JP3347220B2 - Image forming device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001] and the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, purpose of that is, the seal member provided on the connecting portion between the developer supply unit and the developing device at the time of installation of the current image replenishing unit An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing turning over.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of image forming apparatus, when the developer in a developing device has been consumed, the developer is replenished to the developing device through a developer discharge port of a developer supply unit. The developer is supplied through the developer inlet and used continuously. Since the developer container used for the developer supply unit is located near the side of the developing device and is arranged in the side plate of the image forming apparatus main body,
A large developer container could not be used. In particular, in order to reduce the size of the apparatus in accordance with the trend of space saving in recent years, the width of the apparatus has been further reduced, and even the space for the small developer storage container has been reduced.

In order to save such space, there has been proposed an image forming apparatus in which a large-capacity cylindrical toner container, which is a developer container, is arranged in parallel to the front surface of a side plate of the main body of the image forming apparatus (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 10-163556). See JP-A-3-2881). This toner bottle has an opening on the peripheral surface on one end side thereof, and is provided with a spiral groove extending in the axial direction along the inner peripheral surface, and the toner bottle is rotated along the spiral groove by the rotation of the toner bottle. Is conveyed to the opening side, and toner is sent out from the opening side to the developing device side to be replenished. When attaching or detaching such a toner bottle, the toner may spill out. Therefore, it is preferable to open and close the opening as needed. However, since the opening is formed on the peripheral surface of the cylindrical toner bottle and the toner bottle is rotated to supply the toner from the opening, the rotation is caused by the rotation. It was difficult to provide a stopper at the opening and open and close the stopper.

Further, the present applicant holds a developer container having a container body and a stopper for sealing an opening of the container body as a developer supply unit, and holds the developer container.
An image forming apparatus comprising: a container holding unit having a developer discharge port corresponding to a developer receiving port of the developing device; and a stopper opening / closing means for opening / closing a stopper of the developer container held by the container holding unit. (For example, see Japanese Patent Application No. 5-314245). In this case, after the developer holding container is held by the container holding unit, the stopper of the container main body is opened, and the developer is discharged from the developer housing container into the developing device through the developer discharge port and the developer receiving port. Replenish.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The aforementioned Japanese Patent Application No. 5-314 is disclosed.
In the image forming apparatus proposed in Japanese Patent No. 245, the container holding unit is located on the front of the developing apparatus, and when the developing apparatus is detached from the image forming apparatus main body for maintenance or the like, it is necessary to attach and detach the container holding unit accordingly. There is. When such a container holding unit is attached to the developing device, the positional relationship between the container holding unit and the developing device is difficult to understand, and there are cases where the container holding unit is difficult to attach. In addition, when the container holding unit is attached, there is a possibility that a seal member provided on one of the container holding unit and the developing device may be turned over at a connection portion between the container holding unit and the developing device.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a first object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of easily performing positioning when a developer supply unit is mounted. A second object is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing a seal member provided at a connecting portion between a developer supply unit and a developing device from being turned up when the developer supply unit is attached.

[0007]

To achieve the above Symbol purpose SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention of Claim 1, the developer supply unit for supplying a developer to a developing device detachably to the image forming apparatus main body Connection between the developing device and the developer supply unit
The developing device and the developer supplement
In the image forming apparatus provided in any one of the supply units, the connecting portion of the developer supply unit is connected to the seal member.
To move in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the developing device.
A support at the connecting portion on the developing device side so as to be connected to the connecting portion.
The holding plate is provided with a convex engaging portion facing upward, and
The convex engagement portion is attached to a support plate at a connection portion of the image agent supply unit.
Is provided with an engagement hole for engaging from above .

[0008]

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect , wherein the support provided at the connecting portion on the developing device side.
The height of the convex engaging portion provided in the plate, and is characterized in that there was high comb than the thickness of the seal member.

[0010]

In the image forming apparatus of the first aspect, the worker
Position of developer supply unit with respect to image forming apparatus main body
A convex shape on the developing device side as a positioning engagement member for determining
Engage the engaging part with the engaging hole on the developer supply unit side.
The developer supply unit is attached to the image forming apparatus main body.
At this time, the engaging hole on the developer supply unit side is
It is engaged with the convex engagement part on the image device side from the tip side.
The connecting part of the developer supply unit is
Moving along a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface
Because of the connection, the sealing surface of the seal member at the time of the connection
Force acting in the direction along
Can be

[0011]

[0012] Particularly, in an image forming apparatus according to claim 2, provided on the support plate in the connecting portion of the developing device side the
Set the height of the convex engagement portion higher than the thickness of the seal member.
The Rukoto, the moving distance of the developer supply unit along a direction substantially perpendicular to the sealing surface of the seal member to move prior to the connection is longer than the thickness of the seal member. Therefore, even when the connecting portion of the developer supply unit is moved in the direction along the seal surface of the seal member before the connection portion of the developer supply unit is moved in the direction substantially perpendicular to the seal surface of the seal member. In addition, the connecting portion of the developing replenishment unit or the developing device having no seal member does not contact the end of the seal member.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an electrophotographic copying machine (hereinafter referred to as a copying machine) which is an image forming apparatus provided with a toner bottle unit for holding a toner bottle will be described. FIG. 1 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a copying machine according to the present embodiment. The photoconductor 1 as an image carrier rotates in the direction of arrow A, and is uniformly charged by the charging device 2.
Then, light of a light source (not shown) is scanned on a document placed on a contact glass (not shown), and reflected light 3 from the document is scanned by an optical system (not shown) including a mirror, a lens, and the like. An electrostatic latent image is formed by forming an image on the uniformly charged photoconductor 1. The electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor 1 is
The toner image is developed by the developing device 4. And
The transfer / separation device 5 transfers the toner image on the photoconductor 1 to the transfer paper fed in the direction of arrow B. The transfer paper is separated from the surface of the photoreceptor 1, conveyed to a fixing device (not shown), fixed, and then discharged. Further, the toner remaining on the photoconductor 1 after the transfer is removed by the cleaning device 6 and is prepared for the next image forming operation.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a developer supply unit including a toner bottle 7 as a developer container and a toner bottle unit 8 as a container holding unit holding the toner bottle 7, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the bottle unit 8, and FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view of the toner bottle unit 8. In FIG. 1, the toner bottle 7 and the toner bottle unit 8 are indicated by two-dot chain lines. A fixing bracket 10 is fixed to the copier body side plate 9, and an opening / closing bracket 11 is fixed to the fixing bracket 10 by a fixing screw 12.
It is screwed in. A cylindrical projection 11b is formed on the upper support plate 11a of the opening / closing bracket 11, and an opening 11d is formed on the lower support plate 11c. An opening 13b rotatably engaged with the convex portion 11b of the opening / closing bracket 11 is provided on an upper support arm 13a of the casing 13 of the toner bottle unit 8 which holds the toner bottle 7 containing the toner in a substantially horizontal direction. On the other hand, on the lower support arm 13c of the bottle unit, a columnar pin 14 which is rotatably engaged with the opening 11d of the lower support plate 11c of the opening / closing bracket 11 is fixed.

Further, in this embodiment, there is provided a removal prohibiting means for prohibiting removal of the toner bottle 7 held in the toner bottle unit 8 when the cap inner plug 72 is open. The detachment prohibiting means engages with each other when the toner bottle unit 8 holding the toner bottle 7 is mounted on the copying machine main body, and is released when the cap 72 of the toner bottle 7 is opened. In order to prevent this, the toner bottle unit 8 and an engaging member provided on the copying machine main body side are used. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the engagement member on the toner bottle unit 8 side includes a constricted portion 14a partially cut off along the center axis of the pin 14 below the toner bottle 8 side. Are formed. And, as an engaging member on the copying machine main body side, a circular opening 10 a having substantially the same diameter as the pin 14 is formed in the fixed bracket 10,
Further, a notch 10b is formed having a width that allows the constricted portion 14a of the pin 14 to pass when the pin 14 is engaged with the opening 10a.

When attaching the toner bottle unit 8 to the opening / closing bracket 10, the toner bottle unit 8
Of the pin 14 through the notch 10b of the lower support plate 11c of the opening / closing bracket 10.
Is inserted into the opening 11d, and the projection 11b of the upper support plate 11a of the opening / closing bracket is inserted into the opening 13b of the upper supporting arm 13a of the toner bottle unit 8, whereby the toner bottle unit 8 is opened and closed.
It is rotatably supported in a horizontal plane with a line connecting the center of the convex portion 11b and the opening 11d as a rotation center axis. By being supported in this manner, the toner bottle unit 8 can be attached and detached so that the toner bottle 7 can be attached and detached. It becomes rotatable between a toner supply position (solid line in FIG. 2) as a developer supply position at which toner can be supplied from the bottle 7 to the toner hopper 4a of the developing device 4. In FIG. 2, the toner bottle unit 8 removed from the copying machine main body side plate 9 side is indicated by a two-dot chain line. FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view of the toner bottle 7, the toner bottle unit 8, and the like when the toner bottle unit 8 is at the toner supply position.

As shown in FIG. 4, the toner bottle 7 has a cylindrical container main body 71 and a toner discharge port 71a formed at the center of the front end side (right side in the figure) of the container main body 71.
Inner cap 7 as a stopper that is detachably attached to
2. A spiral projection 71b spirally wound is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the container body 71. In addition, a bottom wall portion 7 is provided at the center of the cap inner plug 72 so that the bottom wall portion 7 can be picked by a collet chuck described later.
A protruding portion 72b protruding from the side 2a toward the outside of the bottle (right side in FIG. 4) is formed.

The toner bottle unit 8 includes:
A rotation driving unit 15 is provided for rotating the container main body 71 of the toner bottle held in a substantially horizontal direction around its center line. The rotation driving unit 15 includes a motor 16, a gear group 17 that is driven to rotate by the motor 16, a gear 18 a meshing with a final gear of the gear group 17, and a container body 71.
And a cylindrical rotation transmitting member 18 having an opening into which the opening projection 71e on the side of the toner discharge port 71a is inserted. Here, the rotation transmitting member 18 is rotatably held in a toner bottle stopper 19 fixedly held in the casing 13 of the toner bottle unit 8, and is formed on an inner peripheral surface of the rotation transmitting member 18. The rotation transmitting member 18 and the container main body 71 are integrally rotated by engaging the engaging concave portion 18b with the engaging convex portion 71c formed on the end face of the container main body 71 on the toner discharge port side. be able to.

The container body 71 of the toner bottle 7
A ring-shaped engagement protrusion 71d is formed on the outer periphery of the toner discharge port 71a side, and the toner bottle unit 8 has an engagement claw 20a that engages with the engagement protrusion 71d.
A locking member 20 that is rotatable about a support shaft 20b is attached. The locking member 20 is disengaged from the prohibited position where the engagement claw 20a is engaged with the engagement protrusion 71d of the container body 71 to prohibit the removal of the toner bottle 7 from the toner bottle unit 8. By doing so, the toner bottle 7 can be rotated between an allowable position where the toner bottle 7 can be removed. Further, a spring (not shown) is attached as an urging member for urging the locking member 20 to rotate to the above-described prohibited position. Here, when the locking member 20 is rotated to the prohibition position, the toner bottle 7 is moved to the toner bottle unit 8.
The operation of holding the toner bottle 7 in the toner bottle unit 8 is performed by rotating the locking member 20 to the allowable position.

The toner bottle unit 8 includes:
The cap inner cap 72 is inserted into the toner outlet 71 a of the container body 71 of the toner bottle 7 held in the bottle unit 8.
And a cap opening / closing means 21 as a cap opening / closing means for holding the cap inner plug 72 removed from the toner discharge port 71a at a close position separated from the toner discharge port 71a by a predetermined distance. The cap inner plug attaching / detaching means 21 is provided with the protrusion 7 of the cap inner plug 72.
A collet chuck 22 as a plug holding member for picking and releasing the 2b as required, and a collet chuck 22
A cam mechanism 23 as a plug holding member driving mechanism that opens and closes the toner discharge port 71a by moving the cap inner plug 72 picked up by the operator together with the collet chuck 22 to the open position or the closed position.

The collet chuck 22 includes a core 24 slidably held by the boss 19 a of the toner bottle stopper 19, a shaft 25 slidably fitted in the core 24, and a tip of the shaft 25. Knob 2 fixed to one end of the side (toner bottle side)
6. (Hereinafter, margin)

The cam mechanism 23 is interposed between the step 19b of the toner bottle stopper 19 and the flange 24a of the core 24, and serves as an urging member for urging the core 24 toward the toner bottle 8. It comprises a cylindrical coil spring 27, a roller 28 attached to the other end of the shaft 25, and a guide member 29. At the tip of the toner bottle stopper 19, the collet chuck 22 is opened by opening the cap inner cap 72 by locking the core 24 when removing or retracting the toner bottle unit 8.
Lock claw 19c as a movement restricting member for restricting the movement of
Is formed. The guide member 29 includes a guide cam portion 29a for guiding the roller 28 when the toner bottle unit 8 is rotated to the attachment / detachment position or the toner replenishment position, and a guide cam portion 29a for attaching the toner bottle unit 8 to the copying machine main body. And a lock claw release portion 29b as a movement restriction releasing member for releasing the movement restriction of the collet chuck 22 by pushing up a lock claw 19c formed at the tip of the toner bottle stopper 19. The guide member 29, as shown in FIG.
It is fixed to.

