JPH04371981A - Toner replenishing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a toner replenishing device which can have the addition of a toner uniformizing function with the simple constitution of a toner cartridge side, further, replenish the toner while its fluidity is increased, and surely uniformizing the toner to uniformly house it in a toner hopper. CONSTITUTION:A polyester film 24 on which plural projections 23A and 23B are formed is stuck to the surface of a thermally melt-sticking seal 20 as a sealing member sealing the toner replenishing opening of a toner cartridge 16 by thermally melt-sticking or an adhesive. When the thermally melt-sticking seal 20 is opened by interlocking to the releasing of the toner replenishing opening 19 by a shutter 21, the toner inside the toner cartridge 16 is scratched out by each of these projections 23A and 23B, and when the thermally melt- sticking seal 20 is returned to an original sealing position by interlocking to the closing of the toner replenishing opening 19 by the shutter 21, the heap of the toner produced by replenishment is destroyed and uniformized by respective projections 23A and 23B.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toner replenishing device that is used in image forming apparatuses such as electronic copying machines and printers and is composed of a toner cartridge and a toner hopper.

0002

[Prior Art] Conventionally, for example, the developing section of an electronic copying machine is shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the developing device 1 is composed of a developing device 1 and a toner hopper 2, which is a toner replenishing device that replenishes toner to the developing device 1. First, the developing device 1 develops dry toner supplied from the toner hopper 2 with a mixing roller 3. housing 4
After mixing with the developer (a two-component developer in which carrier (iron powder, etc.) and toner are mixed at a certain ratio) housed in the container, the stirring paddle 5 stirs the mixture, and this stirring triboelectrically charges the carrier and toner. The developed developer is conveyed to the side of the developing roller 7 disposed opposite to the photoreceptor drum 6, and the conveyed developer is rubbed against the photoreceptor drum 6 by the developing roller 7, so that the developer is transferred onto the photoreceptor drum 6. The formed latent image is developed by attaching toner to it. Here, the developing roller 7 has a structure in which a developing sleeve is rotatably provided on the outside of an internally fixed magnet structure, and the toner is electrostatically attached to the surface of the developing sleeve by the magnetic force from the magnet structure. A magnetic brush of the carrier is formed, and this magnetic brush is caused to rub against the photosensitive drum 6 by rotation of the developing sleeve, thereby causing toner to adhere thereto. still,
Reference numeral 8 represents a cutting plate for regulating the height of the magnetic brush, and reference numeral 9 represents a developing partition plate.

[0003] When the toner sensor 10 detects that the ratio of the amount of carrier in the developer has increased from the standard due to toner adhesion and consumption, toner is replenished from the toner hopper 2. There is. That is, the toner replenishment roller (sponge roller) 11 rotates to replenish the toner in the toner hopper 2 into the housing 4 of the developing device 1 through the replenishment port 12. At this time,
By rotating the toner stirring rods 13, 14, and 15, the toner in the toner hopper 2 is stirred to prevent coagulation (blocking) and cavities (bridging). To replenish the toner into the toner hopper 2, the toner cartridge 16 containing toner for replenishment is mounted on the hopper cover 2A of the toner hopper 2, which has the toner receiving opening 17 formed therein. The toner inside is dropped into the toner hopper 2. Here, 18 is a hopper lid that opens and closes the toner receiving opening 17 of the toner hopper 2, and is normally locked in a closed state, but is unlocked and opened when the toner cartridge 16 is installed. . The toner replenishing opening 19 of the toner cartridge 16 facing the toner receiving opening 17 is sealed with a film-like sealing member 20 and further closed with a shutter 21 to protect the toner during transportation and storage. The toner in the toner cartridge 16 is replenished by opening the sealing member 20 in conjunction with the opening of the toner replenishing opening 19 by the shutter 21. Note that 22 is a cartridge lid.

[0004] During this toner replenishment, it is necessary to prevent so-called toner mounds from occurring, so that the toner is replenished in the toner hopper 2 unevenly and the toner does not accumulate in a mound near the toner receiving opening 17. Therefore, in the past, a leveling plate was provided to level the toner supplied in the toner hopper 2 (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-34564
(see publication).

