JP2008299125A - Toner cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it hard to generate a toner cartridge from a recycled article so as to more surely prevent the toner cartridge from being refilled with non-genuine toner. <P>SOLUTION: The invention relates to the toner cartridge where a toner chamber 28 for storing toner and a waste toner chamber 29 for storing waste toner are provided inside a case main body 26, and a filling port 36 for filling the toner chamber 28 with the toner is provided to the outer surface of the case main body 26, and is hermetically sealed by a cap 37. An opening 45 communicating with both the toner chamber 28 and the waste toner chamber 29 is provided in a partition 44 partitioning the toner chamber 28 and the waste toner chamber 29, and a covering member 46 is disposed to be positionally displaced so as to cover over the opening 45. The covering member 46 and the cap 37 are coupled to each other via a coupling member 40, and when the cap 37 is pulled out from the filling port 36, the covering member 46 is positionally displaced to cancel the covering state of the opening 45. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a toner cartridge that is detachably mounted in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus and supplies toner to a developing unit.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of electrophotographic image forming apparatus, a toner supply system called a so-called cartridge replacement system that can supply toner by replacing a toner cartridge has been widely adopted. The toner cartridge housing of this type has a filling port for filling the toner chamber with toner, and when shipped from the factory, it is filled by pressing the cap into the filling port after filling the toner. The mouth is hermetically sealed. It is also possible to refill the toner chamber with toner, in which case it is only necessary to remove the cap and then add the toner from the filling port. By attaching the cap again, the filling port is sealed again. It can be in a stopped state.

  In recent years, collection and reuse of supplies have been actively promoted while resource saving has been promoted, and along with this, used supplies by so-called recyclers other than manufacturers and their authorized agents etc. There is a situation where goods are reused. In other words, there are cases where a recycling company collects used toner cartridges, refills the collected toner cartridges with toner, and uses them as inexpensive recycled products.

  However, when the recycler refills toner different from the genuine product, the quality of the image formed by the image forming apparatus tends to deteriorate. In other words, it is desirable that the toner used in this type of image forming apparatus is a genuine toner that is strictly formulated and adjusted by the manufacturer according to the characteristics of the image forming apparatus, and is refilled with a non-genuine toner. In this case, the performance of the image forming apparatus is not sufficiently exhibited, and it is inevitable that the image quality is deteriorated.

  As a known means capable of preventing the non-genuine toner from being filled in this way, for example, Patent Document 1 can be cited. In this case, a cap for hermetically sealing the toner filling port is formed into a two-piece structure having a cap part that engages with the filling port and a separation piece that can be separated by being pushed into the toner chamber from the filling port. When pulled out, the separation piece falls off from the cap portion and remains in the toner chamber, so that the toner agitating operation and the toner supplying operation by the agitator are hindered.

JP 2004-85597 A

  The problem with the toner cartridge described in Patent Document 1 is that if a separation piece can be collected, a recycled toner cartridge can be easily manufactured. In other words, if the separated cartridge can be recovered by disassembling the toner cartridge or the like, the toner cartridge can be reused by simply attaching another cap (for example, a general-purpose cross-section hat-shaped cap) to the filling port. Therefore, there is a possibility that non-genuine toner will be filled by a recycler or the like.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and more reliably prevents non-genuine toner from being refilled by making the production of a recycled toner cartridge more difficult. For the purpose.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, a toner chamber in which toner is accommodated and a waste toner chamber in which waste toner collected by the cleaning member is accommodated are provided in the case main body, and is provided on the outer surface of the case main body. Is intended for a toner cartridge in which a filling port for filling toner is opened in the toner chamber and the filling port is hermetically sealed with a cap. The partition wall that partitions the toner chamber and the waste toner chamber is provided with an opening that communicates with both chambers, and a closing member is disposed so as to be displaceable so as to close the opening. The closing member and the cap are connected by a connecting member, and when the cap is pulled out from the filling port, the closing member is displaced and the closed state with respect to the opening is released. And

  As in the second aspect of the present invention, a flat plate-like blocking member that closes the opening is slidably disposed on the upper surface of the partition wall, and a stopper that restricts the lifting of the blocking member is provided on the partition wall. Can do.

  As in the third aspect of the present invention, a pair of through holes are formed in one surface of the cap facing the filling port, and the free end portion of the connecting member is inserted from one through hole of the cap, It can be formed in a U shape leading to the other through hole.

