JP2003270918A - Toner storing container - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize the prevention of the buckling and the automatic reduction in the bulk of a toner storing container used in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and consisting of flexible material. <P>SOLUTION: The toner container 10 has a structure that a plurality of film materials are welded at a welding part 6, and a side surface part 4 is formed of a pair of film materials 4a and 4b, whose edges are welded to form a folded part 11 in order to be set in shape folded like a V-shaped bellows. The thickness of the film material forming a front surface part 2 and a back surface part 3 is set to be equal to or above the thickness of the film materials forming the surface part 4. When the toner 5 is put in the container 10 having such structure, the folded part 11 becomes a support to prevent the buckling, and when the toner stored in the container is decreased, the bulk of the container 10 is easily automatically reduced because a pair of film materials 4a and 4b has a large tendency to return to an initial state. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toner storage container made of a flexible material used in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a toner storage container made of a flexible material, there is, for example, one shown in FIG. 33 of JP-A-2000-356898. FIG. 1 shows a conventional flexible toner container (A) of this type and its cross-sectional view (B), and FIG. 2 shows a state in which toner is contained in the flexible toner container (hereinafter simply referred to as toner container) of FIG. FIG. A toner container 1 formed of a flexible film material is composed of a front surface portion 2, a rear surface portion 3, and a pair of side surface portions 4 and 4. The respective portions are welded by heat sealing or the like, and the space formed by the welding is performed. It contains toner 5. The welded portion 6 is a portion shown by hatching in FIG.

The side portion 4 is formed by bending a film material into a bellows shape such as a V shape or a W shape so that the toner container 1 can be expanded. The illustrated example has a V-shape having one bent portion 7.

[0004]

However, when the toner 6 is put in the toner container 1 having such a structure, since the flexible material is used, the toner expands to the state shown in FIG. The volume reduction due to the decrease in the remaining amount of 6 does not work well, and a large amount of toner may remain in the toner container 1, or the shape of the toner container 1 may not be maintained and the toner may buckle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above conventional problems and to provide a toner storage container capable of preventing buckling and automatically reducing the volume.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the toner container according to claim 1 of the present invention is a toner container made of a flexible material, and is heat-sealed or the like at the folding portion of the side surface of the container. It is characterized by having a joint part according to.

In order to achieve the above object, in the toner container according to claim 1, the container material is such that the container material has a thickness greater than or equal to the container side surface portion on the front and back surfaces. Is characterized by.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, in the toner storage container of the first aspect, the container material is the container front and the back surface is a single-sided heat-sealable film material, and the container. The side surface portion is a double-sided heat-sealable film material.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, in the toner storage container according to any one of the first to third aspects, the container material has a sealing property only in a joint portion of the respective portions. Is characterized by.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, in the toner container according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, 1 to 10 slits are provided in the joint portion. And

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, in the toner accommodating container according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, a V-shaped notch is formed in the joint portion at 1 to 1.
The feature is that 10 pieces are provided.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, in the toner storage container according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, a U-shaped cut is formed in the joint portion at 1 to 1.
The feature is that 10 pieces are provided.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the toner container according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is characterized in that a rectangular cut is formed in the joint portion.
The feature is that 10 pieces are provided.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, in the toner storage container according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the joint portion has a width of 1 to 10 mm and a width of 1-1.
It is characterized in that 0 non-bonded portions are provided.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that, in the following, the same parts as those in the prior art will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and overlapping description will be omitted. FIG. 3 is a front view (A) of the flexible toner storage container which is the first embodiment of the toner storage container according to the present invention and a BB ′ cross-sectional view (B) thereof. The toner container 10 of the present embodiment bears a basic structure in which a plurality of film materials are welded at the welding portion 6 similarly to the toner container 1 of the conventional example, but the side surface portion 4 has a pair of film materials 4a, 4b
And is bent into a V-shaped bellows shape by welding the edges of the film materials 4a and 4b.
1 is formed.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing the thickness relationship of the materials forming the toner container 10. As shown, in the present embodiment, the thickness of the film material forming the front surface portion 2 and the back surface portion 3 is set to be equal to or larger than the thickness of the film material forming the side surface portion 4.

