JP2001066864A - Toner bottle and opening and closing device of inner cap of toner bottle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make preventable mixing of different types of toner due to an error in setting. SOLUTION: In this device, a boss 11 is formed projecting outward on an inner cap 3 that is force-fitted to a toner ejecting opening of a mouth part of a bottle. On the other hand, an inner cap opening and closing device is provided with a chuck member 21 chucking the boss 11 and a cap holder 22 retaining the inner cap 3 that is chucked and taken off from the toner ejecting opening. Furthermore, a cutting blade 21a to cut off a part of the boss 11 after chucking it is provided integrally to a top of the chucking member 21.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toner bottle for supplying toner to a developing section of an electrophotographic apparatus, and an inner cap opening and closing device for the toner bottle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an electrophotographic apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, a toner bottle filled with toner is loaded into (in a developing unit), a cap is opened, and toner is supplied to the developing unit. Things are widely known.

FIG. 7 is an external view of a general toner bottle with a cap removed. The toner bottle includes a bottomed cylindrical bottle body 1, a bottle mouth 2 provided at one end (upper end in the figure) of the bottle body 1, and an inner cap 3.
And an outer cap 4. The bottle mouth 2 has a smaller diameter and a cylindrical shape than the bottle main body 1 and has an opening at the tip, and this opening serves as a toner outlet 2a. The inner cap 3 is fitted to the toner outlet 2a. Also,
The outer cap 4 is screwed to the outside of the bottle mouth 2.

When the toner bottle is loaded in the apparatus, only the outer cap 4 is removed. When the toner bottle is loaded in the machine, the inner cap 3 is removed from the bottle main body 1 by the cap opening / closing device in the machine, whereby the toner can be filled. When removing the toner bottle outside the machine,
The inner cap 3 is attached to the bottle body 1.

[0005] Therefore, when a toner bottle is used in which the inner cap 3 is automatically opened and closed in the machine, it is convenient without toner scattering around. Particularly, a toner bottle having a spiral groove is widely used because the toner can be supplied to the developing section only by its own rotation without providing an agitator (agitator) inside. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
The thing described in No. 20705 is known.

[0006]

The above-mentioned toner bottle is a new one, that is, a bottle filled with toner therein, is loaded into the apparatus, replenishes the developing section with toner, and is taken out of the apparatus when it becomes empty. The toner is refilled and used. That is, it is recyclable.

[0007] Here, the user may mistakenly discriminate between a used bottle, a used bottle, and a new bottle, and load the used bottle or used bottle into the machine. At this time, if the toner of the loaded bottle is different from the toner used before (material and color), both toners are mixed, and there is a problem that the machine cannot be used for a while (used bottle). However, a small amount of toner remains inside.)

The present invention has been made in view of such a background, and an object of the present invention is to provide a toner bottle and an inner cap opening / closing device for the toner bottle which can prevent mixing of different kinds of toner due to erroneous setting. .

[0009]

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toner bottle filled with toner for developing an electrostatic latent image on an image carrier of an electrophotographic apparatus. A boss, which is chucked and cut by an inner cap opening / closing device provided in the electrophotographic apparatus, protrudes from an inner cap for sealing the toner discharge port.

[0010] In order to achieve the above object, a second aspect is provided.
The present invention is an inner cap opening and closing device for opening and closing the inner cap of the toner bottle according to claim 1, wherein the chuck member is movable in the opening and closing direction of the inner cap and chucks the boss of the inner cap; A cap holder that holds the inner cap that is chucked and separated from the toner discharge port, and further includes a boss cutting blade provided integrally with the chuck member.

[0011] In order to achieve the above object, a third aspect of the present invention is provided.
In the invention described in claim 2, the cutting blade is:
In order to leave a part when cutting the boss, the boss has a notch such as a sawtooth shape, a partially tapered shape, a partially concave shape, or the like.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional configuration diagram of an inner cap of a toner bottle and an opening / closing device thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention. The inner cap 3 has the bottle body 1 in the center.
It has a boss 11 protruding on the opposite side of the boss 11 (see FIG. 7). Although not shown, the toner outlet 2 having the toner outlet 2a covered with the inner cap 3 and the bottle main body 1 connected to the toner outlet 2 (both shown in FIG. 7) are on the left side of the inner cap 3 in FIG. .

