JPH052164U - Toner supply device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] The structure is simple and the toner bottle can be attached and detached with one touch, which is low cost. A toner supply pipe 2 for sending toner to a developing device, which is partially provided with an opening 1, and a cylindrical portion 3 provided in the opening 1 are provided. At least a part P having the opening 1 formed therein is rotatable, is fixed to the inside of the cylindrical part 3, and has a fixed shutter plate 4 having a window part to which toner can be supplied, and a mouth part of the toner bottle. When attaching the to the tubular portion 3, the window portion of the fixed shutter plate 4 is opened by the movement of the mouth portion, and when the mouth portion is detached from the tubular portion 3, the window of the fixed shutter plate 4 is caused by the movement of the mouth portion. And a movable shutter plate 5 for closing the portion.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a toner replenishing device that replenishes toner from a toner bottle to a developing device.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 8, a cylinder 30 surrounding a portion including an opening of a toner supply tube 2 partially having an opening (not shown) is rotated around the toner supply tube 2. It is provided as possible. In a part of the cylinder 30, a toner supply port 31 for supplying the toner stored in the toner bottle through an opening formed in the toner supply pipe 2 and a mouth part of the toner bottle are fixed. Receiving portion 32, a bottle holding portion 33 for fixing the toner bottle while the toner is being supplied, a guide portion 34 supporting the bottle holding portion 33, and a bottle holding portion when the toner bottle is attached and detached. A lever 35 and the like for tightening and loosening the portion 33 are attached.

In the above apparatus, when a toner bottle is attached, the cylinder 30 is rotated to bring the portion provided with the toner supply port 31 and the bottle holding portion 33 to the lower position. Then, the lever 35 is operated so that the bottle holding portion 33 is loosened so that the toner bottle can be mounted. Next, the lid of the toner bottle is opened, the mouth of the toner bottle is aligned with the toner supply port 31, and the toner holding port 33 is attached. Up to this point, the toner bottle is not yet fixed, so the lever 35 is operated to fix the toner bottle to the bottle holding portion 33. When the mounting of the toner bottle is completed in this way, the cylinder 30 is rotated by 180 degrees and the portion provided with the bottle holding portion 33 is brought to the upper position. Then, the toner supply port 31 overlaps the position of the opening of the toner supply pipe 2, and the toner is supplied from the toner bottle to the toner supply pipe 2.

[0004]

However, as described above, in the conventional toner replenishing device, when mounting the toner bottle, it is necessary to operate the lever 35 to loosen or fix the bottle holding portion 33. Therefore, there is a problem that the structure is complicated, it takes time to attach and detach the toner bottle, and the cost is high.

In view of the above problems of the conventional toner replenishing device, it is an object of the present invention to provide a toner replenishing device having a simple structure, a toner bottle can be attached / detached with one touch, and the cost is low. It is a thing.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 The toner supply pipe is provided with a partly opened opening for sending the toner to the developing device, and the cylindrical part is provided in the opening. The toner supply pipe is provided with at least the opened part. A fixed shutter plate that has a window part that can be supplied with toner and that is fixed to the inside of the cylinder part that can rotate, and the mouth of the toner bottle when the mouth part is attached to the cylinder part. Toner replenishment that has a movable shutter plate that opens the window of the fixed shutter by the movement of the part and closes the window of the fixed shutter by the movement of the mouth when the opening is removed from the tube It is a device.

[0007]

[Action]

 When the mouth of the toner bottle is attached to the cylinder, the movable shutter plate opens the window of the fixed shutter plate, and the part of the toner supply pipe with the opening is rotated to turn the toner bottle upside down. Toner is supplied through the opening. When the toner supply is completed, the toner supply pipe is rotated to position the toner bottle below. When the mouth of the toner bottle is removed from the cylinder, the movable shutter plate closes the window of the fixed shutter plate to prevent the toner from scattering from the toner supply pipe.

