JPH0438356Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to an image recording device such as an electrophotographic copying machine, and in particular, the present invention relates to an image recording device such as an electrophotographic copying machine, and in particular, a plurality of developing devices using toners of different colors are placed at different positions around a photoreceptor drum. The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus that can sequentially form toner images of different colors on the surface of a photoreceptor and form a multicolor image consisting of a composite of the toner images on recording paper.

[Prior art]

Conventional image recording apparatuses as described above tend to have a large amount of empty space, making the apparatus easy to increase in size, and it is easy to take time and effort to distinguish the colors of toners in the developing device and the toner supply container loaded in the developing device. Further, there is a problem in that different color toners may be erroneously supplied to each developing device.

[Purpose of invention]

The present invention was made to reduce and eliminate the above-mentioned problems, and allows the device to be made smaller by reducing the amount of empty space, and eliminates the need for trouble in distinguishing between the developing device and the toner supply container. An object of the present invention is to provide an image recording apparatus equipped with a plurality of developing devices, which prevents errors in replenishing different color toners to each developing device.

[Structure of the idea]

In the present invention, a plurality of developing devices using toners of different colors are arranged at different positions around the photoreceptor drum, and toner images of different colors are sequentially formed on the surface of the photoreceptor, and the toner images are formed on recording paper. In an image recording apparatus capable of forming a composite multicolor image, the plurality of developing devices have different shapes corresponding to the different positions, and a toner supply container is replaceably attached to each developing device. The toner replenishment container that can be attached to the image recording apparatus has a different overall shape so that it can be attached to a specific developing device among a plurality of developing devices, and this configuration achieves the above object. do.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained below using illustrated examples.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the configuration of an example of the image recording device of the present invention, FIGS. 2 to 4 are schematic diagrams of the configuration of a developing device used in the image recording device of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the developing device for explaining the common structure and operation of the developing device shown in FIGS. 2 to 4. FIG.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a photoreceptor drum rotating in the direction of the arrow, 2 is a charger that uniformly charges the surface of the photoreceptor drum 1, 3 is a laser, an acousto-optic modulator,
Image exposure 4A to 4C are electrostatic latent images formed by image exposure 3 incident on the charged surface of the photoreceptor drum 1 by a laser beam scanner 11 comprising a lens device, a rotating polygon mirror, etc. 6 is a transfer device that transfers the toner image onto recording paper fed from the recording paper cassette C; 7 is a transfer device that transfers the toner image onto the recording paper from the surface of the photoreceptor drum 1; A separator 8 is a roller fixing device that fixes the toner image on the recording paper, and 10 is a cleaning device that removes residual toner from the surface of the photoreceptor drum 1.

The common structure and operation of the developing devices 4A to 4C, whose internal components are arranged in FIGS. 2 to 4, will be explained using the developing device 4 shown in FIG. 5. 41 includes a magnetic roll 42. A developing sleeve made of a non-magnetic material, which includes a developing sleeve 41 and a magnetic roll 4.
2 rotates in the direction of the arrow and conveys the developer counterclockwise. Note that one of the developing sleeves 41 may be stationary, or the developing sleeve 41 may rotate in the same direction as the magnetic roll 42. 43 is a height regulating plate that regulates the layer thickness of the developer on the developing sleeve 41;
44 is a blade that passes through the developing area E and scrapes off the developer remaining on the developing sleeve 41 and returns it to the developer reservoir 45; 46 is a blade that uniformly stirs the developer in the developer reservoir 45 and also triboelectrically charges the toner. The agitation screw 47 rotates to fill the toner supply port 4.
A toner supply roller 8 supplies toner to the developer reservoir 45, and 49 is a supply container chamber in which a toner supply container is housed. The above is common to the developing devices 4A to 4C shown in FIGS. 2 to 4.

The difference between the developing devices 4A to 4C in FIGS. 2 to 4 is that the shapes of the developing devices 4A to 4C are different depending on the respective positions around the photoreceptor drum 1. It is possible to differentiate the colors of toners 4A to 4C, reduce the empty space between the developing devices, and downsize the recording device, and furthermore, the toner replenishment container can be arranged according to the different shapes of the developing devices 4A to 4C. The shape of the toner replenishment container is different depending on the shape of the replenishment container chambers 49A to 49C to be fitted, and as a result, the toner replenishment container that should be installed in each of the developing devices 4A to 4C may be incorrectly attached to the other developing device. Since there is no need to attach the toner, replenishing different color toner can be completely prevented.

A first device equipped with the above-described developing devices 4A to 4C.
According to the image recording apparatus shown in the figure, the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 is charged by the charger 2, the image exposure 3 is incident by the laser beam scanner 11, and the developing device 4A
~Switch between driving and stopping 4C, and select 1 every time.
By repeating the development using two developing devices, a color image consisting of a composite of three color toner images can be formed, and the color image can be transferred to recording paper, fixed, and recorded.

The image recording apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 1, but may also be one in which a document on a document table is scanned and exposed by a slit exposure device and image exposure is incident on a photoreceptor drum, and two or four developing devices are used. It is also possible to arrange more than one toner image on the photoreceptor drum, or to transfer the toner image onto the recording paper each time a toner image is formed on the photoreceptor drum and combine it into a multicolor image on the recording paper.

[Effect of idea]

In the image recording device of the present invention, the recording device can be downsized by reducing the empty space between the plurality of developing devices that use toner of different colors and are arranged around the photosensitive drum. Toner replenishment to the developing device can be easily carried out without the hassle of distinguishing between toner and toner replenishment containers, and an excellent effect can be obtained in that errors in replenishing toner of different colors can be completely prevented.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the configuration of an example of the image recording device of the present invention, FIGS. 2 to 4 are schematic diagrams of the configuration of a developing device used in the image recording device of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the developing device for explaining the common configuration and operation of the developing devices shown in FIGS. 2 to 4. FIG. 1... Photosensitive drum, 2... Charger, 3... Image exposure, 4, 4A to 4C... Developing device, 49, 49
A~49C...Supply container room.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A plurality of phenomenon devices using toners of different colors are arranged at different positions around the photoreceptor drum,
Toner images of different colors are sequentially formed on the surface of the photoreceptor,
In the image recording device capable of forming a multicolor image consisting of a composite of the toner images on a recording paper, the plurality of developing devices have different shapes corresponding to the different positions, and a toner supply container is replaceably attached. An image recording apparatus characterized in that a toner supply container that can be attached to each developing device has a different overall shape so that it can be attached to a specific one of the plurality of developing devices.