The inner cap opening and closing device has a cutting blade 21 at one end.
and a cap holder 22 that fits the chuck member 21 and the inner cap 3 that is taken out of the bottle opening 2 by the cap holding portion 22a at the tip.
And a moving rod 23 for moving the chuck member 21 left and right in the figure.

The chuck member 21 is composed of a pair of elastic pieces to which the base (the right end in FIG. 1) is connected, and is located at a position facing the free end (the left end in FIG. 1; the end on the inner cap 3 side). It has a cutting blade 21a. When the inner cap opening / closing device is not performing the opening / closing operation, the interval between the cutting blades 21a, 21a is determined by the boss 1 provided on the inner cap 3.
It is set wider than the diameter of one knob 11a.

As shown in the figure, the chuck member 21 has a tapered shape in the length direction (moving direction). Further, a taper matching the taper of the chuck member 21 is also formed in the cap holder 22 in which the chuck member 21 is fitted. These tapers are directed so that the downstream side (the right side in FIG. 1) of the chuck member 21 in the movement direction when the cap is opened is narrowed.

The chuck member 2 is provided on the cap holder 22.
A space 22b is formed to regulate a moving range in which the chuck member 21 moves relative to the cap holder 22.
When the stopper 24 integrally provided on the outer side of the member abuts against the wall of the space 22b, the chuck member 21 cannot be moved further.

The cap holder 22 is attached to a substrate 25 via a support shaft 26. The moving rod 23 has one end fixed to the base of the chuck member 21, and is provided through the hole 25 a of the substrate 25. Moving rod 23
Is moved left and right in the figure by a driving means (not shown).

The support shaft 26 is slidably fitted to the substrate 25, and a coil spring 27 that is elastically contacted between the cap holder 22 and the substrate 25 is attached to the support shaft 26.
When the moving rod 23 is further pulled to the right in the drawing after the stopper 24 hits the wall of the space 22b, the cap holder 22 moves to the right while compressing the coil spring 27.

Next, the opening and closing operation of the inner cap by the inner cap opening and closing device shown in FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the boss of the inner cap is chucked by a chuck member, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a positional relationship between the chuck member and the cap holder at that time, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the positional relationship between the chuck member and the cap holder at that time.

When removing the inner cap 3 from the toner bottle set in the apparatus, the boss 11 of the inner cap 3 is made to enter the chuck member 21. Moving rod 2 from this state
When the user pulls 3 to the right in the drawing, the chuck member 21 also moves to the right inside the cap holder 22.

In this process, the taper of the chuck member 21 and the taper of the cap holder 22 relatively move, so that the pair of cutting blades 21a at the tips of the chuck member 21 approach (see FIG. 3), and the pair of cutting blades Knob part 11a with 21a
(The resistance of climbing between tapers is
Since the biasing force of the coil spring 27 is smaller, the chuck member 21 is narrowed while the cap holder 22 is stationary.) That is, the boss 11 is chucked (see FIG. 2).

When the moving rod 23 is further pulled to the right from this state, the boss 11 is chucked by the chuck member 21, so that the inner cap 3 is separated from the bottle mouth 2, and the inner cap 3 is moved into the cap holding portion 22 a of the cap holder 22. Cap 3
Are fitted and held. Then, the relative movement between the taper of the chuck member 21 and the taper of the cap holder 22 further increases the chucking force of the chuck member 21, and the cutting edge 21.
a is closed, and the knob 11a of the boss 11 is cut off (see FIGS. 4 and 5). The cut knob 11 a remains in the chuck member 21.

Then, the stopper 24 is attached to the cap holder 2.
After hitting the wall of the second space 22b, the cap holder 22 itself moves to the right in the figure while compressing the coil spring 27. At this time, since the inner cap 3 is fitted and held in the cap holding portion 22a of the cap holder 22, the inner cap 3 is completely moved by the cap holder 22 moving in the direction away from the toner bottle. It will be removed from the toner bottle. After the movement of the moving rod 23 is stopped, the toner in the toner bottle is continuously supplied to the developing unit after the movement of the cap holder 22 is stopped.

