JPH07168440A - Developing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a developing device provided with a means for effectively removing toner fixed in a developing device by heat by providing a fixed toner removing member capable of sliding between a developing roller and a developing blade. CONSTITUTION:When a toner cartridge 1 is set in a state where a shutter 2 is closed, at the beginning, the fixed toner removing member 8 is moved with the shutter 2 and positioned on the deepest side of the developing roller 7 and the developing blade 6. Thereafter, by pulling out the shutter 2 so that the inside toner may be moved in a hopper, the member 8 is moved to the frontest side of the roller 7 and the blade 6. When the shutter 2 is moved back and forth, the toner fixed to the blade 6 is removed. Therefore, an operator removes the toner fixed to the blade 6 by nearly the same operation as ordinary operation in the case of setting the toner cartridge 1 in the developing device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a developing device, and in particular,
The present invention relates to a developing device provided with means for efficiently removing toner adhered to a developing blade in a device by heat.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional general developing device of this type (hereinafter, also simply referred to as "device"), a developing blade is separated from a developing roller to remove foreign matters and toner aggregates in a developer. is doing. As such a device, for example, the device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-238073 is known. This device is a one-component developing device in which a cylindrical sleeve is rotatably fitted to a magnet, and a doctor blade extending in a direction parallel to the rotation axis is pressed on the circumferential side of the sleeve. It is characterized in that a means for intermittently separating the doctor blade from the sleeve is provided, whereby the foreign matter mixed in the one-component developer is returned to the developing device storage section. As a result, foreign matter is removed from the developer used for development.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned prior art has the following drawbacks. That is, the above-mentioned conventional technique eliminates foreign substances mixed in the developer, but in addition to this, the toner does not show the frictional heat between the developing roller and the developing blade and the environmental temperature. No consideration is given to the fact that the toner may stick to the developing blade, which may cause uneven development.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to solve the problems as described above in the related art, and to provide means for efficiently removing the toner fixed in the developing device by heat. It is to provide a developing device provided.

[0004]

The above objects of the present invention are as follows:
A developing device having a cylindrical developing roller, a developing blade pressed against a peripheral surface of the developing roller, and a receiving portion of a toner cartridge with a shutter for supplying toner to a hopper, wherein the developing roller and the developing blade are disposed between the developing roller and the developing blade. And a developing device characterized in that a fixed toner removing member that is slidable is provided in the developing device, or a developing device characterized in that the developing blade is configured to be slidable in the vertical direction along the developing roller. .

[0005]

In the developing device according to the present invention, the toner fixed to the developing blade is provided by providing the slidable toner removing member between the developing roller and the developing blade pressed against the peripheral surface thereof. It is possible to obtain a practical effect that it can be efficiently removed. In addition,
When the above-mentioned fixed toner removing member is configured to automatically move at every predetermined operating time of the developing device, the above-described toner removal can be performed more efficiently.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a general configuration example of a developing device to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, 1 is a toner cartridge, and 2 is a shutter provided integrally with the toner cartridge. Further, 3 is an agitator for supplying the toner in the hopper 4 containing the toner to the developing roller 7 side, 5 is a supply roller for supplying the supplied toner to the developing roller 7, and 6 has a function described later. The developing blade is shown. In this type of developing device, it is a normal system to supply toner from the toner cartridge 1. That is, this is a method in which the toner cartridge 1 is set in the apparatus from the longitudinal end of the hopper 4, the shutter 2 is pulled out, the toner is supplied into the hopper 4, and the shutter 2 is pushed back to the original position.

The toner supplied into the hopper is conveyed to the developing roller 7 side by the agitator 3 and further supplied to the developing roller 7 by the replenishing roller 5. It is more effective to attach a mechanism for uniformizing the toner in the width direction of the developing roller 7 to one or both of the agitator 3 and the supply roller 5. The toner supplied to the developing roller 7 is triboelectrically charged and thinned by the developing blade 6, and is replenished to a photoreceptor (not shown),
Development is performed. FIG. 2 is a perspective view (b) and a sectional view (a) of a main part showing a configuration of a characteristic portion of a developing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The characteristic of the developing device according to the present embodiment is that the developing roller 7 and the developing blade 6 are
The point is that the fixed toner removing member 8 is interposed.

Here, the fixed toner removing member 8 is a rigid stainless plate or the like whose end is precisely finished so as not to damage the developing roller 7 made of magnetic rubber, plastic or the like. The lower portion is bent along the developing blade 6, and the lower end is located slightly below the contact portion between the developing roller 7 and the developing blade 6. Further, the upper portion of the adhered toner removing member 8 is slidably fitted in a slit provided in the toner cartridge supporting portion of the developing device hopper portion 4, and when the toner cartridge is loaded, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the toner cartridge 1 is configured to fit into a notch (concave groove) 9 provided in the shutter 2. As a result, the adhered toner removing member 8 can move in the front-rear direction in the developing device according to the opening / closing of the shutter 2 of the toner cartridge 1.

