JPH04140775A - Electrostatic recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate a guiding plate, to make a recording part much more intensive and to miniaturize an entire device by forming a guide path for guiding a recording medium to a transfer device of the opposite wall surface parts of a developing device and a developer supply container. CONSTITUTION:The developer supply container 22 for supplying developer is provided on the above side of the developing device 18, and the guiding path 24 for the recording paper is formed of the opposite wall surface parts between the device 18 and the container 22 so as to guide the recording paper to the transfer roller 20. Namely, the developing device 18 and the side wall part of the container 22 are integrated, fixed and supported and a communicating part 26 is provided on the side of the path 24 so as to properly supply the developer in the container 22 to the container 18a of the developing device 18. In order to move the developer in the container 22 toward the communicating part 26 side, a screw 30 for carrying the developer which works in cooperation with the communicating part 26 is provided in the container 22.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] An electrostatic latent image written on an electrostatic latent image carrier is developed with a developer, so-called toner, and the developed toner image is transferred to a recording medium such as recording paper. Regarding the electrostatic recording device that fixes the transferred toner image on the recording medium, it is possible to achieve even more integrated recording beyond the limits of integration that can be achieved by miniaturizing various process equipment, guide plates, etc., or devising their arrangement. The object of the present invention is to provide an electrostatic recording device having an electrostatic latent image carrier, an electrostatic latent image writing means for writing an electrostatic latent image on the electrostatic latent image carrier,
A developer is provided facing the electrostatic latent image carrier to develop the electrostatic latent image written on the electrostatic latent image carrier into a visible image using a developer, and a developer is supplied to the developer. A static image forming apparatus comprising a developer replenishing container provided in a developing device to transfer a visible image developed by the developing device to a recording medium, and a transfer device disposed facing an electrostatic latent image carrier to transfer a visible image developed by the developing device to a recording medium. The electrostatic recording device is characterized in that a guide path for guiding a recording medium to a transfer device is formed by opposing wall portions of a developing device and a developer replenishing device.

[Industrial application field]

In the present invention, an electrostatic latent image written on an electrostatic latent image carrier is developed with a developer, so-called toner, and the developed toner image is transferred to a recording medium such as recording paper. The present invention relates to an electrostatic recording device for fixing images.

[Prior art] For example, in an electrostatic recording device that uses an electrophotographic method, -
For boat fishing, a photosensitive tram is used as an electrostatic latent image carrier, and around this photosensitive drum there are a charger, optical exposure means,
A developing device, a transfer device, a cleaner, etc. are arranged in sequence. During the recording operation, the photosensitive drum is rotated in a predetermined direction, and first,
A charged area is formed on the photosensitive surface of the photosensitive drum by the charger, and an electrostatic latent image is written on the charged area by optical exposure means such as a laser beam scanning optical unit, an LED array, or the like. Next, the electrostatic latent image is developed into a visible image using a developer, so-called toner, by a developing device, and the developed toner image is transferred to a recording medium, for example, recording paper such as cut sheet paper, by a charging device. The recording medium carrying the transferred toner image is separated from the photosensitive drum and sent to a fixing device, where the transferred toner image is fixed onto the recording medium. The recording paper is guided from the supply hopper to the transfer device by a guide path, and the recording paper that has passed through the transfer device (that is, the recording paper with the transferred toner image) is also guided to the fixing device by the guide path, and these guide paths are connected to the guide plate. It is formed by arranging. On the other hand, the toner remaining on the photosensitive surface of the photosensitive drum without being transferred to the recording medium during the transfer of the developed toner image is cleaned by the cleaner, and a charged area is again formed by the charger on the cleaned surface, and the process described above is completed. is repeated. In addition, in the method in which a dielectric drum is used as an electrostatic latent image carrier, except for the fact that an electrostatic latent image is written on the surface of the dielectric material by electrode needles, the other processes are electrostatic using an electrophotographic method. This is almost the same as in the case of a recording device.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

As is clear from the above description, the recording section of an electrostatic recording device must be equipped with not only various process equipment around the electrostatic latent image carrier, but also a guide plate that forms a guide path for the recording medium. In addition, the developing device is provided with a developer replenishment container for replenishing developer as needed as the developer is consumed, so the recording section becomes bulky and the electrostatic recording device itself becomes bulky. The problem is that it becomes larger. Of course, by downsizing or unitizing various process equipment, guide plates, etc., and by devising the arrangement of these process equipment, the recording section of the electrostatic recording device can be made compact or consolidated, and the electrostatic Attempts have been made to miniaturize the recording device itself, but it is not possible to omit even one component such as the process equipment or guide plate. There is a limit to consolidating the recording section of an electrostatic recording device only by ingenuity.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to create an electrostatic recording device having a recording section that is more integrated than the limit of integration that can be achieved by miniaturizing various process equipment, guide plates, etc. or devising their arrangement. It is to provide.