When the inner cap 3 is reattached to the toner bottle after toner replenishment is completed, the moving rod 23 is moved in the opposite direction to that at the time of removing the cap, that is, in the present example, to the left in FIG. The inner cap 3 is pressed by the back of the cutting blade 21a, and the inner cap 3 is pressed into the toner discharge port 2a of the bottle opening 2. Thereafter, the user removes the toner bottle from the machine.

Even if the used toner bottle taken out of the machine is mistakenly reloaded in the machine, the knob 11a of the boss 11 protruding from the inner cap 3 is cut off. The boss 11 cannot be chucked, and the inner cap 3 cannot be removed from the toner bottle. Accordingly, it is possible to eliminate the problem that different kinds of toner are supplied to the developing unit.

In the above example, the boss 11 is connected to the knob 11a.
When the boss 11 is cut, if the knob 11a is partially left, the knob 11a is collected (taken out of the machine).
In this case, it can be taken out to the outside, which is more convenient. In this case, the knob 11a is still cut, so that the boss 11 cannot be chucked by the chuck member 21. Even if the toner bottle is erroneously loaded again, the inner cap is not removed. 3 cannot be removed.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the front shape of a notched cutting blade. FIG. 5A shows a rectangular cutout 21a-1 provided in the center of a pair of cutting blades 21a. FIG. 3B shows a pair of cutting blades 21a provided with a tapered notch 21a-2 at one end. Further, FIG. 3C shows a saw blade-shaped notch 21a-3 provided over the entire area of the pair of cutting blades 21a. When such a cutting blade 21a is used, when the boss 11 formed on the inner cap 3 is cut, the boss 11 is not completely cut and is in a connected state. Therefore, the cut pieces are not left in the machine.

As described above, when the toner bottle of the present invention is used, the bottle is set in the machine, the boss of the inner cap is clamped, the knob at the tip of the boss is cut, the inner cap is opened,
A series of cycles of toner replenishment, toner end detection, detachment of the toner bottle (from a predetermined position), sealing of the inner cap, and removal of the bottle out of the machine are executed, but this cycle is only one time and is repeated once. Even if erroneously loaded, toner supply is not performed again. Therefore, the intended purpose can be achieved.

[0029]

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, a toner bottle that has been used once cannot be used again, that is, even if a used bottle is erroneously set in the machine again. Since the cap cannot be removed, the residual toner in the erroneously loaded toner bottle is not supplied to the developing unit. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the problem that the machine becomes unusable due to the mixture of different kinds of toners (toners having different materials and colors).

According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to further eliminate the inconvenience that swarf of the boss remains in the machine.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional configuration diagram of an inner cap of a toner bottle and an opening / closing device thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where a boss of an inner cap is chucked by a chuck member.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a positional relationship between a chuck member and a cap holder at that time.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the inner cap is fitted and held in a cap holder.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a positional relationship between the chuck member and the cap holder at that time.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a front shape of a notched cutting blade.

FIG. 7 is an external view of a general toner bottle with a cap removed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Bottle main body 2 Bottle mouth 3 Inner cap 4 Outer cap 11 Boss 11a Knob part 21 Chuck member 21a Cutting blade 22 Cap holder 22a Cap holding part 22b Space part 23 Moving rod 24 Stopper 25 Substrate 26 Support shaft 27 Coil spring

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A toner bottle filled with toner for developing an electrostatic latent image on an image carrier of an electrophotographic apparatus, wherein an inner cap for sealing a toner discharge port is provided with an inner cap opening / closing apparatus provided in the electrophotographic apparatus. A boss that is chucked and cut by the protrusion. 2. An inner cap opening and closing device for opening and closing an inner cap of a toner bottle according to claim 1, wherein the chuck member is movable in the opening and closing direction of the inner cap and chucks the boss of the inner cap. An inner cap opening and closing device for a toner bottle, comprising: a cap holder for holding an inner cap that is chucked and separated from a toner discharge port; and a cutting blade for boss cutting is provided integrally with the chuck member. 3. The cutting blade according to claim 2, wherein the cutting blade has a notch such as a saw tooth shape, a partially tapered shape, a partially concave shape, etc., in order to leave a part when cutting the boss. Opening and closing device for the inner cap of the toner bottle.