The procedure for mounting the toner bottle 7 in a copying machine provided with the toner bottle unit 8 having the above configuration is as follows. First, the toner bottle unit 8 is rotated to the attachment / detachment position indicated by the one-dot chain line in FIG.
The toner bottle 7 is held by the toner bottle unit 8 by inserting the tip end side where the toner discharge port 71 a is formed into the toner bottle unit 8. Next, when the toner bottle unit 8 is rotated to the toner supply position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 2, the roller 28 moves along the guide cam portion 29a of the guide member 29 with this rotation operation.
The collet chuck 22 moves from the position shown in FIG. 7A to the position shown in FIG. 7A, and at the same time slides from the position shown in FIG. 6B to the position shown in FIG. 7B. Here, the shaft 25, which is a part of the collet chuck 22, and the knob 26 slide toward the position shown in FIG. 7 also slides integrally to compress the cylindrical coil spring 27, and eventually the cap inner plug 72 moves to the open position as shown in FIG.
is opened, the toner bottle 7 and the toner hopper 4a of the developing device 4 are communicated, and the mounting of the toner bottle 7 is completed.

After the mounting of the toner bottle 7 is completed, the above-described image forming operation is performed. When a sensor (not shown) detects that the toner in the toner hopper 4a is equal to or less than a predetermined amount, the detection result is obtained. The motor 16 is driven based on. Then, the rotation transmission member 18 is rotationally driven via the gear group 17 and the gear 18a by the driving of the motor 16, and the engagement between the engagement concave portion 18b and the engagement convex portion 71c of the container main body 71 causes the container main body 71 to rotate. It is driven to rotate integrally with the rotation transmitting member 18 around the center line. When the container main body 71 of the toner bottle 7 rotates around its center line, the toner in the container main body 71 is guided by the spiral projection 71b, is gradually conveyed to the toner discharge port 71a side, and is eventually discharged from the toner discharge port 71a. . The toner discharged from the toner discharge port 71a is supplied into the toner hopper 4a through toner drop stoppers 19 and toner drop openings 19d and 13d formed in the casing 13 as developer discharge ports.

When the toner in the container body 71 of the toner bottle 7 runs out, the toner bottle 7 is removed from the toner bottle unit 8 and replaced with a new one. In order to remove the toner bottle 7, the toner bottle unit 8 is turned to the attachment / detachment position shown by the dashed line in FIG. With this rotation, the roller 28 moves along the guide cam portion 29a of the guide member 29 as shown in FIG.
From the position shown in FIG. 6A to the position shown in FIG. 6A, and at the same time, the shaft 25 and the knob 26 together with the cap inner plug 72 are shown in FIG. 6B from the position shown in FIG. Slide to position. At this time, the core 24 urged by the cylindrical coil spring 27 also slides integrally, and eventually, as shown in FIG.
2 slides to the closing position, whereby the toner discharge port 71a is closed. The flange 2 of the core 24
Immediately after the contact of the knob 4a with the tip of the toner discharge port 71a, the knob 26 bends outward, so that the knob 26 is released from the state in which the protrusion 72b of the cap inner cap is gripped.

The developing device 4 is used for maintenance and the like.
When removing the toner bottle from the copying machine main body, it is necessary to remove the toner bottle unit 8 or to retract the toner bottle unit 8 to a position where the developing device 4 can be attached and detached. In the copying machine of the present embodiment, the fixing bracket 1 that fixes the toner bottle unit 8 to the copier body side plate 9 together with the opening / closing bracket 11 by releasing the screwing by the fixing screw 12.
0 can be removed. Here, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, only when the toner bottle unit 8 is at the above-mentioned attachment / detachment position, the pin 14 is formed so that the constricted portion 14 a of the pin 14 can pass through the notch 10 b of the fixing bracket 10.
Is fixed to the casing 13 of the toner bottle unit 8, so that the pin 14 is engaged with the opening 10a of the fixing bracket 10 to fix the toner bottle unit 8 unless the toner bottle unit 8 is at the detachable position. It cannot be attached to or detached from the bracket 10. Further, when the toner bottle unit 8 is at the attachment / detachment position,
In (b), when the toner bottle unit 8 is removed from the copying machine main body in the direction of the arrow, the cap inner cap attaching / detaching means is configured so that the cap inner cap 72 of the toner bottle 7 is closed. The toner bottle unit 8 cannot be attached or detached unless the cap 72 of the bottle 7 is in the closed position.

As shown in FIG. 6B, when the toner bottle unit 8 holding the toner bottle 7 is detached from the copying machine body in the direction of the arrow, the core 24 is locked by the lock claw 19c of the toner bottle stopper 19. Is locked, and the collet chuck 22 cannot be moved.
The opening operation of the cap inner cap 72 is prohibited. When the toner bottle unit 8 is mounted on the main body of the copying machine, FIG.
As shown by the two-dot chain line in the cap inner plug attaching / detaching means 21 of FIG.
c is a lock claw release portion 2 of the guide member 29 on the copying machine main body side.
The contact of the core 9b unlocks the core 24 and allows the collet chuck 22 to move.

In this embodiment, a shutter 30 as an openable and closable member is provided between the toner drop openings 19d and 13d of the toner bottle unit 8 and the toner receiving port 4b as a developer receiving port of the toner hopper 4a. And an opening / closing mechanism as opening / closing member driving means that operates to close the shutter 30 before the toner bottle unit 8 is removed. FIG. 8 shows an opening and closing mechanism of the shutter 30 configured to open and close the shutter 30 in accordance with the movement of the toner bottle unit 8 to the toner supply position (FIG. 8A) or the attachment / detachment position (FIG. 8B). It is a top view. Here, the mounting portion of the shutter 30 is partially transparent. Shutter 3
Numeral 0 has a cylindrical convex portion 30a, which is rotatably attached to a support hole 13e (see FIG. 4) formed in the casing 13 of the toner bottle unit 8. Thereby, the shutter 30 can rotate around the convex portion 30a. An opening / closing lever 30c is formed on the opposite side of the portion where the toner drop opening 30b is formed with the convex portion 30a of the shutter 30 interposed therebetween. Further, a spring (not shown) is provided as urging means for urging the shutter 30 in the closing direction. A fixing bracket 10 fixed to the copying machine main body 9 is provided with a shutter opening / closing claw 10c which comes into contact with and presses the opening / closing lever 30c when the toner bottle unit 8 is rotated to the toner supply position. ing.

When the toner bottle unit 8 is rotated in the direction of arrow C and set at the toner replenishing position in the shutter opening / closing mechanism having the above structure, the shutter opening / closing claw 9a fixed to the copier body side plate 9 opens and closes the opening / closing lever. 30c, whereby the shutter 30 rotates in the direction of arrow D, and the toner drop openings 19d and 13d and the shutter 3
The openings 30b of 0 coincide with each other, and the toner can be supplied. On the other hand, when the toner bottle unit 8 is rotated in the direction of arrow E and moved to the attachment / detachment position, the shutter opening / closing claw 9a is opened.
Moves away from the opening / closing lever 30c, and the shutter 30
The toner is rotated in the direction by the urging force of a spring (not shown), and the toner drop openings 19d and 13d are closed.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the upper support plate 10b of the fixing bracket 10 is used to position the toner bottle unit 8 when mounting.
A convex engaging portion 10d as a positioning engaging member is formed at a position that can be visually recognized by the worker of FIG.
d so that it can be engaged with d from above.
An engagement hole 11e as a positioning engagement member is formed at a position of the upper support plate 11a that can be visually recognized by an operator. The height from the upper surface of the upper support plate 10b of the fixed bracket 10 to the upper end of the convex engagement portion 10d is set sufficiently higher than the thickness of the seal member 4d provided on the upper surface of the toner hopper 4a. When the toner bottle unit 8 is attached to the copying machine main body, the toner bottle unit 8 is set to be higher than the height of the convex engagement portion 10d.
a from the position spaced apart from the convex engagement portion 1
0d and the engaging hole 11e are attached while being visually recognized.

