JPH04250468A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the upper surface of an image forming device including the operation part of the device from being contaminated by a developer at the time of a developer replenishing work. CONSTITUTION:In the image forming device which incorporates a toner hopper having a developer replenishing port on the upper part, a hopper cover constitutes a part of the upper external body of a device main body 100 and is opened upward centering around a rotary shaft 36. The hopper cover 30 is acted as a shielding plate for shielding developer which is powder smoke so that it may not be scattered to the upper surface including the operation part 40 provided on the upper surface of the device main body 100 at the time of replenishing the developer.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus in which developer is supplied from the top of the main body of the apparatus.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a color image forming apparatus having a plurality of toner hoppers containing developers of different colors, a plurality of toner hoppers are built into the image forming apparatus, and when replenishing the developer, Replenishment was accomplished by opening the front cover of the device and pulling out the toner hopper attached to the developer from the device. However, in such a replenishment method, not only the configuration becomes complicated, but also the replenishment operation is time-consuming. Therefore, in order to easily replenish the developer, a cover, which is part of the exterior body of the image forming apparatus, is provided on top of the toner hopper that opens upward so that it can be slid horizontally. An image forming apparatus has been proposed in which the developer is supplied from the opening by opening the opening. (Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Hei 1-1954
No. 65)

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, since image forming apparatuses are generally equipped with an operation section on the top surface of the main body of the apparatus, it is difficult to move the exterior body above the toner hopper horizontally as described above. Replenishing the developer can be done easily by opening it and replenishing the developer, but when replenishing the developer, the developer that scatters to the top of the device in the form of dust may adhere to the top surface of the device, including the operating section. , the top of the device gets dirty. This not only causes discomfort to the operator, but also causes the problem of staining the original if it is placed on top of the device during copying operations. The agent may enter the machine, causing poor contact or continuity, and even damaging the copying machine itself.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and is provided in an image forming apparatus in which the developer is supplied from the top of the device. The object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that is not contaminated by dirt.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and has a hopper for storing developer for replenishment, and is configured to replenish the developer from the upper part of the main body of the device. The image forming apparatus includes a cover that forms part of the exterior of the apparatus main body and is rotatably provided above the hopper with respect to the apparatus main body, and a cover that is provided on the top surface of the upper exterior of the apparatus main body. and an operating section, and when the cover is rotated to a position where the developer can be replenished, the hopper and the operating section are shielded.

[0006]

[Operation] In the image forming apparatus described above, when the cover forming a part of the exterior body of the apparatus is rotated to open the upper part of the toner hopper, the cover shields the operating section from the developer replenishment port.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an external view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view of the above device when the hopper cover is opened.

In these figures, reference numeral 30 denotes a rectangular hopper cover that is rotatably provided on the main body about a rotating shaft 36, and has an operating section 40 on its upper part. 31 is a front cover provided to be openable and closable with respect to the main body; 32 is a top cover that is an exterior body on the upper part of the main body;
3 is a document holding plate; 35 is a sealing member for sealing the developer supply ports 34d, 34e, and 34f when the hopper cover 30 is closed; and 36 is a rotation shaft for rotatably supporting the hopper cover 30. The exterior body of the image forming device is
It is composed of the plurality of covers and exterior bodies described above. 34Y, 34M, and 34C have developer supply port 34 at the top.
d, 34e, and 34f, each of which stores yellow, magenta, and cyan toner. When replenishing the toner hopper 34 with developer, the hopper cover 30 is opened upward as shown in FIG. 2, and the developer is replenished from the developer replenishment ports 34d, 34e, and 34f of each toner hopper 34Y, 34M, and 34C. .

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the internal structure of the image forming apparatus.

The optical system 1 includes a platen glass 2, an exposure lamp 3, a color separation filter unit 4, a lens 5, and first to fifth mirrors 6a to 6e. Around the photosensitive drum 7, a charging charger 8, a yellow developer 9Y, a magenta developer 9M, a cyan developer 9C,
A drum cleaner 10 and an eraser lamp 11 are provided. An intermediate transfer belt 12 is provided below the photoreceptor drum 7, and a pressure roller 13 is placed around the intermediate transfer belt 12.
, belt charging charger 14, belt cleaner 15
, a static elimination charger 16, and a transfer charger 17 are provided. A transfer paper S is stored in the paper feed cassette 18, and a fixing device 19 is provided upstream of the paper discharge tray 20 in the transfer paper conveyance direction.

