JP2009134126A - Image forming apparatus and toner supply container - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve increase of capacity of a toner supply container while suppressing steep increase in manufacture cost and stock cost. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus 10 is equipped with: a plurality of photoreceptor drums 121 juxtaposed in a horizontal direction; a plurality of developing devices 122 respectively disposed corresponding to the plurality of photoreceptor drums 121 and respectively supplying toner to the corresponding photoreceptor drums 121; a plurality of toner containers 20 attachably/detachably juxtaposed in the juxtaposing direction of the photoreceptor drums 121 respectively corresponding to the plurality of developing devices 122 in a predetermined apparatus body 11. The juxtaposing pitch of the plurality of toner containers 20 is set to be larger than that of the plurality of photoreceptor drums 121, and at least two toner containers 20 are formed in mirror symmetry in the juxtaposing direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a so-called tandem-type image forming apparatus capable of color printing in which a plurality of developing devices and a plurality of image carriers corresponding to the developing devices are arranged in parallel, and a toner supply container applied to the image forming device It is about.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image forming apparatus configured to perform color printing as described in Patent Document 1 is known. This image forming apparatus is a so-called tandem type, and includes a plurality of photosensitive drums as image carriers arranged in parallel in a box-shaped apparatus main body, and toner on the peripheral surface of each photosensitive drum. And a plurality of toner cartridges disposed above the developing device for supplying toner to each developing device.

  Four types of toner are used: magenta magenta toner, cyan cyan toner, yellow yellow toner, and black black toner. Four photosensitive drums, developing devices, and toner cartridges are used for each of these four types of toner.

  Then, toner is sequentially supplied from each developing device to the electrostatic latent image on the peripheral surface of each photoconductor drum formed by light irradiation from the exposure device, and the toner image of each color is supplied to each photoconductor drum. It is formed in order on the peripheral surface.

  On the other hand, a transfer belt is disposed in the apparatus main body so as to contact the peripheral surface of each photosensitive drum. As the transfer belt circulates, the toner images formed on the peripheral surfaces of the respective photosensitive drums are sequentially coated on the surface of the transfer belt, and a color image is formed on the surface of the transfer belt. The color image on the transfer belt is transferred to a separately supplied sheet. The sheet on which the color image has been transferred is discharged to the outside after being subjected to a fixing process.

  In such a tandem image forming apparatus, the parallel pitch of the toner cartridges is set to be the same as the parallel pitch of the photosensitive drums (that is, the parallel pitch of the developing devices).

  However, if the parallel arrangement pitch of the toner cartridges and the parallel arrangement pitch of the photosensitive drums are set to be the same, if the capacity of the toner cartridge is increased, the toner cartridge is directed in a horizontal direction orthogonal to the parallel arrangement direction of the toner cartridges. Can only be added. And if it is added in such a direction, the original size of the device body will not be in time, and the capacity of the device body will also have to be increased, which goes against the downsizing of the device body. The problem of becoming.

In order to solve such problems, the toner cartridge for black toner, which uses a larger amount of toner than other color toners, is removed from the state where it is juxtaposed with other toner cartridges, and is placed in a suitable position. It can be considered that the parallel arrangement pitch of the toner cartridges is larger than the parallel arrangement pitch of the photosensitive drums (that is, the parallel arrangement pitch of the developing devices). In this way, the capacity of the toner cartridge can be increased without increasing the capacity of the main body of the image forming apparatus.
JP 2002-148892 A

  By the way, when the parallel arrangement pitch of the toner cartridges is made larger than the parallel arrangement pitch of the developing devices, the positions of the toner supply ports of the toner cartridges facing the toner supply ports provided in the developing devices are arranged in parallel. Each toner cartridge must be provided at a different position, and as a result, a plurality of types of toner cartridges having different specifications for each target developing device must be manufactured.

  When a plurality of types of toner cartridges are used, a plurality of types of molds are required, which increases manufacturing costs and also makes the toner cartridges incompatible and cannot be interchanged. A new problem of increasing inventory costs is presented.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional situation, and provides an image forming apparatus and a toner supply container capable of increasing the capacity of the toner supply container while suppressing an increase in manufacturing cost and inventory cost. It is an object.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention (image forming apparatus), a plurality of image carriers arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction, and the corresponding image are arranged corresponding to each of the plurality of image carriers. A plurality of developing devices that respectively supply toner to the carrier, and a plurality of toner replenishing containers that are detachably juxtaposed along the juxtaposing direction of the image carriers corresponding to each of the plurality of developing devices; Are provided in a predetermined apparatus main body, and the parallel arrangement pitch of the plurality of toner supply containers is set to be larger than the parallel arrangement pitch of the plurality of image carriers, and two of the toner supply containers are arranged in the parallel arrangement direction. The three-dimensional shape is set so as to be mirror-symmetric with respect to an orthogonal plane.

  According to such a configuration, the arrangement pitch of the plurality of toner supply containers is set to be larger than the arrangement pitch of the plurality of image carriers, so that the capacity of each toner supply container has a margin in the normal layout in the apparatus main body. Since it is in a state of being stretched in a certain parallel direction (that is, in the left-right direction), only the capacity of the toner supply container is expanded while maintaining the capacity of the apparatus main body as it is.

  That is, when the toner supply container is expanded in the horizontal direction (that is, the front-rear direction) perpendicular to the direction in which the toner supply containers are arranged side by side, the capacity of the apparatus main body itself is increased in the front-rear direction because there is usually no room for layout. However, the inconvenience of reversing the downsizing of the apparatus occurs, but the invention of claim 1 does not cause such an inconvenience.

  Further, by making the parallel arrangement pitch of the toner supply containers different from the parallel arrangement pitch of the image carrier, the positions of the toner supply ports of the respective toner supply containers with respect to the developing device attached to the image carrier are different. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of inconvenience that a toner supply container storing a type of toner that does not correspond to each developing device is mounted.

  In addition, since the two toner supply containers have a three-dimensional shape that is mirror-symmetrical with respect to a plane orthogonal to the side-by-side direction, the two toner supply containers are compatible with each other by being reversed. As a result, it is possible to cover a single mold without using a plurality of molds to manufacture the toner supply container, thereby reducing manufacturing costs. The two toner replenishing containers can be interchanged with each other, which contributes to reduction in assembling property and inventory cost.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the two toner supply containers formed on the mirror surface object are arranged between opposing wall surfaces of the toner supply container in a direction perpendicular to the juxtaposed direction. Toner replenishment that penetrates the toner supply container in a direction perpendicular to the parallel arrangement direction and a stirring shaft that is installed and has a stirring blade that protrudes in the radial direction, and that is provided at the bottom of the toner supply container A feeder shaft provided with a conveying means for sending toner to the mouth, and a transmission member for driving force transmission that is externally fitted to the agitation shaft and the feeder shaft on the outside of the toner replenishing container so as to be integrally rotatable. The stirring shaft, the feeder shaft, and the transmission member are assembled so as to be mirror surfaces with two toner supply containers.

