JPH0328869A - Developer container - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To securely attach a lid member to a cylindrical body so as to seal the body by providing a thick wall part, which has a diameter smaller than an inner surface, on the cylindrical body inner surface at its end and also providing a rib, which engages with the thick wall part, on the attaching surface of the lid member to the cylindrical member. CONSTITUTION:In the developer container provided with the lid member 3 used for sealing both ends of the cylindrical body 1, the thick wall part 8, which has the diameter smaller than the inner surface, is provided on the inner surface edge of the cylindrical body 1 so that it is uniformly distributed on the periphery at the end. Additionally, the rib 5, which engages with the thick wall part 8, is provided on the attaching surface of the lid member 3 to the cylindrical body 1. Therefore, a slight space is secured between the cylindrical body 1 and the lid member 3 by the rib 5 and the thick wall part 8 at the end of the cylindrical body. Since an adhesive applied to the inner surface of the cylindrical body is uniformly spread in the space, reliable adhesive strength can be obtained. Thus, the developer container sufficiently resists high temperature, pressure reduction, and falling, and the lid member is never pushed out.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a developer container, and more particularly to a developer container for supplying powder developer to the developing section of a dry type electrophotographic copying machine or printer. Related to improvement of adhesion between a cylindrical body constituting a container and a lid member (prior art and its problems) Conventionally, developer supply containers have been designed to prevent powder developer from scattering during replenishment, and to prevent powder developer from scattering in the width direction. For example, a cylindrical type as exemplified in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 117055/1983 has been proposed and used.

A typical example is a thin cylindrical body made of paper or synthetic resin, and a lid member made of synthetic resin or the like that seals both ends of the cylinder. The outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body has a developer outlet extending in the longitudinal direction, and this is generally sealed with a flexible sealing member that can be peeled off. Further, a developer filling port and a cap for closing the developer filling port are often provided on one of the lid members at both ends, and a grip portion is provided on the other end.

In this type of developer container, it is particularly important to securely seal and bond the cylindrical body and the lid members at both ends, and several methods have been proposed in the past. For example, in JP-A No. 57-2 1 1 1 75 and JP 57-2 1 1 1 76, the lid member is made by bending a thin metal plate outward and providing a minute gap at the outer periphery. A method has been proposed in which the end of the cylindrical body is inserted and fixed into the gap.

In the case of the developer container disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 59-144668, it has been proposed that the lid member be made of metal and that the peripheral end of the cylindrical body be wrapped around the flange thereof.

In the case of the developer container disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-43469, the lid member is made of synthetic resin, an annular groove is formed on the lower surface of the flange, and the annular groove is filled with adhesive to form a paper cylinder. It has been proposed to insert and fix the peripheral edge of the body into the annular groove.

In all of these cases, there is a problem in that the diameter of the lid member is larger than the diameter of the cylindrical body of the container body. When the diameter of the lid member and the diameter of the cylindrical body are made substantially equal, or rather the diameter of the lid member is made smaller, the outer circumferential surface of the lid member and the inner surface of the cylindrical body are bonded together. In this case, in order to facilitate assembly, it is common practice to add a taper to the outer surface of the lid member. In addition, in order to make the sealing performance and adhesion stronger, the lid member and the cylindrical body are press-fitted with an interference fit, a lip is provided circumferentially on the adhesive surface of the lid member, or excessive adhesiveness is applied. Other methods include providing grooves to allow the agent to escape.

However, the above conventional example has the following problems.

(1) After filling and sealing the developer, place it in a high temperature environment (
For example, if it is left at a temperature of around 45°C, the air inside will expand at high temperatures, increasing the internal pressure, and the adhesive (especially in the case of hot melt adhesive) will soften, weakening its adhesive strength, and causing the lid member to extrude. There was a problem that it would happen. When the lid member is pushed out, a protrusion provided on the lid member is engaged with a guide groove or the like (not shown) of the main body during the process of attaching, rotating, and removing the developer container to the main body of a copying machine, etc. If this happens, the operation may not be smooth, or
In rare cases, the lid member would fall off during operation. Additionally, when the lid member is pushed out, especially if it is tapered, the fit between the lid member and the cylindrical body becomes loose, creating a small gap from which a small amount of developer leaks. was there. (2) If the product is left in a reduced pressure environment (for example, about 460 mmHg), the internal pressure will similarly increase relatively and the lid member will be pushed out, causing the above-mentioned problem. [3] There was a problem in that the lid member came off due to impact such as dropping, and a large amount of developer leaked out. In particular, instant adhesives are dangerous and are susceptible to drop impact.

