JP2011107637A - Opening and closing mechanism, developer conveying device, and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress a failure due to opening and closing operation of an opening by an opening and closing member. <P>SOLUTION: The turn of end turn sections 91 and 92 of parts where both ends of a coil spring 90 coming into contact with other-side members is set one turn or less (for example, 3/4 turn). Thus, when the coil spring 90 is compressed, the end turn sections 91 and 92 do not crawl into compressed coil parts, or, even if they crawl, the crawling is canceled when the compression is released. The opening and closing mechanism 70 employing the coil spring 90 suppresses reduction in spring force of the coil spring 90 and eliminates the failure by the opening and closing operation of an outside opening 73 by the opening and closing member 80. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an opening / closing mechanism, a developer conveying device, and an image forming apparatus.

  In the housing of the image forming apparatus, the developer is transported for various purposes, and an opening / closing mechanism is provided on the transport path as necessary. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a mechanism for preventing an open / close member from being opened / closed to open / close a discharge port for discharging a developer (waste toner) to be discarded, and Patent Document 2 discloses mounting of an open / close member. An opening / closing mechanism for performing easily is disclosed.

JP 2005-189523 A JP 2001-228769 A

  The present invention suppresses the occurrence of a situation in which, in an opening / closing mechanism using a coil spring, a saddle portion which is an end portion of the coil spring enters a compressed coil portion and does not return to its original state even when the compression is released. With the goal.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the opening / closing mechanism according to claim 1 of the present invention includes an outer cylinder that forms a cylindrical space having an opening formed on a peripheral surface thereof, and an axial direction of the outer cylinder in the space. An opening / closing member that moves along and opens and closes the opening, and a coil spring that is accommodated in the space and has both ends that are in contact with the mating member at less than 1 mm. And a coil spring that is in contact with the opening / closing member and pushes the opening / closing member in a direction in which the opening / closing member closes the opening.

  The opening / closing mechanism according to claim 2 of the present invention includes an outer cylinder that forms a cylindrical space having an opening formed on a peripheral surface thereof, and moves in the space along the axial direction of the outer cylinder, and the opening An opening and closing member that opens and closes, and a coil spring that is housed in the space and presses the opening and closing member in a direction that contacts the opening and closing member and closes the opening, and when compressed with the movement of the opening and closing member, A coil spring that is in contact with the first and second parts of the first and second parts when counted from the end, and the third part is not in contact with both the first and second parts. It is characterized by having.

  The opening / closing mechanism according to claim 3 is the opening / closing mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the space is a transport space having a spiral transport tool for transporting an object to be transported in the axial direction. The transport tool is inserted on the inner peripheral side of the coil spring, and the hook direction of the coil spring and the spiral hook direction of the transport tool are opposite to each other.

  5. The developer transport device according to claim 4, wherein the developer container is housed in a housing container, the transport container that is provided in the housing container and transports the developer, and the housing container is provided in the housing space. And an opening / closing mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which opens and closes an opening through which the developer passes.

  5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein an image forming unit that forms an image and a developer transport unit that transports the developer to supply or discharge the developer to the image forming unit. And a device.

  According to the opening / closing mechanism of claim 1, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of a situation in which the buckle portion, which is the end portion of the coil spring, enters the compressed coil portion and does not return to its original state even when the compression is released. it can.

  According to the opening and closing mechanism according to claim 2, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of a situation in which the portion of the third row enters the portion of the first row and the portion of the second row and does not return to the original state even when the compression is released. Can do.

  According to the opening / closing mechanism of the third aspect, it is possible to maintain the spring force of the coil spring by suppressing the spiral conveying tool and the coil spring from being entangled.

  According to the developer conveying device of claim 4, in the opening / closing mechanism using the coil spring, the saddle portion which is the end portion of the coil spring goes into the compressed coil portion and does not return to the original state even when the compression is released. The occurrence of the situation can be suppressed.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the fifth aspect, in the opening / closing mechanism using the coil spring, the saddle portion which is the end portion of the coil spring sinks into the compressed coil portion and does not return to the original state even when the compression is released. The occurrence of the situation can be suppressed.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of a housing | casing. It is a perspective view which shows the attachment state of the image forming unit provided in a housing | casing. It is sectional drawing which expands and shows an opening / closing mechanism. It is a disassembled perspective view which shows the opening / closing mechanism seen from the arrow V direction in FIG. It is sectional drawing seen from the same position as FIG. 3 which shows the state which opened the opening part of the opening / closing mechanism. It is sectional drawing seen from the arrow VII-VII direction in FIG.

