JPH06175497A - Toner supplying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the necessity of a high torque for driving, and to guide a housed toner to a supplying roller effectively in a small space. CONSTITUTION:A toner supplying device is provided with a pair of leg parts 59, which are arranged in both ends of a rotary shaft 70 of a supplying roller 68 in the direction perpendicularly crossing the rotary shaft 70 and which has the base end and the tip in both sides of a toner supply port 66, and a barrel part 60 for connecting the tips of these leg parts 59, and a flexible agitating sheet 62 interposed between the leg parts 59. Only one side of pair of sides extended in the rotary shaft 70 direction is attached to the barrel part 60 of an agitating body 61 to form the agitating body 61, and this agitating body 61 is arranged inside a toner housing container 54 freely to oscillate. With the rotation of the supplying roller 68, driving pins 72 fitted to both ends of the rotary shaft 70 abut on the abutment surfaces 74 formed in the leg parts 59 of the agitating body 61 to oscillate the agitating body 61.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toner supply device which is mounted on an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and supplies stored toner to a developing device in accordance with a decrease in toner in the developing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, some image forming apparatuses such as copying machines are equipped with a toner supply device called a toner hopper that supplies stored toner into a developing device in accordance with a decrease in toner. Generally, the toner hopper is detachably attached to the developing device. The toner hopper is composed of a container for storing toner and a mechanism for supplying the stored toner to the developing device. A replenishing roller made of sponge or the like is provided in the container, and the replenishing roller closes the toner supply port formed on the bottom surface of the container.
By rotating the replenishment roller, the stored toner is supplied to the developing device from the toner supply port while the toner is captured on the surface of the replenishment roller.

In the above-mentioned toner hopper, generally, the toner in the container is efficiently guided to the replenishing roller, and the inner wall surface of the toner storage container is inclined toward the toner supply port so that the toner does not remain in the container. However, since it is not always effective, recently, a toner receiving tray which is rotatable around a rotation shaft provided at one end side thereof is provided on the bottom surface of the toner storage container, and this receiving tray is provided by a spring. A toner hopper has been proposed in which the toner receiving tray is tilted to guide the stored toner to the replenishing roller by urging the toner receiving tray upward (Actual Development Sho 60-19105).
No. 8).

[0004]

However, the toner hopper to which the above-mentioned toner receiving tray is applied basically uses the inclination of the toner receiving tray to drop the stored toner by its own weight. In a high-temperature and high-humidity environment in which the stored toner easily solidifies, the stored toner may solidify on the toner receiving tray, and the toner may remain without being effectively dropped on the inclined surface. Therefore, even when the toner is solidified, if the inclination angle of the toner tray is increased in order to more surely drop the stored toner toward the replenishing roller, it is necessary to provide a sufficient height space for rotating the toner tray. This will lead to a larger toner container.

In order to prevent solidification of the stored toner and avoid the above situation, if the stored toner in the toner storage container is agitated to drop the stored toner by the toner tray, a new stirring roller is added. Or
Alternatively, it is necessary to vibrate the toner tray.
However, when the stirring roller is provided, inconveniences such as complication of the toner hopper structure and cost increase occur, and
Even if the toner tray is vibrated, a large load is applied to the toner tray due to its weight when the toner container is full of toner, and thus a large driving torque is required to vibrate the toner tray. Problem arises.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problem, and provides a toner supply device which does not require high torque for driving and can effectively guide the stored toner to the supply roller even in a small space. It is intended to be provided.

[0007]

The invention according to claim 1 is
The toner storage compartment is provided with a toner supply opening formed in a part of the bottom surface of the toner storage compartment. The toner supply compartment is provided with a replenishing roller arranged so as to close the toner supply opening. In a toner supply device configured so that the stored toner therein is carried out from the toner supply port, a stirring member that guides the stored toner to the toner supply port, and the stirring member is laid on the bottom surface portion inside the toner storage case. The support member swingably supported in the first state and the second state inclined toward the toner supply port, and the rotation shaft of the replenishing roller, the stirring member being provided with the rotation member. A cam member that swings between the first state and the second state is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the toner supply device according to the first aspect, the agitating member is arranged at both ends of the axis of the replenishing roller in a direction orthogonal to the axis of the replenishing roller. A pair of legs having a base end portion and a tip end portion that are supported by the support member while sandwiching the toner supply port, a body portion that connects the tip end portions of these leg portions, and a space between the leg portions. And a flexible sheet member interposed, the sheet member has a pair of side portions extending in the axial direction of the replenishing roller, one of the side portions is fixed to the body of the stirring member, The other side portion is directed to the toner supply port.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the sheet member is fixed to the body of the stirring member so that the other side portion is in sliding contact with the bottom surface portion of the toner container.