The original placed on the platen glass 2 is exposed to light by the exposure lamp 3, and the reflected light is transmitted to the color separation filter unit 4, the lens 5, and the first to fifth mirrors 6a to 6a.
6e, it is projected onto the surface of the photosensitive drum 7, which has been charged in advance by the charging charger 8, and an electrostatic latent image is formed on this surface. For example, when the blue filter of the color separation filter unit 4 is located on the optical path during the first exposure, the yellow developer 9Y, which is the complementary color of blue,
is selected, and this electrostatic latent image is visualized by the yellow developer 9Y. The intermediate transfer belt 12, which is driven at a constant speed in synchronization with the photoreceptor drum 7, is charged by a belt charging charger 14, and then pressed against the photoreceptor drum 7 by a pressure roller 13, and the image is visualized. The yellow toner image Ty is transferred. Next, the untransferred toner on the photosensitive drum 7 is cleaned by a drum cleaner 10 and an eraser lamp 11 in preparation for the next copying process. This completes the first process.

Next, when the green filter of the color separation filter unit 4 is selected, an electrostatic latent image is formed as in the first time, and the magenta developing device 9M, which is a complementary color of green, is formed.
It is visualized by. Then, a magenta toner image Tm is transferred to overlap the yellow toner image Ty transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 12.

Next, when the red filter of the color separation filter unit 4 is selected, an electrostatic latent image is formed as in the first and second times, and is developed by the cyan developer 9C, which is the complementary color of red. be converted into And intermediate transfer belt 1
A cyan toner image Tc is superimposed on the yellow toner image Ty and the magenta toner image Tm on the intermediate transfer belt 12, and a full-color image Tf is formed on the intermediate transfer belt 12.

Next, at a predetermined timing, the paper feed cassette 1
Transfer paper S is sent out from 8, and the full-color image Tf on intermediate transfer belt 12 is transferred to transfer paper S at once by transfer charger 17. Then, the transferred transfer paper S
is sent to the fixing device 19 and fixed thereon, and then discharged to the paper discharge tray 20. On the other hand, the intermediate transfer belt 12 is cleaned and initialized by the belt cleaner 15 and the static elimination charger 16.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing the arrangement of the toner hopper 34.

The toner hoppers 34Y, 34M, and 34C and the developing devices 9Y, 9M, and 9C are connected to the conveying pipe 2, respectively.
The developer in the toner hoppers 34Y, 34M, and 34C is supplied to the developing units 9Y, 9M, and 9C via conveyance pipes 21Y, 21M, and 21C, respectively. On the other hand, a hopper cover opening/closing device 41 for opening and closing the hopper cover 30 is provided at the upper left in the figure.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show the hopper cover opening/closing device 41.
It is an explanatory view explaining details.

A damper 37 is attached to the hopper cover 30 to prevent the cover 30 from being closed inadvertently when replenishing the developer. The upper end of the damper 37 is rotatably attached to a retaining plate 38 provided so as to protrude downward from approximately the center of the lower surface of the hopper cover 30.
The lower end is rotatably attached to a support plate 39 provided on the main body so as to protrude toward the front cover 31 .

In order to replenish the developer to the toner hopper 34, when the front end of the hopper cover 30 is lifted upward and the hopper cover 30 is rotated around the rotating shaft 36 to open it, the dirt inside the damper 37 is removed. The illustrated locking mechanism is released, and the damper 37 works to maintain the open state of the hopper cover 30 with the fulcrum 39a of the support plate 39 as a reference. Therefore, the hopper cover 30 is held upright as shown in FIG. 6, and the toner hopper covers 34Y, 34M, and 34C are
The developer replenishment ports 34d, 34e, and 34f are exposed, and the developer can be replenished. When the hopper cover 30 is opened in this manner, the operation section 40 on the top surface of the hopper cover 30 is operated via the hopper cover 30 to the supply port 34d,
Since it is located on the opposite side to 34e and 34f, in other words,
Since the hopper cover 30 acts as a shielding plate, it is possible to prevent developer powder smoke generated during developer replenishment work from scattering onto the upper surface of the apparatus where the operating section 40 is provided. Therefore, the operating section 40 and the top surface of the device are never contaminated by powder smoke. Furthermore, since developer is replenished from above, operability is good and there are fewer restrictions on the installation location of the device. Furthermore, when the document holding plate 33, the hopper cover 30, and the operating section 40 of the same size must be provided on the image forming apparatus, the operating section 40 is placed on the hopper cover 30, compared to the case where each is provided separately. By providing the image forming apparatus, it is possible to reduce the installation area of the image forming apparatus.

