JP2013105064A - Development apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a development apparatus having a layer thickness regulation member formed with a smaller number of processes and in a simpler manner.SOLUTION: A development apparatus 1 includes a development roller 3 and a layer thickness regulation member 5. The layer thickness regulation member 5 includes an elastic blade 10, a support plate 11 and a coupling member 13. The elastic blade 10 includes: a contact part 12 for making contact with the development roller 3 at a tip thereof; and a first through hole 16 penetrating in a front-back direction, formed to have a longitudinal shape extending in a right-left direction. The support plate 11 supports the elastic blade 10 and has a second through hole 17 at a location corresponding to the first through hole 16. The coupling member 13 couples the elastic blade 10 and the support plate 11, is made of the same material as the contact part 12, extends in the right-left direction and blocks the first through hole 16 and the second through hole 17.

Description

  The present invention relates to a developing device.

  2. Description of the Related Art As an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, an image forming apparatus including a photosensitive drum that carries a toner image on a surface and a developing device that supplies toner to the photosensitive drum is known.

As a developing device used in such an image forming apparatus, a developing device that includes a housing that accommodates toner, a developing roller that carries toner, and a layer thickness regulating member that regulates the thickness of toner carried on the developing roller. Are known. The layer thickness regulating member includes an elastic blade having an abutting portion that abuts against the developing roller at the tip portion, and a support plate that supports the elastic blade. (Patent Document 1)
In order to form such a layer thickness regulating member, first, a contact portion is formed at the tip of the elastic blade by molding. Next, a heat bonding tape is applied to the base end portion of the elastic blade along the longitudinal direction of the elastic blade. Then, a support plate is placed on the thermal adhesive tape, and the elastic blade and the support plate are fixed.

JP 2008-051874 A

  As described above, when the layer thickness regulating member is formed, it takes time and effort because of the large number of steps. Furthermore, in the process of fixing the elastic blade and the support plate with the thermal adhesive tape, if the temperature control is not sufficient, the adhesive force may be weakened, so it is necessary to pay sufficient attention to the temperature control.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a developing device including a layer thickness regulating member that is more easily formed with a smaller number of steps.

  (1) In order to achieve the above-described object, a developing device of the present invention includes a developing roller that carries a developer, and a layer thickness regulating member that regulates the layer thickness of the developer carried by the developing roller. .

  The layer thickness regulating member includes an elastic blade, a support plate, and a coupling member.

  The elastic blade extends in the longitudinal direction, which is parallel to the axial direction of the developing roller, and is provided at one end portion in the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction to contact the developing roller, and in the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction. A first through hole formed in the other end.

  The support plate supports the elastic blade and has a second through hole formed at a position corresponding to the first through hole.

  The coupling member couples the elastic blade and the support plate, is formed of the same material as the contact portion, extends in the longitudinal direction, and closes the first through hole and the second through hole.

  According to this, since the contact portion and the coupling member are made of the same material, the contact portion and the coupling member can be formed simultaneously. Further, the elastic blade and the support plate are coupled when the contact portion and the coupling member are formed. Therefore, the layer thickness regulating member can be more easily formed with fewer steps.

  (2) It is preferable that a plurality of the first through holes and the second through holes are provided at intervals in the longitudinal direction.

  According to this, the elastic blade and the support plate can be more reliably coupled.

  (3) It has a housing that accommodates the developing roller, and the elastic blade and the support plate are each formed with a screw hole that penetrates both ends in the longitudinal direction, and the layer thickness regulating member is connected to the housing through the screw hole. It is preferably screwed to.

  According to this, since there are only two locations to be screwed at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the layer thickness regulating member, it is possible to suppress the distortion of the elastic blade due to the application of a local force around the screw.

  According to the present invention, the layer thickness regulating member can be more easily formed with fewer steps.

It is a perspective view of the developing device of the present invention. It is sectional drawing of a developing device. It is a perspective view of a layer thickness control member. It is a figure showing a mode that a layer thickness regulation blade is assembled, (a) is an elastic blade, (b) is a support plate, (c) is a figure seen from the front after an assembly, (d) is an assembly. It is the figure seen from back later, (e) is sectional drawing after an assembly. (A) is a figure showing the state before attaching a layer thickness control member to a housing | casing, (b) is a figure showing the state after attaching a layer thickness control member to a housing | casing.

1. Configuration of Developing Device An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the developing device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the developing device. In the following description, directions will be described with reference to a state in which the developing device is in the horizontal direction as shown in FIG. That is, in FIG. 1, the side on which the layer thickness regulating blade 5 is attached with respect to the housing 2 is “upper side”, the opposite side is “lower side”, and the side on which the developing roller 3 is disposed is “front side”. ”And the opposite side is the“ rear side ”. Further, the left-right direction determined based on the above-defined up-down and front-back directions is defined as a “left-right” direction.