<1. Embodiment 1>
For example, in an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a copier, an open / close cover is provided on the front or side of the housing in order to perform maintenance work such as maintenance and replacement of component parts or work to solve problems such as clogging of recording paper. It has been. In this embodiment, such an image forming apparatus will be described as an example.
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing the structure of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. Hereinafter, when the user looks at the image forming apparatus 1 from the front, the left and right right direction is X (+), the left direction is X (−), the front and rear back direction is Y (+), and the front direction is Y (−). ), The upper direction of the height will be described as Z (+) and the lower direction will be described as Z (−). Unless specifically defined, the inner side is a side toward the space in which the exposure apparatus is accommodated when viewed from frames 43 and 44 described later, and the outer side is the exposure apparatus when viewed from the frames 43 and 44. It is on the opposite side of the direction toward the space to be accommodated.

<Configuration of image forming apparatus>
The image forming apparatus 1 constitutes a tandem type full-color printer, and an image processing apparatus that performs image processing on image data sent from a scanner, a personal computer, a telephone line, or the like (not shown) therein (Not shown) is provided. Inside the image forming apparatus 1, four image forming units (image forming portions) 2Y, 2M, 2C, and 2K of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) are provided. . The image forming units 2Y, 2M, 2C, and 2K are configured such that the yellow (Y) image forming unit 2Y of the first color is relatively high and the black (K) image forming unit 2K of the final color is relatively low. Further, they are arranged in parallel with an interval that is inclined by a certain angle (for example, 10 degrees) with respect to the horizontal direction. As described above, when the four image forming units 2Y, 2M, 2C, and 2K are arranged in a state inclined by a certain angle, the four image forming units 2Y, 2M, 2C, and 2K are arranged horizontally. In comparison, the distance in the width direction is shortened.

These four image forming units 2Y, 2M, 2C, and 2K are basically configured in the same manner, and are rotationally driven at a certain speed by a driving unit that will be described later, and a photosensitive drum 3 serving as an image carrier, A charging roll 4 for primary charging for charging the surface of the photosensitive drum 3; and a developing unit 6 for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 3 by image exposure by an image exposure device 5 described later with toner. And a cleaning device 7 for cleaning the surface of the photosensitive drum 3. The cleaning device 7 is provided with a waste toner conveyance path 60 (see FIG. 4) for discharging waste toner generated when the photosensitive drum 3 is cleaned to the outside, and further, Y (−) of the waste toner conveyance path 7A. The opening / closing mechanism 70, which will be described later, is provided at the end of the) side.
The photosensitive drum 3 is, for example, an organic photosensitive member formed in a drum shape with a diameter of 30 mm and having an overcoat layer on the surface thereof, and is driven to rotate by rotating a rotating shaft 3A (shown in FIG. 3). The charging roll 4 is, for example, a roll-shaped charger in which the surface of a core metal is covered with a conductive layer made of synthetic resin or rubber and having an adjusted electric resistance. A charging bias is applied to the core metal of the charging roll 4. Is used. Further, a cleaning roll for removing foreign matters such as toner adhering to the surface of the charging roll 4 is disposed on the surface of the charging roll 4.
Hereinafter, the image forming units 2Y, 2M, 2C, and 2K will be described as the image forming unit 2 when it is not necessary to identify and describe them.

An image exposure device 5 is provided below the image forming units 2Y, 2M, 2C, and 2K. The image exposure apparatus 5 includes four semiconductor lasers (all not shown) that emit laser beams modulated in accordance with image data. The four laser beams emitted from these semiconductor lasers are deflected and scanned by a polygon mirror, and are also sensitized by the image forming units 2Y, 2M, 2C, and 2K via lenses and mirrors (none shown). Scanning exposure is performed on the body drum 3.
In this embodiment, the image exposure device 5 is disposed along the lower part of the four image forming units 2Y, 2M, 2C, 2K, and these four image forming units 2Y, 2M, 2C, 2K are horizontal. It is provided in a state inclined with respect to the direction. For this reason, the optical path lengths of the laser beams that are scanned and exposed on the photosensitive drums 3 of the image forming units 2Y, 2M, 2C, and 2K are equal in the image forming units 2Y, 2M, 2C, and 2K.