It should be noted that the hopper cover 30 does not need to be held in an upright position as long as it can function as a shielding plate, and may be tilted to some extent.

After completing the developer replenishment work, remove the hopper cover 3.
0 can be returned to the closed state by performing the opposite operation to the above. That is, when the hopper cover 30 is rotated downward and closed, the damper 37 is retracted, and an internal locking mechanism (not shown) is activated to hold the hopper cover 30 in the closed state. At this time, the sealing member 35 closes the developer supply ports 34d, 34e, and 34f of the toner hopper 34, so that developer powder smoke does not leak outside.

Further, if the hopper cover 30 is configured to be rotated upward about the axis provided along the direction of arrow A shown in FIG. 40 is not only installed on the top surface of the hopper cover 30, but also may be installed on the top surface of the main body exterior body other than the hopper cover 30.

Next, a second embodiment will be explained using FIGS. 7 and 8.

In the second embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the operating section 40 provided on the hopper cover 30
However, the structure differs from that of the first embodiment in that it is provided on the upper surface of the exterior body of the apparatus body other than on the hopper cover 30. The other configuration of the second embodiment is the same as the configuration of the first embodiment. In this case, the hopper cover 30 is
When rotating upward around 6, the hopper cover 30
is a hopper cover opening/closing device 4 having the same configuration as the first embodiment.
1, the operating section 40 and developer supply ports 34d and 34e
, 34f, and is held upright to act as a shield. Further, it is possible to prevent developer powder smoke generated during the developer replenishment operation from scattering onto the upper surface of the apparatus where the operating section 40 is provided.

In the first and second embodiments described above, the hopper cover 30 is rotatable around an axis provided along the direction of arrow A (the longitudinal direction of the hopper cover 30) shown in FIG. Although an example in which the operating section 40 is provided on the top surface of the hopper cover 30 has been described, when the operating section 40 is provided on the upper surface of the hopper cover 30, the shaft provided along the direction of arrow B (the short direction of the hopper cover 30) shown in FIG. The hopper cover 30 may be rotated upward from the center, or the hopper cover 30 may be horizontally slid to the front using a slide mechanism and then rotated vertically.

[0028]

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above description, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the toner hopper is provided above the toner hopper and is rotatable with respect to the apparatus main body. A hopper cover is provided, and an operation section is provided on the upper surface of the upper exterior body of the device main body. When the hopper cover is rotated to a position where developer can be refilled, the developer replenishment port and the operation section are blocked, so that the developer cannot be refilled. It is possible to prevent the upper surface of the device, including the operating section, from being soiled by the developer that scatters in the form of powder smoke when replenishing the developer.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an external view of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an external view of the image forming apparatus when the hopper cover is opened.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of a full-color copying machine to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the arrangement of toner hoppers.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the hopper cover opening/closing device.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the hopper cover opening/closing device.

FIG. 7 is an external view of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an external view of the image forming apparatus when the hopper cover of the second embodiment is opened.

[Explanation of symbols]

30 Hopper cover 31 Front cover 32 Top cover 33 Document holding plate 34Y, 34M, 34C Toner hopper 34d, 3
4e, 34f Developer supply port 35 Seal member 36 Rotating shaft 37 Damper 38 Holding plate 39 Support plate 40 Operation section 41 Hopper cover opening/closing device 100 Image forming apparatus main body

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A hopper for storing replenishment developer;
In an image forming apparatus in which developer is replenished from the top of the apparatus main body, there is provided a cover that forms part of the exterior of the apparatus main body and is rotatably provided above the hopper with respect to the apparatus main body; an operating section provided on the upper surface of an upper exterior body of the image forming apparatus, wherein the hopper and the operating section are shielded when the cover is rotated to a position where developer can be replenished. .