[Means to solve the problem]

An electrostatic recording device according to the present invention includes: an electrostatic latent image carrier; an electrostatic latent image writing means for writing an electrostatic latent image on the electrostatic latent image carrier; a developing device disposed facing the electrostatic latent image carrier to develop the written electrostatic latent image into a visible image with a developer; and a developing device to replenish the developer with the developer. and a transfer device disposed facing the electrostatic latent image carrier to transfer the visible image developed by the developing device to a recording medium. According to the present invention, the electrostatic recording device having such a configuration is characterized in that the guide path for guiding the recording medium to the transfer device is formed by the opposing wall portions of the developing device and the developer replenishing device. Ru.

[Effect]

As is clear from the above configuration, according to the present invention, the guide path for guiding the recording medium to the transfer device is formed by the opposing wall portions of the developing device and the developer supply container. The guide plate previously required for forming the structure is eliminated.

[Embodiment] Next, an embodiment of an electrostatic recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a laser printer employing an electrophotographic method as an example of an electrostatic recording device, and the recording section of this laser printer is generally designated by reference numeral 10. A photosensitive drum 12 is provided at the center of the recording section 10, and this photosensitive drum 12 is rotatably supported by a frame structure (not shown) of a laser printer. The photosensitive drum 12 has a photosensitive film formed on the surface of a metal sleeve base, such as aluminum, and the photosensitive film is made of a suitable photoconductive material. During the recording operation of the laser printer, the photosensitive drum 12 is rotated in the direction of arrow A, and its photosensitive surface is charged with a charger 14 made of, for example, a corona discharger, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image writing area, i.e. Charged areas are sequentially formed on the photosensitive surface of the photosensitive drum 12.

An electrostatic latent image is written on the charged area formed on the photosensitive surface of the photosensitive drum 12 by the laser beam scanning unit I6. The laser beam scanning unit 14 includes a laser beam generator therein, and an optical system that deflects the laser beam from the laser beam generator to scan the charged area of the photosensitive drum 12 along its generatrix. By blinking the scanning laser beam based on a video signal, a so-called dot image (binarized image) is written as an electrostatic latent image on the charged area.

In FIG. 1, the scanning laser beam is indicated by the reference symbol LB.

The electrostatic latent image written by the laser beam scanning unit 16 is electrostatically developed by a developing device 18 with a developer, so-called toner. The developing device 18 includes a container 18a that holds developer, that is, toner, and a developing roller 16b that is rotated in the direction of arrow B in the opposite direction to the photosensitive drum 12 within the container 18a. As illustrated, a portion of the developing roller 18b is exposed from the container 16a and is faced to the photosensitive drum 12. When a two-component developer is used as the developer, the developing roller 18b is configured as a roller with a built-in magnet, and at this time, the magnetic carrier in the two-component developer forms a so-called magnetic brush on the peripheral surface of the roller with a built-in magnet. The toner component, that is, the colored resin fine particles in the two-component developer is conveyed to the photosensitive drum 12 side by this magnetic brush. On the other hand, when a non-magnetic component developing side consisting only of toner components is used, the developing roller 18b is formed as an elastic rubber roller, and the toner is entrained by the surface friction of the elastic rubber roller and conveyed to the photosensitive drum 12 side. Ru. In any case, the toner conveyed by the developing roller 18b is transferred to the developing roller 16b.
When the toner reaches the area facing the photosensitive drum 12, the toner electrostatically adheres to the electrostatic latent image, thereby developing the electrostatic latent image and making the electrostatic latent image visible as a toner image. Ru.

In addition, in FIG. 1, the reference symbol 18c is the developing roller 1.
8b shows a layer thickness regulating blade for making the thickness of the developer layer uniform.