  From the image forming apparatus 1, the image data of each color is sequentially output to the image exposure apparatus 5 provided in common to the image forming units 2Y, 2M, 2C, and 2K. The laser beam emitted according to the image data from the image exposure device 5 is scanned and exposed on the surface of the corresponding photosensitive drum 3 to form an electrostatic latent image. The electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 3 is developed as a toner image of each color by the developing devices 6Y, 6M, 6C, and 6K. The toner images of the respective colors sequentially formed on the photosensitive drums 3 of the image forming units 2Y, 2M, 2C, 2K are intermediately arranged in an inclined state over the image forming units 2Y, 2M, 2C, 2K. On the intermediate transfer belt 10 as a transfer body, the image is transferred in multiple by the primary transfer roll 11.

The intermediate transfer belt 10 is a belt-like member stretched by a plurality of rolls, and the lower side running region of the belt-like member is low on the downstream side along the running direction and high on the upstream side. It is arranged in an inclined state with respect to the horizontal direction. That is, the intermediate transfer belt 10 is wound around the drive roll 12, the backup roll 13, the tension roll 14, and the idler roll 15 with a tension, and is rotated by a dedicated drive motor (not shown) excellent in constant speed. The drive roll 12 is driven to circulate in the direction of the arrow. As the intermediate transfer belt 10, for example, a flexible synthetic resin film such as polyimide is formed in a band shape, and both ends of the synthetic resin film formed in a band shape are connected by means such as welding, thereby being endless. A belt-shaped one is used. The intermediate transfer belt 10 is disposed so as to be in contact with the photosensitive drums 3Y, 3M, 3C, and 3K of the image forming units 2Y, 2M, 2C, and 2K in the lower side running region.
The intermediate transfer belt 10, each primary transfer roll 11, drive roll 12, backup roll 13, tension roll 14, idler roll 15, etc. are configured as one intermediate transfer unit 9.

  The recording paper 18 serving as a recording medium is transported along a transport path 21 in which a path is formed by each roller pair from a paper storage unit 24 disposed inside the image forming apparatus 1 with a specified size and material. The In this transport path 21, the recording paper 18 in the paper storage unit 24 is transported to the registration roll 28 once in a state of being separated one by one by a paper feed roller 25 and a pair of paper separating and transporting rollers 26, and then stopped. . The recording paper 18 fed from the paper storage unit 24 is sent to the secondary transfer position of the intermediate transfer belt 10 by a registration roll 28 that is rotationally driven at a predetermined timing. Further, the recording paper 18 on which the toner image of each color is transferred through the secondary transfer position is subjected to a fixing process by heat and pressure by the fixing device 19 and then discharged through the outlet roll 20 of the fixing device 19. 22 is discharged onto a sheet receiving portion 23 provided on the upper portion of the image forming apparatus 1.

  At a position facing the backup roll 13 with the intermediate transfer belt 10 interposed therebetween, a secondary transfer roll 17 serving as a rotating body so as to come into contact with the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 10 while being in contact with the intermediate transfer belt 10 is positioned along the conveyance path 21. Placed in. The yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) toner images transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 10 in a multiple manner are pressed against each other by the secondary transfer roll 17 that is pressed against the backup roll 13. Then, it is secondarily transferred onto a recording paper 18 as a recording medium by electrostatic force. The position where the backup roll 13 and the secondary transfer roll 17 face each other with the intermediate transfer belt 10 interposed therebetween is the secondary transfer position.

  In addition, toner cartridges 29Y, 29M, 29C, and 29K are provided between the sheet receiving portion 23 and the intermediate transfer belt 10, and the toner cartridges 29Y, 29M, 29C, and 29K are developed by the developing devices 6Y, 6M, 6C, and 6K. Toner is supplied.

<Case configuration>
Next, the structure of the housing 40 that forms the base of the image forming apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the housing.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the housing 40 includes four support columns 41 extending along the Z-axis direction and a plurality of beam portions 42 provided between the support columns 41. A rear frame 43 serving as one base is provided in the Z (+) direction between the columns 41 and 41 positioned on the rear side (Y (+) side), and the column positioned on the front side (Y (−) side). On the Z (+) side between 41 and 41, a front frame 44 serving as the other base is provided. A rectangular through hole 45 (only the rear frame 43 is shown) is formed in the frames 43 and 44. The front frame 44 is provided with a front door 46 that is operable in the direction of the arrow a and opens or shields the space for housing the image forming unit 2 (photosensitive drum 3) from the outside. In this space, the image forming unit 2 is detachably accommodated along the insertion direction (Y-axis direction). The image forming unit 2 is inserted from the front side (Y (−) side) to the back side (Y (+) side) and accommodated in the space, and the back side (Y (+) side) to the front side (Y Pull out to the (-) side) and leave the space.

A first support plate 47 is provided on the inner side (Y (−) side) surface of the rear frame 43, and a second support plate is provided on the inner side (Y (+) side) of the front door 46 provided on the front frame 44. 50 is provided. The second support plate 50 is integrally formed inside the front door 46. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, an upper regulating plate 49 located on the upper side (Z (+) side) of the image exposure apparatus 5 is provided in the case 40 to accommodate the image exposure apparatus 5. It is fixed over the frames 43 and 44 of the body 40 by means such as welding.
The first support plate 47 and the second support plate 50 are formed with rotation shaft insertion holes 48, 48, and 51, 51, into which the rotation shaft 3A of the photosensitive drum 3 is inserted, respectively. Further, the second support plate 50 is formed with opening / closing insertion holes 52, 52... Through which the opening / closing mechanism 70 protrudes.

<Configuration of opening / closing mechanism>
Next, the configuration and operation of the opening / closing mechanism 70 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 is an enlarged sectional view showing the opening / closing mechanism 70, FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing the opening / closing mechanism 70, FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a state in which the opening of the opening / closing mechanism 70 is opened, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view seen from the direction of arrows VII-VII in FIG. 6. FIG. 6 is a perspective view seen from the direction of arrow V in FIG. 4 to illustrate the opening. Hereinafter, in the description of the waste toner conveyance path 60 and the opening / closing mechanism 70, the Y-axis direction will be described as the axial direction of the cylindrical opening / closing mechanism 70.
The opening / closing mechanism 70 is provided at one end (Y (−) side) of the waste toner conveyance path 60 of the cleaning device 7. The waste toner transport path 60 is formed of a cylindrical body that extends in the longitudinal direction (Y-axis direction) of the photosensitive drum 3, and serves as a developer transport device having a transport space for transporting waste toner. . The opening / closing mechanism 70 performs an operation of supplying and blocking waste toner in the conveyance space toward the outside.
The transport space of the waste toner transport path 60 accommodates a spiral transport tool 61 for transporting the waste toner generated when the photosensitive drum 3 is cleaned along the longitudinal direction thereof. A spring receiving step 62 is formed on the inner side of the end surface of the waste toner conveyance path 60, and a screw hole 63 to which the outer cylinder 71 is attached is provided on the outer side.

As shown in FIG. 5, the opening / closing mechanism 70 is configured such that the coil spring 90 is accommodated after the opening / closing member 80 is inserted into the outer cylinder 71 from the other (Y (+)) side in the axial direction.
The outer cylinder 71 is formed in a bottomed cylinder shape, and a pair of flange portions 72 and 72 extending in the radial direction are formed in the opening portion. The flange portion 72 is provided with a screw insertion hole 72A into which a screw is inserted. On the one (Y (−)) side of the peripheral surface of the outer cylinder 71, the outer opening 73 is formed at a position spaced apart from the bottom surface by the dimension L1 in the axial direction. On the bottom surface, a rod insertion hole 74 into which a pressing rod 101 (see FIG. 6) of the waste toner bottle 100 attached to the front door 46 is inserted is provided. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, a concave portion 75 extending in the axis (Y-axis) direction is formed on the inner peripheral surface from the opening toward one side.

As shown in FIG. 5, the opening / closing member 80 is formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape having a smaller diameter and a shorter axial length than the outer cylinder 71. An end face of the opening of the opening / closing member 80 becomes a spring receiving portion 81 (see FIG. 4), and a disc-shaped bearing portion 82 is formed on the bottom surface thereof. An inner opening 83 having a length in the axis (Y axis) direction of L2 (L2 <L1) is formed on one (Y (−)) side of the circumferential surface of the opening / closing member 80. As shown in FIG. 7, a convex portion 85 extending in the axis (Y axis) direction is formed on the outer peripheral surface so as not to overlap the position of the opening in the axis (Y axis) direction.
As shown in FIG. 7, the concave portion 75 and the convex portion 85 are formed at a position of an angle α (for example, α = 130 degrees) from the center of the cross section when cut by the Y plane of the outer opening 73 and the inner opening 83. ing. By inserting the convex portion 85 into the concave portion 75, the opening / closing member 80 is prevented from rotating with respect to the outer cylinder 71.

