CN218647311U - Developing box - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model relates to a developing box, detachably install to the image forming device who has the detection part in, developing box includes: a housing in which a developer can be accommodated; a driving force receiving member that receives a driving force output from the image forming apparatus; a detection unit installed at one side of the housing and detected by the detection member; wherein the detection unit is mounted on the same side of the housing as the driving force receiving member; the detection unit is arranged between the shell and the end cover; the detection unit comprises a connecting gear, a rotating assembly and a sliding component; the connecting gear and the rotating component are rotatably arranged on the shell, the connecting gear can receive the driving force of the driving force receiving component and rotate, and the connecting gear can be meshed with the rotating component to drive the rotating component to rotate; the rotating assembly may force the sliding member to slide relative to the end cap to cause the sliding member to contact or disengage the detection component.

Description

Developing box

Technical Field

The utility model relates to an electronic imaging field especially relates to a developing box.

Background

In image forming apparatuses (printers, copiers, facsimile machines, etc.) of the related art, a developing cartridge is widely used, which includes a counting mechanism, and is detachably mounted to the image forming apparatus, and by interaction of an information detecting mechanism of the image forming apparatus and the counting mechanism on the developing cartridge, detection of whether the developing cartridge mounted to the image forming apparatus is a new developing cartridge is achieved, thereby determining the life of the developing cartridge.

The counting mechanism of present developing box all adopts the detection gear that has scarce tooth portion to be used for detecting whether developing box is new, in the testing process, the tooth portion that detects the gear meshes with drive gear, it follows drive gear rotation and accomplishes the detection to detect the gear, when detecting and accomplishing, the scarce tooth portion that detects the gear is relative with drive gear, it breaks away from the meshing to detect the gear and drive gear, it no longer follows drive gear rotation to detect the gear, the detection gear that has scarce tooth portion makes and the installation accuracy requirement is high, and because developing box's detection gear includes scarce tooth portion, consequently the condition that transmission is unstable or became invalid can take place in the use, will directly lead to detecting like this and protruding can not be effectively and the touching of printer sensor, thereby cause the erroneous judgement. On the other hand, in the process of reusing the developing box, the end cover of the developing box needs to be removed to reset the detection mechanism, so that the developing box can be reused, and the recovery efficiency is directly influenced.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

An object of the utility model is to provide a developing box, it is complicated to aim at solving the detection gear structure that exists among the traditional technical scheme, makes and installs the required precision high, moreover because developing box's detection gear includes scarce tooth portion, consequently can take place the condition that the transmission is unstable or became invalid in the use, will directly lead to detecting like this and break out effectively and touch with the printer sensor to cause the erroneous judgement, and influence recovery efficiency's problem.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is realized by the following technical solution:

a developing cartridge detachably mountable to an image forming apparatus having a detecting member, comprising:

a housing in which a developer can be accommodated;

a driving force receiving member that receives a driving force output by the image forming apparatus;

a detection unit installed at one side on the housing and detected by the detection part; wherein the detection unit is mounted on the same side of the housing as the driving force receiving member;

the detection unit is arranged between the shell and the end cover;

the detection unit comprises a base, a connecting gear, a rotating assembly and a sliding component; the base is mounted on the housing, the connecting gear and the rotating assembly are rotatably mounted on the base, the connecting gear can receive the driving force of the driving force receiving member and rotate, and the connecting gear can be meshed with the rotating assembly to drive the rotating assembly to rotate;

the rotating assembly may force the sliding member to slide relative to the end cap to cause the sliding member to contact or disengage the detection component.

Further, a first elastic member is included, the first elastic member being installed between the connecting gear and the rotating assembly, the first elastic member being for urging the rotating assembly to engage or disengage the connecting gear and the rotating assembly.

Further, the detection device further comprises a second elastic member, wherein the second elastic member is installed between the end cover and the sliding member, and the second elastic member is used for generating force for forcing the sliding member to contact the detection part.

Further, the rotating assembly comprises a rotating piece, a third elastic member and a poking piece; the third elastic component is arranged between the rotating piece and the poking piece, and the rotating piece is positioned between the connecting gear and the poking piece in a telescopic mode along the rotating axis of the connecting gear so that the poking piece is meshed with or separated from the rotating piece.

Further, the connecting gear is provided with a disk-shaped toothed disk and a first engaging portion extending from the toothed disk, and the first engaging portion is engageable with the rotating assembly.