When the electrostatic latent image is developed and the toner image reaches the transfer device 20 due to the rotation of the photosensitive drum 12, the toner image is transferred there to a recording medium, that is, recording paper. In this embodiment, the transfer device 20 is configured as a transfer roller made of a dielectric material, and a voltage of a predetermined polarity is applied to the transfer roller 20. When the recording paper is passed between the photosensitive drum 12 and the transfer roller 20, the transfer roller 20 applies a charge of opposite polarity to the toner image to the recording paper, so that the toner image is transferred from the photosensitive drum 12 side. It is electrostatically transferred to the recording paper side. Note that, for example, a corona discharger may be used in place of the transfer roller 20, and in this case as well, the recording paper is charged with a charge having a polarity opposite to that of the toner image by the corona discharger.

What should be noted here is that a developer replenishment container 22 for replenishing developer is provided above the developing device 18, and a guide path 24 for the recording paper is formed by the opposing wall portion between them. The guide path 24 guides the recording paper to the transfer roller 20. Specifically, one of the opposing wall surfaces is a flat inclined surface 18d that is a part of the outer wall surface of the container 18a of the developing device 18, and the other opposing wall surface is a part of the outer wall surface of the developer supply container 22. It is a flat sloped surface 22a that has become , and both of these sloped surfaces 1
A guide passage 24 is formed by 8d and 22a.

As shown in detail in FIG. 2, in this embodiment, the side wall of the developing device 18 and the side wall of the developer replenishing container 22 are integrated, so that the developer replenishing container 22 is connected to the developing device 18. Fixed support. Further, a communication portion 26 is provided between the developing device 18 and the developer supply container 22 on the side of the guide passage 24, and the developer in the developer reinforcing container 22 is appropriately supplied to the developing device through this communication portion 26. It is replenished into 18 containers 18a.

As is clear from FIGS. 2 and 3, the communication portion 26 has rectangular openings formed in each of the walls forming the inclined surfaces 18d and 22a, and a suitable spacer is provided between the rectangular openings. This is obtained by separating it from the guide passage 24 with a piece 28. The communication portion 26 is disposed at the lowermost side of the developer reinforcing container, so that the developer supply container 2
Almost all of the developer held in the developer 2 is sent to the developing device 18 side without any waste. In order to move the developer in the developer supply container 22 toward the communication section 26, a developer conveying screw 30 is provided in the developer supply container 22 and cooperates with the communication section 26.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, one end of the developer conveying screw 30 is rotatably supported by one side wall of the developer supply container 22, and the other end is supported by the other side wall of the developer supply container 22. A gear 32 is attached to the outer end thereof. A rotational driving force is transmitted from a motor (not shown) to the gear 32 in order to operate the developer conveying screw 30, thereby appropriately replenishing the developer to the developing device 18. Note that, as shown in FIG.
A screw similar to the developer conveying screw 30 is also arranged inside the container 18a, and this is for uniformly distributing the developer replenished into the container 18a.

A pair of recording paper conveyance rollers 34 are provided on the recording paper introduction side of the guide path 24, one of which is configured as a driving roller and the other as a driven roller. A pair of recording paper conveyance rollers 34 carry recording paper from a paper feed hopper 36 to a guide path 3.
8. A stack P of recording paper (cut sheet paper) is stored in the paper feed hopper 36, from which the recording paper is fed out one by one by a feeding roller 36a. The guide path 38 is formed by a pair of curved guide plates 38a and 38b, and the recording paper fed out from the paper feed hopper 36 is guided along the guide path 38 toward the pair of recording conveyance rollers 34. Immediately before the leading edge of the recording paper is sandwiched between the pair of recording paper transport rollers 34, the drive of the feeding roller 36a is temporarily stopped, and the recording paper is placed in a standby state. Note that the driving of the feeding roller 36 is stopped by a sensor 404 disposed close to the recording paper introduction side of the pair of recording paper transport rollers 34. Feeding roller 3
6a is driven again in synchronization with the start timing of writing one page worth of electrostatic latent image by the laser beam scanning unit 16, whereby the recording paper is fed into the guide path 24 by a pair of recording paper conveyance rollers 34 and transferred to the transfer roller. I am led to 20. As a result, one page's worth of toner image is transferred from the photosensitive drum 12 to the recording paper at a predetermined position, thereby providing a margin area of a predetermined width on the leading edge side of the recording paper.

