JPH04166951A - Process cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a process cartridge which can be easily reused by providing a developing means with an opening through which to supply a toner, and providing a cleaning means with an opening through which to discharge the waste toner. CONSTITUTION:A toner supply opening 30 is provided above a developer container 12a and a toner discharge opening 31 is provided on the lower side of a cleaner main body 14a and the openings 30, 31 are always closed by respective movable lids 32, 33 each made of polyethylene. The work of supplying the toner into a developer 12 is made easy by inserting the nozzle portion 25a of a toner supply container 25 into the supply opening 30. A waste toner T2 can be easily discharged from the cleaner 14 without caring the leak of the toner since the nozzle portion 25a of the empty container 25 is fitted or threadably engaged in the discharge opening 31. An used process cartridge 15 can thus be reused.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention relates to a process cartridge that is detachably installed in the main body of an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine.

(Prior Art) In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, in addition to a photosensitive tram serving as an image carrier, a developing device and a cleaning device are integrally housed in a process car 1 to a ridge container. Many of them are removably installed inside the main body of the image forming apparatus.

This process cartridge can be replaced by replacing the entire process cartridge when the 1-toner in the developing device is used up or when the cleaning device is full of waste 1-toner. , (This is intended to ease the difficulty associated with replacing equipment in Project Projects and to facilitate maintenance so that even general users can replace equipment.

On the other hand, in order to save resources and reduce operating costs, -
There is also a growing movement to reuse process cartridges that have been used many times and have reached the end of their lifespan.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, since conventional process cartridges are intended to be disposable, when reusing these process cartridges, it is necessary to replenish toner inside the developing device and use a cleaning device. There was a problem with the waste toner not being properly discharged from inside.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its object is to provide a process cartridge that can be easily reused.

(Means for Solving the Problem) To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a process cartridge which is removably disposed within the main body of an image forming apparatus and has at least a developing means and a cleaning means in addition to an image bearing member. , the developing means is provided with an opening for toner replenishment, and the cleaning means is provided with an opening for discharging waste toner.

(Function) When reusing a used process cartridge, it is necessary to replenish toner into the developing means and discharge waste toner from the cleaning means.

Therefore, the developing means is provided with an opening for toner replenishment, and the cleaner means is provided with an opening for discharging waste toner, thereby facilitating the reuse of the process cartridge.

(Example) Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the accompanying drawings.

First, the entire image forming apparatus will be explained with reference to FIG.

In the figure, 10 is a photosensitive drum which is an image carrier that rotates in a fixed direction, and a primary charger 1 is provided around the photosensitive drum 10.
1, developing device 12, transfer roller 13, cleaning device 14
etc. are arranged.

The developing device 12 supplies toner to the photosensitive drum 10, and rotates while adsorbing a developing container 12a holding toner T1 and the toner T1 in the developing container 12a to its outer circumference, and transfers this toner to the photosensitive drum. The developing sleeve 12b is supplied to the developing sleeve 10 side, and the developing plate 12c regulates the layer thickness of toner on the developing sleeve 12b.

The cleaning device 14 is for cleaning waste toner T2 remaining on the photosensitive drum 10.
cleaning device main body], 4 a and the photosensitive drum IO, and waste toner T2 is removed from the photosensitive drum 10.
It is composed of a cleaning plate 14b for scraping off.

The process equipment such as the photosensitive drum 1O1, charger 11, developer 12, and cleaning device 14 is integrated into a cartridge container 15a, and is removably installed in the main body 1 of the image forming apparatus as a process cartridge 15. has been done.

This process cartridge 15 can be maintained by replacing the entire process cartridge 15 when the 1-toner T in the developing device 12 is used up, or when the cleaning device 14 is full or the waste toner T2 is full. This is intended to make it easier.

Transfer paper transport processing equipment such as a paper feed cassette 16, a paper feed roller 17, a registration roller 18, a transport guide 19, a fixing device 20, etc. are arranged below the process cartridge 15 from the right to the left. 1
5, scanner units 1 to 21 having laser diodes, polygon mirrors, etc. and emitting image light, and a folding mirror 22 are arranged.

That is, the scanner unit 21 and the folding mirror 22 are placed on the photosensitive drum 10 which has been uniformly charged by the charger 11.
When image light is exposed through the photosensitive drum 10, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum 10.

The electrostatic latent image is transferred to the developing device 12 as the photosensitive tram 10 rotates.
The developing device 12 supplies toner T0 and converts it into a toner image.

The toner image is transferred onto the transfer paper P by the transfer roller 13, and the photosensitive tram IO after the transfer is transferred to the cleaning device 1.
4, the residual toner is cleaned and prepared for the next image formation.

On the other hand, the transfer paper P in the paper feed cassette 16 is transferred to the paper feed roller 17.
The sheets are taken out one by one and sent to the registration rollers 18, and the timing is adjusted by the registration rollers 18 and conveyed to the photosensitive drum 10, so that the toner image on the photosensitive drum 10 is transferred onto the transfer paper P. transcribed into. Then, the transfer paper P carrying the l-toner image is sent to the fixing device 20 via the transport kite 19, and the toner image is heated by the fixing roller 20a of the fixing device 2o, and the transfer paper P
After being fixed as a permanent image on the recording paper h, the paper is removed by the paper ejection roller 23 and stacked on the tray 24'-.

