JP2641134B2 - Developing device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a developing device that develops a latent image formed on a photoreceptor with toner in an electrophotographic copying device or a developing device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION At the start of use of an image forming apparatus using a two-component developer, a magnetic carrier or a developer in which a magnetic carrier and a toner are mixed must first be supplied to the developing sleeve, and then the toner must be supplied. There is an order.

For this reason, a chamber for storing a developer containing only a carrier or a mixture of a carrier and a toner is separated from a chamber for storing only a toner, and the carrier or developer storage chamber is first opened when starting use. To supply a carrier or a developer (hereinafter, referred to as a developer including both) to the developing sleeve, rotate the developing sleeve and spread over the surface of the developing sleeve, and then open the toner storage chamber to supply the toner to the developing sleeve. It is supposed to.

FIG. 6 is an example of such a developing device recently proposed. FIG. 6A is a diagram before the start of use, and FIG. 6B is a diagram showing a state after the start of use.

In FIG. 1A, the carrier storage room 3 is sealed by a carrier storage room seal 8, and the carrier 4 is stored in the room. On the other hand, the toner storage chamber 6 is sealed with a toner storage chamber seal 7, and the toner 5 is stored in the chamber.

At the start of use, first, the carrier storage chamber seal 8 is removed and the carrier 4 is dropped and supplied to the developing sleeve 2. Then, the toner storage chamber seal 7 is removed and the toner 5 is dropped and supplied to the developing sleeve 2. The carrier 4 and the toner 5 are mixed in the right space (stirred area) of the developing sleeve 2 to become a developer, adhere to the developing sleeve 2, rotate, and are formed into a uniform layer by the developer layer forming body 9 to form a photosensitive member. 1
Then, the toner reaches the developing region formed between the photosensitive member 1 and the toner and moves to the surface of the photoreceptor 1 by contact development or non-contact development, whereby the development is performed. As described above, in the developing device of FIG. 6, the carrier storage chamber seal 8 must be removed before the toner storage chamber seal 7. Therefore, if both seals can be removed from either side, it can happen that they are removed by mistake in the reverse order. In order to prevent such an error from occurring, the structure of the seal storage chamber seal 7 must be removed only after the carrier storage chamber seal 8 has been removed.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, the developing device as described above has the following problems.

First, the structure in which the toner storage chamber seal cannot be removed unless the carrier storage chamber seal is removed is inevitably complicated.

Secondly, the carrier storage chamber after the release of the carrier 4 becomes a mere empty space, which causes a useless space.

Third, the carrier 4 and the toner 5 are supplied to the stirring area by removing the carrier storage chamber seal 8 and the toner storage chamber seal 7 and dropping them. As a result, it is difficult to arrange a plurality of developing devices for toners of various colors in a part around the photoreceptor, as in a multi-color image forming apparatus.

An object of the present invention is to arrange a tank having a developing sleeve, a tank for storing a developer, and a tank for storing a toner sequentially in series in order to solve the above-described problems, and the toner is erroneously removed from the developer. An object of the present invention is to provide a developing device having a structure which does not reach a developing sleeve first and which can be arranged around a photoreceptor so as to be overlapped above and below a plurality of developing devices.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention has the following means configuration to achieve the above object.

That is, the developing device of the present invention includes a first developer tank having a developing sleeve, a bottom portion being higher than a bottom portion of the first developer tank and inclined toward the first developer tank, and a carrier or a carrier. A second developer tank containing the carrier toner and the toner, and a third developer tank having a stirrer and containing the toner are arranged in series in the above order, and the first developer tank The partition between the second developer tank and the second developer tank is formed of a first sealant that is removable from the outside, and the partition between the second developer tank and the third developer tank is a second seal that is removable from the outside. It is characterized by being formed of a sealing material.

(Operation) Hereinafter, the operation of the present invention having the above configuration will be described.