When the toner is stored in the toner container 10 having this structure, the bent portion 11 is not simply a bent film material, and thus not only serves as a support for preventing buckling, but also contains the stored toner. In the case where the amount is reduced, in this structure, the pair of film materials 4a and 4b have a strong tendency to return to the original state of FIG. 1 (B), so that automatic volume reduction is easily performed.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a flexible toner container according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
It is a considerable sectional view. In this embodiment, a film of material is used as the one-sided heat-sealing film for the front surface portion 2 and the back-side surface portion 3, and a double-sided heat-sealing film is used for the side surface portion 4, so that buckling prevention support and automatic volume reduction are easy. It is trying to make it even better. In the figure, 12 is a heat seal material for each part.

FIG. 6 shows a flexible toner container which is a third embodiment of the toner container according to the present invention.
It is a considerable sectional view. In this embodiment, the front surface portion 2 and the back surface portion 3 are made of a single-sided heat-sealing film, and the side surface portion 4 is partially (only at the sealing portion) a sealing property to prevent buckling and support automatic volume reduction. To make it easier.

7 to 11 are sectional views showing an example of a welding structure which can be adopted in each embodiment of the toner container according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a view of the above-mentioned welded portions 6 viewed from above. In this example, 1 to 10 slits 13 ... Are preliminarily inserted in the bent inner edges of the front surface portion 2, the rear surface portion 3, the heat seal material 12 and the like which form the welded portion 6 to heat-seal the heat seal material 12. The side surface portion 4 which has been strengthened by welding is easy to automatically reduce its volume as shown in FIG. 7 (B).

FIG. 8 is a view of the above-mentioned welded portions 6 viewed from above. In this example, 1 to 10 V-shaped notches 14 are preliminarily formed on the inner side of the bent portion of the front surface portion 2, the rear surface portion 3, the heat sealing material 12 and the like constituting the welded portion 6, and the heat sealing material 12 is formed. The side surface portion 4 which has been strengthened by the welding is made easy to automatically reduce its volume as shown in FIG. 7 (B).

FIG. 9 is a view of the above-mentioned welded portions 6 viewed from above. In this example, 1 to 10 U-shaped cuts 15 are preliminarily formed in the folded inner edge of the front surface portion 2, the back surface portion 3, the heat sealing material 12 and the like that form the welded portion 6, and the heat sealing material 12 is formed. The side surface portion 4 which has been strengthened by the welding is made easy to automatically reduce its volume as shown in FIG. 7 (B).

FIG. 10 is also a view of the above-mentioned welded portions 6 viewed from above. In this example, 1 to 10 square cuts 16 are preliminarily formed in the folded inner edge of the front surface portion 2, the rear surface portion 3, the heat sealing material 12 and the like which form the welded portion 6, and the heat sealing material 12 is welded. The strengthened side portion 4 facilitates automatic volume reduction as shown in FIG. 7 (B).

FIGS. 11A and 11B are views of the above-mentioned welded portions 6 as viewed from above. In this example, the welded portion 6
The heat-sealing material 12 is welded by providing 1 to 10 portions of the square-shaped partially non-bonded portions 17 having a width of 1 to 10 mm in advance on the folded inner edges of the front surface portion 2, the rear surface portion 3, the heat sealing material 12, etc. As a result, the side portion 4 that has become stronger is easier to automatically reduce the volume as shown in FIG. 7 (B). 11C is a sectional view taken along the line CC ′ of the unbonded portion 17, and FIG. 11D is a sectional view taken along the line DD ′ of the bonded portion.

[0026]

As described above, the toner storage container according to the first aspect of the invention is a toner storage container formed of a flexible material, in which a joint portion by heat sealing or the like is provided at a folding portion on the side surface of the container. Therefore, it is possible to prevent buckling and automatically reduce the volume after opening the container (bag). There is an effect.

