JPH0460564A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a laser beam printer having a cartridge type developer container.

(Prior Art) In a cartridge-type developer container that can be attached to and removed from such an image forming apparatus, when the developer container is not in use, it is necessary to close the opening of the developer container to prevent developer from leaking or absorbing moisture during transportation. The area is sealed by a sealing member. When the developer container is loaded into the main body of the image forming apparatus and used, the user can open the developer container by pulling out, winding up, or peeling off the sealing member to supply developer. .

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, as described above, in the past, the user had to unseal the developer container by having the user pull out the sealing member himself, which caused the following problems.

That is, since the seal member is discharged to the outside of the developer container after opening, the user's hands and clothes may be soiled by the developer adhering to the seal member, and furthermore, the user must dispose of the seal member with developer adhering to it. There was a problem with not being able to do it.

In addition, a malfunction may occur in which the developer container is loaded into the image forming apparatus main body without being opened, and it is necessary to consider the direction in which the seal member is opened. There was also the problem that the degree of freedom in designing the main body was limited.

Furthermore, when opening a plurality of developer containers, it is necessary to repeat the same opening operation many times, or to open all the developer containers, it is necessary to use a strong force corresponding to the number of developer containers. There was a problem that this became necessary and forced a burden on the user.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its objectives are to prevent contamination by developer when loading a developer container into the main body, to prevent erroneous operation, to reduce the burden on the user, and to increase the degree of freedom in designing the main body. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of enlarging the image.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus in which a cartridge consisting of a developer container is placed on the left side by a sealing member is loaded into the main body. The present invention is characterized in that an unsealing means is provided that unseals the seal member in the cartridge loading direction in conjunction with the operation and stores the unsealed seal member in the cartridge.

(Function) According to the present invention, the sealing member is opened in conjunction with the loading operation of the cartridge into the main body.

This prevents the erroneous operation of loading the cartridge into the main body without opening the seal member.

In addition, since the opened sealing member is stored in the cartridge, the user does not have to dispose of the opened sealing member without being contaminated by developer that has adhered to the user's hands or clothes or the sealing member. The burden on the user is reduced.

Furthermore, since the opening direction of the sealing member coincides with the loading direction of the cartridge, the degree of freedom in designing the main body is expanded.

(Example) Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view showing how to load a cartridge in an image forming apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view thereof, FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the cartridge, and FIG. 5 is a front view, and FIG. 5 is a partial side sectional view of the same toner container.
Figures (a) and (b) are partial side cross-sectional views of the toner container for explaining the locked state of the slider, and FIG. 7 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the image forming apparatus showing a state in which a cartridge is loaded.

First, the schematic structure of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be explained based on FIG.
A photosensitive tram 11, which is an image carrier, is housed in the center of O, and around the photosensitive tram 11, a cleaner 12,
- A charger 13, a cartridge 6, and a transfer charger I4 are arranged. Again, 3! A laser scanner 15 is arranged above the photosensitive tram 11 in the main body 10, and a paper feed cassette 16 containing transfer paper P and a paper feed roller 17 are arranged below.
, a registration roller 18, and a fixing device 19 are arranged, and a paper discharge tray 20 is attached outside the main body IO of the apparatus.

By the way, the cartridge 6 opens the opening/closing cover 21 in the seventh position.
As shown by the chain line in the figure, it is attached to and detached from the apparatus main body 10 in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure in an open state.

The cartridge 6 is constructed by integrating three toner containers 4 and three developing screens 3, as shown in FIG. 3, and each toner container 4 stores a different color toner. As shown in Section 4 and FIG. 5, the opening 4a of each toner container 4 is sealed by a sealing member 1. That is, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, one end of the sealing member l is adhered to the periphery of the opening 4a of the toner container 4 with an adhesive 22, and the sealing member l is moved in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Folded back and the other end is the toner container 4
It is attached to a slider 2 that slides on the top in the direction of the arrow in FIG.

On the other hand, grooves 8 are formed in both sides of the cartridge 6 in the length direction (left and right direction in FIG. 1) as shown in FIG. The slider 2 is slidably engaged with the slider 2. Further, at the end of the gap S formed above each toner container 4, there is a
) and (b), a fixed spring 5 for locking the slider 2 is attached. In addition, in this example, the third
As shown in the figure, the lengths of the folded portions of the sealing members l that seal the upper, middle, and lower toner containers 4 become longer in this order (in the order of upper, middle, and lower stages), and therefore, these sealing members l
The slider 2, which is attached to the end of the slider 2, is shifted to the right in FIG. 3 toward the lower stage.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, inside the main body 1 of the image forming apparatus 1, there are three upper and lower stages to be engaged with the grooves 8 formed in three upper and lower stages on both sides of the cartridge 6. The guide rail 7 is provided long in the length direction (left and right direction in the figure).

When loading the cartridge 6 into the main body 1O of the apparatus, open the open/close cover 21 shown in FIG. If the slider 2 corresponding to the upper toner container 4 comes into contact with the end of the upper guide rail 7 and the third Slide in the direction of arrow a in the figure. Then, the sealing member l whose end is bound to the slider 2 is pulled by the slider 2 and the bound part is peeled off, and as a result, the opening 4a of the toner container 4 (
(See FIGS. 4 and 5) is opened to allow the color toner contained in the toner container 4 to be supplied to the developing screen 3.