  As in the fourth aspect of the present invention, it is desirable that the connecting member has a two-piece structure including a link bar extending from the closing member and a link piece attached to the free end of the link bar. In this case, the link piece has a main body portion having an engaging concave portion that allows press-fitting insertion of the free end portion of the link rod, and a fitting convex portion protruding from the main body portion. The free end portion of the link rod is press-fitted into the engagement recess of the link piece via one through-hole of the cap, and the fitting convex portion of the link piece is pressed into the other through-hole of the cap. The link rod and the cap are connected via the link piece by being fitted and inserted.

In the toner cartridge according to the first aspect of the present invention, when the cap is pulled out from the filling port, the closing member is displaced, and the closed state of the opening formed in the partition partitioning the toner chamber and the waste toner chamber is released. The two chambers are in communication with each other. According to this, when the cap is pulled out, the waste toner stored in the waste toner chamber may flow into the toner chamber through the opening, and the toner chamber may be contaminated with the waste toner. Prior to the toner filling operation, it becomes necessary to clean the toner chamber, and it becomes difficult to proceed the toner filling operation efficiently.
In addition, since the toner filling operation is performed in a communication state in which both chambers are connected through the opening, it is inevitable that unused toner flows into the waste toner chamber. Since the toner flowing into the waste toner chamber does not contribute to the image forming operation in this way, there is a disadvantage that the toner used for the image forming operation is substantially reduced and the service life of the toner cartridge is shortened.

  As described above, according to the toner cartridge of the present invention, after the cap is pulled out, the toner cartridge is not substantially used. For this reason, it is possible to effectively prevent the recycler from refilling the used toner cartridge with the toner and regenerating it as a recycled product. Therefore, the non-genuine recycling in which the non-genuine toner is refilled. The cartridge can be eliminated from the market.

  When a blocking member that closes the opening is provided on the upper surface of the partition wall, the blocking member is lifted when the transfer process or the toner cartridge is subjected to a drop impact, the closed state of the opening is released, and waste toner is discharged into the toner chamber. The toner chamber may enter and the toner chamber may be contaminated with waste toner. Accordingly, when the stopper is provided on the partition wall as in the second aspect of the present invention, the lifting of the closing member can be restricted, so that the toner chamber can be reliably prevented from being contaminated with waste toner. .

  When the connecting member and the cap are engaged or fixed at only one point, the connecting strength between the connecting member and the cap is weak, and there is a risk that both of them may be inadvertently separated when the cap is pulled out from the filling port. is there. Therefore, as in the third aspect of the present invention, when the free end portion of the connecting member is formed in a U shape that is inserted from one through hole of the cap and reaches the other through hole, As a solid connection with the cap, it is possible to reliably prevent the two from separating.

When the free end portion of the connecting member is formed in a U shape as described above, if the free end portion is to be engaged with the through hole of the cap, the free end portion is pulled out from the filling port to some extent, and the engagement operation is performed. Need to work. For this reason, if the engagement operation between the free end and the cap is performed after the toner is filled, the closing member is displaced and the closing state with respect to the opening is released, so that the toner in the toner chamber may move into the waste toner chamber. There is.
Therefore, as in the present invention as defined in claim 4, when the connecting member has a two-piece structure including a link bar continuously provided from the closing member and a link piece attached to the free end portion of the link bar, The link rod and the cap can be connected without moving the closing member. Specifically, the free end portion of the link rod is press-fitted and inserted into the engagement recess of the link piece through one through-hole of the cap, and at the same time the fitting protrusion of the link piece is pressed into the other through-hole of the cap. By fitting and inserting, the link rod and the cap can be connected. As a result, the link rod and the cap can be connected without moving the closing member, so that the problem that the toner in the toner chamber moves into the waste toner chamber can be reliably solved.
Since the toner filling operation can be carried out with the filling port wide open, it is also excellent in that there is no possibility of reducing the working efficiency. Since the link rod and the cap can be securely connected with a simple configuration, it is possible to suppress an increase in the manufacturing cost of the toner cartridge due to the adoption of the U-shaped retaining structure. Are better.