As described above, the toner container according to the second aspect has the same effect as that of the first aspect, since the front and back surfaces of the container material have a thickness equal to or greater than the side surface of the container. Can be made.

As described above, in the toner container according to the third aspect of the present invention, the container material is a container front surface, a back surface portion is a single-sided heat sealable film material, and a container side surface portion is a double-sided heat sealable film material. Therefore, the claim 1
The common effect with can be increased.

As described above, the toner storage container according to the fourth aspect is configured such that the container material of each part has a sealing property only at the joint part. Therefore, the effects common to the respective claims are further effective. Can be increased to

As described above, the toner storage container according to the fifth aspect has a configuration in which 1 to 10 slits are provided in each joint, and therefore the effect common to the respective claims is more effective. Can be increased to

In the toner container according to the sixth aspect, as described above, the V-shaped notches 1 to 1 are formed at the joints.
Since the configuration is provided by 0, the effects common to the above claims can be more effectively increased.

In the toner container according to the seventh aspect, as described above, the U-shaped notches 1 to 1 are formed at the joints.
Since the configuration is provided by 0, the effects common to the above claims can be more effectively increased.

In the toner container according to the eighth aspect, as described above, the square cuts 1-1 are formed at the respective joints.
Since the configuration is provided by 0, the effects common to the above claims can be more effectively increased.

As described above, the toner container according to the ninth aspect has a width of 1 to 10 mm and a width of 1 to 1 at each joint.
Since the structure is provided in which no number of joints are provided, the same effects as those of the respective claims can be more effectively increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view (B) of a conventional flexible toner container (A).

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where toner is contained in the flexible toner container of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view (A) and a BB ′ cross-sectional view (B) of the flexible toner storage container which is the first embodiment of the toner storage container according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a thickness relationship of materials forming the toner container of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a flexible toner storage container, which is a second embodiment of the toner storage container according to the present invention, corresponding to FIG.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a flexible toner storage container, which is a third embodiment of the toner storage container according to the present invention, corresponding to FIG.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a first example of a welding structure that can be adopted in each embodiment of the toner storage container according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing a second example of a welding structure that can be adopted in each embodiment of the toner storage container according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing a third example of a welding structure that can be adopted in each of the embodiments of the toner storage container according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view showing a fourth example of a welding structure that can be adopted in each of the embodiments of the toner storage container according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view showing a fifth example of a welding structure that can be adopted in each embodiment of the toner storage container according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 10 toner container 2 surface 3 Back side 4 side parts 4a, 4b Film material on the side surface 5 toner 6 Welded part 11 Bent section 12 Heat seal material 13 slits 14 V-shaped notch 15 U-shaped notch 16 square notch 17 Part that is not partially joined

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) B65D 83/06 B65D 83/06 Z

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A toner accommodating container made of a flexible material, characterized in that it has a joint portion such as a heat seal at a folding portion on a side surface of the container. 2. The toner storage container according to claim 1, wherein the container material has a thickness on the front and back surfaces that is equal to or greater than the side surface of the container. 3. The toner storage container according to claim 1, wherein the container material is a container front surface, a back surface portion is a single-sided heat sealable film material, and the container side surface portion is a double-sided heat sealable film material. Toner storage container. 4. The toner storage container according to claim 1, wherein the container material has a sealing property only at a joint portion of the respective portions. 5. The toner storage container according to claim 1, wherein 1 to 10 slits are provided in the joint portion. 6. The toner storage container according to claim 1, wherein a V-shaped notch is formed in the joint portion.
A toner storage container characterized in that 10 to 10 are provided. 7. The toner storage container according to claim 1, wherein a U-shaped notch is formed in the joint portion.
A toner storage container characterized in that 10 to 10 are provided. 8. The toner storage container according to claim 1, wherein a square cut is formed in the joint portion.
A toner storage container characterized in that 10 to 10 are provided. 9. The toner storage container according to claim 1, wherein the joint portion has a width of 1 to 10 mm.
A toner storage container having ten non-bonded portions.