  According to this configuration, when the toner replenishing container is turned upside down, the transmission members for transmitting the driving force are transferred from one end of each of the stirring shaft and the feeder shaft to the other end, respectively. Can be used as the other side. In this way, the compatibility of the toner replenishing container can be ensured by changing the transmission member for transmitting each driving force from one end portion of the stirring shaft and the feeder shaft to the other end portion. Therefore, compared with the case where transmission members are provided at both ends of each shaft, it is possible to reduce the number of parts and thus the manufacturing cost.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the invention, the plurality of toner replenishing containers are a black toner replenishing container for replenishing black toner and a color toner for replenishing color toner. The black toner supply container has a long container shape in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the color toner supply containers are arranged side by side.

  According to such a configuration, since the amount of black toner used is larger than the amount of each color toner used, the black toner supply container needs to have a larger capacity than each color toner supply container. The black toner supply container has a shape that is long in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the other color toner supply containers are juxtaposed, thereby ensuring a large capacity of the black toner supply container and harmonizing the overall layout. In consideration of the above, it is possible to increase the capacity of all the toner supply containers without increasing the capacity of the apparatus main body.

  According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in the third aspect of the invention, the plurality of image carriers are juxtaposed along a horizontal plane in a state of extending in the front-rear direction at a substantially central portion in the apparatus main body, and the collar. The toner supply container is disposed at a position obliquely above the image carrier row on the front side in the apparatus main body.

  According to such a configuration, since the position obliquely above the image carrier row on the front surface side in the apparatus main body is usually a marginal space that is not used in the apparatus main body, there is often such a margin. By mounting the color toner supply container in the space, the capacity of each color toner supply container can be increased without increasing the capacity of the apparatus main body.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention (toner replenishment container), a toner replenishment comprising a container body for toner filling, which is detachably mounted on the image forming apparatus so as to replenish toner to a developing device built in the image forming apparatus. A container is provided with a conveying means for conveying the toner in a state of being laid between opposing wall surfaces of the container main body, and is provided on a surface orthogonal to the extending direction at a central portion in the extending direction of the conveying means. On the other hand, it is formed as a mirror surface object.

  According to this configuration, by rotating the toner supply container by 180 ° around the center line extending in the vertical direction, for example, the toner supply hole at one end in the left-right direction moves to the other end. Even if the left-right width dimension is set to be larger than the left-right width dimension of the developing devices arranged side by side below, it is possible to cope with each developing device, and the versatility of the toner replenishing container is improved while increasing the capacity.

  The invention according to claim 6 is the invention according to claim 5, wherein the transport means has a rotation shaft installed between opposing wall surfaces of the container main body, and each distal end side of the rotation shaft is connected to the rotation shaft. A transmission member for transmitting a driving force so as to rotate the shaft about the axis thereof can be provided, respectively.

  According to this configuration, since the transmission member that transmits the driving force to the rotating shaft can be provided at each end of the rotating shaft, the container body is rotated 180 ° around the central axis extending in the vertical direction. However, the driving force transmission means on the opposite side of the rotating shaft faces the driving means such as a driving motor, whereby the driving force of the driving means is transmitted to the rotating shaft via the driving force transmitting means. As described above, since the driving force is transmitted to the rotating shaft regardless of whether the toner replenishing container is facing forward or backward, the versatility of the toner replenishing container is improved.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the juxtaposition pitch of the plurality of toner replenishing containers is set to be larger than the juxtaposition pitch of the plurality of image carriers, and two of the toner replenishing containers are arranged in the juxtaposition direction. Since the three-dimensional shape is set so as to be mirror-symmetric with respect to the orthogonal plane, it is possible to use a single mold to manufacture the toner supply container, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost. Can be planned. Further, since at least two toner replenishing containers can be interchanged with each other, it is possible not only to contribute to the improvement of assembling performance but also to reduce the inventory cost.

  First, an outline of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a front sectional view for explaining an embodiment of the internal structure of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the appearance. 1 and 2, the XX direction is referred to as the left-right direction, and the Y-Y direction is referred to as the front-rear direction. In particular, the -X direction is leftward, the + X direction is rightward, the -Y direction is frontward, and the + Y direction is rearward. That's it.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus 10 is used as a copying machine for color printing. An apparatus main body 11 having a box shape and an original image provided on the upper portion of the apparatus main body 11 are used. The image reader 16 has a basic configuration.

  The apparatus main body 11 includes an image forming unit 12 that forms an image based on image information of a document read by the image reading unit 16, and a fixing process for an image formed by the image forming unit 12 and transferred to the paper P. A fixing unit 13 for performing the above and a sheet storage unit 14 for storing a transfer sheet are provided.

  The image reading unit 16 includes a document retainer 161 provided on the upper surface of the apparatus main body 11 so as to be openable and closable, and an optical system unit disposed opposite to the document retainer 161 via a contact glass 163 in the upper housing of the apparatus body 11. 162. The contact glass 163 is dimensioned to a planar shape slightly smaller than the document presser 161 in order to read the document surface of the placed document. The document presser 161 opens and closes by rotating forward and backward about a predetermined axis provided on one side of the upper surface of the housing, which is one component of the image reading unit 16.

  An operation panel 17 (see FIG. 2) is provided at an appropriate position of the image reading unit 16 for inputting processing conditions relating to document reading, copying processing, and the like. As shown in FIG. 2, the operation panel 17 is provided with a power switch 171, a numeric keypad 172, a start button 173, an LCD (Liquid crystal display) 174, a mode switching key (not shown), and the like.

  The optical system unit 162 includes a light source (not shown), a plurality of mirrors, a lens unit, and a CCD (charge coupled device). Then, the light from the light source is reflected by the document surface, and the reflected light is input to the CCD as document information through the mirror and the lens unit. Document information as an analog amount input to the CCD is converted into a digital signal and stored in a predetermined storage device.

  The image forming unit 12 forms a toner image on a sheet fed from the sheet storage unit 14, and in the present embodiment, the image forming unit 12 sequentially arranges from the upstream side (the left side of the sheet of FIG. 1) to the downstream side. A magenta unit 12M that uses toner of each color, a cyan unit 12C, a yellow unit 12Y, and a black unit 12K are provided.

  Each unit 12M, 12C, 12Y, 12K is provided with a photosensitive drum (image carrier) 121 and a developing device 122, respectively. Each photosensitive drum 121 receives supply of toner from a corresponding developing device 122 while rotating counterclockwise in FIG. Each developing device 122 includes a toner container (toner supply container) disposed on the front side (the front side of the paper surface of FIG. 1) of the apparatus main body 11 and the right side surface of FIG. ) The toner is replenished from 20 respectively.

  In the present embodiment, each of the developing devices 122 (magenta developing device 122M, cyan developing device 122C, and yellow developing device 122Y) of the magenta to yellow units 12M, 12C, and 12Y is supplied with toner of each color. A toner container 20 (a magenta toner container 20M, a cyan toner container 20C, and a yellow toner container 20Y) is an upper front corner portion of the apparatus main body 11, and is detachably provided at a position in front of the optical system unit 162. Yes.

  On the other hand, a toner container 20 (black toner container 20K) for supplying black toner to the developing device 122 (black developing device 122K) of the black unit 12K is an upper portion of the apparatus main body 11 and has an optical system. The unit 162 is detachably disposed on the right side.

  A charger 123 is provided immediately above each of the photosensitive drums 121 (magenta drum 121M, cyan drum 121C, yellow drum 121Y, and black drum 121K), and the charger 123 and the developing device. An exposure device 124 is provided above the position 122. Each photosensitive drum 121 is charged uniformly by the charger 123, and laser light corresponding to each color based on the image data input by the image reading unit 16 is charged from each exposure device 124. By irradiating the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 121, electrostatic latent images are formed on the peripheral surfaces of the magenta to black drums 121M, 121C, 121Y, and 121K, respectively.

  The toner of each color is supplied from the developing device 122 (magenta developing device 122M, cyan developing device 122C, yellow developing device 122Y, and black developing device 122K) to the electrostatic latent image, thereby the photosensitive drum. A toner image is formed on each of the peripheral surfaces 121.

  Below the photosensitive drum 121, it is stretched between the driving roller 125 a, the driven roller 125 b, the secondary transfer counter roller 125 c, and other necessary rollers so as to come into contact with the peripheral surface of each photosensitive drum 121. A transfer belt 125 is provided. The transfer belt 125 is in contact with the driving rollers 125 a while being synchronized with the photosensitive drums 121 while being pressed against the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drums 121 by primary transfer rollers 126 provided corresponding to the photosensitive drums 121. It circulates between the driven roller 125b.

  Accordingly, when the transfer belt 125 circulates, the magenta toner image is transferred onto the surface of the transfer belt 125 by the photosensitive drum 121 of the magenta unit 12M, and then the photosensitive drum of the cyan unit 12C is placed at the same position on the transfer belt 125. The transfer of the cyan toner image by 121 is performed in the overcoating state, and then the transfer of the yellow toner image by the photosensitive drum 121 of the yellow unit 12Y to the same position of the transfer belt 125 is performed in the overcoating state. The transfer of the black toner image by the photosensitive drum 121 of the black unit 12K is performed in an overcoated state, whereby a color toner image is formed on the surface of the transfer belt 125. The color toner image formed on the surface of the transfer belt 125 is transferred to the paper P conveyed from the paper storage unit 14.

  A cleaning device 127 that removes and cleans residual toner on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 121 is provided at the right side of each photosensitive drum 121 in FIG. The peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 121 cleaned by the cleaning device 127 is directed to the charger 123 for a new charging process.

  Waste toner removed from the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 121 by the cleaning device 127 is collected in a toner collection bottle (not shown) through a predetermined path.

  A paper transport path 111 is formed from the right position of the paper storage unit 14 to the lower part of the image forming unit 12. The sheet conveying path 111 is provided with a pair of conveying rollers 112 at appropriate positions, and the sheet from the sheet storage unit 14 is conveyed toward a position below the transfer belt 125 by driving the conveying roller pair 112. Yes.

  In the sheet conveyance path 111, a secondary transfer roller 113 that is in contact with the surface of the transfer belt 125 is provided at a position facing the secondary transfer counter roller 125c. Then, the sheet P being conveyed through the sheet conveyance path 111 is pressed and sandwiched between the transfer belt 125 and the secondary transfer roller 113, whereby the toner image on the transfer belt 125 is transferred to the sheet P.

  The fixing unit 13 performs a fixing process on the toner image on the paper transferred by the image forming unit 12. The fixing unit 13 includes a heating roller 131 provided with an energization heating element such as a halogen lamp as a heating source, a fixing roller 132 disposed opposite to the heating roller 131, the fixing roller 132, and the heating roller 131. A fixing belt 133 stretched between the fixing belt 133 and a pressure roller 134 disposed opposite to the fixing belt 133 with the fixing roller 132 interposed therebetween.

  The paper P with the color image for which the fixing process has been completed passes through a paper discharge conveyance path 114 extending from the upper part of the fixing unit 13 and is discharged toward a paper discharge tray 115 provided on the left side wall of the apparatus main body 11. Will be.

  The paper storage unit 14 has a paper tray 141 for storing a bundle of paper P, which is detachably attached to a lower position of the apparatus main body 11. In the example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the paper tray 141 is provided in two stages, but it may be three or more stages, or may be one stage.

  Then, the paper P is fed out one by one by driving the pickup roller 142 from the paper bundle stored in the paper tray 141. The fed paper P is sent to a nip portion between the secondary transfer roller 113 and the transfer belt 125 of the image forming unit 12 through the paper conveyance path 111 and is formed on the surface of the transfer belt 125. A color toner image is transferred. The conveyance of the paper P after the transfer process is as described above.

  Hereinafter, the arrangement structure of the toner container 20 will be described based on FIGS. 3 to 5 with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 as necessary. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing extracted important portions according to the present invention such as the toner container 20 and the intermediate hopper 30 which are constituent elements of the image forming unit 12 in order to explain the arrangement structure of the toner container 20. 4 is a front view showing the arrangement structure of the toner container 20 and the intermediate hopper 30, and FIG. 5 is a plan view thereof. The direction display by X and Y in FIGS. 3 to 5 is the same as in FIG. 2 (X is the left-right direction (−X: leftward, + X: rightward), Y is the front-back direction (−Y: forward, + Y: Back)).

  First, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, magenta toner to yellow toner containers 20M, 20C, and 20Y (hereinafter referred to as color toner containers (color toner supply containers) 20 ') in the toner container 20. ) Is detachably mounted on the upper part of the front side of the apparatus main body 11. In contrast, the black toner container 20K is detachably mounted on the upper right side of the apparatus main body 11.

  The color toner container 20 ′ is provided in a state where the effective width dimension in the left-right direction in the apparatus main body 11 is effectively used. Specifically, three color toner containers 20 ′ are mounted at an equal pitch at a distance from the left end to the right end of the image forming unit 12. Therefore, the parallel pitch of the color toner containers 20 'is approximately 4/3 times the parallel pitch of the units 12M, 12C, 12Y, and 12K of the image forming unit 12 (that is, the parallel pitch of the photosensitive drums 121). Will be set to.

  As a result, the capacity of each color toner container 20 'is increased by approximately 33% as compared with the case where the color toner containers 20' are arranged in parallel with the photosensitive drum 121 as in the prior art. Yes.

  A laterally long front opening 116a (FIG. 2) formed by notching downward from the upper edge portion is provided on the upper portion of the front plate 116 of the apparatus main body 11, and for magenta toner to yellow toner. The containers 20M, 20C, and 20Y are inserted into and removed from the mounting space 116b through the front opening 116a.

  The front opening 116a is provided with a front door 116c that can turn around a support shaft (not shown) whose base end side extends in the left-right direction. By rotating the front door 116c forward and backward around the support shaft, The front door 116c changes its posture between a closed posture in which the mounting space 116b is closed and an open posture in which the mounting space 116b is opened.

  A bottom plate 116d is provided below the mounting space 116b, and two partition plates 116e are erected on the bottom plate 116d so as to divide the mounting space 116b into three equal parts. The magenta toner container 20M is mounted in a space between the left wall surface 11a of the mounting space 116b and the left partition plate 116e, and the cyan toner container 20C is mounted between the pair of partition plates 116e. The container 20Y is mounted between the right partition plate 116e and the right wall surface 11b of the mounting space 116b.