As described above, according to the copying machine of this embodiment, the convex engaging portions 10d and the engaging holes provided on the opening / closing bracket 11 on the toner bottle unit 8 side and the fixing bracket 10 on the apparatus main body side by the operator. Since the toner bottle unit 8 can be attached to the apparatus main body by visually engaging the toner bottle unit 8e, the toner bottle unit 8 can be easily attached, and the toner bottle unit 8 is reliably positioned with respect to the apparatus main body. be able to.

Further, according to the copying machine of the present embodiment, the position to which the engagement hole 11e of the toner bottle unit 8 is located above the convex engaging portion 10d of the developing device side, the toner bottle Yoo
The knit 8 is moved downward along a direction substantially perpendicular to the sealing surface of the sealing member 4d so that the engaging hole 11e is
d, the toner bottle unit 8 is connected to the toner hopper 4a and attached. Therefore , the force acting in the direction along the sealing surface of the seal member 4d at the time of connection can be made sufficiently small or zero, so that turning up of the seal member 4d can be prevented.

Further, according to the present embodiment, it is provided on the developing device side.
By setting the height of the projecting engaging portion 10d to be higher than the thickness of the sealing member 4d, the toner bottle unit 8 can be moved in the horizontal direction (sealing) up to a position substantially perpendicular to the sealing surface of the sealing member 4d. When the toner bottle unit 8 is moved (in the direction along the sealing surface of the member 4d), the connecting portion of the toner bottle unit 8 does not come into contact with the end of the sealing member 4d, so that the turning-up of the sealing member 4d can be further prevented.

In the above embodiment, the seal member 4d is attached to the connection portion of the toner hopper 4a of the developing device 4. However, in the present invention, the seal member is attached to the connection portion of the toner bottle unit 8 to the toner hopper 4a. It is also applicable to cases.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the copying machine in which the shutter 30 and the opening / closing mechanism thereof are provided in the toner drop openings 13d and 19d of the toner bottle unit 8 is shown, but in the present invention, the shutter 30 and the like are provided. The same can be applied to a copying machine that does not have the same.

[0036]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a developer replenishing unit is provided.
The direction in which the knit connection is substantially perpendicular to the sealing surface of the sealing member
Along with the connecting part of the developing device.
The direction along the sealing surface of the sealing member at the time of the connection.
The force acting in the direction can be made sufficiently small or zero.
Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent the seal member from being turned up .

[0037]

In particular, according to the second aspect of the present invention, before moving the connecting portion of the developer replenishing unit along a direction substantially perpendicular to the sealing surface of the seal member, the connecting portion of the developer replenishing unit is connected to the sealing member. Even in the case of moving in the direction along the sealing surface, the connecting portion of the developing replenishment unit or the developing device without the sealing member does not abut against the end of the sealing member, so that the turning of the sealing member can be more reliably performed. There is an effect that can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a copying machine according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a toner bottle unit of the copying machine.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the toner bottle unit.

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view of the toner bottle unit.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a mounting pin of the toner bottle unit and an opening of a fixing bracket with which the pin engages.

FIG. 6A is a partial cross-sectional plan view showing a relationship between a collet chuck and a guide member in a state in which a cap inner cap is closed.
(B) is a partial sectional side view of the toner bottle unit in the same state.

FIG. 7A is a partial cross-sectional plan view showing a relationship between a collet chuck and a guide member in a state where a cap inner cap is opened.
(B) is a partial sectional side view of the toner bottle unit in the same state.

8A and 8B are plan views of a shutter opening / closing mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4a Toner hopper 4b Toner receiving port 4d Seal member 7 Toner bottle 8 Toner bottle unit 10 Fixing bracket 10a Opening 10d Convex engaging part 11 Opening and closing bracket 11a Upper support plate 11b Convex part 11e Engaging hole

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G03G 15/08

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A developer supply unit for supplying the developer to the developing device, the developer supply unit being detachably provided to the image forming apparatus main body ;
Seal the connection between the developing device and the developer supply unit
The developing device and the developer replenishing unit
In the image forming apparatus provided in any one of the above, the connecting portion of the developer replenishing unit is provided with a seal of the seal member.
Moving along a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface to connect the developing device
A supporting plate at a connecting portion on the developing device side so as to be connected to
A convex engaging portion facing upward, and the developer
The support plate at the connection part of the supply unit
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an engagement hole that engages from an opposite side . And a support plate provided at a connecting portion on the developing device side.
The height of the convex engaging portion is determined by the thickness of the sealing member.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the height is set higher .