The developing device of the present invention has a first developer tank having a developing sleeve, a second developer tank, and a third developer tank arranged in series. Then, as a regular usage, a developer in which a carrier and a toner are mixed is stored in the second developer tank, and the toner is stored in the third developer tank. At the start of use, first, the first sealant is pulled out, and the developer in the second developer tank is supplied to the first developer tank by the difference in height and inclination of the bottom. Thereafter, the second sealing material is pulled out, and the toner in the third developer tank is moved to the second developer tank by the rotation of the stirrer, and then the first developer tank is moved from the second developer tank to the first developer tank. Supply to

Therefore, even if the second sealant is pulled out first by mistake, the developer is stored in the second developer tank, so that only the toner stored in the third developer tank is smaller than the developer. It is impossible to reach the first developer tank first. Even after the removal of the first sealant, most of the developer in the second developer tank always reaches the first developer tank first, and then the toner in the third developer tank is discharged to the first developer tank. To the developer tank.

Further, the supply of the developer from the second developer tank to the first developer tank or the subsequent supply of the toner, and the supply of the toner from the third developer tank to the second developer tank are performed in the second manner. This is because the bottom of the developer tank is higher than the bottom of the first developer tank and is inclined toward the bottom of the first developer layer. Is performed by rotation of the stirrer in the third developer tank.
Even when the arrangement of the developer tanks is arranged in series in the horizontal direction, the supply movement of the developer and the toner is performed smoothly.

Therefore, the developer tanks can be arranged in the horizontal direction, and as a result, the dimension in the vertical direction can be reduced, and a plurality of developing devices containing toners of each color are stacked one on top of the other as in a multicolor image forming apparatus. Can be arranged collectively.

(Embodiment) Hereinafter, an embodiment of the developing device of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a view showing the structure of a cross section of an embodiment of the developing device of the present invention. First developer tank having developing sleeve 10
11, a second developer tank 12 and a third developer tank 15 are arranged side by side, and the first and second developer tanks are provided with a first seal 13.
The second and third developer tanks are separated by a second seal.
It is divided by 14.

Before the start of use, the first developer tank 11 is empty,
The second developer tank 12 contains a developer 20 in which a magnetic carrier and a toner are mixed, and the third developer tank 15 contains a toner 19. Before starting use, first
The seal 13 is pulled out from the side and removed. Then, the developer 20 in the second developer tank 12 moves to flow toward the first developer tank 11 due to the inclination of the bottom due to the height difference. The developer that has entered the first developer tank 11 is a stirrer.
The developer tank 23 is formed on the developing sleeve 10 by the action of the regulating plate 22 while being agitated by the rotation of 16, the attraction of the magnet 21, and the rotation of the developing sleeve 10. FIG. 1 (b)
FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a situation after the first seal 13 described above has been removed.

Next, when the second seal 14 is removed, the toner 19 stored in the third developer tank 15 is moved toward the second developer tank 12 by the rotation of the stirring plates 17 and 18, and the second developer Agent tank 12
The entered toner 19 moves to the first developer tank 11 due to the difference in height and inclination of the bottom, and the supply of the toner consumed by the development is performed.

FIG. 1C shows the toner after the second seal 14 has been removed.
FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a movement state of No. 19.

In the present invention, a carrier or a mixture of carrier and toner is stored between a first developer tank 11 having a developing sleeve 10 and a third developer tank containing toner 19. Since the developer tank 12 is interposed, the second
Even if the seal 14 is removed first, it does not occur that only the toner reaches the developing sleeve 10 before the carrier or the developer. The toner 19 is supplied after the carrier in the second developer tank 12 or the developer in which the toner and the carrier are mixed is supplied to the first developer tank 11 without fail. The first seal 13 and the second seal 14 can be removed by pulling out from the side surface of the developing device.

Further, the stirrer 16 in the first developer tank 11 is shown in FIG.
The stirring plate in the third developer tank 15 is used.
In the developing device of the present invention, the movement of the toner from the third developer tank 15 to the second developer tank 12 is the same as that in FIGS. 3 developer tank 15
The movement of the developer or toner from the second developer tank 12 to the first developer tank 11 is performed by the rotation of the stirring plates 17 and 18 inside, and the bottom of the second developer tank 12 Developer tank 11
1 and is inclined toward the bottom of the first developer tank 11, so that the developer tanks may be arranged side by side as shown in FIG. The developer or toner can move sufficiently. Therefore, it is possible to have an external structure having a small vertical dimension, and when it is necessary to equip a plurality of developing devices according to the number of colors as in a multi-color image forming apparatus, as shown in FIG. It can be a stacked structure. When a plurality of developing devices must be provided collectively on a part of the periphery of the photoreceptor, it is apparent that each developing device has a flat structure rather than a vertically long structure so that it can be easily mounted. The developing device of the present invention can satisfy such requirements.