Now, if the 1-toner T in the developing device 12 is used up, or if the cleaning device 14 or the waste 1-toner T2 is full, the process cartridge 15 will reach the end of its lifespan and a new one will be installed. If the used process cartridge J5 still has some life left in the photosensitive tram 10, etc., the toner T1 is replenished into the developing device 12 and the waste toner T2 is discharged from the cleaning device 14. This makes reuse possible.

Therefore, in order to facilitate the reuse of the process cartridge L-ridge 15, a toner supply port 3 for supplying toner is provided in the developing device 12.
0 was provided, and the cleaning device 14 was provided with 1 henna and 1 discharge port 31 for toner publication. The hat will be explained below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

FIG. 1 shows a cross section of the process cartridge 15, and the toner supply port 30 is located in the developer container 12 of the developer 12.
As shown in FIG.
is sealed with a polyethylene opening/closing lid 32. The toner discharge port 31 is provided on the lower side of the cleaning device main body 14a of the cleaning device 14, and is normally sealed with an opening/closing lid 33 made of polyethylene. And toner supply port 3
In order to facilitate attachment and detachment of the opening/closing lid 32 of the cartridge container 1 and replenishment of the toner T1, the cartridge container 1 around the toner replenishment port 30 is
5a is provided with a notch 34, and also has a toner discharge port 3.
The cartridge container 15a around this 1-toner discharge port 31 is also cut out for attachment and detachment of the 1-opening/closing lid 33 and loss of waste toner T2.

Figure 3 shows 25 bottle-type henna supply containers.
An opening 25b for replenishing 1-ner is formed in the upper end nostle portion 25a having a reduced diameter. The outer diameter size of the nostle portion 25a of this toner supply container 25 is
The nostle portion 25a of the toner supply container 25 is smaller than the size of the toner supply port 30 of the cleaning device 14, and the nostle portion 25a of the toner supply container 25 is designed to fit snugly into the toner discharge port 31 of the cleaning device 14 or to be attached via a screw. There is.

Therefore, in order to reuse the process cartridge 15, which has reached the end of its lifespan because the toner T1 in the developing device 12 is used up or the cleaning device 14 or the waste toner T2 is full. , First, open the opening/closing lid 32 of the toner replenishment port 30 of the developing device 12, and then replenish this toner [''3].
It is necessary to replenish the toner T1 into the developing device 12 from 0 through the toner replenishing container 25. Next, open the lid 33 of the toner discharge port 31 of the cleaning device 14, and from the toner discharge port 31 empty the toner supply container 2.
Is it necessary to move the waste toner T2 into the container?

In this case, when replenishing the 1-toner to the developing device J2, the nozzle portion 25a of the toner supply container 25 is connected to the toner replenishment l]30.
The toner replenishment work is easy because it can be done by inserting the toner. In addition, waste toner T2 from the cleaning device 14
When discharging the waste toner T2, the nozzle part 25a of the empty toner supply container 25 is fitted or screwed into the toner discharge port 31, so that the waste toner T2 can be easily discharged without worrying about toner leakage. It becomes possible.

Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 4, the car 1 helicopter container 15a
Of course, the toner discharge port 31 of the cleaning device 14 may be provided at the top of the cleaning device main body 14a by renumbering the notch 35 at the top of the cleaning device main body 14a.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Components having the same functions as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and their explanations will be omitted.

FIG. 6 shows a cross section of the vertical process car 1 to the carriage 15, and the primary charger 11 is placed above the photosensitive 1 to the ram 10.
A charging roller 11 and a cleaning device 14 having the same functions as those shown in FIG.
The image light L is exposed to the photosensitive tram 10 through the gap between the developing device 12 and the cleaning device 14. Note that 12"C is a developing blade made of an elastic body, and 12d is a toner stirring member.

In such process cars 1 to 5, the developing device 12
A toner supply port 30 and a toner discharge port 31 are provided on the sides of the cleaning device 14, respectively, and these can be opened and closed! 32.
33, the used process cartridge 15 can be easily reused.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the following explanation, according to the present invention, openings for toner supply and waste toner discharge are provided in the developing means and cleaning means in the process cartridge, so that the process cartridge is Easy to reuse.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a process cartridge according to the first embodiment, FIG. 2 is a perspective sectional view of a developing device in the same process cartridge, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a toner supply container, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the first embodiment. Changes to Example A cross-sectional view of a process cartridge according to an actual journey example, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an image forming apparatus including a process cartridge 1-ridge according to a first embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a process cartridge according to a second embodiment. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the cartridge. 1... Apparatus main body (image forming apparatus main body), 10... Photosensitive tram (image carrier), 12... Developing device (developing means)
, 14... cleaning device (cleaning means), 1
5... Process cartridge, 30... Toner supply port (opening for toner supply), 31... Toner discharge port (opening for waste toner discharge). Patent applicant Canon Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a process cartridge that is removably disposed within the main body of an image forming apparatus and has at least a developing means and a cleaning means in addition to an image carrier, the developing means is provided with an opening for replenishing toner, and the cleaning means is provided with an opening for replenishing toner. A process cartridge characterized by having an opening for toner discharge. (2) The opening of the developing means is sized to allow the supply nozzle of the toner supply container to be loosely inserted therein, and the opening of the cleaning means is sized to fit or screw into the supply nozzle of the toner supply container. The process cartridge according to claim 1.