[0010]

According to the first aspect of the invention, when the rotational driving force is applied to the replenishing roller, the cam member is integrally rotated with the rotation of the replenishing roller. Then, with the rotation of the cam member, the stirring member is swung between the first state in which it is laid on the bottom surface of the toner storage container and the second state in which it is inclined toward the toner supply port, and the stored toner is Lead to the toner supply port.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the sheet member forms an inclined surface inclined between the legs of the stirring member toward the replenishing roller from the body. When the toner storage chamber is full of toner, the sheet member is sandwiched between the stored toner and the toner storage chamber bottom portion due to the weight of the toner. In this state, when the agitating member is swung, the sheet member moves so as to be pulled out from the stored toner and the bottom surface of the toner storage, whereby the agitating member is moved by the toner weight when the agitating member is swung. The load is reduced and high torque is no longer required to rock the stirring member. Further, since the curved slope is formed by the sheet member, a steep slope can be formed even when the amount of swing of the stirring member is small, and the stored toner can be efficiently guided to the supply roller in a small space. .

According to the third aspect of the invention, since the other side portion of the sheet member slides back and forth on the bottom surface portion of the toner storage case as the stirring member swings, it adheres to the bottom surface portion of the toner storage case. The toner can be guided to the replenishing roller while being scraped by the edge of the sheet member side portion.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An image forming apparatus to which a toner supply device according to the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an image forming apparatus to which the toner supply device according to the present invention is applied.

The image forming apparatus has a contact glass 2 and a document retainer 4 on the upper surface thereof, and each component such as an optical system L, an image forming means P, and a transfer sheet conveying system is arranged inside. .

The optical system L includes an exposure lamp 6 and a reflecting plate 8.
A light source unit that reciprocates to scan an original, and reflecting mirrors 10 and 1 that reflect light reflected from the original to form an optical path.
2 and 14, a lens 16 for adjusting the magnification of the formed image, and a fixed mirror 18 for reflecting the reflected light toward a photosensitive drum 20 described later.

The image forming means P includes a photosensitive drum 20 on the surface of which an electrostatic latent image is formed, a charging device 22 which charges the photosensitive drum 20 to a predetermined potential, and an unnecessary portion of the charge on the photosensitive drum 20. A blank lamp 24 for removal, a developing device 26 for adhering toner to the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor drum 20 to develop it, a transfer device 30 for transferring the toner image to a transfer paper,
Separation device 32 for separating the transfer paper from the photoconductor drum 20.
And a cleaning device 34 for cleaning the toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 20 after the transfer. The developing device 26 has a
A toner supply device 28 (toner hopper) for accommodating replenishment toner and supplying an appropriate amount of toner according to the decrease in toner in the developing device 26 is integrally mounted.

On the other hand, as a transfer paper transport system, paper feed cassettes 36 and 38 that can store transfer papers of different sizes and a paper feed roller 4 that transports the transfer papers are arranged in this order from the upstream side in the transport direction.
0, 42, conveyance roller pairs 37, 39, and registration roller pair 44 are arranged. Further, on the downstream side in the conveying direction of the transfer sheet after the transfer, a conveying belt 46 that conveys the transfer sheet,
A fixing device 48 for fixing the toner image transferred on the transfer sheet to the transfer sheet, a discharge roller 50 for discharging the transfer sheet to a discharge tray 52, and the like are provided.

In the image forming apparatus having the above structure, the light of the halogen lamp 6 is reflected by the original, and the reflected image is the reflecting mirrors 10, 12, 14, the lens 16, and the fixed mirror 18.
It is guided to the photoconductor drum 20 via. While being rotated in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 5, the photoconductor drum 20 is charged by the charging device 22 to a predetermined voltage, and then exposed by being irradiated with the document image to form an electrostatic latent image. The electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 20 is developed by the developing device 26, and then transferred by the transfer device 30 to the transfer paper fed from the paper feed cassette 36 or 38. The transfer sheet after the transfer is separated from the photoconductor drum 20 by the separating device 32, and is conveyed by the conveyor belt 46, the fixing device 48, and the discharge roller 5.
The paper is discharged onto the discharge tray 52 via 0.

Next, the structure of the toner hopper of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a toner hopper of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the inside rear of the toner hopper.