[0008]

【Example】

 Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side view of a cross section of a toner supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention. That is, the toner supply pipe 2 for sending the toner to the developing device (not shown) has a circular opening 1 for partially supplying the toner. A screw (not shown) is arranged inside. A cylindrical portion 3 having an inner diameter equal to that of the opening 1 is attached to the opening 1 so as to be orthogonal to each other. The toner supply pipe 2 is provided with a rotary flange 10 to which a part P of the toner supply pipe, to which the cylindrical portion 3 and the opening 1 are attached, can rotate.

As shown in FIG. 3A, a circular fixed shutter plate 4 is attached to the inside of the tubular portion 3. The fixed shutter plate 4 is provided with four fan-shaped window portions 6 at four locations, and the shield portions 20 are alternately provided symmetrically with respect to the center. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 (b), the movable shutter plate 5 arranged below the fixed shutter plate 4 is provided with a window 13 and a shield portion 21 like the fixed shutter plate 4, and is fixed. A ring-shaped guide plate 14 is joined to the surface opposite to the shutter plate 4. The guide plate 14 is provided with notches 15 having a predetermined width at four positions at equal intervals along its circumference. Inside the guide plate 14, a ring-shaped elastic seal portion 16 is further attached. Further, the rotary shaft 12 penetrates through the center of the movable shutter plate 5 and holds the movable shutter plate 5 rotatably.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the tubular portion 3 is movable in the axial direction from the end portion A of the tubular portion 3 at a position corresponding to the four cutout portions 15 of the guide plate 14. A cut portion 19 is provided with a predetermined width up to the position B of the mounting surface of the guide plate 14 of the shutter plate 5, and the cut portion 19 extends from the position B in the circumferential direction along the mounting surface of the guide plate 14. As the movable shutter plate 5 rotates, the window 13 is cut to the position C where the window portion 13 overlaps with the shield portion 20 of the fixed shutter 4 and the tubular portion 3 is closed.

As shown in FIG. 5, the toner bottle 8 mounted on the cylindrical portion 3 having the above-described structure fits into the mouth portion 7 of the toner bottle 8 into the cutout portion 15 of the guide plate 14, Four protrusions 17 are provided to move along the cutout portion 19 of the cylindrical portion 3 and fix the toner bottle 8 at the position C.

Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described.

As shown in FIG. 6, first, when the toner bottle 8 is not attached to the tubular portion 3, the opening 1, the portion P and the tubular portion 3 of the toner supply pipe 2 are rotated by the rotary flange 10. And is directed downward. The rotary shutter plate 5 is in a state in which the cutout portion 15 of the guide plate 14 is rotated to the position B side of the cutout portion 19 of the tubular portion 3, and the window portion 13 of the rotary shutter plate 5 is located in the shield portion 20 of the fixed shutter plate 4. Overlapping, the shield portion 21 of the rotary shutter plate 5 overlaps the window portion 6 of the fixed shutter plate 4, and the cylinder portion 3 is closed, so that the toner in the toner supply pipe 2 does not fall down. ing.

Then, the lid 18 of the toner bottle 8 is removed, and the four protrusions 17 provided on the toner bottle 8 are fitted into the ends A of the four cut portions 19 of the cylindrical portion 3, and the toner bottle is directly held. Push 8 up. The tip portion of the mouth portion 7 of the toner bottle 8 compresses the elastic seal portion 16 so that the seal portion 16 contracts and the protrusion 17 fits into the notch portion 15 of the guide plate 14 (B). In this state, the toner bottle 8 is rotated until the projection 17 of the toner bottle 8 slides therein using the cut portion 19 provided in the circumferential direction of the cylindrical portion 3 as a guide until it touches the end C of the cut portion 19. .. Then, the toner bottle 8 is fixed to the cylindrical portion 3 by the notch 19 and the protrusion 17, and the movable shutter plate 5 rotates by the same amount as the toner bottle 8 because the guide plate 14 is rotated by the protrusion 17. The four window portions 13 of the fixed shutter plate 4 and the four window portions 6 of the fixed shutter plate 4 overlap with each other, so that the tubular portion 3 is opened.