Further, the sliding member includes a sliding slot, and the end cover is provided with a sliding rail, the sliding rail is arranged in the sliding slot, and the sliding slot can move along the sliding rail to enable the sliding member to slide relative to the end cover.

Further, the toggle member includes a main body portion and a protruding portion extending from the main body portion, the protruding portion being configured to abut against the slide member to move the slide member to be detected by the detection means.

Further, the stirring piece comprises a first protruding portion and a second protruding portion, the first protruding portion and the second protruding portion are formed by extending the outer peripheral surface of the stirring piece outwards, the end cover is provided with a first notch and a second notch, the first protruding portion can be matched with the first notch, and the second protruding portion can be matched with the second notch.

Further, the sliding member includes a contact end and an activation end, the second elastic member is disposed between the activation end and the housing, and the activation end is configured to contact with the rotating component, so that the contact end is movably contacted with or separated from the detection component.

Further, the base comprises a base portion and a positioning column extending from the base portion to be far away from the shell, the base portion is fixed to one side of the shell, and the connecting gear is sleeved on the positioning column and can rotate around the positioning column.

Above-mentioned the utility model discloses developing box's technical scheme, detecting element accomplish the count back, stir in the rotating member because third elastic component compel to push away with the rotating member disengagement, it continues rotatoryly to connect the gear under drive gear's drive power effect, nevertheless connects the unable transmission of drive power of gear to stirring the piece for stir the unable sliding member that touches of piece, developing box's job stabilization nature can effectively be guaranteed. When the developing box is recycled, only the initial position of the rotating assembly needs to be adjusted again by using external force, and the end cover of the developing box does not need to be removed, so that the recycling efficiency is effectively improved, and the recycling cost is reduced.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present invention, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to these drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a combination of a developing cartridge provided by the present invention;

fig. 2 is a partially exploded schematic view of a driving end of a developing cartridge provided by the present invention;

fig. 3 is a partially exploded view of a driving end of a developing cartridge provided by the present invention;

fig. 4 is an exploded schematic view of a detecting unit of the developing cartridge provided by the present invention;

fig. 5 is a partially exploded schematic view of a detection unit provided by the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic perspective view of a toggle member of the developing cartridge according to the present invention;

fig. 7 is a plan view of a toggle member of the developing cartridge provided by the present invention;

fig. 8 is a front schematic view of a driving end of a developing cartridge provided by the present invention;

fig. 9 is a partially assembled schematic view of a developing cartridge provided by the present invention;

fig. 10 is a partial perspective view of a developing cartridge provided by the present invention;

fig. 11 is a schematic view of a combination of a sliding member and a second elastic member of the developing cartridge provided by the present invention;

fig. 12 is a left side view of the detecting unit of the developing cartridge provided by the present invention at an initial position;

fig. 13 is a left side view of the detecting unit of the developing cartridge provided by the present invention at an angular position;

fig. 14 is a left side view of the detecting unit of the developing cartridge of the present invention at the termination start position.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.

In the following description, the developing roller 2 is located at the front end portion of the casing 1 in the front-rear direction, the handle 5 is located at the rear end portion of the casing 1 in the front-rear direction, and the direction intersecting the left-right direction and the front-rear direction is the up-down direction.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the developing cartridge of the present invention, which is mountable to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus having a detecting unit 3, includes a housing 1 configured to accommodate developer therein; a powder feeding roller, located inside the casing 1, for supplying the developer contained inside the casing 1 to the developing roller 2; a developing roller 2 rotatable about a developing roller axis extending in the left-right direction, at least a part of the developing roller 2 being located outside the casing 1, the developing roller 2 being located at a front end portion of the casing 1 in the front-rear direction; an agitation frame located inside the casing 1, the agitation frame being rotatable about an axis extending in the left-right direction while being capable of agitating the developer contained inside the casing 1; a handle 5 for facilitating the user to put and take the developing cartridge, the handle 5 being provided at the rear end portion of the casing 1 in the front-rear direction.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the developing cartridge further includes a driving end for receiving a driving force for driving components in the developing cartridge to operate by means of gear transmission, the driving end is located at the left end of the housing 1 in the left-right direction, and the driving end includes: the developing roller gear 6 is matched with the developing roller 2 and drives the developing roller 2 to rotate; the powder feeding roller gear 7 is matched with the powder feeding roller and drives the powder feeding roller to rotate; a driving gear 8 engaged with the developing roller gear 6, the powder feeding roller gear 7, and the transmission gear 9 and receiving a driving force transmitted from the electrophotographic image forming apparatus to drive the developing roller gear 6, the powder feeding roller gear 7, and the transmission gear 9 to rotate; the drive gear 8 rotates on a first axis extending in the left-right direction; the transmission gear 9 is also meshed with the stirring rack gear 10 and can drive the stirring rack gear 10 to rotate; the stirring frame gear 10 is matched with the stirring frame 4 and drives the stirring frame to rotate around a second axis; and an end cover 11 provided on the left end of the housing 1 so as to cover the developing roller gear 6, the powder feed roller gear 7, the drive gear 8, the transfer gear 9, and the agitator gear 10.