  As shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 5, the color toner container 20 ′ has a rectangular shape in plan view. The color toner container 20 ′ includes a slightly flat box-shaped container main body 21 and a lid 22 that closes the upper surface opening of the container main body 21. The upper edge of the container body 21 is provided with an annular body-side flange that protrudes outward over the entire circumference, and the lower edge of the lid 22 extends over the entire circumference. An annular lid-side flange projecting outward is provided. Then, the flanges of the container main body 21 and the lid body 22 are fixed to each other by welding, whereby the upper surface opening of the container main body 21 is closed by the lid body 22, and an annular flange portion 23 is provided in the color toner container 20 ′. Is formed. The color toner container 20 'in this state is filled with toner.

  On the other hand, the opposing surfaces of the left wall surface 11a and the left partition plate 116e, the opposing surfaces of the pair of partition plates 116e, and the opposing surfaces of the right partition plate 116e and the right wall surface 11b are flanges of the color toner container 20 '. Guide rail pairs 11c extending in the front-rear direction are provided at positions corresponding to the portions 23, respectively. The clearance dimension between the guide rails in the guide rail pair 11 c is set slightly wider than the thickness dimension of the flange portion 23. Accordingly, by inserting the left and right portions of the flange portion 23 into the guide rail pair 11c facing each other in the mounting space 116b, the color toner container 20 'is mounted in the mounting space 116b in a positioned state.

  In the upper part of the right side plate 117 of the apparatus main body 11, a long side opening 117a (FIG. 2) is provided in the front-rear direction, which is formed by cutting away from the upper edge portion. The black toner container 20K is detachably attached to the attachment space 117b through the side opening 117a.

  The side opening 117a is provided with a side door 117c that can be rotated about a support shaft (not shown) whose base end side extends in the front-rear direction. By rotating the side door 117c forward and backward around the support shaft, The side door 117c can change its posture between a closed posture in which the mounting space 117b is closed and an open posture in which the mounting space 117b is opened. A bottom plate 117d is provided in the lower part of the mounting space 117b.

  As shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 5, the black toner container 20 </ b> K has a long rectangular shape in the front-rear direction in a plan view. The black toner container 20 </ b> K includes a long container main body 24 that has a long rectangular parallelepiped shape in the front-rear direction, and a lid body 25 that closes the upper surface opening of the long container main body 24.

  The upper edge of the long container main body 24 is provided with an annular main body side flange projecting outward along the entire circumference, and the lower edge of the lid body 25 is also provided on the entire circumference. An annular lid-side flange projecting outward is provided.

  Then, the flanges of the long container main body 24 and the lid body 25 are fixed to each other by welding, whereby the upper surface opening of the long container main body 24 is closed by the lid body 25 and the black toner container 20K has an annular shape. The flange portion 26 is formed. Thereafter, the long container body 24 is filled with toner.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, the front wall surface 11d and the rear wall surface 11e of the mounting space 117b include a pair of guide rails extending in the left-right direction at positions corresponding to the flange portions 26 of the black toner container 20K. A pair of guide rails 11f are provided. The clearance dimension between the guide rails in the pair of guide rails 11f is set slightly wider than the thickness dimension of the flange portion 26. Therefore, by inserting the left and right portions of the flange portion 26 into the guide rail pair 11f facing each other in the mounting space 117b, the black toner container 20K is mounted in the mounting space 117b in a positioned state.

  The magenta to black containers 20M, 20C, 20Y, and 20K are mounted in predetermined mounting spaces 116b and 117b, respectively. It can be transmitted to the member. The agitating / conveying member is driven by a drive motor as necessary, and is circulated and conveyed toward a shutter member (not shown) in which the internal toner is released. As a result, the toner stored in the toner container 20 is supplied to the corresponding developing device 122 via the opened shutter member and the corresponding intermediate hopper 30.

  The intermediate hopper 30 is interposed between the toner container 20 and the developing device 122 immediately below the bottom plate 116d, and relays the toner from the toner container 20 to the developing device 122. As shown in FIG. 4, the intermediate hopper 30 corresponds to a magenta toner intermediate hopper 30M corresponding to the magenta developing device 122M, a cyan toner intermediate hopper 30C corresponding to the cyan developing device 122C, and a yellow developing device 122Y. Four intermediate toner hoppers 30K for yellow toner and black intermediate hopper 30K corresponding to the black developing device 122K are provided.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the intermediate hoppers 30M, 30C, 30Y, and 30K are set to have the same parallel pitch with respect to the supply port as the parallel pitch of the developing devices 122M, 122C, 122Y, and 122K. . The intermediate hoppers 30M, 30C, and 30Y for magenta toner to yellow toner are set to the same size.

  On the other hand, the black intermediate hopper 30K is set to be long in the left-right direction so as to correspond to the black toner container 20K mounted on the upper right end in the apparatus main body 11.

  The intermediate hopper 30 is provided with a toner receiving port 32 on the right side of the top plate 31. In the magenta to yellow intermediate hoppers 30M, 30C, and 30Y, the toner receiving ports 32 are provided at exactly the same position.

  On the other hand, in the bottom plate 116d of the mounting space 116b in which the color toner container 20 'is mounted, a communication opening 118 is formed at a position corresponding to each toner receiving port 32. The communication openings 118 include a magenta toner opening 118M corresponding to the toner receiving port 32 of the magenta toner intermediate hopper 30M, a cyan toner opening 118C corresponding to the toner receiving port 32 of the cyan toner intermediate hopper 30C, and yellow. It has a yellow toner opening 118Y corresponding to the toner receiving port 32 of the toner intermediate hopper 30Y.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, the magenta toner opening 118M is provided at a position on the right side of the bottom plate 116d between the left wall surface 11a and the left partition plate 116e, and the cyan toner opening 118C is a pair of partition plates. The yellow toner opening 118Y is provided at a position near the left of the bottom plate 116d between the partition plate 116e and the right wall surface 11b on the right side.

  On the other hand, the communication opening 118 (black toner communication opening 118K) intended for the black toner container 20K that is set long in the front-rear direction is the front left of the bottom plate 117d of the mounting space 117b of the black toner container 20K. Is provided.

  At the bottom of the magenta to black containers 20M, 20C, 20Y, and 20K, shutter members 200 are provided at portions corresponding to the magenta toner to black toner communication openings 118M, 118C, 118Y, and 118K, respectively. The shutter member 200 is in a closed state before the magenta toner to yellow toner containers 20M, 20C, and 20Y or the black toner container 20K are mounted in the dedicated mounting spaces 116b and 117b (FIG. 2) of the apparatus main body 11. When the toner container 20 is mounted in the corresponding mounting spaces 116b and 117b, the shutter of the shutter member 200 is opened in conjunction with the mounting operation, whereby the toner container 20 and the intermediate hopper 30 communicate with each other. The

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, a part of the developing device 122 is projected between the left end portion of each intermediate hopper 30 and the corresponding left end portion of each developing device 122. A cylindrical body 33 is provided. These cylinders 33 are each provided with an unillustrated screw feeder extending in the front-rear direction. As each screw feeder is driven and rotated about its axis, each developing device 122M, 122C, 122Y to which the toner in the magenta to black intermediate hoppers 30M, 30C, 30Y, 30K corresponds via the cylinder 33 is provided. , 122K, respectively.