  The developing device 1 includes a housing 2, a developing roller 3, a supply roller 4, a layer thickness regulating member 5, and an agitator 6.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the housing 2 has a box shape elongated in the left-right direction. The housing 2 has a toner storage chamber 7. The toner storage chamber 7 stores toner as a developer.

  The developing roller 3 is provided obliquely forward and upward with respect to the supply roller 4 and carries toner. A part of the peripheral surface of the developing roller 3 is exposed from the upper front side.

  The supply roller 4 supplies the toner conveyed from the toner storage chamber 7 to the developing roller 3.

  The layer thickness regulating member 5 is in sliding contact with the developing roller 3 to regulate the toner thickness of the developing roller 3.

  The agitator 6 is provided in the toner storage chamber 7 and rotates to stir the toner in the toner storage chamber 7.

2. Configuration of Layer Thickness Restricting Member FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the layer thickness regulating member. 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating how the layer thickness regulating blade is assembled, in which FIG. 4A is an elastic blade, FIG. 4B is a support plate, and FIG. 4C is a diagram viewed from the front after assembly. (d) is a view seen from the rear after assembly, and (e) is a cross-sectional view after assembly.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the layer thickness regulating member 5 extends in the longitudinal direction in the left-right direction, and includes an elastic blade 10, a support plate 11, a contact portion 12, and a coupling member 13.

  As shown in FIG. 4A, the elastic blade 10 extends in the longitudinal direction in the left-right direction and is formed of a thin metal plate. A plurality of first through holes 16 are formed in the upper portion (one end portion) of the elastic blade 10. The first through holes 16 are arranged at regular intervals and are round holes. Further, in the elastic blade 10, screw holes 14 penetrating in the front-rear direction are formed outside the first through-hole 16, that is, near both end portions. More specifically, a screw hole 14R is provided near the right end, and a screw hole 14L is provided near the left end. The screw hole 14R is a round hole, and the screw hole 14L has a substantially elliptical shape that extends in the left-right direction.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, the support plate 11 extends in the longitudinal direction in the left-right direction and is formed from a steel plate. The length of the support plate 11 in the left-right direction is longer than the length in the left-right direction of the elastic blade 10 as shown in FIG. 4C, and the thickness is the thickness of the elastic blade 10 as shown in FIG. Thicker. The support plate 11 is formed with a plurality of second through holes 17 arranged at equal intervals in the center in the vertical direction. The second through hole 17 is provided at a position corresponding to the first through hole 16 in the left-right direction, and has the same shape as the first through hole. In the support plate 11, screw holes 15 penetrating in the front-rear direction are formed outside the second through-holes 17, that is, near both ends. More specifically, a screw hole 15R is provided near the right end, and a screw hole 15L is provided near the left end. The screw hole 15R is a round hole, and the screw hole 15L has a substantially oval shape extending in the left-right direction.

  As shown in FIG. 4C, the abutting portion 12 is provided at the lower end (the other end portion) of the elastic blade 10 so as to extend in the left-right direction and protrude toward the developing roller 3. . The contact portion 12 is a member that is in direct sliding contact with the peripheral surface of the developing roller 3 and is formed of an elastic material such as rubber. In general, urethane rubber or silicon rubber is used as the rubber. Further, as shown in FIG. 4E, the contact portion 12 has a shape with rounded corners when viewed from the cross section.

  As shown in FIG. 4C, the coupling member 13 is a member that extends in the longitudinal direction in the left-right direction and couples the elastic blade 10 and the support plate 11. Further, the coupling member 13 is formed of the same material as the contact portion 12. Further, as shown in FIG. 4E, the coupling member 13 closes the first through hole 16 of the elastic blade 10 and the second through hole 17 of the support plate 11.

3. Assembly of Layer Thickness Restricting Member Assembly of the layer thickness regulating member 5 will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, the elastic blade 10 and the support plate 11 are set in the mold so that the first through hole 16 of the elastic blade 10 and the second through hole 17 of the support plate 11 are overlapped, that is, the same position in the left-right direction. To do. And rubber | gum is inject | poured into a metal mold | die, the contact part 12 and the coupling member 13 are formed, and it cools. Specifically, the rubber injected into the mold moves to a position where the contact portion 12 is disposed and a position where the coupling member 13 is disposed, and the contact portion 12 and the coupling member 13 are formed simultaneously. Here, the method for forming the coupling member 13 will be described more specifically. The rubber injected into the mold moves between the first through holes 16 of the elastic blade 10 and at the same time, as shown in FIG. 4 (e), from the elastic blade 10 side, the first through holes 16 and the second through holes. It moves to the support plate 11 side via 17. And the rubber | gum which moved to the support plate 11 side moves so that the space between the 2nd through-holes 17 may be filled, and it becomes a shape connected to the longitudinal shape as shown in FIG.4 (d). By such a forming method, the connecting member 13 closes the first through hole 16 and the second through hole 17 and connects the elastic blade 10 and the support plate 11.

4). FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating a state before the layer thickness regulating member 5 is attached to the housing 2, and FIG. 5B illustrates the layer thickness regulating member 5. It is a figure showing the state after attaching to the housing | casing 2. FIG.

  In order to assemble the layer thickness regulating member 5 to the housing 2, first, as shown in FIG. 5A, the screw 8 is inserted into the screw hole 14 and the screw hole 15 of the layer thickness regulating member 5 from the front. Then, the screw 8 is inserted through the screw hole 21 (only one is shown) formed in the housing 2, and the layer thickness regulating member 5 is assembled to the housing 2 as shown in FIG.

5. Effects (1) As described above, the developing device 1 includes the developing roller 3 that carries toner, and the layer thickness regulating member 5 that regulates the layer thickness of the toner carried by the developing roller 3.

  The layer thickness regulating member 5 includes an elastic blade 10, a support plate 11, and a coupling member 13.

  The elastic blade 10 has an abutting portion 12 that abuts against the developing roller 3 at the tip portion, and is formed in a longitudinal shape extending in the left-right direction, and a first through hole 16 penetrating in the front-rear direction is formed.

  The support plate 11 supports the elastic blade 10, and a second through hole 17 is formed at a position corresponding to the first through hole 16.

  The coupling member 13 couples the elastic blade 10 and the support plate 11, is formed of the same material as the contact portion 12, extends in the left-right direction, and closes the first through hole 16 and the second through hole 17.

  As a result, since the contact part 12 and the coupling member 13 are the same material, the contact part 12 and the coupling member 13 can be formed simultaneously. Further, the elastic blade 10 and the support plate 11 are coupled when the contact portion 12 and the coupling member 13 are formed. Therefore, the layer thickness regulating member 5 can be more easily formed with fewer steps.

  (2) A plurality of the first through holes 16 and the second through holes 17 are provided at intervals in the left-right direction.

  According to this, the elastic blade 10 and the support plate 11 can be more reliably coupled.

  (3) The housing 2 that accommodates the developing roller 3 is provided, and the elastic blade 10 and the support plate 11 are formed with screw holes 14 and 15 penetrating both ends in the left and right direction, respectively. It is screwed to the housing 2 through the screw holes 14 and 15.

  According to this, since there are only two places to be screwed on the left and right ends of the layer thickness regulating member 5, the distortion of the elastic blade 10 due to the application of a local force around the screw 8 is suppressed. it can.

6). In the present invention, rubber is used for the coupling member 13, but other materials may be used as long as the coupling member 13 and the contact portion 12 are formed of the same material. For example, resin or metal may be used.

  Moreover, in the present Example, although the 1st through-hole 16 and the 2nd through-hole 17 were formed in the round hole, it should just be a shape which can penetrate the coupling member 13 not only in a round hole. For example, it may be a slit shape or a rectangular shape.

  Further, the first through hole 16 and the second through hole 17 may not all have the same size. For example, the through hole near the center may be enlarged to increase the coupling force.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Developing apparatus 2 Housing | casing 3 Developing roller 4 Supply roller 5 Layer thickness control member 6 Agitator 7 Toner accommodating part 10 Elastic blade 11 Support plate 12 Contacting part 13 Coupling member

Claims (3)

A developing device comprising: a developing roller for carrying a developer; and a layer thickness regulating member for regulating the layer thickness of the developer carried by the developing roller,
The layer thickness regulating member is
An elastic blade extending in a longitudinal direction which is a direction parallel to the axial direction of the developing roller,
An elastic blade having an abutting portion provided at one end in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction and contacting the developing roller, and a first through hole formed at the other end in the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction; ,
A support plate that supports the elastic blade and has a second through hole at a position corresponding to the first through hole;
A coupling member that couples the elastic blade and the support plate;
The developing device, wherein the coupling member is formed of the same material as the contact portion, extends in the longitudinal direction, and closes the first through hole and the second through hole.   2. The developing device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the first through holes and the second through holes are provided at intervals in the longitudinal direction. A housing for housing the developing roller;
The elastic blade and the support plate are each formed with a screw hole penetrating both ends in the longitudinal direction,
The developing device according to claim 1, wherein the layer thickness regulating member is screwed to the housing through the screw hole.

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