As shown in FIG. 1, the toner hopper 28 comprises a toner storage container 54 for storing toner and a lid 56 integrally formed on the top of the toner storage container 54. A mechanism is provided for discharging the stored toner to the developing device 26 while stirring the toner.

The toner accommodating container 54 has a long dimension in the front-rear direction of the copying machine F, and the bottom surface thereof is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of toner supply ports 66 having a predetermined size and for discharging the stored toner to the developing device 26 are formed at predetermined intervals in the front-rear direction of the container 54. The replenishment roller 6 having a single structure is provided at a position facing above the toner supply port 66.
8 is provided, and the toner supply port 66 is provided with a replenishing roller 68.
It is designed to be closed by the outer peripheral surface of. The supply roller 68 is a roller made of sponge and is rotatably supported between the front and rear wall surfaces of the toner storage container 54. Although not shown, the supply roller 68 is mounted on the rotation shaft 70 of the container 54 at the outer rear side thereof. The rotational driving force is transmitted via the gear. Further, in the toner storage container 54, the rotating shaft 7
Drive pins 72 are fitted into the front and rear ends of 0 at the same position in the circumferential direction in the radial direction.

Above the supply roller 68,
A stirrer 61 is provided. The agitator 61 is a member formed by bending a metal plate or the like, and extends along the front and rear wall surfaces of the toner storage container 54, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, perpendicular to the rotation axis 70 of the replenishing roller 68. It has a U-shape having a leg portion 59 and a body portion 60 that connects between one ends of the leg portions 59 and extends along the inner wall surface on the right side of the toner storage container 54. The agitator 61 has a body portion 59.
The long hole 80 formed at the base end of the toner storage container 5
4, the support shaft 76 formed to project on the left inner wall of 4 is inserted,
Further, a retaining ring 78 is attached to the support shaft 76 so that the retaining shaft 78 is swingably supported in the toner storage container 54, and is downward by the biasing spring 84, that is, toward the bottom of the toner storage container 54. It is supposed to be urged. Further, in the substantially center of each body portion 59 of the stirring body 61,
A contact surface 74 bent in the horizontal direction is formed, and the contact surface 74 is brought into contact with both ends of the rotary shaft 70 of the replenishing roller 72.

On the other hand, a stirring sheet 62 is attached to the body portion 60 of the stirring body 61. The stirring sheet 62 is a flexible member, for example, a polyester film formed in a rectangular shape, and only one side of its long side is attached to the inner surface of the body portion 60. As a result, as shown in FIG. 1, an inclined surface of the stirring sheet 62 that is inclined while drawing a curved surface from the body portion 60 toward the replenishing roller 68 is formed between the leg portions 59 of the stirring member 61, and the tip end thereof is formed. The portion 84 is in contact with the bottom surface of the toner storage container 54, and its tip is preferably in contact with the replenishing roller 68 (the solid line position in FIG. 1).
It is supposed to become.

The lid 56 is provided with a cylindrical cartridge setting portion 58 for setting a toner cartridge for replenishing the toner in the toner storage container 54, and the bottom surface portion of the cartridge setting portion 58 is placed at an appropriate position. A long-sized replenishment port 64 for replenishing the toner from the toner cartridge set in the cartridge setting section 58 into the toner storage container 54 is formed in the.

Toner hopper 2 constructed as described above
In FIG. 8, when the rotary driving force from the drive motor (not shown) is transmitted to the rotary shaft 70, the rotary shaft 70 and the replenishing roller 68 are integrally rotated in the direction of the arrow in FIG. The inserted drive pin 72 is rotated.
When the drive pin 72 is rotated, the drive pin 70 comes into contact with the contact surface 74 formed on the leg portion 59 of the stirring body 61, and the stirring body 61 is integrated with the base end portion as a fulcrum. It is rotated and moved upward. Further, the supply roller 6
When 8 is rotated, the drive pin 72 moves the contact surface 74.
From this, the stirring member 61 is integrally rotated downward by the biasing force of the biasing spring 84. That is, when the supply roller 68 is rotated and the drive pin 72 is rotated, the stirring body 61 is swung between the solid line position and the two-dot chain line position shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of the toner hopper 28 having the above structure will be described with reference to FIGS. Figure 3
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the toner hopper filled with toner, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the toner hopper having a small amount of toner remaining.