1 to 5 show an embodiment in which the toner cartridge according to the present invention is applied to a toner cartridge of a multifunction machine having a copy function and a facsimile function. As shown in FIG. 2, the multifunction peripheral (image forming apparatus) 1 is configured to supply a sheet feeding cassette 2 on which the recording sheets P are stacked and a recording sheet P sent from the sheet feeding cassette 2. An image recording unit 3 that forms an image, an image reading unit 4 that reads an image and converts it into data for transmission to the image recording unit 3, an operation panel 5 having various operation buttons, an automatic document feeder (ADF) 6). In addition, a paper transport path R from the paper feed cassette 2 to the paper discharge unit 7 through the image recording unit 3 is formed inside the multifunction device 1.
In the present embodiment, for convenience of explanation, the extending direction of the operation panel 5 is defined as the left-right direction (see FIG. 2). Moreover, the direction orthogonal to the left-right direction and the horizontal direction is defined as the front-rear direction (see FIG. 1).

When the multifunction device 1 receives an image formation command, the paper feed roller 8 of the paper feed cassette 2 is driven to rotate, and the recording paper P is fed out to the transport path R one by one. Between the paper feed cassette 2 and the image recording unit 3 in the conveyance path R, a pair of registration rollers 9 and 9 for controlling the timing of paper feed to the image recording unit 3 is disposed.
The image recording unit 3 is provided with a photosensitive drum (hereinafter simply referred to as a drum) 11 that contacts the recording paper P and transfers toner. Around the drum 11, a charger 12 that charges the surface of the drum 11 to a predetermined potential, an LED head 13 that exposes the surface of the drum 11 to form an electrostatic latent image, and development that supplies toner to the drum 11 A container 14, a transfer roller 15 for transferring the toner image formed on the drum 11 to the recording paper P, a cleaning member 16 for removing residual toner after transfer from the surface of the drum 11, and the like are provided. The recording paper P on which the toner image is transferred between the drum 11 and the transfer roller 15 is discharged to the paper discharge unit 7 through the fixing device 18 for fixing the toner image.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a pair of agitation and conveyance screws 21 and 22 for agitating and conveying the developer supplied from the toner cartridge 25 and the drum 11 are provided in the interior of the front and rear horizontally long housing 20 constituting the developing device 14. Are provided with a developing roller 23 for supplying the developer, a supply paddle 24 for supplying developer to the developing roller 23, and the like.

  A toner cartridge (hereinafter simply referred to as a cartridge) 25 includes a case body 26 that is horizontally long and has an upper opening, and an upper cover 27 that seals the upper opening of the case body 26. It is detachably mounted at a predetermined position inside. Inside the case body 26 are provided a toner chamber 28 in which toner is accommodated and a waste toner chamber 29 in which waste toner collected by the cleaning member 16 is accommodated. The toner is supplied into the housing 20 of the developing device 14 through the toner hopper 30 and the screw conveyor (pipe screw) 31. The residual toner removed from the surface of the drum 11 by the cleaning member 16 is charged and accumulated in the waste toner chamber 29 via the screw conveyor 32. Reference numeral 33 indicates a transport discharge screw for transporting and discharging the toner to the toner hopper 30, and reference numeral 34 indicates a transport screw for uniformly dispersing the waste toner that has been input into the waste toner chamber 29.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a front surface of the case body 26 has a filling port 36 for filling the toner chamber 28 with toner, and a cap 37 is hermetically sealed so as to hermetically seal the filling port 36. Removably mounted. The cap 37 includes a bottomed cylindrical main body portion 38 having a front opening, and an annular flange portion 39 formed to project outward from the front end of the cylindrical wall of the main body portion 38. The filling port 36 is hermetically sealed by press-fitting the main body 38. In such a mounting state, the insertion of the main body 38 into the toner chamber 28 is restricted by the flange 39 engaging the peripheral edge of the filling port 36. In addition, the cap 37 can be pulled out from the filling port 36 by placing a finger or the like on the flange portion 39 and pulling it forward. A link piece 41 that constitutes the connecting member 40 and a sealing member 42 that seals the front opening are mounted inside the cylinder of the main body 38. Details of these will be described later.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the partition wall 44 that vertically partitions the toner chamber 28 and the waste toner chamber 29 is provided with one opening 45 so as to communicate with both chambers 28 and 29. A rectangular plate-like plastic closing member 46 that is long in the front-rear direction is disposed on the upper surface (the surface on the toner chamber 28 side) of the partition wall 44 so as to close the opening 45. In FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, reference numeral 47 indicates a slide groove that is long in the front-rear direction and is recessed in the upper surface of the partition wall 44, and the closing member 46 is dropped into the slide groove 47. The width dimension in the left-right direction of the slide groove 47 and the width dimension in the left-right direction of the closing member 46 are set to be substantially the same dimension, and the length dimension in the front-rear direction of the slide groove 47 is the same as that of the closing member 46. It is longer than that. As described above, the closing member 46 is mounted in the slide groove 47 so as to be slidable in the front-rear direction but not movable in the left-right direction.

  A stopper 48 for restricting the lifting of the closing member 46 from the partition wall 44 protrudes from the partition wall 44 at the left and right edges of the slide groove 47. As shown in FIG. 3, these stoppers 48 have an L shape including an engaging arm 49 extending upward from the partition wall 44 and an engaging piece 50 extending inward in the left-right direction from the upper end of the engaging arm 49. The upper surface of the closing member 46 is received by the lower surface of the engaging piece 50 and the floating of the closing member 46 from the partition wall 44 is restricted.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the closing member 46 and the cap 37 are connected by a connecting member 40. The connecting member 40 has a two-piece structure including a link bar 52 extending from the upper surface of the closing member 46 and a link piece 41 attached to the free end 53 of the link bar 52. The link piece 41 protrudes from the rear surface of the main body portion 54 that runs in the vertical direction and the main body portion 54, and is press-fitted and inserted in a through hole 55 formed in the bottom surface of the main body portion 38 of the cap 37. The main body 54 is provided with an engagement hole (engagement recess) 57 that allows the free end portion 53 of the link bar 52 to be press-fitted and inserted. In the bottom surface of the main body 38 of the cap 37, a through hole 58 that allows the free end 53 of the link bar 52 to be inserted is provided in correspondence with the engagement hole 57.

  The cartridge 25 according to the present embodiment can be manufactured by the following procedure, for example. First, the closing member 46 is mounted in the slide groove 47 of the case body 26, and the upper cover 27 is put on the upper opening of the case body 26 to assemble the cartridge 25. Prior to mounting the closing member 46, the transport screw 34 is assembled in the waste toner chamber 29. Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the closing member 46 is positioned at the insertion limit position where the rear end portion of the closing member 46 abuts on the rear side surface in the slide groove 47, and then the toner chamber passes from the filling port 36. 28 is filled with toner. At this time, since the opening 45 of the partition wall 44 is sealed by the closing member 46, the toner filled in the toner chamber 28 does not flow into the waste toner chamber 29.

  When the toner filling operation is completed, the closing member 46 and the cap 37 are connected by the connecting member 40. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the through hole 58 of the cap 37 is aligned with the free end portion 53 of the link rod 52 facing the filling port 36 with the closing member 46 positioned at the insertion limit position. Then, the main body 38 of the cap 37 is pushed into the filling port 36. Next, the free end portion 53 of the link bar 52 that is inserted into the through hole 58 of the cap 37 and is exposed inside the cylinder of the main body portion 38 is aligned with the engagement hole 57 of the link piece 41, and the free end portion is aligned. The part 53 is press-fitted and inserted into the engagement hole 57, and at the same time, the fitting convex part 56 of the link piece 41 is press-fitted and inserted into the through hole 55 of the cap 37. As described above, the link rod 52 and the cap 37 can be connected via the link piece 41. Finally, the sealing member 42 is pushed into the cylinder of the main body 38 of the cap 37 to cover the link piece 41.

When the recycler collects the used cartridge 25 and pulls out the cap 37 for the purpose of refilling the toner, the toner chamber 28 is contaminated with waste toner. More specifically, when the recycler or the like pulls out the cap 37 from the filling port 36 to refill the toner, the closing member 46 is displaced forward via the link bar 52 as shown in FIG. As a result, the closed state of the opening 45 of the partition wall 44 that partitions the toner chamber 28 and the waste toner chamber 29 is released, the both chambers 28 and 29 are brought into a non-independent communication state, and the waste toner in the waste toner chamber 29 is discharged. The toner chamber 28 flows into the toner chamber 28 and the toner chamber 28 is contaminated with waste toner.
Therefore, in order to reuse the cartridge 25, it is necessary to clean the inside of the toner chamber 28 prior to the toner filling operation into the toner chamber 28, and it is difficult to advance the toner filling operation efficiently. It becomes. In addition, since the toner filling operation is performed in a communication state, it is inevitable that unused toner flows into the waste toner chamber 29, and there is a disadvantage that the toner used for the image forming operation is reduced.

