JP2921904B2 - Developer container - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a developer container for supplying a developer to an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine or a laser beam printer.

(Related Art) In order to replenish a powder developing agent (toner) to a developing device such as a copying machine without scattering to the outside, various developer containers having a slide-type opening / closing lid have been proposed and used ( For example, see Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 55-12193, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 50-84056, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-86073, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-11593).

FIG. 4 shows a structure around the opening / closing lid 101 of the conventional developer container 100. As shown in FIG. In the conventional developer container 100, the container body 102
An opening / closing lid 101 is slidably disposed in a groove 104 formed around the opening 103, and the opening / closing lid 101 is moved in a direction indicated by an arrow in the drawing to open the opening 103, whereby a container body 102 is opened.
Is configured to be supplied to a developing device (not shown). When the toner supply is completed, the opening / closing lid 10
By closing 1 and removing the developer container 100 from the developing device, the toner can be supplied to the developing device without scattering the toner.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, the conventional developer container 100 shown in FIG.
In this case, when closing the opening / closing lid 101, a small amount of toner T is caught between the front end portion 101a of the opening / closing lid 101 and the contact portion 102a of the container body 102. When the developer container 100 is detached from the apparatus main body, there is a possibility that the sandwiched toner T falls and scatters.

Further, when toner is sandwiched between the opening / closing lid 101 and the contact portion 102a of the container body 102, a large force is required to close the opening / closing lid 101. Further, there is a possibility that the opening / closing lid 101 cannot be closed completely. In that case, open and close the lid to prevent toner scattering.
While the developer container 101 is open, the developer container 100 cannot be removed from a developing device or the like (for example, see JP-A-47-6319).
No. 7, JP-A-59-86073, etc.), the container may be difficult to remove.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to prevent the developer from being caught between the front end portion of the opening / closing lid and the contact portion while improving the sealing performance of the developer. It is an object of the present invention to provide a developer container.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a container main body for storing a developer, an opening position for opening an opening for discharging the developer from the container main body, and the opening. A closing position for closing the opening / closing lid, a slidable opening / closing lid, and a tip portion of the opening / closing lid on a downstream side in a direction in which the opening / closing lid moves from the open position to the closed position when the open / close lid is in the closed position. A tip portion of the opening / closing lid is pointed toward a downstream side in a direction in which the opening / closing lid moves from the open position to the closed position; When the lid is in the closed position, a portion overlapping the tip of the opening / closing lid is not provided below the opening / closing lid, and the top of the opening / closing lid is overlapped with the tip of the opening / closing lid above the opening / closing lid. Part that covers the tip And it is provided.

(Function) According to the present invention, since the tip of the opening / closing lid is sharpened, the developer is provided between the tip of the opening / closing lid and the contact portion that comes into contact with the opening / closing lid when the opening / closing lid is closed. Is hard to be caught, and the developer is not pinched by the tip of the opening / closing lid.

Also, if the tip of the opening / closing lid is sharp, the thickness of the tip of the opening / closing lid becomes thin, and the sealing property of the developer is deteriorated when the opening / closing lid is closed. It is necessary to provide a portion that overlaps with the front end of the opening / closing lid, but in the present invention, since the overlapping portion is provided on the upper side of the opening / closing lid, there is no developer pool in the overlapping portion, and the hermeticity of the developer is improved. It is possible to prevent the developer from being caught between the front end portion of the opening / closing lid and the contact portion while improving the performance.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a developer container 2. The developer container 2 has a box-shaped container body that holds a developer (toner) therein.
10, an opening / closing lid 20 for sealing the plurality of openings 13 formed in the container body 10, and a cover member 30 attached to the upper part of the container body 10.

Thus, in the developer container 2 according to the present invention, the cover member 30 as a guide member is attached to the upper portion of the container body 10 containing the developer (toner) therein, and the space between the upper surface of the container body 10 and the cover member 30 By sliding the opening / closing lid 20, the toner from the container body 10 can be supplied to the developing device.

By the way, three small openings 13 (13A, 13B, 13C) having a constant pitch are formed on the upper surface of the container body 10,
In order to correspond to these openings 13, the cover member 30 also has openings 30 a of substantially the same shape at positions corresponding to the openings 13.
Are formed.

The opening / closing lid 20 is also provided with two holes 22, 22 corresponding to the openings 13, and when the opening / closing lid 20 is closed, the openings 13 of the main body container 10 (of course, the cover member 30 openings 30
a) are all closed, but if the opening / closing lid 20 is slid by the width of the opening 13 of the container body 10 and opened, the opening / closing lid 20 opens to the first opening 13A of the container body 10. In addition, the other two openings 13B and 13C of the container body 10 are overlapped with the openings 13B and 13C and the holes 22 and 22 of the opening / closing lid 20, so that the opening of the container body 10 is 13 ... are all configured to open. Therefore, the three openings 13A, 13B, 13C of the container body 10 can be opened by a slight movement of the opening / closing lid 20.

Thus, in the developer container 2 according to this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3B, the opening / closing lid 20 moves in the closing direction (the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2). The tip 21 has a pointed shape in the same direction (the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2), and the vertex p of the tip 21 is closer to the container body 10 than the center in the thickness direction of the opening / closing lid 20 (upper side in FIG. 2). ). By shifting the position of the vertex p upward as described above, the residual toner can be sufficiently scraped into the developing device.