From this, as shown in FIG. 5, the photoconductor 1 and its peripheral devices such as a cleaning device 24 and a charger 25 are provided.
At the same time, it is possible to use a cartridge type including the developing device, which can be replaced collectively.

FIG. 4A is a diagram showing an example of a device for preventing the order of removing the first seal and the second seal from being erroneous.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a part of a front side of a plane when the developing device illustrated in FIG. Both the first seal 13 and the second seal 14 have a structure that can be pulled out from the outside. The drawn end of the second seal 14 is bent to the left and lightly adhered to the surface of the developing device.

Then, the first seal 13 is lightly adhered thereon such that the withdrawn end of the first seal 13 is overlapped. Therefore, be sure to first
Since the withdrawn end of the seal must be peeled off, it is unlikely that the second seal 14 will be withdrawn first by mistake. Even if the first seal withdrawal end and the second seal withdrawal end are peeled off and the second seal 14 is withdrawn first by mistake, as described above, the third Since the toner does not reach the developing sleeve 10 first, the device shown in FIG. 4A is practically sufficient.

FIG. 4B shows a configuration in which the first and second seals of FIG. 4A are integrated. The portion corresponding to the first seal is folded, and when the seal is pulled out, first, the first seal
When the portion corresponding to the seal is removed and the seal is further pulled out, the portion corresponding to the second seal is removed.

The above description is based on the premise that a carrier or a developer is not attached to the developing sleeve before starting use of the apparatus.

In the case of the contact development, the carrier or the developer is attached to the developing sleeve, and the carrier or the developer is also in contact with the surface of the photoconductor. However, when a selenium photoreceptor is used, there are problems such as dents in the area where the magnetic carrier is in contact and toner sticking. In other words, the tank with the developing sleeve is left empty, and the carrier or the developer is supplied to the developing sleeve only when the user starts using the apparatus.

However, in the case of the non-contact developing method, even if a carrier layer or a developer layer is formed on the developing sleeve, the carrier does not come into contact with the photoconductor, so that the above-described problem does not occur.

Therefore, in the case of the non-contact developing method, the carrier or the developer may be stored in advance instead of leaving the first developer tank of the developing device of the present invention empty.

(Effect of the Invention) As described above, the developing device of the present invention includes the first developer tank having the developing sleeve, the second developer tank for storing the developer, and the third developing tank for storing the toner. Since the tank and the tank are arranged in series in the first, second, and third orders, there is an advantage that only the toner does not reach the developing sleeve before the magnetic carrier or the developer. Also, the second
The bottom of the developer tank is higher than the bottom of the first developer tank and is inclined toward the first developer tank, and a stirrer having a function of pushing out toner is provided in the third developer tank. Even if the developer tanks are arranged in series in the horizontal direction, there is no hindrance to the movement and supply of toner and developer, so that the developer tanks can be arranged in series in the horizontal direction. Since the developing devices can have a small structure and can be overlapped, there is an advantage that when a plurality of developing devices are required as in a multi-color image forming device, they can be collectively arranged in a part around the photoconductor. is there.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the developing device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the structure of the stirring means, FIG. 3 is a structural diagram of a case where the developing devices of the present invention are stacked in three stages, FIG. FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a device for preventing erroneous removal of the sealing material. FIG. 5 is a view for explaining that the photoconductor and peripheral devices can be made into a cartridge type by using the developing device of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a known developing device. It is a figure showing the example of. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Photoconductor, 10 ... Developing sleeve, 11 ... First developer tank, 12 ... Second developer tank, 13 ... First seal, 14 ...
... second seal, 15 ... third developer tank, 16 ... stirrer,
17, 18 stir plate, 19 toner, 20 developer, 21
... Magnet, 22 ... Regulatory plate, 23 ... Developer layer, 24 ...
Cleaning device, 25 Charger.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A first developer tank having a developing sleeve, a bottom portion being higher than the first developer tank and inclined toward the first developer tank, and containing a carrier or a carrier and toner. A second developer tank, and a third developer tank having a stirrer and accommodating toner are arranged in series in the above order, and the first developer tank and the second developer tank The partition between the second developer tank and the third developer tank is formed of a second sealing material that is removable from the outside. A developing device, characterized in that: