JPH047574A - Toner cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the hands of an operator from being stained with toner and toner from scattering to the periphery by fixing and holding a seal member which is pressed in a 2nd chamber at the seal member holding part in the 2nd chamber. CONSTITUTION:When the toner cartridge 1 is inserted into the entrance 20 of a toner supply part 2 with a 1st opening 7 and a 2nd opening 11 down, a projection part 21 abuts on a 2nd part 19 of the seal member 8 which covers the 2nd opening 11. When the toner cartridge 1 is further inserted into the entrance 20, the 2nd part 19 of the seal member 8 is pressed in the 2nd chamber 10 in an inverted U shape and a 1st part 14 which covers the 1st opening 7 is peeled from the 1st opening 7. Then toner 6 is supplied to a copying machine main body through the 1st opening 7 and a toner supply opening 22. When the projection part 21 is inserted into the 2nd chamber 10 completely, the seal member 8 is peeled completely from the 1st opening 7 and fixed and held at the seal member holding part 23. Consequently, the hands of the operator are not stained and no toner is scattered to the periphery.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Application This invention relates to a toner cartridge, and more specifically, a toner cartridge used in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, or a facsimile machine, in which toner is The present invention relates to a toner cartridge that is housed and sealed by a sealing member, and the sealing member is peeled off by loading the cartridge into a toner supply portion of an image forming bag device.

(B) Conventional Technology Conventionally, in order to supply developing toner to an image forming apparatus, the toner is stored and sealed with a sealing member, and the sealing member is loaded into the toner supply section of the image forming bag apparatus. A toner cartridge is used in which peeling is performed.

That is, an opening is provided at the bottom of the toner accommodating portion, this opening is covered with a sealing member from one edge to the other edge, the sealing member is folded back at the other edge of the opening, and a claw is provided at the end of the sealing member. A toner cartridge is used in which the sealing member is peeled off by engaging the claw with a protrusion of the image forming apparatus main body when the toner cartridge is installed.

(c) Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the toner cartridge as described above, the sealing member is folded back and attached to the opening, so the peeling stroke of the sealing member is approximately twice the length of the opening. length is required.

Therefore, there is a drawback that the size of the cartridge mounting portion in the image forming bag device becomes large.

Further, the claw portion is fixed to the toner cartridge when the toner cartridge is stored or handled, and needs to be detached from the toner cartridge when it is installed. However, it is difficult to keep such a removable claw portion fixed.

Therefore, in order to solve these problems, the applicant proposed the following toner cartridge (Japanese Patent Application No.
Application No. 244969).

That is, the toner cartridge is provided with a first chamber in which toner is stored, a second chamber that is provided near the first chamber and in which no toner is stored, and a first chamber that supplies toner to the toner supply section. a first opening for supplying the liquid; a second opening provided in the second chamber adjacent to the first opening; is placed on the inner edge of the first opening to seal the entire periphery of the first opening, and then folded back on the outer edge of the first opening to seal the entire circumference of the first opening.
The sealing member is arranged to straddle the opening and the second opening, and the other end of the sealing member is fixed to the outer edge of the second opening or the vicinity thereof.

According to this toner cartridge, the above two problems can be solved.

However, in this toner cartridge, when replacing the cartridge, the tear-and-attach part of the main body of the image forming apparatus (
The following problem occurs when pulling up the toner cartridge from the toner supply section.

That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the inner end' of the first opening 31
A force acts to straighten the sealing member 35 itself near the edge 32 and the outer edge 34 of the second opening 33, and the protrusion 3 that has entered the sealing member 35 in the second chamber 36
7 will increase the friction. For this reason, the sealing member 35 once pushed into the second chamber 36 bulges out from the second chamber 36 as shown in FIG. As a result, the toner adhering to the protruding seal member may stain the operator's hands, or the toner may scatter or bite the surrounding area.

This invention was made in view of the above circumstances,
To provide a toner cartridge that can prevent an operator's hands from getting dirty or toner from scattering around.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems and Their Effects This invention provides a toner toner that contains toner and is sealed by a sealing member, and the sealing member is peeled off by the operation of attaching the toner to the toner supply unit of an image forming apparatus. The cartridge includes a first chamber that accommodates toner, a second chamber that is provided near the first chamber and does not accommodate toner, and a cartridge that is connected to the first chamber and supplies toner to the toner supply section. a first opening provided in the second chamber adjacent to the first opening;
It is formed into a substantially rectangular sheet with an opening and a first end.
After being positioned at the inner edge of the second opening side of the opening and sealing the entire periphery of the first opening, it is folded back at the outer edge of the first opening and straddles the first opening and the second opening. a sealing member, the other end of which is fixed to or near the outer edge of the second opening; and when the toner cartridge is installed in the toner supply section, This toner cartridge is provided with a sealing member holding portion in which the member is peeled off, pushed into the second chamber, and fixed and held by abutting the member.

That is, the toner cartridge according to the present invention has a second
When the toner cartridge is installed in the toner supply section in the chamber, the sealing member is peeled off and pushed into the second chamber,
The present invention is characterized in that a sealing member holding portion is provided which is fixed and held by contacting the sealing member holding portion.

Here, as a material constituting the sealing member holding portion, for example, a double-sided adhesive tape pasted on the ceiling of the second chamber or the like can be mentioned. Further, the position and size of the sealing member holding portion are determined as appropriate depending on the material and size of the sealing member, the dimensions of the protrusion, and the like.

Thus, when the toner cartridge is installed in the toner supply section, the seal member is peeled off, pushed into the second chamber, and abuts against the seal member holding section. The seal member is fixed and held by the seal member holding portion.

(E) Example The present invention will be described in detail below based on one example shown in the drawings. Note that this invention is not limited to this.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 designates a toner cartridge, and 2 designates a toner supply section of a copying machine serving as an image forming bag holder into which the toner cartridge 1 is installed. The toner cartridge l has a first chamber 5 formed by a side wall 3 and a top wall 4. The first chamber 5 is filled with toner 6. The first chamber 5 has a downward first opening r4 at its lower part. The first open lower portion is sealed by a portion of the seal member 8.

One of the side walls 3 is provided with a protruding wall 9 at a predetermined distance from the side wall 3. A second chamber 1 in which the toner 6 is not stored is located between the protruding wall 9 and the side wall 3 thereof.
0 is formed. The second chamber 10 has a downwardly directed second opening 11 adjacent to the first open lower portion of the first chamber 5 at its lower portion.

The second chamber 10 is provided with a seal member holding portion 23 hanging from the ceiling thereof. This sealing member holding portion 23 is formed by adhering one side of a double-sided adhesive tape to the second chamber 10 in a hanging manner. When the toner cartridge 1 is attached to the toner supply unit 2, the sealing member 8 is peeled off and pushed into the second chamber 1O, and the sealing member 8 is fixed and held by coming into contact with the other side of the double-sided adhesive tape. It is supposed to be done.

The seal member 8 is formed into a substantially rectangular sheet. Then, after the one end 12 is positioned on the inner edge 13 which is the second opening side edge of the first open lower and seals the entire circumference of the first open lower, the outer edge of the first open lower 16 and is arranged so as to straddle the first opening lower and second opening 11. Furthermore, the other end 17 of the seal member 8
It is fixed to the outer edge 18 of the opening 11.

The toner supply section 2 of the copying machine has an inlet 20 through which the side wall 3 of the toner cartridge 1 is guided. This entrance 20 is provided with a protrusion 21 that is inserted into the second chamber 10 of the toner cartridge 1 .

Further, a toner supply port 22 is provided below the entrance 20.

Next, a method for installing the toner cartridge 1 into the toner supply section 2 will be explained.

As shown in FIG. 1, the toner cartridge 1 is inserted into the inlet 20 of the toner supply section 2 with the first open lower part and the second opening 11 facing downward. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the protrusion 21 comes into contact with the second portion 19 of the seal member 8 that covers the second opening z4. When the toner cartridge 1 is further inserted into the inlet 20, the second portion 19 of the sealing member 8 is pushed into the second chamber IO in an inverted U-shape as shown in FIG. Along with this, the first portion 14 of the seal member 8 that covers the first opening lower part is peeled off from the first opening lower part. Then, the toner 6 is supplied to the main body of the copying machine through the first opening lower part and the toner supply port 22.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the projection 21 is completely inserted into the second chamber 10, the seal member 8 is completely peeled off from the first opening lower part and is fixed and held by the seal member holding part 23. Ru. In addition, all the toner in the toner cartridge 1 is
Supplied to the main body of the copying machine.

When the toner cartridge 1 is pulled up from the toner supply section 2 in this state, both ends 12 and 17 of the sealing member 8 are fixed to the toner cartridge 1, and the middle section is pushed into the second chamber 1O and the sealing member holding section 23 It leaves the protrusion 21 while maintaining the state of being fixed and held (FIG. 5).

In this way, in this toner cartridge l, the sealing member 8 once pushed into the second chamber 10 does not protrude from the second chamber lO as in the conventional case, and therefore, the operator's hands are not soiled. Also, it is possible to prevent the toner 6 from scattering around.

(f) Effects of the Invention According to the toner cartridge of the present invention, the sealing member pushed into the second chamber is fixed and held by the sealing member holding portion of the second chamber, so that the operator's hands become dirty with toner. It is possible to prevent the toner from spilling or scattering to the surrounding area.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 5 show one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration immediately before the toner cartridge is installed in the toner supply section, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the toner cartridge installed in the toner supply section. , a diagram illustrating the configuration immediately before the sealing member is peeled off; FIG.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration after the toner cartridge is installed in the toner supply section and the sealing member is completely peeled off;
The figure is an enlarged view illustrating the main part of the toner cartridge after it has been pulled up from the toner supply section. 6 and 7 show a conventional example, FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration when the toner cartridge is being installed in the toner supply section, and FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration when the toner cartridge is being pulled up from the toner supply section. It is a diagram. 1... Toner cartridge, 2... Toner supply section, 5... First chamber, 7... First opening, 8... Seal. Members: 10...Second chamber, 11...Second opening, 2...One end of sealing member, 3...
Inner edge of first opening, 6... Tenth outer edge, 7... Other end of sealing member, 8...
Outer edge of the second opening, 3... Seal member holding part. Figure 3 Figure 2 Figure 4 Figure 6 Figure 7

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Toner is contained and sealed by a sealing member,
A toner cartridge whose sealing member is peeled off by an operation of installing it into a toner supply section of an image forming apparatus, the toner cartridge having a first chamber in which toner is accommodated, and a second chamber provided in the vicinity of the first chamber in which toner is not accommodated. two chambers, a first opening provided in the first chamber for supplying toner to the toner supply section, a second opening provided in the second chamber adjacent to the first opening, and a substantially rectangular sheet. The first opening is formed into a first opening, and one end thereof is located at the inner edge of the first opening, which is the edge on the second opening side.
After sealing the entire periphery of the opening, it is folded back at the outer edge of the first opening and placed so as to straddle the first opening and the second opening, and the other end is placed at or near the outer edge of the second opening. and a sealing member fixed thereto, and when the toner cartridge is installed in the toner supply unit in the second chamber,
The toner cartridge is provided with a sealing member holding portion in which the sealing member is peeled off, pushed into the second chamber, and fixed and held by abutting the sealing member.