Now, when the toner cartridge 86 is set in the cartridge setting portion 58 of the toner hopper 28, the toner in the toner cartridge 86 is injected into the toner container 54 from the replenishment port 64 of the toner cartridge 58, As a result, the toner container 54 is filled with the toner as shown in FIG. When the sensor in the developing device 26 detects that the amount of toner in the developing device 26 has decreased to a predetermined amount, the rotation of a drive motor (not shown) is started to supply the toner to the developing device 26. The rotational driving force is applied to the toner hopper 28.
Is transmitted to the rotating shaft 70. When the rotation shaft 70 is rotated and the replenishment roller 68 is rotated integrally with the rotation shaft 70, the replenishment roller 68 rotates while capturing the toner on the surface thereof, and is accommodated from the toner supply port 66 into the developing device 26. Toner supply is started.

When the replenishing roller 68 is rotated, the agitator 61 is swung along with the rotation. At this time, until the drive pin 72 of the rotary shaft 70 is brought into contact with the contact surface 74 of the stirring body 61 and the stirring body 61 is moved upward, the stirring sheet 62 attached to the stirring body 61 is stored in the container 54. Due to the weight of the toner filled in the toner storage container 54, the toner is sandwiched between the stored toner and the bottom surface of the toner storage container 54 in a bent state as shown in FIG. Has become. And drive pin 7
2 abuts against the contact surface 74, whereby the agitator 61
3 starts to rise, the agitating sheet 62 is gradually pulled out from between the stored toner and the bottom surface of the toner storage container 54, and is moved to the position shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. Then, when the supply roller 68 is further rotated and the drive pin 72 is separated from the contact surface 74 of the stirring body 61, the stirring body 61 is returned to the position shown in FIG. 3 by the biasing force of the biasing spring 84. As a result, the stirring sheet 62 is also pushed back to the initial position shown by the solid line in FIG. That is, the stirring sheet 62 is used as the toner storage container 54.
By reciprocatingly sliding the bottom surface portion, the stored toner on the bottom surface portion of the toner storage container 54 is agitated by pushing the stored toner toward the replenishing roller 68 at the tip portion 84 of the stirring sheet 62.

On the other hand, when the amount of toner stored in the toner storage container 54 decreases due to the toner supply to the developing device 26, the stirring sheet 62 bends due to its urging force as shown in FIG. It will start to return from a little.
Then, in this state, when the replenishing roller 68 is rotated, the agitating member 61 is swung, and the agitating sheet 62 is moved as shown by a solid line and a chain double-dashed line in FIG. At this time, the stored toner is guided to the replenishment roller 68 along the curved slope formed by the stirring sheet 62, and the stirring member 61 is further swung, so that the leading end portion 84 of the stirring sheet 62. Is toner container 5
4 is slid back and forth toward the replenishment roller 68,
The toner that has dropped along the stirring sheet 62 is not mixed with the stirring sheet 6.
It is pushed out toward the supply roller 68 by the tip end portion 84 of the second roller. At the same time, the supply roller 68
In the vicinity, for example, when toner adheres to the bottom surface of the toner container 54, the edge of the tip end portion 82 of the stirring sheet 62 scrapes the adhered toner and pushes it toward the replenishment roller 68. It will be.

As described above, according to the toner hopper 28 of the present invention, the stirring member 61 is swung by the rotational driving force of the replenishing roller 68, and the stirring sheet 62 attached to the stirring member 61 causes the stirring member 62 to move. Since the stored toner is guided to the replenishing roller 68 while being stirred, it is possible to effectively prevent the toner from remaining in the toner storage container 54 without newly providing a stirring roller or the like.

Further, the inclined surface for guiding the stored toner toward the replenishing roller 68 is made of a flexible sheet member (stirring sheet 62) such as a polyester film, and only one long side portion thereof is the cylinder. Since it is attached to the inner surface of the portion 60, as described above, when the amount of toner stored in the toner storage container 54 is large, the toner is bent by the weight of the toner and the agitator 6 is used.
When swinging 1, the toner is moved so as to be pulled out from between the stored toner and the bottom surface of the toner storage container 54. Therefore, assuming that a conventional toner tray is vibrated, for example, it depends on the weight of the stored toner with respect to the stirring sheet 62. Even when the load is reduced and the amount of stored toner is large, the stirring body 61 can be driven with a relatively low torque. In addition, the bending of the stirring sheet 62 causes the legs 59 of the stirring body 61 to move.
Since a curved inclined surface is formed between them and the stored toner is guided to the replenishing roller 68, for example, as compared with the case where a conventional toner tray is applied, the stirring member 6 is used.
It is possible to form a steep slope by reducing the amount of rocking of No. 1 so that the toner storage container 54 is not expanded. Further, since the tip end portion 84 of the stirring sheet 62 is always slid on the bottom surface portion of the toner storage container 54 by the swinging of the stirring body 61, the stored toner can be stirred and the stirring can be performed. Sheet 62
Due to the edge of the front end portion 84, the toner adhering to the bottom portion of the toner container 54 can be extruded toward the replenishing roller 68 while being scraped out.

