JPH028305B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a toner storage container of an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic device or an electrostatic recording device for replenishing toner by attaching it to and detaching it from the toner storage container. Concerning Kartlitsuji.

This type of toner replenishment method using a toner cartridge has the advantages of being much easier to handle and less toner scattering than the method of putting bagged or boxed toner into a toner storage container. be.

This toner cartridge is inserted and removed from the outside of the device, and as shown in Fig. 1, it consists of a cartridge body 1 with both ends sealed, a toner supply opening 2 formed in the longitudinal direction of this body, and this opening. The seal member 3 seals the portion 2. The sealing member 3 is made of a resin film with high tensile strength that does not interact with the toner 19, and is attached to the cartridge body 1 with adhesive to seal the opening 2 to prevent the toner inside the body from leaking. . Conventionally, the sealing member 3 is peeled off by pinching its tip with the fingertips, but the peeling off is normally done rapidly, so if the toner in the cartridge is uneven, vibrations may occur when the sealing member 3 is peeled off. This has the drawback that the toner may fly out, or the toner adhering to the seal member 3 may scatter and stain the surrounding floor etc., which impairs the above-mentioned advantages of the cartridge.

The present invention aims to eliminate the conventional drawbacks associated with peeling off the seal member 3.
As shown in FIG. 2, in a toner cartridge 1 containing toner 19 and having a supply opening 2 sealed with a sealing member 3, a winding member 4 is connected to the sealing member 3.
By attaching it to one end and rotating it, the sealing member is rolled up one after another, and by peeling off this sealing member from the cartridge main body 1, the replenishment opening 2 is opened. The gist of the toner cartridge is a toner cartridge characterized in that an adhesive for fixing a winding seal is attached to the winding surface.

The winding member 4 may be paper if it has a certain degree of strength.
It may be made of any material such as plastic or metal.
Moreover, the shape may be either cylindrical or prismatic as long as the seal member 3 can be wound up. The winding member 4 is connected to a sealing member 3 as shown in the illustrated example.
The seal member 3 may be attached in advance to the end of the seal member 3, or may be removably provided on the cartridge body 1, and may be removed when necessary and the tip of the seal member 3 may be wrapped around it.

By peeling off the sealing member 3 from the cartridge body while winding it up with the winding member 4 as described above, no vibration is applied to the cartridge during this stripping operation. Therefore, even if the toner in the cartridge is unevenly distributed, there is little toner scattering, and toner replenishment, ie, cartridge replacement, can always be performed cleanly and easily.

Furthermore, since the sealing members 3 are spread one after another, even if toner adheres to the back surface of the sealing members, it is rolled up one after another, so there is no worry that the toner adhering to the sealing members will contaminate the surroundings.

Figure 3 shows the rear end of the cartridge (handle 1).
In this example, an extra portion of the sealing member 3 is left on the mounting end side (a), and the sealing member is peeled off from the insertion front end side of the cartridge.

In this example, when the sealing member 3 is wound up to the end by the winding member 4, the surplus portion 3a is rolled up, so that scattering of the toner attached to the back surface of the sealing member 3 can be reliably prevented. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, it is possible to apply an adhesive (usually the surface is covered with release paper 5) to the wrapped surface of the surplus portion 3a. In addition, in this example, after peeling off half of the seal member 3, the cartridge is inserted halfway into the toner storage container and set, and is fixed in this set state and winding of the seal member 3 is resumed, thereby further toner is removed. can prevent scattering.

FIG. 5 shows an outline of an example of an electrophotographic apparatus as an image forming apparatus equipped with a toner storage container.A document on a document table 6 is irradiated with light by a light source 7, and the light image is formed on mirrors 8 to 11. , a photoreceptor 12 consisting of three layers, an insulating layer, a photosensitive layer, and a substrate layer, is irradiated through a lens 28. Reference numeral 13 denotes a pre-static eliminator that applies a negative corona charge to the surface of the photoreceptor at the same time as the light from the pre-exposure light source 14 . After the surface potential of the photoreceptor 12 is made uniform by the above-mentioned pre-exposure and negative corona charging,
The primary charger 15 receives positive corona charging, and then the secondary charger 15 receives positive corona charging.
Next, after being negatively corona charged by the charger 16 and simultaneously irradiated with the optical image, the surface is exposed to front surface light by the light source 17 to form an electrostatic latent image. This electrostatic latent image is developed with toner 19 in a developing unit 18 to become a visible image. On the other hand, the transfer paper 22 fed from the paper feed cassette 20 by the feed roller 21 and the transfer charger 2
The visible image is transferred at position 3. After the transfer, the transfer paper 22 is transferred to the fixing device 2 by the conveyor belt 24.
5, and after being fixed by heating or pressure in this fixing device 25, the paper is discharged to a discharge tray 26. After the photoreceptor 12 has been transferred, its surface is cleaned with a cleaning blade 27 and the photoreceptor 12 is reused.

The toner cartridge 1 is connected to the developing unit 18.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the sealing member 3 is peeled off using the winding member 4, and the toner is supplied in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper with the opening 2 facing upward. After inserting the cartridge into the storage container, grip the handle 1a on the end face of the cartridge and rotate it 180 degrees so that the opening 2 faces downward to replenish toner.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a conventional toner cartridge.
Figures 2 and 3 are perspective views of the sealing member in the middle of being rolled up and peeled off, Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the sealing member and the winding member, and Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of an example of an electrophotographic device. be. 1 is a cartridge main body, 2 is a toner supply opening, 3 is a sealing member, 4 is a winding member, and 5 is a release paper.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a toner cartridge that stores toner and has a replenishment opening sealed with a sealing member, a winding member is attached to one end of the sealing member and rotated to sequentially wind up the sealing members, and the sealing member is removed from the cartridge. The toner cartridge is characterized in that the replenishing opening is opened by peeling it off, and an adhesive for fixing the winding seal is attached to the winding surface of the seal member on the winding end side. .