The recording paper with the transferred toner image is sent to a thermal fixing device 44 via a guide path 42 . The guide passage 42 has a pair of guide plates 4
2a and 42b, and the heat fixing device 44 includes a heat roller 44a and a backup roller 44b. When the recording paper carrying the transferred toner image passes between the heat roller 44a and the backup roller 44b, the toner components forming the transferred toner image are thermally melted by the heat roller 44a and thermally fixed onto the recording paper. The recording paper with the fixed toner image is fed through a guide path 46 to a pair of recording paper discharge rollers 48, and then the recording paper receiver is moved to a table 50.
It is discharged to the top. Note that reference symbols 46a and 46b indicate guide plates forming the guide passage 46.

When the toner image is transferred onto the recording paper by the transfer roller 20, a portion of the toner components forming the toner image remain on the photosensitive drum 12 side as undeveloped toner. Such undeveloped toner is removed from the light surface of the photosensitive drum 12 by a cleaner 52, which is configured as a toner scraping blade made of a suitable rubber material such as urethane rubber material.

In the above-described embodiment, the developer supply container 22 is fixedly supported with respect to the development device 18 by integrating the side wall of the developer 18 and the side wall of the developer supply container 22. It is also possible to make the container 22 detachable from the developing device 18, and in this case, the communication portion between the developer supply container 22 and the developing device 18 can be made detachable by straddling their side walls. It is preferable to construct it by a U-shaped tube or the like that can be attached.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the communication portion between the developer supply container 22 and the developing unit 18 is provided only on one side of the guide passage 24, but it goes without saying that the communication portion may be provided on both sides.

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the developer in the developer supply container 22 is moved to the communication portion side by the developer transporting screw 30, but the inner wall surface of the developer supply container 22 is moved to the communication portion side. It may be arranged such that the developer is inclined so as to converge toward the developing device 18 side by the action of gravity.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the guide path for guiding the recording medium to the transfer device is formed by the opposing wall portions of the developing device and the developer supply container. Since the guide plate conventionally required for forming the electrostatic recording device is eliminated, it becomes possible to further consolidate the recording section of the electrostatic recording device, which can contribute to miniaturization of the electrostatic recording device itself.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of an electrostatic recording device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a detailed sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in FIG. 1, and FIG.
The figure is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in FIG. 2. 10... Recording section, 12... Photosensitive drum, 14...
Charger, 16... Laser beam scanning unit, 18...
... Developing device, 18a... Container, 18b... Developing roller, 18c... Layer thickness regulating blade, 18d... Inclined surface, 20... Transfer roller, 22... Developer supply container, 22a... Slanted surface, 24... Guide passage, 26...
・Communication portion, 28... Spacer piece, 30... Developer conveyance screw, 32... Gear, 34... Recording paper conveyance roller, 36... Paper feed hopper, 36a... Feeding roller , 38... Guide passage, 38a/38b... Guide plate, 40... Sensor, 42... Guide passage, 42
a・42b...Guide plate, 44...Heat fixing device, 44
a... Heat roller, 44b... Bank up roller, 46... Guide path, 46a, 46b... Guide plate, 48... Recording paper discharge roller, 50... Recording paper receiver 52...・Toner scraping blade.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An electrostatic latent image carrier (12);
an electrostatic latent image writing means (16) for writing an electrostatic latent image on the electrostatic latent image carrier (12); and developing the electrostatic latent image written on the electrostatic latent image carrier (12) into a visible image with a developer. A developing device (
18), a developer replenishment container (22) provided in the developing device (18) for replenishing the developing device (18) with developer, and a visible image developed by the developing device (18). In an electrostatic recording apparatus comprising a transfer device (20) disposed facing the electrostatic latent image carrier (12) for transferring onto a recording medium, for guiding the recording medium to the transfer device (20). An electrostatic recording device characterized in that a guide passage (24) is formed by opposing wall portions (18d, 22a) of the developing device (18) and the developer replenishing device (22). 2. In the electrostatic recording device according to claim 1, a communication portion (
A developer supply container (22) is provided with a developer transport screw (30) that cooperates with the communication portion (26).
0) causes the developer in the developer supply container (22) to flow through the communication portion (26) to the developer (18).
An electrostatic recording device characterized in that it is replenished within the battery.