(4) The above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-211175,
Publication No. 57-211176, Utility Model Application No. 59-14466
In the case of the developer containers described in Japanese Patent No. 8 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-43469, both attempts are made to improve the adhesion between the lid member and the cylindrical body. In these cases, the outside diameter of the lid member must be made larger than the outside diameter of the cylindrical body due to the structure, and the used container may get caught when being pulled out of the main body, making it impossible to pull it out smoothly. There was a problem. In addition, in rare cases, an accident may occur in which the lid member comes off due to the bounce and is left behind inside the main body.

(5) If the outer diameter of the lid member and the inner diameter of the cylindrical body are press-fitted in a close-fitting relationship, the adhesive will be squeezed out, and the adhesive will not spread and the adhesive force will become weaker. There is also the problem of excess adhesive being squeezed out. For this reason, relief grooves are sometimes provided, but relief grooves hardly contribute to adhesive strength. Circumferential ribs are also provided on the adhesive surface of the lid member, but although the adhesive can be spread appropriately on the inside of the ribs, the adhesive is squeezed out by the ribs, so the adhesive is squeezed out on the outside of the ribs. Adhesive did not reach the surface, and sufficient adhesive strength was not obtained to withstand harsh environments such as high humidity and reduced pressure.

Providing a taber on the outer circumferential surface of the lid member has the advantage of making assembly easier, but it also has the problem of making it easier to be extruded. In other words, even if the length of the bonding part is set to a certain extent, only the part near the largest diameter of the Taber will actually contribute to bonding, and once it is pushed out even slightly, the fit will become loose, and from then on This is because it is easily extruded.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a developer container that solves the problems of the prior art described above.

(Means to solve the problem) The above objects are achieved by the present invention as described below.

That is, the present invention provides a developer container comprising a thin-walled cylindrical body having a developer outlet extending in the longitudinal direction on the outer circumferential surface, and a lid member that seals both ends of the cylindrical body, including: (a) the thin-walled cylindrical body; (b) a thick wall portion having a diameter smaller than the inner wall diameter is provided at the end of the inner wall so as to be evenly distributed around the circumference of the end portion; This developer container is characterized by being provided with a rib that engages with the meat part. (Function) According to the present invention, thick portions having a diameter smaller than the inner wall diameter are provided at the end portion of the wall of the thin-walled cylindrical body so as to be evenly distributed around the circumference of the end portion, and the thin-walled cylindrical portion of the lid member Various problems of the prior art can be solved by providing a rib that engages with the thick portion on the adhesive surface. To explain the operation in detail, (1) When inserting the lid member into the thin-walled cylindrical body, a certain gap is secured between the lid member and the cylindrical body by the thick part at the end of the cylindrical body. The adhesive applied to the inside of the cylindrical body is stretched while being restricted, and is evenly applied to a wider area with a constant thickness.

(2) When the thick part of the end of the cylindrical body reaches the furthest lip of the adhesive surface of the lid member, the two engage and interlock. (3) A certain gap is ensured by the thick part of the cylindrical body and the ribs of the lid member, and a necessary and sufficient amount of adhesive is spread over a wide area, so that reliable adhesive strength can be obtained.

(4) Furthermore, since the thick part of the cylindrical body and the lip of the lid member are engaged, there is also a mechanical bonding force in addition to the above-mentioned adhesive force. (5) Due to the above-mentioned action, the lid member will not be pushed out even under environmental conditions where the internal pressure increases, such as reduced pressure or high temperature. Furthermore, even against impacts such as dropping, an adhesive layer of appropriate thickness is ensured over a wide area, and sufficient impact resistance is ensured by the mechanical bonding force described in (4) above. (Example) Next, the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to Examples. Embodiments of the present invention are shown in FIGS. 1 to 3.