The driving end also comprises a detection unit 3 which can trigger a detection part in the image forming device of the electronic camera, and the detection unit 3 can receive the driving force transmitted by the driving gear 8 and is detected by the image forming device. As shown in fig. 3, the detecting unit 3 includes a connecting gear 31, a rotating assembly 32, a first elastic member 33, a second elastic member 34, a sliding member 35, and a base 36.

The base 36 includes a base portion 361 and a positioning column 362 extending from the base portion 361 away from the housing 1, the base portion 361 is fixed on the driving end surface by screws, the connecting gear 31 is sleeved on the positioning column 362 and can rotate around the positioning column 362, the connecting gear 31 is engaged with the gear 10 of the stirring frame and rotates along with the rotation of the gear 10 of the stirring frame, as shown in fig. 5, the connecting gear 31 is provided with a disk-shaped fluted disc 311 and a first engaging portion 312 extending from the fluted disc 311 away from the housing 1 in the left-right direction. The outer peripheral surface of the toothed plate 311 of the connecting gear 31 is provided with a plurality of gear teeth, and in the present embodiment, the connecting gear 31 has a full-tooth structure and is always in a meshing state with the mixer rack gear 10.

As shown in fig. 4, the rotating assembly 32 is disposed on the positioning post 362, and the rotating assembly 32 includes a rotating element 321, a third elastic member 322 and a toggle element 323. The end cap 11 is provided with a first opening 111, the toggle part 323 is exposed from the first opening 111 to the surface of the end cap 11, the end of the positioning post 362 is exposed from the first opening 111 to the surface of the end cap 11, the fixing member 37 is fixed to the end of the positioning post 362, so that the rotating assembly 32 and the first elastic member 33 are limited between the connecting gear 31 and the fixing member 37, the connecting gear 31, the rotating assembly 32 and the first elastic member 33 are combined together, and the assembly installation of the detecting unit 3 and the resetting of the detecting unit 3 are facilitated. In the present embodiment, the fixing member 37 is a screw.

As shown in fig. 5 to 7, the rotating member 321 includes a second engaging portion 3211 extending toward the housing 1, the second engaging portion 3211 engages with the first engaging portion 312 of the connecting gear 31, when the first engaging portion 312 engages with the second engaging portion 3211, the connecting gear 31 can drive the rotating member 321 to rotate, the rotating member 321 is further provided with a first engaging portion 3212, the dial 323 is disposed on the positioning post 362, the dial 323 is provided with a second engaging portion 3233, the second engaging portion 3233 can engage with the first engaging portion 3212, so that the dial 323 rotates along with the rotating member 321, specifically, the first engaging portion 3212 includes a plurality of catching grooves, the second engaging portion 3233 includes a plurality of catching bosses, the catching bosses are configured as a right-angled ladder shape extending in the left-right direction, and the shape of the catching grooves matches the shape of the catching bosses, when the first engaging portion 3212 is engaged with the second engaging portion 3233, the detent boss of the second engaging portion 3233 is engaged with one of the detent recesses of the first engaging portion 3212, when the connecting gear 31 drives the toggle member 323 to rotate in the detection direction, the detent recess stops the detent boss to maintain an engaged state, when the toggle member 323 rotates in the detection direction, the inclined surface of the detent recess guides the inclined surface of the detent boss, so that the toggle member 323 compresses the third elastic member 322 to generate a displacement moving away from the housing 1, the detent boss disengages from the currently engaged detent recess, and continues to rotate into the next detent recess, thereby enabling the toggle member 323 to rotate in the detection direction relative to the rotary member 321 and the connecting gear 31 while the connecting gear 31 remains unrotated.

