ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 1 -- United States Patent no. 12,724,379, issued on Sept. 1, was assigned to KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc. (Osaka, Japan).

"Toner container capable of facilitating cleaning task before reuse, image forming apparatus, and manufacturing method of toner container" was invented by Akira Horie (Osaka, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A toner container includes a cylindrical portion, an opening portion, a shutter portion, a bias portion and a lock portion. The cylindrical portion is formed in a cylindrical shape elongated in an insertion direction with respect to an image forming apparatus. The opening portion is provided at an outer circumferential portion of the cylin...