FIG. 1 (1) is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the end of the thin cylinder l, and FIG. A rib 5 is provided around the top. In addition, 7 indicates a protrusion. Figure 2 shows the front cover member 2.
Similarly, ribs 5 are provided. Note that 4 indicates a grip portion. Both lid members 2 and 3 were made by injection molding polypropylene. On the other hand, the cylindrical body l is extruded from ABStllJ resin, and has an outer diameter of 34 mm, an inner diameter of 32.5 mm, and a length capacity of 254.5 mm.
It was made in the shape of a vibrator with a length of mm, a rectangular discharge port (not shown) extending in the longitudinal direction was opened on the outer circumferential surface, and this was closed by pasting a removable film (not shown). As shown in Figure 3, hot melt adhesive (made of synthetic rubber and synthetic resin) 6 is applied to the inside of both ends of the cylindrical body 1, and the lid members 2 and 3 are immediately inserted, and the thick part 8 of the cylindrical body and the lid Assemble the parts by pushing them together until the ribs 5 of the parts engage. This was filled with a predetermined amount of developer, capped, and used as a sample. Twenty of these samples were left at a high temperature of 45° C. for 12 hours, but the lid member did not extrude or the developer or agent leaked out at all.

Next, the 20 samples were left under a reduced pressure of 460 mmHg for 30 minutes, which was repeated twice, but neither the lid member came off nor the developer leaked, and the 40 samples were packed in the specified packaging and sent to JIS. - In accordance with Z-0202, it fell in this order from a height of 55 cm on 1 corner, 3 hills, and 6 sides. As a result, there were no abnormalities such as the lid member coming off or coming off, and developer leaking. A similar drop test was conducted after being left in a -5°C low m environment for 12 hours, but no abnormality was observed.

The shape of the bonded portion between the thick wall portion 8 at the end of the thin cylindrical body l and the lid member will be explained in more detail. Now, assuming that the surface roughness of the adhesive part is 8 μm, it is thought that the thickness of the adhesive layer must be at least 8 μm. Therefore, if we decide to provide an adhesive layer 2 μm thicker than the height corresponding to the roughness, when the diameter of the adhesive part of the lid member in this example is 32.5 mm and the width is 5 mm, it is sufficient to apply approximately 5 g of adhesive with a specific gravity of approximately 1. It turns out. On the other hand, the difference between the end inner wall thickness part 8 of the cylindrical body l and the inner wall diameter is 0.
．． 1 mm, the thick portion 8 slides apart from the bonded portion of the lid member by the above-mentioned diameter difference of 0.1 mm.
(Figure 3 (1)). At this time, the adhesive 6 previously applied to the end of the inner wall of the cylindrical body l is not necessarily applied in an accurately uniform thickness and width, and there are parts where it is applied quite thickly. In such a part, the adhesive spreads over a wider area than the original spread, limited by the gap width mentioned above. When the thick portion 8 at the end of the cylindrical body matches the groove portion of the lid member, the adhesive further spreads (FIG. 3 (2)).

In addition, the outer diameter a of the rib 5 of the lid member and the inner diameter a' of the cylindrical body l
(Fig. 1) should be set to approximately the same value, but it is desirable that the difference be 2 mm or less, preferably 0.5 mm or less.

Also, if a° is slightly smaller than a, the rib 5 of the lid member
This is more preferable since it is possible to expect a bonding force due to the material biting into the cylindrical body.

Also, the height d of the rib 5 of the lid member and the height d° of the thick part of the cylindrical body 1 should be approximately equal, and the value thereof should be O. It is desirable that the thickness be about 1 to 2 mm, more preferably about 0.3 to 0.5 mm.