As shown in fig. 6 and 7, the dial 323 further includes a main body portion 3231 and a protruding portion 3232 extending from the main body portion 3231, in the present embodiment, the protruding portion 3232 is configured as a circular arc formed by extending the dial 323 to the housing 1 in the left-right direction, and the protruding portion 3232 is configured to abut against the sliding member 35, and to force the sliding member 35 to move so as to be detected by the image forming apparatus. The third elastic member 322 is disposed between the rotating member 321 and the toggle member 323, and the third elastic member 322 is used to limit the relative movement between the rotating member 321 and the toggle member 323. The toggle member 323 further includes a first protrusion 3234 and a second protrusion 3235, the first protrusion 3234 and the second protrusion 3235 are both formed by extending outward from the outer peripheral surface of the toggle member 323, correspondingly, the first opening 111 of the end cap 11 is provided with a first notch 113 and a second notch 114 in a concave manner, the first protrusion 3234 can be matched with the first notch 113, the second protrusion 3235 can be matched with the second notch 114, and when the first protrusion 3234 enters the first notch 113 and the second protrusion 3235 enters the second notch 114, the toggle member 321 protrudes from the surface of the end cap 11. The first protrusion 3234 and the second protrusion 3235 have different sizes, so as to form a foolproof structure, which prevents the toggle element 323 from being mistaken in the detection process (before the end position), so that the first protrusion 3234 enters the second notch 114, the second protrusion 3235 enters the first notch 113, and the detection is interrupted or mistaken.

It is understood that the elastic coefficient of the first elastic member 33 is the same as that of the third elastic member 322. In the present embodiment, the first elastic member 33 and the third elastic member 322 are configured as the same compression spring, and when the first elastic member 33 and the third elastic member 322 are simultaneously in the compressed state, since the elastic coefficient of the first elastic member 33 is the same as that of the third elastic member 322, the rotating element 321 located between the first elastic member 33 and the third elastic member 322 is approximately located at the middle position of the first elastic member 33 and the third elastic member 322, thereby controlling the displacement of the rotating element 321 by controlling the compression amount of the first elastic member 33 and the third elastic member 322, so as to engage the second engaging portion 3233 of the control toggle element 323 with the first engaging portion 3212 of the rotating element 321, and facilitating the structural design.

As shown in fig. 8-10, the end cap 11 is provided with a second opening 112, the sliding member 35 is movably disposed in the second opening 112, a portion of the sliding member 35 can extend out of the second opening 112 or retract into the second opening 112, the sliding member 35 includes a sliding slot, the end cap 11 is provided with a sliding rail, the sliding rail is disposed in the sliding slot, the sliding slot can move along the sliding rail to enable the sliding member to slide relative to the end cap 11, specifically, as shown in fig. 12, the sliding rail includes a first sliding rail 115 and a second sliding rail 116, the sliding slot includes a first sliding slot 354 and a second sliding slot 355, the first sliding rail 115 is mounted in the first sliding slot 354, and the second sliding rail 116 is mounted in the second sliding slot 355. As shown in fig. 11, the sliding member 35 includes an activating end 351 and a contact end 352, the contact end 352 can extend out of the second opening 112 to be disengaged from the detecting rod of the image forming apparatus, the activating end 351 is used for contacting with the rotating assembly 32, and specifically, when the activating end 351 is contacted with the protruding portion 3232 of the toggle piece 323, the second elastic member 34 applies a biasing force to the toggle piece 323 through the sliding member 35 to keep the sliding member 35 in contact with the protruding portion 3232. The end cap 11 is further provided with a fixed shaft 117, the second elastic member 34 is mounted on the fixed shaft 117, the sliding member 35 further comprises an abutment projection 353, one end of the second elastic member 34 abuts against an inner side wall of the end cap 11, the other end of the second elastic member 34 abuts against the abutment projection 353, when the protrusion 3232 abuts against the sliding member 35 and forces the sliding member 35 to slide relative to the end cap 11 along the slide rail, the second elastic member 34 is compressed, the second elastic member 34 generates a biasing force, and when the protrusion 3232 is out of contact with the sliding member 35, the second elastic member 34 is restored, and the biasing force forces the sliding member 35 to return to the initial position. In the present embodiment, the second elastic member 34 is configured as a torsion spring, and it is understood that the second elastic member 34 is not limited to the torsion spring but may be a spring, an elastic finger, or the like that keeps the slide member 35 in contact with the protrusion 3232.

