toner cartridge, which may affect the remanufacturing of the cartridge.
The European patent, EP 1 536 297 B1, was granted to the OEM on 8 January this year, and refers to a process cartridge as well as the “mounting method” and “replacing method of a photosensitive drum”, with the document giving detail of the process of replacing the drum – an operation that remanufacturers of toner cartridges undertake and which could affect them with this particular cartridge.
The patent document first discusses the “connecting member” and the holes that are provided in the drum shaft for it to sit in, with the document even covering the actual turning of the connecting member as “perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the drum shaft”, with the openings and “flanges” also documented.
It then discusses the method of “pulling out the drum shaft”, including the openings in the drum frame and the direction in which it can be turned to be removed or installed. The patent even goes on to cover the input of a replacement drum and its mounting on the drum frame, with each step until completion covered in the document.
Canon previously patented a remanufacturing method for a cartridge, whilst Epson recently filed a patent that would seek to patent the refilling process for one of its cartridges, and Brother has also, on two occasions, patented remanufacturing methods for some of its cartridges as well (here and here).