  Hereinafter, the toner container 20 will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of an alternative type toner container 20a applied to the magenta toner container 20M and the yellow toner container 20Y in the present embodiment, as viewed from the rear side, and FIG. FIG. 7A shows an assembled perspective view, FIG. 7A shows a state assembled as a magenta toner container 20M, and FIG. 7B shows a state assembled as a yellow toner container 20Y.

  FIG. 8 is a perspective view seen from the back side showing an embodiment of an original type (non-compatible type) toner container 20b applied to the cyan toner container 20C in the present embodiment. 6 to 8 are the same as those shown in FIG. 2 (X is the left-right direction (-X: leftward, + X: rightward), Y is the front-rear direction (-Y: forward, + Y: backward)). However, since FIGS. 6 to 8 are rear view views, the left and right sides indicated by X are reversed from the left and right sides of the paper.

  First, the alternative type (compatible type) toner container 20a is the one in the left and right ends of the color toner container 20 '(that is, the magenta toner container 20M and the yellow toner container 20Y in this embodiment). Applicable as a target.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the alternative type toner container 20a includes a rectangular parallelepiped container body 21a, a lid body 22 for closing the upper surface opening of the container body 21a, and toner filled in the container body 21a. The stirring member 27 for stirring, the spiral feeder (conveying means) 28 for discharging the toner stirred by the stirring member 27 from the container main body 21a toward the intermediate hopper 30, and the stirring member 27 and the spiral feeder 28 are not shown. And a gear mechanism (transmission member) 29 for transmitting the driving force of the drive motor.

  The container main body 21a includes a bottom plate 211 having a rectangular shape in plan view, left and right side plates 212 erected from left and right edges of the bottom plate 211, and front and rear side plates 213 erected from front and rear edges of the bottom plate 211. And. The front and rear side plates 213 are provided with a first support hole 214 at a position slightly to the right slightly below the approximate center in the up-down direction and at a substantially center position in the left-right direction, and the second support hole 215 at the position to the left. Is drilled. The first support hole 214 is for supporting the stirring member 27, and the second support hole 215 is for supporting the spiral feeder 28.

  Each front and rear side plate 213 is provided with an idle shaft 216 that protrudes in the opposite direction from the upper position of the center portion in the left-right direction of the pair of first support holes 214. The idle shaft 216 is for mounting an idle gear 292 to be described later.

  Further, the bottom plate 211 is provided with a toner supply port 217 corresponding to the communication opening 118 of the bottom plate 116d (FIG. 4) of the apparatus main body 11 at the center in the front-rear direction at a position corresponding to the second support hole 215. ing. The shutter member 200 is provided at the toner supply port 217. The container body 21a configured in this manner is plane-symmetrical in the front-rear direction.

  The agitating member 27 is fitted around the agitating shaft 271 and a pair of left and right agitating shafts 271 that pass through the first support holes 214 at the front and rear sides and are respectively installed between the pair of front and rear side plates 213. A pair of left and right shaft cylinders 272 and a plurality of stirring blades 273 projecting from the circumferential surface of each shaft cylinder 272 outward in the radial direction at a constant pitch in the circumferential direction are provided.

  The agitation shaft 271 is set to have a length slightly longer than the outer dimension between the pair of front and rear side plates 213, so that the front and rear ends of the stirring shaft 271 are first fitted in the pair of front and rear first support holes 214. It protrudes from the support hole 214 to the outside. D-cut portions 271a formed by cutting out a part of the peripheral surface are provided at portions protruding from the back side of the stirring shaft 271 to the outside. These D-cut portions 271a are for externally fitting a stirring gear 291 described later so as to be integrally rotatable.

  Further, screw holes 271b are concentrically screwed on the respective end surfaces of the stirring shaft 271. A retaining screw S for retaining the stirring gear 291 fitted in the D-cut portion 271a is screwed into the screw hole 271b.

  Furthermore, the stirring shaft 271 is provided with annular grooves 271c that are recessed on both sides of the stirring shaft 271 and slightly inside the D-cut portions 271a. The distance between the pair of annular grooves 271c is set slightly shorter than the inner dimension between the pair of front and rear side plates 213. The stirring shaft 271 is detached from the first support hole 214 by fitting the C-ring R into each annular groove 271c in a state where the stirring shaft 271 is passed through the first support holes 214 of the front and rear side plates 213. Stopped.

  In addition, the stirring shaft 271 is provided with a key protrusion 271d that protrudes in the radial direction at a substantially central portion thereof. The key protrusion 271d is for integrally rotating the shaft cylinder 272 in a state in which the shaft cylinder 272 is externally fitted to the stirring shaft 271.

  On the other hand, each of the first support holes 214 on the rear side is provided with a notch groove 214a corresponding to the key protrusion 271d formed by notching outward from the peripheral surface in the radial direction. ing. Each of the agitation shafts 271 can be inserted into the front and rear first support holes 214 by passing the key protrusion 271d through the notch groove 214a.

  The shaft cylinder 272 is set to be slightly shorter in length than the dimension between the pair of annular grooves 271 c of the stirring shaft 271. The shaft tube 272 has a through-hole 272a at the axial center position. The through hole 272a is set to have a hole diameter dimension slightly larger than the diameter dimension of the stirring shaft 271. Thus, the stirring shaft 271 can be fitted into the through hole 272a.

  The shaft tube 272 is provided with a key groove 272b extending over the entire length of the shaft tube 272 extending outward from the through hole 272a. The key groove 272b is for fitting the key protrusion 271d. Therefore, by inserting the stirring shaft 271 into the through hole 272a with the key protrusion 271d facing the through hole 272a, the two are coupled to each other so as to be integrally rotatable around the axis.

  The agitating blade 273 agitates and unpacks the toner filled in the container main body 21a and feeds the toner toward the toner supply port 217. A plurality of the agitating blades 273 have a diameter from the peripheral surface of the shaft tube 272. Projecting outward in the direction. In the present embodiment, four stirring blades 273 are employed at an equal pitch in the circumferential direction of the shaft tube 272, but the number is not limited to four, and may be less than four. You may exceed 4 sheets.

  The spiral feeder 28 includes a feeder shaft 281 that is penetrated and supported by a second support hole 215 formed in a pair of front and rear side plates 213 of the container body 21a, and a shaft cylinder 282 through which the feeder shaft 281 is concentrically penetrated. And a spiral fin 283 formed on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft cylinder 282.

  The feeder shaft 281 has a D-cut portion 281a, a screw hole 281b corresponding to the D-cut portion 271a, the screw hole 271b, the annular groove 271c, and the key protrusion 271d of the stirring shaft 271 and having the same function as those. An annular groove 281c and a key protrusion 281d are provided.

  On the other hand, the second support hole 215 on the rear side is provided with a notch groove 215a corresponding to the key protruding piece 281d formed by notching outward from the peripheral surface in the radial direction. . The feeder shaft 281 can be inserted into the front and rear second support holes 215 by passing the key protrusion 281d through the notch groove 215a.

  The shaft cylinder 282 of the spiral feeder 28 has a through hole 282a and a key groove 282b that correspond to and have the same functions as the through hole 272a and the key groove 272b of the shaft cylinder 272 of the stirring member 27. Each is provided.

  The spiral fin 283 is for bringing the toner to the toner supply port 217 at the center in the front-rear direction in accordance with the rotation around the axis. The spiral fins 283 are set so that the spiral direction is reversed before and after the central portion in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, by rotating the spiral feeder 28 in a predetermined direction, the toner carried inside the container main body 21a to the side on the toner supply port 217 side by driving the agitating member 27 is moved to the toner supply port 217 by the action of the spiral fin 283. To the intermediate hopper 30.

  The gear mechanism 29 is fitted to one end of the pair of stirring shafts 271 so as to be integrally rotatable, and is externally fitted to the idle shaft 216 so as not to be detached, and the left and right stirring gears 291. An idler gear 292 that meshes with the feeder shaft 281, and a feeder gear 293 that is mounted on the end of the feeder shaft 281 so as to be integrally rotatable and that meshes with the agitation gear 291 at the center in the left-right direction of the container body 21 a. I have.

  The stirring gear 291 has a D hole 291a corresponding to the D cut portion 271a of the stirring shaft 271 at the center position thereof. With the D hole 291a fitted to the D cut portion 271a, the retaining screw S is screwed into the screw hole 271b of the stirring shaft 271 and fastened, so that the stirring gear 291 is attached to the stirring shaft 271 in the retaining state. Is done.

  The feeder gear 293 is also provided with a D hole 293a corresponding to the D cut portion 281a at the center position. With the D hole 293a fitted to the D cut portion 281a, the retaining screw S is screwed into the screw hole 281b of the D cut portion 281a and fastened, so that the feeder gear 293 is attached to the feeder shaft 281 in a state of retaining. Is done.

  The feeder gear 293 is configured to transmit a driving force of a driving motor (not shown). Accordingly, by driving the drive motor, this driving force is transmitted to the spiral feeder 28 via the feeder gear 293 and also to each stirring member 27 via the pair of stirring gears 291, thereby the alternative type. The toner in the toner container 20a is supplied to the intermediate hopper 30 through the toner supply port 217 while being stirred.

  In the two alternative type toner containers 20a configured as described above, one toner container 20a has a gear mechanism 29 attached to one end of the stirring shaft 271 and the feeder shaft 281 and the other toner container 20a has a gear. By attaching the mechanism 29 to the other end of the stirring shaft 271 and the feeder shaft 281, each alternative type toner container 20 a is positioned so that the toner replenishing port 217 is positioned on the left side as shown in FIG. An oriented state (toner supply port left orientation state Q1) and a state where the toner supply port 217 is positioned on the right side (toner supply port right orientation state Q2) as shown in FIG. 7B. ) And left and right plane symmetry.

  In this embodiment, the alternative type toner container 20a in the toner supply port left-orientation state Q1 shown in FIG. 7A is used as the magenta toner container 20M, and the alternative type toner container 20M shown in FIG. 6B is used. The toner container 20a is used as the yellow toner container 20Y.

  As a result, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the toner supply port 217 of the magenta toner container 20M faces the toner receiving port 32 of the magenta toner intermediate hopper 30M and the toner of the yellow toner container 20Y. The replenishing port 217 faces the toner receiving port 32 of the yellow toner intermediate hopper 30Y.

  As described above, in the alternative type toner container 20a, the same container main body 21a is used, and the surface on which the gear mechanism 29 is mounted is divided into one side and the other side of the pair of front and rear side plates 213, thereby the alternative type toner container 20a. This toner container 20a can be selectively used as a magenta toner container 20M and a yellow toner container 20Y, which can contribute to a reduction in manufacturing cost.

  In the original type toner container 20b used as the cyan toner container 20C in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the stirring member 27 is disposed on the left and right in the container main body 21b, and the spiral feeder 28 is used. Is disposed at the center in the left-right direction of the container main body 21b. The toner replenishing port 217 is provided at the center of the bottom plate 211 in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction, and directly below the spiral feeder 28.

  This is because the toner supply port 217 (FIG. 4) of the cyan toner container 20C is opposed to the cyan toner intermediate hopper 30C.

  In order to correspond to such an arrangement, the agitation gear 291 is provided at the left and right positions of the front and rear side plates 213 on the rear surface (back surface) side, while the feeder gear 293 is provided at the center position. In the original type toner container 20b, the idle gear 292 is not provided, and the feeder gear 293 is engaged with the left and right stirring gears 291. A driving force from a driving motor (not shown) is transmitted to the feeder gear 293.

  When the original type toner container 20b is mounted on the apparatus main body 11 of the image forming apparatus 10, the toner supply port 217 (FIG. 4) faces the toner receiving port 32 of the cyan toner intermediate hopper 30C. become.

  As described above in detail, the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment is disposed corresponding to each of the plurality of photosensitive drums 121 arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction and the plurality of photosensitive drums 121. In addition, a plurality of developing devices 122 that respectively supply toner to the corresponding photosensitive drums 121 and a plurality of developing devices 122 that correspond to each of the plurality of developing devices 122 are detachably arranged in parallel along the direction in which the photosensitive drums 121 are arranged in parallel. It is assumed that a plurality of toner containers 20 are provided in a predetermined apparatus main body 11.

  The juxtaposition pitch of the plurality of toner containers 20 is set to be larger than the juxtaposition pitch of the plurality of photosensitive drums 121, and at least two of the toner containers 20 are formed in mirror symmetry in the juxtaposition direction.

  According to such a configuration, the capacity of each toner container 20 is normally extended in the side-by-side direction (that is, the left-right direction) in the apparatus main body 11 with a margin in layout, so that the current state is maintained. The capacity of the toner container 20 can be increased while maintaining the capacity of the apparatus main body 11.

  That is, when the toner container 20 is expanded in the horizontal direction perpendicular to the direction in which the toner containers 20 are arranged side by side, the capacity of the apparatus main body 11 itself must be increased in the front-rear direction because there is usually no room for layout. However, inconvenience of going backward to the downsizing of the apparatus occurs, but in this embodiment, such inconvenience does not occur.

  Further, by changing the parallel arrangement pitch of the toner containers 20 and the parallel arrangement pitch of the photosensitive drums 121, the positions of the toner replenishing ports of the respective toner containers 20 with respect to the developing device 122 attached to the photosensitive drum 121 are different. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the inconvenience that the toner container 20 storing the type of toner that does not correspond to each developing device 122 is mounted.

  In addition, since the magenta toner container 20M and the yellow toner container 20Y in the toner container 20 are formed in mirror symmetry in the juxtaposed direction, the two toner containers 20 are turned upside down. Since the toner containers 20 are compatible with each other, it is possible to cover a single mold without using a plurality of molds in order to manufacture the toner container 20, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced. In addition, the toner containers 20 can be interchanged with each other, which can contribute to reduction in assembling property and inventory cost.

  Further, the two toner containers 20 (magenta toner container 20M and yellow toner container 20Y) formed on the mirror surface object are agitated shafts 271 penetrating the housing of the toner container 20 in a direction orthogonal to the juxtaposed direction. And a stirring blade 273 provided in the toner container 20 so as to rotate integrally with the stirring shaft 271, and a stirring gear 291 externally fitted to the stirring shaft 271 so as to rotate integrally with the stirring shaft 271. .

  According to this configuration, when the toner container 20 is turned upside down, the stirring gear 291 is externally fitted from one end of the stirring shaft 271 to the other end so that the one on the other side is used. It becomes possible. As described above, since the compatibility of the toner container 20 can be ensured by changing the stirring gear 291 from one end of the stirring shaft 271 to the other end, the stirring gear 291 is provided at both ends of the stirring shaft 271. There is no need to provide it, and the benefit of the compatibility can be received at a low cost.

  The plurality of toner containers 20 include a black toner container 20K for supplying black toner and a color toner container 20 'for supplying color toner. The black toner container 20K is for color toner. It has a long container shape in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the containers 20 ′ are juxtaposed.

  According to such a configuration, since the amount of black toner used is larger than the amount of each color toner used, the black toner container 20K needs to have a larger capacity than each color toner container 20 ′. The black toner container 20K has a long container shape in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the other color toner containers 20 'are arranged, so that the large capacity of the black toner container 20K is secured and the overall layout is improved. Thus, the capacity of all the toner containers 20 can be increased without increasing the capacity of the apparatus main body 11.

  Further, the plurality of photosensitive drums 121 are juxtaposed along a horizontal plane in a state of extending in the front-rear direction at a substantially central portion in the apparatus main body 11, and the color toner container 20 ′ is arranged on the front side in the apparatus main body 11. Since it is disposed at a position obliquely above the photosensitive drum 121 row, a position obliquely above the front photosensitive drum 121 row in the apparatus main body 11 is normally used in the apparatus main body 11. In many cases, there is an unoccupied space, and by mounting the color toner container 20 'in the surplus space, the capacity of each color toner container 20' is increased without increasing the capacity of the apparatus main body 11. be able to.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and includes the following contents.

  (1) In the above embodiment, a copying machine has been described as an example of the image forming apparatus 10, but the present invention is not limited to the image forming apparatus 10 being a copying machine, and a computer or the like. It may be a printer that performs a printing process based on image information input from an external device, or a facsimile machine that outputs an image based on image information transmitted via a communication line.

  (2) In the above embodiment, the color toner container 20 ′ composed of the magenta to black containers 20M, 20C, 20Y, and 20K is mounted on the upper front edge of the apparatus main body 11, while the black toner container 20K is mounted in the upper right corner in the apparatus main body 11. However, the black toner container 20K may be arranged in parallel on the front side of the apparatus main body 11 in the same manner as the color toner container 20 '.

  In the above embodiment, the attachment / detachment operation of the black toner container 20K with respect to the apparatus main body 11 is performed from the side of the apparatus main body 11 (from the right side in the example shown in FIG. 2). In addition, as in the case of the color toner container 20 ′, the attachment / detachment operation may be performed from the front side of the apparatus main body 11.

  (3) In the above embodiment, the black toner container 20K is disposed at the upper right corner of the apparatus main body 11. However, in the present invention, the black toner container 20K is disposed at the upper right corner of the apparatus main body 11. It is not limited to being disposed at the upper left corner, but may be disposed at the upper left corner depending on the situation.

  (4) In the above embodiment, the intermediate hopper 30 is interposed between the toner container 20 and the developing device 122. However, the present invention makes it essential to adopt the intermediate hopper 30. Instead, the toner may be supplied directly from the toner container 20 toward the developing device 122 without providing the intermediate hopper 30 in particular.

  (5) In the above embodiment, the transfer belt 125 is provided at the lower position of the photosensitive drum 121, while the exposure device 124 is provided at the upper position of the photosensitive drum 121. The transfer belt 125 may be provided above the photosensitive drum 121, while the exposure device 124 may be provided at a position below the photosensitive drum 121.

  (6) In the above embodiment, four colors of magenta, cyan, yellow and black are employed as the toner. However, the present invention is not limited to the four types of toner, and 3 The number may be less than or equal to five or more. In such a case, the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present invention is arranged corresponding to each of the n photosensitive drums 121 arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction and the n photosensitive drums 121, respectively. In addition, n developing devices 122 that respectively supply toner to the corresponding photosensitive drums 121 and n toner containers 20 arranged corresponding to the n developing devices 122 are connected to a predetermined device main body. (N-1) of the toner containers 20 are arranged side by side in the direction in which the photosensitive drums 121 are arranged, and the remaining one of the toner containers 20 (usually the black toner container 20K) is connected to the end. The photosensitive drum 121 is preferably provided along the direction in which the photosensitive drum 121 extends, and is arranged in an L shape in plan view.

  (7) In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 described above, short cylinders are preliminarily fitted on the stirring shaft 271 and the feeder shaft 281 before being attached to the container main body 21a in a sliding contact state, and the stirring shaft 271 and the feeder. With the shaft 281 penetrating between the first support holes 214 and the second support holes 215 that are opposed to each other, the cylindrical body is slid to provide a cutout groove 214a and a cutout groove 215a. The first support hole 214 and the second support hole 215 may be fitted. By doing so, the agitation shaft 271 and the feeder shaft 281 can rotate around the axis without being affected by the notch grooves 214a and 215a of the first and second support holes 214 and 215. Becomes smooth.

  (8) FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the spiral feeder 28, FIG. 9 (A) is an exploded perspective view, and FIG. 9 (B) is an assembled perspective view. 9, the direction display by X and Y is the same as in FIG. 2 (X is the left-right direction (-X: leftward, + X: rightward), Y is the front-rear direction (-Y: forward, + Y: rearward). )).

  As shown in FIG. 9, in this embodiment, a feeder shaft 281 that is thicker than that of the previous embodiment (that is, thicker than the diameter of the first support hole 214 of the front and rear side plates 213) is employed. In addition, the spiral fin 283 is directly provided on the feeder shaft 281 without using the shaft cylinder 282 (FIG. 6). The length dimension of the feeder shaft 281 is set slightly shorter than the inner dimension between the pair of front and rear side plates 213, so that the feeder shaft 281 can be mounted between the front and rear side plates 213 in a erected state.

  Each end face of the feeder shaft 281 is provided with a concentric concave hole 284, while the feeder gear 293 is provided with a cross shaft 294 concentrically protruding from the center position. The cross shaft 294 is dimensioned and shaped so that it can be fitted into the cross hole 284 in a retaining state.

  According to such a driving force transmission structure, the feeder shaft 281 is inserted between the front and rear side plates 213 in the container main body 21a so that the cross holes 284 on each end face the first support holes 214, and in this state, the container main body If the cross shaft 294 of each feeder gear 293 is inserted into the corresponding cross hole 284 of the feeder shaft 281 from the outside of the feeder shaft 281 via the first support hole 214 from the outside of the feeder 21a, the feeder gear 293 can rotate integrally around the shaft center. Connected to the feeder shaft 281.

  FIG. 9 shows an example in which the feeder gears 293 are attached to both ends of the feeder shaft 281, but the present invention is not limited to attaching the feeder gears 293 to both ends of the feeder shaft 281. You may make it attach the feeder gear 293 only to either one side.