Next, the rotation flange 10 rotates a part P of the toner supply pipe 2 having the cylindrical portion 3 in which the toner bottle 8 is mounted by 180 degrees to bring the toner bottle 8 to the upper side. Then, the mouth portion 7 of the toner bottle 8 faces downward, and the toner stored in the toner bottle 8 passes through the shutter plates 4 and 5 with the windows 6 and 13 opened and is replenished to the toner supply pipe 2. (See Figure 7). In addition, 30 is a motor and 31 is a screw rotated by the motor.

When all the toner in the toner bottle 8 is used, it is necessary to replace it with a new toner bottle 8. In this case, the rotary flange 10 rotates the part P of the toner supply pipe 2 to which the toner bottle 8 is attached by 180 degrees to bring the toner bottle 8 downward. Then, the toner bottle 8 is horizontally rotated until the protrusion 17 reaches the position B of the cutout portion 19 of the cylindrical portion 3, contrary to the case where the toner bottle 8 is mounted. Until this rotation is completed, the protrusion 17 of the toner bottle 8 remains fitted in the notch 15 of the guide plate 14 attached to the movable shutter plate 5, so that the rotation of the toner bottle 8 causes the movable shutter plate 5 to rotate. Also rotates by the same amount, and the shield portion 21 of the movable shutter plate 5 and the window portion 6 of the fixed shutter plate 4 and the window portion 13 of the movable shutter plate 5 and the shield portion 20 of the fixed shutter plate 4 are overlapped with each other to form the cylindrical portion 3 Is closed, and even if the toner bottle 8 is subsequently removed from the cylinder portion 3, the toner in the toner supply pipe 2 does not spill outside.

In this state, the empty toner bottle 8 is removed as it is, and a new toner bottle 8 is mounted in the same manner as described above.

Although the fixed shutter and the movable shutter in the above-described embodiment use the flat plates, a combination of a conical fixed shutter (not shown) and the movable shutter as shown in FIG. 8 may be used. The conical shape makes the toner fall smoothly.

Further, although the window portion of the shutter has four fan-shaped portions, it may have any shape such as a triangular shape and a circular shape as long as it has the same function as in the above embodiment, and the number is not limited to this.

Further, although the cutout portion of the tubular portion, the cutout portion of the guide plate attached to the movable shutter plate, and the projection of the toner bottle are four locations, the number and shape are not limited to this.

[0022]

[Effect of the device]

 As is clear from the above description, the present invention has the advantages that the structure is simple, the toner bottle can be attached and detached with one touch, and the cost is low.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a cross section of a toner supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a tubular portion of the embodiment.

3A is a perspective view of a fixed shutter plate of the same embodiment, FIG. 3B is a perspective view of a movable shutter plate, and FIG. 3C is a perspective view of the movable shutter plate seen from below. Is.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the tubular portion of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a toner bottle attached to the cylindrical portion of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a cross section before mounting the toner bottle of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a side view of a cross section after mounting the toner bottle of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a movable shutter of another embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a conventional toner supply device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Opening 2 Toner Supply Pipe 3 Tube 4 Fixed Shutter Plate 5 Movable Shutter Plate 6 Window 7 Mouth 8 Toner Bottle

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Shunsuke Ogami 1-22 Tamatsukuri, Chuo-ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture Mita Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Eiji Tatsumi 1-2-chome Takumazo, Osaka-shi, Osaka Prefecture No. 28 Mita Industry Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

Claims for utility model registration: 1. A toner supply tube for sending toner to a developing device, the opening including a toner supply tube, and a tubular section provided in the opening. At least the toner supply pipe,
A part where the opening is formed is rotatable, is fixed to the inside of the cylinder part, and has a fixed shutter plate having a window part to which toner can be supplied, and a mouth part of the toner bottle to the cylinder part. When mounting, the window portion of the fixed shutter plate is opened by the movement of the mouth portion, and when the mouth portion is detached from the tubular portion, the movement of the mouth portion closes the window portion of the fixed shutter plate. A toner replenishing device comprising a shutter plate.