[0005]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the toner leveling structure of the conventional toner replenishing device, only a single leveling plate slides in one direction, and dense toner piles with poor fluidity are removed. As the amount of toner consumed has increased due to the increased speed of copying machines in recent years, a large amount of toner has been replenished into the toner hopper, and when the pile of toner becomes large, There are problems in that the pile of toner cannot be broken up and becomes lopsided, or it cannot fit inside the toner hopper and the toner flows out and scatters to the outside, causing toner stains. Further, the arrangement of the leveling plate within the toner hopper is complicated and requires a large number of parts, resulting in increased assembly man-hours and costs. Furthermore, since a leveling plate is provided on the toner hopper side, it is not possible to add a toner leveling function to an existing copying machine equipped with a toner hopper without a leveling plate. The present invention has been made in view of these points, and it is possible to add a toner leveling function with a simple configuration on the toner cartridge side, and furthermore, it can replenish toner while increasing its fluidity and reliably level it. An object of the present invention is to provide a toner replenishing device that can uniformly store toner in a toner hopper.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, in the present invention, after the toner cartridge is installed in the toner hopper, the sealing member that seals the toner replenishment opening of the toner cartridge is replaced by a shutter for toner replenishment. In a toner replenishing device that is opened in conjunction with the opening of an opening and replenishes toner in a toner cartridge to a toner hopper, the sealing member is provided with a plurality of protrusions,
These protrusions scrape out the toner inside the toner cartridge when the seal member is opened in conjunction with the opening of the toner replenishment opening by the shutter, and also scrape out the toner from the toner cartridge in conjunction with the closing of the toner replenishment opening by the shutter. When returning to the original sealed position, the toner replenished into the toner hopper is leveled.

[0007]

[Operation] According to this configuration, when the toner replenishment opening is opened by the shutter, the toner in the toner cartridge is scraped out by each protrusion of the sealing member and replenished while increasing its fluidity. When the toner replenishment opening is closed by the shutter at the end of the toner replenishment operation, the toner mounds produced by replenishment are broken down by the projections of the sealing member and evenly stored in the toner hopper.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The toner replenishing device of the present invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that the same parts as those in the prior art will be given the same reference numerals and the explanation thereof will be omitted. In this embodiment, a polyester film 24 on which a plurality of protrusions 23A and 23B are formed is pasted by heat welding or adhesive on the surface of a heat weld seal 20 that serves as a sealing member for sealing the toner supply opening 19 of the toner cartridge 16. When opening the heat welding seal 20 in conjunction with the opening of the toner replenishment opening 19 by the shutter 21,
23B scrapes out the toner in the toner cartridge 16, and when the shutter 21 closes the toner replenishing opening 19 and returns the heat welding seal 20 to its original sealed position, the protrusions 23A and 23B scrape out the toner from the toner cartridge 16. It is designed to break up the pile of toner and level it out. Here, the heat-welded seal 20 is releasably heat-welded and sealed to the lower surface side of the edge of the toner replenishment opening 19, and one end 20A of the heat-welded seal 20 is fixed to the lower surface side of the fixing portion 16A of the toner cartridge 16. It is bent to wrap around the shutter 21 from its tip side, and the other end 20B is fixed to the upper surface side of the fixing part 16A through the insertion hole 21A of the shutter 21, so as to be interlocked with the opening/closing operation of the shutter 21. The hopper lid 18 is assembled to the rail portions 25 and 26 of the hopper cover 2A so as to be slidable in the axial direction of the photoreceptor drum 6.
7 to open and close the toner cartridge 1.
6 is placed on the mounting surface 2AB of the hopper cover 2A from above and slidably attached (that is, the flanges 27 and 28 are combined with the rail parts 25 and 26 and slid in the direction of arrow A). The projecting wall 29 on the side and the recess 30 on the side of the toner cartridge 16 are fitted into each other so as to be opened.

Therefore, when replenishing toner from the toner cartridge 16 into the toner hopper 2, the toner cartridge 16 is first inserted into the hopper cover 2A from above as shown in FIG.
placed on the mounting surface 2AB (see FIG. 2) of the recess 30.
A protruding wall 29 is fitted into the rail, and its flanges 27 and 28 are opposed to the rail portions 25 and 26. And that state (
When the toner cartridge 16 is slid in the direction of arrow A at the cartridge removal position), the hopper lid 18 is also slid in the direction of arrow A due to the fitting relationship between the recess 30 and the projecting wall 29, and the toner receiving opening 17 begins to open. The flanges 27 and 28 are combined with the rail portions 25 and 26 to prevent the toner from coming off the hopper 2. Then, in this assembled state, the toner cartridge 16
When the toner replenishment opening 19 of the toner cartridge 16 is slid in the direction of arrow A, the toner replenishment opening 19 of the toner cartridge 16 connects to the toner receiving opening 17.
At the same time, the hopper lid 18 completely opens the toner receiving opening 17.