In the above, when supplying toner from the developer container 2 to the developing device (not shown), the developer container 2 is attached to the developing device with the cover member 30 facing downward as shown in FIG. By sliding the cover 20 along the cover member 30 and opening it, toner stored in the container body 10 can be supplied to the developing device from the openings 13 (13A, 13B, 13C), 30a,.

When the toner in the container main body 10 is supplied to the developing device as described above, the opening / closing lid 20 is moved in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2 to close the opening of the container main body 10, and the container main body 10 is closed. In this embodiment, the tip 21 of the opening / closing lid 20 has a pointed shape, so that the opening / closing lid 20 is closed when the lid 20 is closed. 20
The toner is hardly caught between the front end of the opening and the contact portion 30-1 that comes into contact with the front end, and the toner is not pinched by the front end 21 of the opening / closing lid 20.

By the way, if the tip 21 of the opening / closing lid 20 is sharp as in the present embodiment, the thickness of the tip 21 of the opening / closing lid 20 becomes thin, and the sealing property of the toner becomes poor when the opening / closing lid 20 is closed. For,
In order to improve the sealing property of the toner, it is necessary to provide a portion that overlaps the front end 21 of the opening / closing lid 20. In this case, when an overlapping portion 102b is formed below the opening / closing lid 101 as shown in the conventional developer container 100 shown in FIG. 4, toner accumulation occurs in the overlapping portion 102b, and the toner T It is sandwiched between the portion 101a and the contact portion 102a.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the overlapping portion (the portion covering the front end portion 21 of the opening / closing lid 20) 10a is provided above the opening / closing lid 20, so that the toner pool is formed in the overlapping portion 10a. This prevents the toner from being caught between the tip 21 of the opening / closing lid 20 and the contact portion 30-1 while improving the sealing performance of the toner. As described above, in the present embodiment, since the toner can be prevented from being caught between the distal end portion 21 of the opening / closing lid 20 and the contact portion 30-1, the toner is not pressurized and solidified. It is possible to prevent the toner aggregate from being supplied to the developing device and disturbing the image.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3B, the shape of the end portion 21 of the opening / closing lid 20 is adopted.
As the shape of 21, a triangular shape with a 90 ° point shown in FIG. 3A or a triangular shape with a 60 ° point shown in FIG.

By the way, when an experiment was conducted with the open / close lid 101 of the conventional developer container 100 shown in FIG. 4, the front end portion 101a of the open / close lid 101 is flat and comes into surface contact with the closed portion 102a of the container body 102, As the opening / closing lid 101 is closed, residual toner adhering to the inner surface of the container body 102 is raked toward the contact portion 102a at the tip 101a, and the residual toner is moved to the tip 101a of the opening / closing lid 101.
And between the contact portion 102a and pressurized. Therefore, when the developer container 100 is discarded, several aggregated toner particles having a size of about 0.5 to 1 mm are found near the front end portion 101a of the open / close lid 101.

Also, even if a force of 10 kg or more is applied to the opening / closing lid 101,
01 could not be closed enough.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, even if the opening and closing sliding operation of the opening and closing cover 20 is repeated in a state where the toner in the container body 20 is not sufficiently discharged, the force required to close the opening and closing cover 20 is 4
It weighed ~ 5 kg, and did not require a large force as in the past.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the tip of the opening / closing lid has a pointed shape. The developer is hardly caught between the abutting portion and the abutting portion, so that the developer is not caught at the tip of the opening / closing lid.

Also, if the tip of the opening / closing lid is sharp, the thickness of the tip of the opening / closing lid becomes thin, and the sealing property of the developer is deteriorated when the opening / closing lid is closed. It is necessary to provide a portion that overlaps the tip of the opening / closing lid, but in the present invention, since the overlapping portion is provided on the upper side of the opening / closing lid, a developer pool does not occur in the overlapping portion, and the hermeticity of the developer is improved. It is possible to prevent the developer from being caught between the front end portion of the opening / closing lid and the contact portion while improving the performance.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a developer container according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view around the opening / closing lid of the developer container, FIG. 3 is a view showing the shape of the tip of the opening / closing lid, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view of a conventional developer container around an opening / closing lid. 2... Developer container, 10... Container body, 10 a... Overlapping part with tip of opening / closing lid (part covering tip of opening / closing lid), 13
…… Opening, 20 …… Opening / closing lid, 21 …… Tip of opening / closing lid, 30
... cover member, 30a ... opening, 30-1 ... contact part,
p ... top.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A container body for storing the developer; an opening position for opening an opening for discharging the developer from the container body;
A closing position that closes the opening, an opening / closing lid that is slidable, and, when the opening / closing lid is in the closing position, the opening / closing lid on the downstream side in the direction in which the opening / closing lid moves from the open position to the closed position. A contact portion that abuts a tip portion of the developer container, wherein a tip portion of the opening / closing lid has a shape pointed toward a downstream side in a direction in which the opening / closing lid moves from the open position to the closed position. When the opening / closing lid is in the closed position, a portion overlapping the tip of the opening / closing lid is not provided below the opening / closing lid, and overlaps with the tip of the opening / closing lid above the opening / closing lid. A portion covering the tip portion as described above. 2. The developer container according to claim 1, wherein an apex of a tip portion of the opening / closing lid is shifted upward from a center in a thickness direction of the opening / closing lid.