In the above embodiment, the stirring member 61 is used.
The toner storage container 54 is formed by inserting the support shaft 76 protruding from the inner wall surface of the downstream side of the toner storage container 54 into the long hole 80 formed at the proximal end of the body 59.
It is swingably supported inside, but this is an example of a structure for swingably supporting the stirring body 61. For example, a shaft is provided between the front and rear wall surfaces of the toner storage container 54, and this shaft is used as the stirring body. The stirrer 61 may be configured to oscillate about this axis by penetrating each leg 59 of the stirrer 61. Also,
In the embodiment, the drive pin 7 is attached to the rotary shaft 70 of the supply roller 68.
2 is inserted, and the stirring body 61 is swung by using the rotational movement of the drive pin 72. This is also because the stirring body 61 is swung by using the rotation of the rotating shaft 70. However, the rotating body 70 may be equipped with an eccentric cam or the like to swing the stirring body 61.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, the stirring member for guiding the stored toner to the toner supply port, the first state in which the stirring member is laid on the bottom surface of the toner storage case, and the toner supply are provided. A support member swingably supported in a second state tilted toward the mouth, and a rotation shaft of the replenishing roller, the stirring member being rotated between the first state and the second state. Since the cam member for rocking is provided, it is possible to rock the stirring member without newly providing a driving means.

Further, the agitating member is arranged at both ends of the shaft of the replenishing roller in a direction orthogonal to the shaft of the replenishing roller, and a base end portion supported by the supporting member with the toner supply port interposed therebetween. A pair of legs having a tip portion, a body portion connecting the tip portions of these leg portions, and a flexible sheet member interposed between the leg portions, By fixing one side part of the pair of side parts extending in the axial direction of the replenishing roller of the sheet member to the body part of the stirring member and allowing the other side part to face the toner supply port,
Even when the toner storage is full of toner, the stirring member can be driven with relatively low torque. In addition, since the curved slope is formed toward the replenishing roller due to the bending of the sheet member, it is possible to form a steep slope in a small space and efficiently guide the stored toner to the replenishing roller. Become.

Further, the other side of the sheet member is fixed to the body of the stirring member so that the other side of the sheet member is slidably contacted with the bottom face of the toner container, so that the toner attached to the bottom face of the toner container is scraped and replenished. It is possible to push the toner toward the roller, and it is possible to effectively prevent the toner from remaining in the toner storage.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a toner hopper of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the inside rear of the toner hopper of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the inside of the toner storage container of the toner hopper of the present invention is filled with toner.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the amount of toner in the toner storage container of the toner hopper of the present invention has decreased.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a copying machine to which the toner hopper of the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 28 Toner Hopper (Toner Supply Device) 59 Leg 60 Body 61 Stirrer 62 Stirrer Sheet 66 Toner Supply Port 68 Replenishing Roller 70 Rotating Shaft 72 Drive Pin 74 Contact Surface

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A replenishment roller disposed so as to close the toner supply port in a toner storage chamber having a toner supply port formed in a part of a bottom surface of the toner storage chamber, and by rotating the replenishment roller. In a toner supply device configured so that the toner stored in the toner storage is carried out from the toner supply port, a stirring member for guiding the stored toner to the toner supply port, and the stirring member in the toner storage A support member swingably supported in a first state laid on the bottom surface of the replenishing roller and a second state tilted toward the toner supply port; A toner supply device, comprising: a cam member that swings the stirring member between the first state and the second state. 2. The toner supply device according to claim 1, wherein the stirring member is provided at both ends of a shaft of the replenishing roller.
A pair of legs having a base end portion and a tip end portion which are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the axis of the replenishing roller and are supported by the support member while sandwiching the toner supply port, and between the tip end portions of these leg portions. And a flexible sheet member interposed between the leg portions, the sheet member having a pair of side portions extending in the axial direction of the supply roller, one of which The toner supply device is characterized in that the side portion of is fixed to the body portion of the stirring member, and the other side portion is directed to the toner supply port. 3. The toner according to claim 2, wherein the sheet member is fixed to the body of the stirring member such that the other side of the sheet member is in sliding contact with the bottom surface of the toner container. Supply device.