The characteristic operation of the developing device having the above-described structure according to this embodiment will be described below. Developing device hopper section 4
When the toner cartridge 1 is set on the toner cartridge supporting portion, the upper protruding portion of the fixed toner removing member 8 is pushed into the notch 9 provided in the shutter 2 portion of the toner cartridge 1, The fixed toner removing member 8 can be moved in association with the shutter 2. Initially, when the toner cartridge 1 is set with the shutter 2 closed, the above-described fixed toner removing member 8 is attached to the shutter 2 and positioned at the innermost side of the developing roller 7 and the developing blade 6. . After that, by pulling out the shutter 2 to move the toner inside the hopper 4, the adhered toner removing member 8
Also moves to the forefront side of the developing roller 7 and the developing blade 6.

When the fixed toner removing member 8 slides along the contact portion between the developing roller 7 and the developing blade 6 during the reciprocating operation of the shutter 2 described above, the toner fixed to the developing blade 6 is removed. Done. Therefore, the operator can also remove the toner adhered to the developing blade 6 by almost the same operation as the normal operation for setting the toner cartridge 1 in the developing device. In addition, if the development unevenness that is considered to be caused by the adhered toner occurs during the use of the developing device, the operator performs the above-described operation, that is, pulls out the shutter 2 of the toner cartridge 1 once and stores it again. By performing such an operation, it is possible to easily remove the fixed toner that causes the uneven development.

Needless to say, the fixed toner removing member 8 is positioned in the non-image portion while the developing device is operating. Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the fixed toner removing member 8a and the shutter 2 of the toner cartridge 1 are integrated. With this configuration, there is an advantage that the operation at the time of loading the toner cartridge 1 becomes easy. The effect of removing the fixed toner is the same as in the case of the above-described embodiment. Figure 4
Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the developing blade also functions as a fixed toner removing member. The detailed structure will be described below.

In this embodiment, first, a plurality of pins 13 are planted on the side surface of the toner cartridge 1. Also,
At the upper end of the developing blade 6a, a plurality of chevron-shaped projections 14 with which the pins 13 come into contact are provided, and the developing blade 6a is configured to be vertically movable as a whole. It is configured to be pulled up to. The operation of this embodiment configured as described above is as follows. That is, when the toner cartridge 1 is moved in and out of the developing device, the pin 13 comes into contact with the mountain-shaped protrusion 14 and the developing blade 6a.
It works like pressing down. As a result, the lower end of the developing blade 6a moves below the developing roller 7,
The portion of the developing blade to which the adhered toner is likely to adhere comes into sliding contact with the developing roller, and the adhered toner is effectively removed.

In the above embodiment, the developing blade 6a is provided with elongated holes provided at a plurality of positions,
It is supported by a screw 12 so as to be vertically movable. It should be noted that each of the above embodiments is an example of the present invention,
It goes without saying that the present invention should not be limited to this. For example, as shown in the above embodiment,
The best material may be appropriately selected and used as the material forming each part. Further, the fine shape and the like of the adhered toner removing member can be appropriately changed according to the size and shape of the apparatus, the circumstances of the usage condition, and the like.

[0014]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a developing device having means for efficiently removing the toner fixed in the device by heat. Is.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a developing device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a developing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a developing device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a developing device according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Toner Cartridge 2 Shutter 3 Agitator 4 Hopper 5 Replenishing Roller 6 and 6a Developing Blade 7 Developing Roller 8 and 8a Adhering Toner Removal Member 9 Notch (Concave Groove) 11 Spring 13 Pin 14 Mountain-Shaped Protrusion

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A developing device having a cylindrical developing roller, a developing blade pressed against a peripheral surface of the developing roller, and a receiving portion of a toner cartridge with a shutter for supplying toner to a hopper, wherein the developing roller is A developing device comprising a fixed toner removing member that is slidable between the developing blade and the developing blade. 2. The developing device according to claim 1, wherein the fixed toner removing member is configured to be slidable in the longitudinal direction of the developing roller in association with the taking in and out of the toner cartridge. 3. The fixed toner removing member is integrally formed with a toner cartridge.
Or the developing device described in 2. 4. A developing device having a cylindrical developing roller, a developing blade pressed against a peripheral surface of the developing roller, and a receiving portion of a toner cartridge with a shutter for supplying toner to a hopper, wherein the developing blade is provided. A developing device, which is configured to be vertically slidable along the developing roller.