JP2002006598A - Toner cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a toner cartridge capable of completely supplying toner in its body. SOLUTION: A carrying spiral for carrying toner 4 and a stirring paddle for stirring paddle 5 are arranged in the body 23 of the toner cartridge 1. Plural stirring wings 9 are formed on the peripheral surface of the rotary shaft 8 of the paddle 5. By making the shaft 8 rotate, the plural wings 9 are brought into contact with a spiral blade 7. By bringing the wing 9 into contact with the blade 7, toner is vibrated and blocking is prevented. Therefore, the toner in the body is supplied with no left over in the body.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a toner cartridge applied to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile, a printer, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There has been proposed a toner cartridge having a conveying spiral and a stirring paddle in a main body. In this type of toner cartridge, the toner contained in the main body is agitated by rotating the agitating paddle, thereby preventing the toner from being agitated for a long period of time and blocking naturally. The agitated toner is transported to the outlet by the transport spiral, and is supplied to the developing device.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned toner cartridge, the toner around the rotation of the stirring paddle is stirred, but the toner solidified between the corners inside the main body, the parts where the stirring paddle cannot reach, and the spiral blades. In some cases, the stirring action was insufficient, and part or all of the toner remained in the main body, and the toner was not completely supplied. The present invention
Under such a background, a toner cartridge having a conveying spiral and a stirring paddle in the main body, the stirring paddle stirs the toner in the main body, and the conveyed spiral conveys all the stirred toner. The purpose is to provide.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a toner cartridge in which the toner in the main body does not block or agglomerate and does not reduce the spiral toner conveying force.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toner cartridge in which a conveying spiral for conveying toner and a stirring paddle for stirring toner are disposed in a main body of the toner cartridge. Includes a longitudinal rotating shaft extending into the main body, and a spiral blade extending from the peripheral surface of the rotating shaft and continuously spiraling at a constant or variable pitch in the longitudinal direction of the rotating shaft. ,
It includes a longitudinal rotation axis arranged in parallel with the rotation axis of the conveying spiral, and a plurality of stirring blades protruding from the rotation axis, and the stirring paddle rotates so that the stirring blades move with respect to the spiral blade. A stirring cartridge is provided with a stirring blade on a stirring paddle so as to be in contact therewith.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, at the moment when the plurality of agitating blades and the spiral blade come into contact with each other, the plurality of agitating blades are provided on the agitating paddle so as to be performed by one agitating blade. It is a toner cartridge of the description.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the stirring blade comes into contact with the spiral blade, so that the conveying spiral is vibrated and the toner in the main body is also vibrated, so that the blocking of the toner can be prevented.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the moment when the plurality of stirring blades and the spiral blade come into contact with each other is performed by one stirring blade, and the rotational torque of the stirring paddle can be reduced.
From the above, the amount of toner remaining in the main body can be reduced.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toner cartridge 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention as viewed obliquely from above. The toner cartridge 1 is
It is for replenishing toner, for example, is mounted on a developing device in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and supplies toner to the developing device as needed.

The toner cartridge 1 has a main body 23 for containing toner. The main body 23 includes a box-shaped container 2 having an open upper surface and a top plate 14, and a concave portion is formed in the vicinity of one side surface 2b (the left inner side in FIG. 1). The top plate 14 is fitted from above the container 2 so as to cover the opening on the upper surface of the container 2. The top plate 14 is formed slightly larger than the opening on the upper surface of the container 2 and is arranged at a position facing the opening. On the bottom surface of the container 2, for example, near the side surface 2b, there is provided an extraction unit 3 for dropping the toner in the main body 23 to the developing device. An outlet 3 a is formed on the upper surface of the outlet 3 and communicates with an opening formed on the bottom of the container 2.

The toner cartridge 1 is mounted on the image forming apparatus in the right rear direction shown in FIG. When the image forming apparatus is operated after the mounting, the toner in the main body 23 is transported to the take-out unit 3 and dropped into the developing device. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the toner cartridge 1 as viewed from directly above with the top plate 14 removed. FIG. 3 shows the stirring paddle 5.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the device viewed obliquely from above. Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, container 2 of toner cartridge 1
A transport spiral 4 for transporting the toner housed therein and a stirring paddle 5 for stirring the toner are arranged so as to extend in parallel with each other.