Then, with this cartridge installed, hook your finger on the handle 21B of the shutter 21 and slide the shutter 21 in the direction of arrow B to open the toner supply opening 19.
When the shutter 21 slides, the heat-welded seal 20 is also pulled in the direction of arrow B, and the heat-welded part P is peeled off from the lower surface of the edge of the toner supply opening 19, and the seal is opened. . Therefore, the toner in the toner cartridge 16 begins to fall and be replenished into the toner hopper 2 through the toner replenishing opening 19 and the toner receiving opening 17, and at this time, each protrusion 23A of the heat-welding sheet 20
, 23B move in the direction of the arrow as shown in FIG. 4 to scrape out the toner from the inside of the toner cartridge, increasing its fluidity and promoting falling replenishment. Then, when the shutter 21 is further slid in the direction of arrow B to unseal the heat-welded seal 20 and completely open the toner replenishment opening 19, all the toner in the toner cartridge 16 falls into the toner hopper 2 and is replenished. become.

When this toner replenishment is completed, the shutter 21 is slid again in the direction of arrow A to begin closing the toner replenishment opening 19.
As the heat welding seal 20 slides, the heat welding seal 20 is also pushed in the direction of arrow A and begins to return to its original sealing position, at which time the heat welding seal 20
As shown in FIG. 5, the protrusions 23A and 23B move in the direction of the arrow to push and spread the piles of toner produced by replenishment to the left and right, while scraping and leveling them. Therefore, when the shutter 21 is slid in the direction of arrow A to return the heat welding seal 20 to its original sealed position and completely close the toner replenishment opening 19, the replenished toner is distributed uniformly in the axial direction of the photoreceptor drum. The toner is completely stored in the toner hopper in a leveled state.

When the toner cartridge 16 is slid in the direction of arrow B to remove it, the hopper lid 18 also slides in the direction of arrow B due to the fitting relationship between the recess 30 and the projecting wall 29, thereby opening the toner receiving opening 17. When the toner cartridge 16 is brought to the cartridge removal position, the toner receiving opening 17 of the toner hopper 2 is completely closed by the hopper lid 18, and the toner cartridge 16 is removed. It will be. Then, when the toner cartridge 16 is removed in this way, each protrusion 23 that evens out the toner
A, 23B are reliably housed inside the toner cartridge 16, that is, the protrusions 23A, 23B are provided so that they are positioned inside the toner cartridge 16 when the toner supply opening 19 is closed by the shutter 21. Moreover, scattering of the toner attached to each of the protrusions 23A and 23B can be prevented.

In this embodiment, a polyester film on which a plurality of protrusions are separately formed is attached to the heat-welding seal, but the heat-welding seal itself may have a plurality of protrusions integrally formed thereon. Further, the shape, angle, number, etc. of the protrusions are not limited to these. Further, in this embodiment, a heat welding seal is used to releasably heat weld, but a normal film-like seal may be used and releasably bonded with an adhesive.

[0014]

As described above, according to the toner replenishing device of the present invention, a plurality of protrusions are provided on the sealing member that seals the toner replenishing opening of the toner cartridge, and each of the protrusions is used to fill the toner in the toner cartridge. Since it is used for scraping and leveling the toner in the toner hopper, it is possible to replenish and reliably level the toner while increasing fluidity with a simple configuration on the toner cartridge side, and it can also be used in existing copying machines. functions can be easily added.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing an example of the toner replenishing device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the developing section.

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state in which the toner cartridge is installed.

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the process of opening the shutter.

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the shutter closing process.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the main parts of the heat-welded seal.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional toner replenishment configuration.

[Explanation of symbols] 2 Toner hopper 16 Toner cartridge 17 Toner receiving opening 18 Hopper lid 19 Toner supply opening 20 Heat welding seal 21 Shutter 23A, 23B protrusion

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. After the toner cartridge is installed in the toner hopper, the sealing member that seals the toner replenishment opening of the toner cartridge is opened in conjunction with the opening of the toner replenishment opening by the shutter, and the toner cartridge is inserted into the toner hopper. 1. A toner replenishing device for replenishing toner, characterized in that the sealing member is provided with a plurality of protrusions. 2. The toner replenishing device according to claim 1, wherein each of the protrusions scrapes out the toner in the toner cartridge when the sealing member is opened in conjunction with opening of the toner replenishing opening by the shutter. Device. 3. Each of the protrusions is characterized in that when the sealing member is returned to the original sealed position in conjunction with the closing of the toner replenishing opening by the shutter, the toner replenished in the toner hopper is leveled. The toner replenishing device according to claim 1.