(Comparative Example) As shown in Fig. 4, a lid member with no lip and taber on the adhesive surface was assembled in the same manner as in the example (
(Fig. 5), was filled with developer and used as a sample for comparison. When a high temperature storage test was conducted under the same conditions as in the example,
It was observed that the lid member was extruded in 6 out of 20 cases, and the extent of this was approximately 1 mm to 4 mm. or,
Among these six, the one with the most severe leakage was found to have a slight leakage of developer.

When a reduced pressure test was conducted in the same manner as in the example, it was observed that the lid members of 3 out of 20 bottles were pushed out, but no developer leaked. (Other Examples) The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above.

In the above embodiment, an example was shown in which the thick part 8 at the end of the cylindrical body l and the rib 5 on the adhesive surface of the lid member are formed over the entire circumference, but which of these is formed intermittently on the other However, the original purpose can be achieved. Further, the same effect can be achieved even when both are formed intermittently, but in this case, it is necessary to align the cylindrical body and the lid member.

Although the cross-sectional shape of the rib 5 is semicircular in the embodiment, the object of the present invention can also be achieved with a triangular, quadrangular, or other polygonal shape. The same can be said of the cross-sectional shape of the thick portions 8 at both ends of the cylindrical body.

The same effect can be obtained even if the cylindrical body and the lid member are made of materials other than those shown in the examples. In addition to synthetic resins such as ABS, paper cylinders lined with aluminum are often used as cylinders. Further, the developer container of the present invention is particularly effective when the developer container has a rotating member for scraping out or stirring the developer inside the developer container, and the lid member has a rotating bearing. Since the rib part is press-fitted, it is easy to achieve dimensional accuracy such as coaxiality between the cylindrical body and the lid member, and the adhesive strength between the lid member and the cylindrical body is strong, making it suitable for receiving rotational loads. There is. The effects of the present invention are particularly noticeable when the cylindrical body and the lid member are made of materials that are easily bonded, such as ABS, polystyrene, and acrylic, as well as materials that are difficult to bond, such as polypropylene, polyethylene, and polyacetal.

(Effects of the Invention) (1) A minute gap is secured between the cylindrical body and the lid member by the ribs and the thick wall part at the end of the cylindrical body, and the adhesive applied to the wall of the cylindrical body fills this gap. Since it spreads evenly and evenly, reliable adhesive strength is obtained, and it can withstand high temperatures, reduced pressure, drops, etc., and the lid member will not be pushed out. (2) Since the thick part of the end of the cylindrical body and the rib of the lid member engage and mesh with each other, this effect, in combination with the effect of (1), improves the bonding force and increases the resistance against internal pressure. be. (3) In interference fitting, the presser only occurs when the thick part and lip engage, and since there is a gap between the cylindrical body and the lid member, the adhesive can be squeezed out. This has the effect of making assembly easier.

(4) The thick wall portion at the end of the cylindrical body prevents the adhesive from oozing out and improves the appearance.

(5) Since the diameter of the rear cover member can be made equal to or smaller than the diameter of the cylindrical body, the operation of pulling out the developer container from the main body of the copying machine etc. can be performed smoothly.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 (1) is a side cross-sectional view of a thin-walled cylindrical body embodying the present invention, FIG. 1 (2) is a side cross-sectional view of a back side lid member embodying the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a developer container in which the present invention is implemented, and is a side view of the rear lid member. FIG. Fig. 4 is a side view of the back cover member of the conventional example, and Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the adhesive part of the conventional example. 12 Cylindrical body 3: Back side lid member 4: Grip part of front side lid member 5: Glue provided on the lid member 6: Adhesive 7: Protrusion provided on the lid member 8: Thick part at the end of the cylindrical body 2: Front lid member Fig. 1 (2) 7 Fig. 1 (1)

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A developer container consisting of a thin cylindrical body having a developer outlet extending in the longitudinal direction on the outer peripheral surface, and a lid member that seals both ends of the cylindrical body, (a) an inner wall end of the thin cylindrical body; (b) a thick wall portion having a diameter smaller than the inner wall diameter is provided on the end portion so as to be evenly distributed around one circumference of the end portion; A developer container characterized in that it is provided with engaging ribs.