The coil spring 90 acts as a compression coil spring, and as shown in FIG. 5, the flange portions 91 and 92 at both ends of the coil spring 90 that are in contact with the mating member are less than one round (for example, 3/4 stroke). Here, the flange portions 91 and 92 are portions of the coil spring 90 that do not generate a spring force, and are portions that contact one plane when no external force is applied to the coil spring 90. Further, when viewed from the Y (−) side, the coil spring 90 is wound in the clockwise direction, the carrier 61 is wound in the counterclockwise direction, and the winding directions of both are opposite to each other.
As shown in FIG. 4, the coil spring 90 is provided in a compressed state between a spring receiving step portion 62 of the waste toner conveyance path 60 and a spring receiving portion 81 of the opening / closing member 80, and the opening / closing member 80 is driven by the spring force. Is pressed to one side (Y (−)) of the axis. Further, one end portion of the transport tool 61 passes through the coil spring 90 and extends to the outer opening 73 of the outer cylinder 71. As a result, the transport tool 61 transports the waste toner to the outer opening 73.

  As shown in FIG. 4, since the opening / closing member 80 is pushed in one axial direction by the spring force of the coil spring 90, the outer opening 73 is closed by the side surface of the opening / closing member 80 closing the outer opening 73. It becomes a state. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6, when the bearing portion 82 is pressed against the other (Y (+)) side of the axis against the spring force of the coil spring 90 by the pressing rod 101 of the waste toner bottle 100, the outer opening portion 73. And the inner opening 83 are combined and opened, and the inside of the waste toner conveyance path 60 is opened to the waste toner bottle 100. As a result, the waste toner conveyed toward one side in the axial direction by the conveyance tool 61 extending to the outer opening 73 is supplied into the waste toner bottle 100.

In general, the flange portions at both ends of the coil spring are usually wound with 1 or more rods in order to hit a member supporting the flange portion in a stable state. However, when the coil spring having such a structure is used for the opening / closing mechanism 70 of the present embodiment, when the coil spring is buckled, the buckling portion sinks into the compressed coil portion and the compression is released. In some cases, the original spring force of the coil spring cannot be generated without returning to the original state.
More specifically, when the coil spring is compressed, the third portion is sandwiched between the first portion and the second portion counted from the end of the coil spring and becomes entangled. When the compression is released in this state, the third roll sandwiched between the first and second rolls remains entangled, and the original spring force of the coil spring cannot be restored.
Accordingly, as a result of diligent experiments, the present inventors have determined that the coil spring 90 is compressed by making both the flange portions 91 and 92 of the coil spring 90 less than 1 mm (preferably 3/4). Furthermore, the present inventors have found the fact that the scissors 91 and 92 do not dig into the compressed coil portion, or even if they dig up, the digging is eliminated in a state where the compression is released.

As described above, according to the opening / closing mechanism 70 employing the coil spring 90, in the opening / closing operation of the outer opening 73 by the opening / closing member 80, the flange portions 91 and 92 of the coil spring 90 sink into the compressed coil portion and the compression is performed. Occurrence of the situation where it does not return to the original state even if it is solved is suppressed.
In addition, since the winding direction of the coil spring 90 and the winding direction of the transport tool 61 are opposite to each other, even when the coil spring 90 is buckled in a compressed state, the coil spring 90 is in the spiral portion of the transport tool 61. Stops getting in. That is, even if the inclination of the spiral blade of the conveying tool 61 and the inclination of the coil spring 90 are inclined in different directions, even if the coil spring 90 buckles due to compression and contacts the conveying tool 61, the contact is point contact. It becomes. Therefore, the compressed coil portion of the coil spring 90 is prevented from entering the blades of the transport tool 61.