  As described above, according to the cartridge 25 according to the present embodiment, after the cap 37 is pulled out, the cartridge 25 is not practically used. For this reason, it is possible to effectively prevent the recycler from refilling the used cartridge 25 with the toner and regenerating it as a recycled product. Therefore, the non-genuine recycling in which the non-genuine toner is refilled. The cartridge can be eliminated from the market.

  When the blocking member 46 that closes the opening 45 is disposed on the upper surface of the partition wall 44, the blocking member 46 is lifted when the transfer process or the cartridge 25 is subjected to a drop impact, and the closed state of the opening 45 is released, and the toner is released. There is a possibility that waste toner flows into the chamber 28 and the toner chamber 28 is contaminated with the waste toner. Therefore, if the stopper 48 is provided on the partition wall 44 as in the present embodiment and the lifting of the closing member 46 is restricted by the stopper 48, the waste toner can be reliably prevented from flowing into the toner chamber 28. be able to.

  When the connecting member 40 has a two-piece structure including a link rod 52 extending from the closing member 46 and a link piece 41 attached to the free end portion 53 of the link rod 52, the link rod 52 and the closing member 46 are The connecting work of the link rod 52 and the cap 37 can be performed without moving. As a result, the closed state of the opening 45 of the partition wall 44 that partitions the toner chamber 28 and the waste toner chamber 29 is reliably maintained, so that the toner in the toner chamber 28 does not move into the waste toner chamber 29. Further, the free end portion 53 of the link rod 52 that is inserted into the through hole 58 of the cap 37 and exposed inside the cylinder of the main body portion 38 is press-fitted into the engagement hole 57 of the link piece 41, and at the same time, When a so-called retaining structure in which the fitting projection 56 of the link piece 41 is press-fitted and inserted into the through hole 55, the link rod 52 and the cap 37 are separated when the cap 37 is pulled out from the filling port 36. Can be surely prevented.

  In the embodiment described above, one opening 45 is provided in the partition wall 44, but two or more openings 45 can be provided. The form of the connecting member 40 is not limited to the above, and in short, the closing member 46 only needs to be displaced in accordance with the pulling operation of the cap 37.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part of a toner cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a diagram illustrating an image forming apparatus to which a toner cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a peripheral portion of a photosensitive drum and a toner cartridge. FIG. 3 is an exploded view of a cap that seals a toner filling port. It is a figure which shows the state which the cap isolate | separated from the filling port.

Explanation of symbols

25 toner cartridge 26 case main body 28 toner chamber 29 waste toner chamber 36 filling port 37 cap 40 connecting member 41 link piece 44 partition 45 opening 46 closing member 48 stopper 52 link rod

Claims (4)

In the case body, a toner chamber for storing toner and a waste toner chamber for storing waste toner collected by the cleaning member are provided,
In the toner cartridge in which a filling port for filling the toner chamber with toner is opened on the outer surface of the case body, and the filling port is hermetically sealed with a cap.
The partition wall that partitions the toner chamber and the waste toner chamber is provided with an opening that communicates with both chambers, and a closing member is disposed so as to be displaceable so as to close the opening.
The closing member and the cap are connected by a connecting member, and when the cap is pulled out from the filling port, the closing member is displaced so that the closed state with respect to the opening is released. Toner cartridge characterized by. On the upper surface of the partition wall, a flat plate-like closing member that closes the opening is slidably disposed,
The toner cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the partition wall is provided with a stopper that regulates lifting of the blocking member. A pair of through holes are opened on one surface of the cap facing the filling port,
3. The toner cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the free end portion of the connecting member is formed in a U shape inserted into one through hole of the cap and reaching the other through hole. The connecting member has a two-piece structure including a link bar continuously extended from the closing member, and a link piece attached to a free end portion of the link bar,
The link piece has a main body portion having an engaging concave portion that allows press-fitting insertion of the free end portion of the link rod, and a fitting convex portion protruding from the main body portion,
The free end portion of the link rod is press-fitted and inserted into the engaging recess of the link piece through one through hole of the cap, and the fitting convex portion of the link piece is the other through hole of the cap. The toner cartridge according to claim 3, wherein the link bar and the cap are connected to each other through the link piece by being press-fitted into the link.

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