Further, as shown in fig. 5, the toggle element 323 further includes a force-receiving portion protruding from the surface of the toggle element 323 on the surface of the end cover 11 in the left-right direction, and configured to receive an external force to rotate the toggle element 323, which is beneficial to resetting the detection unit 3. In addition, the surface of the end cover 11 is provided with an indication bump for indicating an initial position of the detection unit 3, specifically, the force-receiving portion includes a first force-receiving portion 3236 and a second force-receiving portion 3237 which are oppositely arranged, wherein an indication mark is arranged on the first force-receiving portion 3236, and when the indication mark points to the indication bump, the detection unit 3 is located at the initial position.

The operation of the detecting unit 3 of the developing cartridge of the present invention when the developing cartridge is mounted in the electrophotographic image forming apparatus will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 12 to 14.

When the developing cartridge is mounted in the electrophotographic image forming apparatus, the detecting unit 3 is located at the initial position, the protruding portion 3232 of the toggle member 323 does not abut against the trigger end 351 of the slide member 35, the contact end 352 of the slide member 35 retracts into the second opening 112 to abut against the detection lever of the image forming apparatus and is detected by the image forming apparatus, at this time, the first protruding portion 3234 of the toggle member 323 and the first notch 113 of the end cap 11 are misaligned, the second protruding portion 3235 of the toggle member 323 and the second notch 114 of the end cap 11 are misaligned, the toggle member 323 urges the toggle member 323 to move toward the housing 1 through the third elastic member 322, the first elastic member 33 is compressed, and the first engaging portion 3212 of the rotary member 31 and the second engaging portion 3233 of the toggle member 323 are engaged; when the driving gear 8 receives the driving force to rotate around the first axis, the driving gear 8 drives the transmission gear 9 to rotate so as to drive the stirring rack gear 10 to rotate, the stirring rack gear 10 drives the connecting gear 31 engaged with the stirring rack gear 10 to rotate, the connecting gear 31 drives the toggle part 323 to rotate through the rotating part 321, after rotating for a predetermined angle, the protruding part 3232 of the toggle part 323 abuts against the trigger end 351 of the sliding member 35, the sliding member 35 slides along the sliding rail so that the contact end 352 extends out of the second opening 112 and is out of contact with the detection rod of the image forming apparatus, the connecting gear 31 drives the toggle part 323 to continue rotating, the toggle part 323 rotates, the trigger end 351 of the sliding member 35 abuts against the outer periphery of the protruding part 3232, the contact end 352 of the sliding member 35 is kept in a disengaged state with the detection rod of the image forming apparatus, the connecting gear 31 drives the toggle part 323 to continue rotating, the trigger end 351 is out of contact with the protruding part 3232, the torsion spring urges the sliding member 35 to retract into the second opening 112 of the sliding member 35 to abut against the detection rod of the image forming apparatus and is detected again by the image forming apparatus, after rotating for a certain angle, the toggle part 323 urges the detecting part 35 to move away from the first elastic part 33, and the first elastic part 323, the detecting part 3232, and the detecting mechanism comes out of the rotating part 3235, and the detecting unit comes out of the rotating and only after the rotating and the detecting unit 32321, and the detecting unit comes into engagement with the detecting unit, and the detecting unit 323, and the detecting unit 3235, and the detecting unit 32321.