  (9) In the above embodiment, transmission of driving force to the feeder shaft 281 can be handled by using a so-called coupling mechanism without using the feeder gear 293. In this case, for example, a point-symmetric protrusion is provided at a point-symmetrical position around the axis on the end surface of the feeder shaft 281, while the tip of the drive shaft of the drive motor or the output of a predetermined speed change mechanism connected to the drive shaft of the drive motor. A connecting protrusion that fits between the pair of protrusions is provided at the tip of the shaft, and the connecting protrusion is inserted between the pair of protrusions, thereby driving the drive motor to drive shaft or output shaft, connecting protrusion, and It can be transmitted to the feeder shaft 281 through a pair of protrusions.

It is explanatory drawing of front sectional view for demonstrating one Embodiment of the internal structure of an image forming apparatus. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an appearance of the image forming apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing extracted important portions according to the present invention, such as a toner container and an intermediate hopper, which are components of an image forming unit, in order to explain the arrangement structure of the toner container. FIG. 3 is a front view showing an arrangement structure of a toner container and an intermediate hopper. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an arrangement structure of a toner container and an intermediate hopper. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view seen from the back side showing an embodiment of a compatible type toner container applied to a magenta toner container and a yellow toner container in the present embodiment. FIG. 7 is an assembled perspective view of a compatible type toner container shown in FIG. 6, where (A) shows a state assembled as a magenta toner container, and (B) shows a state assembled as a yellow toner container. Yes. FIG. 3 is a perspective view seen from the back side showing an embodiment of an original type toner container applied to the cyan toner container in the present embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows other embodiment of a spiral feeder, FIG. 9 (A) is an exploded perspective view, and FIG. 9 (B) is an assembly perspective view.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image forming apparatus 11 Apparatus main body 11a Left wall surface 11b Right wall surface 11c Guide rail pair 11d Front wall surface 11e Rear wall surface 11f Guide rail pair 111 Paper conveyance path 112 Conveyance roller pair 113 Next transfer roller 114 Discharge conveyance path 115 Discharge tray 116 Front Plate 116a Front opening 116b Mounting space 116c Front door 116d Bottom plate 116e Plate 117 Right side plate 117a Side opening 117b Mounting space 117c Side door 117d Bottom plate 118 Connection opening 118M Magenta toner opening 118C Cyan toner opening 118Y Yellow toner opening 118K For black toner Communication opening 12 Image forming unit 12M Magenta unit 12C Cyan unit 12Y Yellow unit 12K Black unit 121 Photosensitive drum (image carrier)
121M Magenta drum 121C Cyan drum 121Y Yellow drum 121K Black drum 122 Developing device 122M Magenta developing device 122C Cyan developing device 122Y Yellow developing device 122K Black developing device 123 Charger 124 Exposure device 125 Transfer belt 125a Drive Roller 125 b driven roller 125 c next transfer counter roller 126 next transfer roller 127 cleaning device 13 fixing unit 131 heating roller 132 fixing roller 133 fixing belt 134 pressure roller 14 sheet storage unit 141 sheet tray 142 pickup roller 16 image reading unit 161 document presser 162 Optical system unit 163 Contact glass 17 Operation panel 171 Power switch 172 Numeric keypad 173 Start button 20 Toner container (Toner supply container)
20 'color toner container (color toner supply container)
20a Alternative type (compatible type) toner container 20b Original type (non-compatible type) toner container 20M Magenta toner container 20C Cyan toner container 20Y Yellow toner container 20K Black toner container 200 Shutter member 211 Bottom plate 212 Left right plate 213 Front / rear side plate 214 Support hole 215 Support hole 216 Idle shaft 217 Toner supply port 21, 21a, 21b Container main body 22 Lid 23, 26 Flange 24 Long container main body 25 Lid 27 Stirring member 271 Stirring shaft 271a Cut part 271b Screw hole 271c annular groove 271d key protrusion 272 shaft cylinder 272a through hole 272b key groove 273 stirring blade 28 spiral feeder (conveying means)
281 Feeder shaft 281a Cut portion 281b Screw hole 281c Annular groove 281d Key protrusion 282 Shaft cylinder 282a Through hole 282b Key groove 283 Spiral fin 284 Cross hole 285 Plate piece 29 Gear mechanism (transmission member)
291 Stirring gears 291a, 293a D hole 292 Idle gear 293 Feeder gear 294 Cross shaft 295 Connecting pillar piece 295a Holding groove 30 Intermediate hopper 30M Magenta toner intermediate hopper 30C Cyan toner intermediate hopper 30Y Yellow toner intermediate hopper 30K Black intermediate hopper 31 Top plate 32 Toner receiving port 33 Cylindrical P Paper Q1 Toner replenishing port left orientation state Q2 Toner replenishing port right orientation state R C ring R S Retaining screw

Claims (6)

A plurality of image carriers arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction;
A plurality of developing devices arranged corresponding to each of the plurality of image carriers and supplying toner to the corresponding image carriers;
A plurality of toner replenishing containers that are detachably arranged along the parallel arrangement direction of the image carriers corresponding to each of the plurality of developing devices are provided in a predetermined apparatus main body,
The juxtaposition pitch of the plurality of toner supply containers is set larger than the juxtaposition pitch of the plurality of image carriers,
An image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein two of the toner supply containers have a three-dimensional shape so as to be mirror-symmetric with respect to a plane perpendicular to the parallel direction. The two toner replenishing containers formed on the mirror surface object are each installed between the opposing wall surfaces of the toner replenishing container in a direction orthogonal to the juxtaposed direction, and a stirring shaft having stirring blades protruding in the radial direction When,
A feeder shaft provided with a conveying means that passes through the toner supply container in a direction orthogonal to the juxtaposed direction and sends toner to a toner supply port provided at the bottom of the toner supply container;
A drive force transmission member that is externally fitted to the agitation shaft and the feeder shaft so as to be integrally rotatable outside the toner supply container;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the agitation shaft, the feeder shaft, and the transmission member are assembled so as to be mirror-targeted by two toner supply containers.   The plurality of toner supply containers include a black toner supply container for supplying black toner and a color toner supply container for supplying color toner, and the black toner supply container is for the color toner. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus has a long container shape in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the replenishing containers are juxtaposed.   The plurality of image carriers are juxtaposed along a horizontal plane in a state of extending in the front-rear direction at a substantially central portion in the apparatus main body, and the color toner supply container is the image on the front side in the apparatus main body. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image forming apparatus is disposed at a position obliquely above the carrier row. A toner replenishing container including a container body for toner filling, which is detachably attached to the image forming apparatus to replenish toner to a developing device built in the image forming apparatus,
Conveying means for conveying the toner inside is provided in a state of being laid between the opposing wall surfaces of the container body,
A toner replenishing container, wherein the toner supply container is formed to be a mirror surface with respect to a surface orthogonal to the extending direction at a central portion in the extending direction of the conveying means. The transport means has a rotation shaft constructed between opposing wall surfaces of the container body,
6. The toner replenishment according to claim 5, wherein each tip end side of the rotation shaft is provided with a transmission member for transmitting a driving force so as to rotate the rotation shaft around an axis. container.

Images