<2. Second Embodiment>
The feature of the coil spring according to the second embodiment is that when compressed, the first and second parts are in contact with each other when counted from the end, and the third part is the first and second parts. It is in the point which made the shape which does not contact both of the eye parts. More specifically, when this coil spring is compressed in accordance with the movement of the opening / closing member 80, the first and second portions contact each other, but the opening / closing member 80 reaches the limit of the moving range. However, the portion of the third row does not touch both the portion of the first row and the portion of the second row. That is, the portion of the third eye is compressed so that it does not contact the portion of the first eye even if it contacts the portion of the second eye.
The specific shape of the coil spring is such that, for example, the winding pitch from the first to second portions counted from the end is smaller than the other coil portions (the third and subsequent portions). Or the diameter of the first and second ribs is different from the diameter of other coils, or the thickness of the windings forming the coil spring is different from the first and second ribs. It is thinner than this part.
By setting it as such a shape, the compressive force of the 1st division part and the 2nd division part becomes smaller than the compression force of the 3rd division part (other part). As a result, a shape is realized in which the first and second portions are in contact with each other, and the third portion is not in contact with both the first and second portions. In addition, the shape of this embodiment is applied also to the coil spring in which the sitting part is formed. In this case, the first roll is the first turn of the winding away from the sitting section.
Also in the second embodiment, various mechanisms described in the first embodiment can be employed.

<3. Modification>
The above embodiment may be modified as follows.
<3-1>
In the embodiment, the opening / closing operation of the outer opening 73 is performed depending on whether or not the inner opening 83 of the opening / closing member 80 is matched. The shape is not limited to the bottom cylindrical shape, and may be other shapes.

<3-2>
In the buckling portions 91 and 92 of the coil spring 90 according to the first embodiment, the portions where the lines are not wound are formed so as to be at the same position or a position different by 180 degrees when viewed from the extending direction of the coil spring 90. For example, since the direction in which the coil spring 90 bends is determined when the coil spring 90 is buckled, the problem with respect to the coil portion where the buckling portions 91 and 92 are compressed is further eliminated.

<3-3>
In the embodiment, the case where the opening / closing member 80 is used for the cleaning device 7 of the image forming unit 2 is illustrated, but the opening / closing mechanism 70 supplies the developer (toner) contained in the container body to the image forming unit 2. Of course, it may be used for an opening / closing portion of a toner cartridge or the like.

<3-4>
In the embodiment, the concave portion 75 and the convex portion 85 are used to prevent the opening / closing member 80 from rotating relative to the outer cylinder 71. However, the cross-sectional shapes of the outer cylinder 71 and the opening / closing member 80 may be other than circular. . For example, if it is an ellipse, this detent is not necessary.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image forming apparatus, 2 ... Image forming unit, 3 ... Photosensitive drum (image holding body), 7 ... Cleaning apparatus, 7A ... Waste toner conveyance path, 60 ... Waste toner conveyance path (developer conveyance apparatus), 61 ... Conveying tool, 62 ... spring receiving step, 70 ... opening / closing mechanism, 71 ... outer cylinder, 73 ... outer opening, 75 ... recess, 80 ... opening / closing member, 81 ... spring receiving part, 83 ... inner opening, 85 ... convex 90, coil springs, 91, 92, dents, 100 ... waste toner bottle, 101 ... pressing bar

Claims (5)

An outer cylinder forming a cylindrical space with an opening formed on the peripheral surface;
An opening / closing member that moves along the axial direction of the outer cylinder in the space and opens and closes the opening;
A coil spring accommodated in the space and having both ends of which are in contact with the mating member is less than 1 mm, wherein one of the flange portions is in contact with the opening and closing member, and the opening and closing member is the opening. And a coil spring that pushes the opening / closing member in a direction to close the portion. An outer cylinder forming a cylindrical space with an opening formed on the peripheral surface;
An opening / closing member that moves along the axial direction of the outer cylinder in the space and opens and closes the opening;
A coil spring that is accommodated in the space and presses the opening / closing member in a direction that contacts the opening / closing member and closes the opening, and when the opening / closing member is compressed as the opening / closing member moves, the coil spring counts from the end. A coil spring that is in contact with the eye part and the second part, and the third part is not in contact with both the first part and the second part. Opening and closing mechanism. The opening / closing mechanism according to claim 1 or 2,
The space is a transport space having a spiral transport tool for transporting an object to be transported in the axial direction,
The carrier is inserted on the inner peripheral side of the coil spring;
The opening / closing mechanism characterized in that the hook direction of the coil spring and the hook direction of the spiral of the carrier are opposite to each other. A container for containing the developer;
A transporter provided in the container and transporting the developer;
The developer comprising: the opening / closing mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the developer is provided in the container and opens / closes an opening through which the developer in the storage space passes. Conveying device. An image forming means for forming an image;
An image forming apparatus comprising: the developer conveying device according to claim 4, which conveys the developer to supply or discharge the developer to or from the image forming unit.

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