The sliding member 35 is kept at the end position after the completion of the detection, the first engaging portion 3212 of the rotating member 321 and the second engaging portion 3233 of the dial 323 are disengaged and kept in the disengaged state, the dial 323 cannot rotate along with the connecting gear 31, the detecting unit 3 is always in the detection completion state, the developing cartridge is changed from a new one to an old one and cannot be recognized as a new developing cartridge by the image forming apparatus, and when the testing or toner adding operation of the developing cartridge is completed, the detecting unit 3 needs to be reset to the initial position. In this embodiment, an external force is applied to the force-receiving portion of the toggle member 323 to move the toggle member 323 toward the housing 1, so that the first protrusion 3234 disengages from the first notch 113, the second protrusion 3235 disengages from the second notch 114, and at the same time, the toggle member 323 urges the rotary member 321 through the third elastic member 322 to move the rotary member 321 toward the housing 1, so that the first engagement portion 3212 and the second engagement portion 3233 engage, and then, an external force is applied to the force-receiving portion to rotate the toggle member 323 in the detection direction, at this time, the rotary member 321 and the connecting gear 31 do not rotate, so that the toggle member 323 rotates relative to the connecting gear 31 in the detection direction, when the indication mark of the first force-receiving portion 3236 points to the indication bump, the rotation is stopped, at this time, the detection unit 3 is located at the initial position, and the detection unit 3 can receive the driving force of the driving gear 8 to complete the detection again. The reset process does not need to remove the side cover of the developing box, and the detection gear does not need to be rotated, so that the reset is simple and convenient.

The utility model discloses developing box, detecting element accomplish the count after, stirring in the rotating member because first elastic component compel to push away and connecting gear break away from the meshing, connecting gear continues rotatoryly under drive gear's drive power effect, but connecting gear's drive power can't transmit to stirring for stir the unable sliding member that touches, developing box's job stabilization nature can effectively be guaranteed. When the developing box is recycled, only the initial position of the rotating assembly needs to be adjusted again by using external force, the end cover of the developing box does not need to be detached, the resetting is simple and convenient, the recycling efficiency is effectively improved, and the recycling cost is reduced.

The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, and not to limit the same; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that: the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may still be modified, or some technical features may be equivalently replaced; such modifications and substitutions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention in its corresponding aspects.

Claims (10)

1. A developing cartridge detachably mountable to an image forming apparatus having a detecting member, comprising:

a housing in which a developer can be accommodated;

a driving force receiving member that receives a driving force output by the image forming apparatus;

a detection unit installed at one side of the housing and detected by the detection part; wherein the detection unit is mounted on the same side of the housing as the driving force receiving member;

the detection unit is arranged between the shell and the end cover;

the detection unit comprises a base, a connecting gear, a rotating assembly and a sliding component; the base is mounted on the housing, the connecting gear and the rotating assembly are rotatably mounted on the base, the connecting gear receives the driving force of the driving force receiving member and rotates, and the connecting gear is meshed with the rotating assembly to drive the rotating assembly to rotate;

wherein the rotating assembly can force the sliding member to slide relative to the end cap to cause the sliding member to contact or disengage the detection component.

2. A developing cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a first elastic member mounted between said connecting gear and said rotary member, said first elastic member being for urging said rotary member to engage or disengage said connecting gear and said rotary member.

3. The developing cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a second elastic member mounted between the end cap and the sliding member, the second elastic member being for generating a force for urging the sliding member to contact the detecting part.

4. A developing cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said rotary member includes a rotary member, a third elastic member, and a dial member; the third elastic component is arranged between the rotating piece and the poking piece, and the rotating piece is positioned between the connecting gear and the poking piece in a telescopic mode along the rotating axis of the connecting gear so that the poking piece is meshed with or separated from the rotating piece.

5. A developing cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said connecting gear is provided with a disk-shaped toothed disk and a first engaging portion formed to extend from said toothed disk, said first engaging portion being engageable with said rotary member.

6. A developing cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said slide member includes a slide groove, and said end cap is provided with a slide rail provided in said slide groove, said slide groove being movable along said slide rail to slide said slide member relative to said end cap.

7. A developing cartridge according to claim 4, wherein said toggle member includes a main body portion and a protruding portion extending from said main body portion for abutting against said slide member to move said slide member to be detected by said detecting member.

8. The developing cartridge according to claim 4, wherein the dial member includes a first projection and a second projection, the first projection and the second projection each being formed to extend outwardly from an outer peripheral surface of the dial member, the end cap being provided with a first notch and a second notch, the first projection being mateable with the first notch, the second projection being mateable with the second notch.

9. A developing cartridge according to claim 3, wherein said sliding member includes a contact end and an activation end, said second elastic member being disposed between said activation end and said casing, said activation end being adapted to contact said rotary member so that said contact end is movably brought into contact with or disengaged from said detecting part.

10. A developing cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said pedestal includes a base portion and a positioning column extending from said base portion away from said casing, said base portion is fixed to one side of said casing, and said connecting gear is fitted over said positioning column so as to be rotatable around said positioning column.

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