The transport spiral 4 has a rotating shaft 6. The rotating shaft 6 extends from the side surface 2a of the container 2 to the side surface 2b.
It has a long cylindrical shape extending to Spiral blades 7 for conveying the toner in the container 2 in the direction of the outlet 3 a extend from the peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 6 of the conveying spiral 4 along the rotating shaft 6. The spiral blade 7 has a rotating shaft 6
, And extend continuously in a spiral shape at a constant pitch in the longitudinal direction. The stirring paddle 5 has a rotating shaft 8. The rotating shaft 8 of the stirring paddle 5 is, like the rotating shaft 6 of the transport spiral 4, a long cylindrical shape extending from the side surface 2 a to the side surface 2 b of the container 2. In this embodiment, the rotation shaft 6 of the transport spiral 4 and the rotation shaft 8 of the stirring paddle 5 have substantially the same outer shape. A stirring blade 9 for stirring the toner in the container 2 is provided from a peripheral surface of the rotation shaft 8 of the stirring paddle 5.
Are projected from the rotating shaft 8. This stirring blade 9
Are arranged so as to be sequentially adjacent to each other in the longitudinal direction of the rotating shaft 8. However, the container 2 has a concave portion near the side surface 2b, and there is a region near the concave portion where the stirring blade 9 cannot be arranged. Therefore, the stirring paddle 5 has the side surface 2b
A range 15 near the one end on the side where the stirring blade 9 cannot be arranged, and a range 16 where the stirring blade 9 except for the range 15 can be arranged exist in the longitudinal direction. A spiral blade 7 may be provided on the peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 8 in the non-arrangeable range 15. By providing the spiral blade 7, toner in the vicinity of an area where the stirring blade 9 cannot be arranged can be conveyed. Although the concave portion is provided in the present embodiment, the present invention can be achieved without providing the concave portion.

In this embodiment, six stirring blades 9 are provided, and the six stirring blades 9 are constituted by three pairs. The pair of stirring blades 9 face each other at 180 °, and the three pairs of stirring blades 9 are arranged at intervals of 60 ° when viewed in the cross-sectional direction of the rotating shaft 8. Each of the stirring blades 9 has a support arm 10 and a blade 11 supported by the support arm 10. The support arm 10 includes two legs 17 and a connecting portion 18, and both ends of the connecting portion 18 are connected to one ends of the legs 17, respectively. Leg 17
Are connected to the peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 8 and project perpendicularly to the peripheral surface. The blade 11 has, for example, a thin plate shape, and its width is substantially equal to the length of the connecting portion 18. One side of the blade 11 is connected to the connecting portion 18 of the support arm 10 at a fixed angle, and is held at a fixed distance from the peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 8. Therefore, when the stirring paddle 5 is rotated to stir the toner in the container 2, the toner does not accumulate between the rotating shaft 8 and the stirring blade 9 and does not aggregate.

When the stirring paddle 5 is rotated, the plurality of stirring blades 9 and the spiral blades 7 come into contact with each other, so that the conveying spiral 4 is vibrated and the toner in the container 2 is also vibrated. It is possible to prevent a blocking phenomenon in which the transport spiral 4 is rotated in this blocking state, in which only the toner around the transport spiral 4 is transported, such as blocking, which becomes a solidified state without stirring for a time. Also, a plurality of stirring blades 9 and spiral blades 7
The moment when the contact is made is performed by one stirring blade 9, so that the rotational torque of the stirring paddle 5 can be reduced. Each of the components of the stirring paddle 5 described above may be integrally formed of, for example, a relatively tough polypropylene synthetic resin. However, the stirring blade 9 is not limited to this shape, quantity and material.

In the present embodiment, six stirring blades 9 are arranged at intervals of 60 ° in the sectional direction of the rotating shaft 8, so that contact with the spiral blade 7 is performed by one stirring blade 9. However, for example, even when two or more stirring blades 9 are provided in the axial direction of the rotating shaft 8 without any angular deviation when viewed in the cross-sectional direction of the rotating shaft 8, the moment of contact with the spiral blade 7 is one sheet. As in the case of the stirring blade 9, another stirring blade 9 may be retracted from the spiral blade 7.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the toner cartridge 1 taken along the arrow AA in FIG. During the rotation of the stirring paddle 5, the leading edge of the stirring blade 9 is
, And also comes into sliding contact with the inner surface of the bottom of the container 2. This prevents the toner from staying at the bottom of the container 2.

The present invention is not limited to the contents of the above embodiment, and various changes can be made within the scope of the claims.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toner cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention as viewed obliquely from above.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the toner cartridge viewed from directly above with a top plate removed.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the stirring paddle 5 as viewed obliquely from above.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the toner cartridge as viewed along arrow AA in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Toner cartridge 2 Container 4 Conveying spiral 5 Stirring paddle 6 Rotating shaft (of conveying spiral) 7 Spiral blade 8 Rotating shaft (of stirring paddle) 9 Stirring blade 14 Top plate 23 Main body

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A toner cartridge in which a conveying spiral for conveying toner and a stirring paddle for stirring toner are disposed in a main body, wherein the conveying spiral has a longitudinal rotating shaft extending into the main body,
A spiral blade extending from the peripheral surface of the rotating shaft and spirally continuing at a constant or variable pitch in the longitudinal direction of the rotating shaft. A rotating shaft and a plurality of stirring blades protruding from the rotating shaft are included, and the stirring paddle is provided with a stirring blade so that the stirring blade comes into contact with the spiral blade by rotating the stirring paddle. A toner cartridge characterized by being used. 2. The toner cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a moment when the plurality of agitating blades and the spiral blade contact each other is provided on the agitating paddle so as to be performed by one agitating blade.