After that, when the cartridge 6 is inserted further into the main body 10 of the apparatus, the slider 2 corresponding to the middle and lower toner containers 4 or the slider 2 corresponding to the middle and lower toner containers 4 sequentially abuts against the guide rail 7 of the middle and lower stages, and moves in the direction of arrow a in FIG. Sliding, as above, the middle stage,
The lower toner containers 4 are opened one after another. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, when the cartridge 6 or the apparatus main body 10 is completely loaded and all the toner containers 4 are opened, each slider 2 changes from FIG. 6(a) to FIG. 6(b). At this time, each sealing member 1 is stored in the gap S at the top of each toner container 4 and is not touched by the user's hands.

As described above, in this embodiment, the user's cartridge 6
Since the sealing member 1 is peeled off in conjunction with the loading operation into the apparatus main body 10, an erroneous operation such as loading the cartridge 6 into the apparatus main body 10 without opening the toner container 4 is prevented. Furthermore, since the peeled seal member 1 is stored in the gap S as described above, the seal member 1 with toner attached thereto will not be contaminated by the user's hands or clothes or the toner attached to the seal member 1, and the user can dispose of the seal member 1 with the toner attached. There's no need to do that. At this time, since each slider 2 is disposed shifted in the insertion direction of the cartridge 6, each seal member l is peeled off one by one, and the user The operating force is small. Moreover, in this embodiment, each seal member l
Since the toner is peeled off toward the short side (vertical direction) of the opening 4a of the toner container 4, the user's operating force can be further reduced.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, since the opening direction of the seal member 1 coincides with the loading direction of the cartridge 6, there is also the advantage that the degree of freedom in designing the apparatus main body IO is expanded.

In addition, since the cartridge 6 is loaded into the apparatus main body 10 with the groove 8 of the cartridge 6 engaged with the guide rail 7, the operability of attaching and detaching the cartridge 6 is improved.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 8 and 9.

FIG. 8 is a partially cutaway side view showing a request for loading a cartridge, and FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the same.
As in the embodiment, slider 2 is attached to 118 of cartridge 6.
The slider 2 is slidably engaged or protrudes to the side of the cartridge 6 as shown in FIG. 9 is formed. The rest of the structure is the same as that of the first embodiment, and in the figure, numeral 3 indicates a developing sleep mode.

In this embodiment as well, when the cartridge 6 is loaded into the main body 10 of the apparatus, the slider 2 moves sequentially and the toner containers (not shown) are sequentially opened, resulting in the same effect as that obtained in the first embodiment. can get.

Further, FIG. 1O shows a third embodiment of the present invention.

Note that FIG. 1O is a sectional view of the main part of the cartridge.

In this embodiment, the end of the sealing member l is fixed to the wall surface of the cartridge 6, unlike the first and second embodiments. Further, the tip of the slider 2 has a curved surface, and the sealing member 1 is folded back at this curved surface.

When the cartridge 6 is inserted into the main body of the apparatus (not shown), the slider 2 moves relative to the cartridge 6 and the adhesive part of the sealing member 1 is peeled off, thereby unsealing the toner container 4 and releasing one toner container. Also in the embodiment, the first
, the same effect as that obtained in the second embodiment can be obtained. Incidentally, in this embodiment, since both the sealing member l and the slider 2 are folded back, the first. It is possible to peel off the sealing member l twice as long as in the case of the second embodiment, which is particularly advantageous when there is a restriction on the length of the cartridge 6 in the insertion direction.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, in an image forming apparatus in which a cartridge including a developer container sealed by a sealing member is loaded into the main body, the main body of the cartridge is The sealing member is opened in the loading direction of the cartridge in conjunction with the loading operation of the cartridge, and an unsealing means is provided for storing the unsealed sealing member in the cartridge, thereby preventing contamination by developer when loading the cartridge into the main body. This has the effect of preventing erroneous operations, reducing the burden on the user, and increasing the degree of freedom in body design.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view showing how to load a cartridge in an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an open plan sectional view, FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the cartridge, and FIG. 4 5 is a front view of the toner container, FIG. 5 is a partial side sectional view of the toner container, and 6th (a) and (b) are partial side sectional views of the toner container for explaining the locked state of the slider. 7th
8 is a longitudinal sectional view of an image forming apparatus showing a state in which a cartridge is loaded; FIG. 8 is a partially cutaway side view showing how to load a cartridge in an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention; and FIG. 10 is a sectional view of the main part of a cartridge of an image forming apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention. - Seal member, 2... Slider, 4... Toner container (developer container), 6... Cartridge, lO・
...The main body of the image forming apparatus. Patent applicant Canon Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In an image forming apparatus in which a cartridge consisting of a developer container sealed by a sealing member is loaded into a main body, the sealing member is opened in the loading direction of the cartridge in conjunction with the loading operation of the cartridge into the main body. An image forming apparatus further comprising an unsealing means for storing the unsealed seal member in the cartridge. (2) The unsealing means is configured to include a slider that is attached to the end of the sealing member and slides in the cartridge loading direction in conjunction with the loading operation of the cartridge into the main body. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. (3) The image according to claim 2, wherein the cartridge has a plurality of developer containers, and the sliders provided for each developer container are arranged offset from each other in the loading direction of the cartridge. Forming device.