JPH07261525A - Toner cartridge, process cartridge, and developing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a toner cartridge having a toner stirring member capable of being rotated at low torque without generating coarse grains at the seal section of the stirring member and provide a process cartridge and a developing device using the cartridge. CONSTITUTION:This toner cartridge or process cartridge is provided with a toner supplying container 12 having an opening at the prescribed position and storing a developer, a stirring member 15 having a stir section stirring the developer in the toner supplying container 12 and a drive transmission section exposed from the end section of the toner supplying container 12 and transmitting the driving force to the stir section, and a seal member sealing the portion of the stirring member 15 exposed from the toner supplying container 12. A hook section rotatably hooking the drive transmission section of the stirring member 15 on the toner supplying container 12 is provided outside the toner supplying container 12 than the seal member.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention relates to a developer (hereinafter referred to as "toner").
The present invention relates to a toner cartridge, a process cartridge, and a developing device that are used in an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine or a printer that forms an image using the above.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine or a laser beam printer, a latent image is formed by selectively exposing a uniformly charged photosensitive drum to form a latent image. An image is recorded by visualizing and transferring the toner image onto a recording medium. In such an apparatus, the toner must be replenished each time the toner runs out.However, the toner cartridge for replenishing the toner to the image forming apparatus uses the toner stored in the toner receiving container of the main body of the image forming apparatus all at once. It is roughly classified into a so-called replenishment type cartridge for replenishment, and a so-called deferred type cartridge in which the cartridge is mounted on the image forming apparatus main body and then is placed as it is and the toner is gradually replenished to the developing device until the toner is used up.

In recent years, in order to make the main body of the image forming apparatus compact, a stationary cartridge tends to be used. Particularly, the toner discharge opening of the toner cartridge is arranged laterally rather than downward, and the toner is stirred by a toner stirring member. It tends to be configured to pump up. The reason for such a configuration is that the degree of freedom in arrangement of the developing device and the toner cartridge is increased in order to make the image forming apparatus compact, and that the quality of the developed image (or recorded image) is always at a constant high level. In order to maintain the above, the toner in the developing device, which is consumed in the development, is replenished from the toner cartridge without excess or deficiency, and the amount of toner in the developing device, or in the case of a two-component toner, the carrier component and the toner component This is because the mixing ratio (toner concentration) is always maintained at a predetermined substantially constant level.

For example, when the toner discharge opening is directed substantially downward, the toner is over-supplied, the powder pressure of the toner is directly applied to the developing sleeve, the toner density is increased, and the image density is excessively increased. As a result, phenomena such as rising, fogging, splattering, and tailing are caused, which deteriorates the image quality. Immediately after the toner cartridge is replaced, a large amount of toner, which has been stored in the toner cartridge for a long period of time and is not sufficiently provided with tribo, is supplied to the developing device as it is, so that the charging characteristics are relatively different. This is a so-called self-contamination state in which toner is mixed, which causes image inconvenience such as reversal fog.

On the contrary, insufficient supply of toner causes excessive deterioration of the image density, which also deteriorates the image quality. That is, the excess or deficiency or fluctuation of the toner supply amount from the toner cartridge to the developing device adversely affects the image quality.

Various types of stationary cartridges have been proposed, but in consideration of downsizing of the image forming apparatus, reduction of remaining toner amount, control of toner supply amount, and stabilization, the cylindrical container is used. It is preferred to use a slit-shaped toner discharge opening extending in the cylinder axis direction on the cylindrical surface, the opening is formed in a substantially horizontal direction, and a rotating toner stirring member is provided inside the container. (For example, JP-A-62-86382, JP-A-62-170987, JP-B-3-53232, JP-B-63-188665).

On the other hand, the photosensitive drum, the charging device, the developing device, the cleaning device, and the like are integrally formed into a cartridge, so that the user can attach and detach the cartridge to and from the main body of the image forming apparatus to replenish toner and extend the life. A so-called process cartridge system has been put into practical use, which makes it possible to replace parts such as the photoconductor drum which have reached the above-mentioned level and facilitate maintenance. The toner storage portion of such a process cartridge is substantially the same as the stationary toner cartridge, and the toner supply container is provided with a slit-shaped toner discharge opening and is provided with a rotating stirring member inside. Has been preferably used.

In the case of the toner cartridge or the toner accommodating portion of the process cartridge, at least one of the stirring members penetrates the housing of the toner replenishing container to drive the stirring member inside and is connected to an external driving device. Is configured to. As a general structure of the stirring member, one having a stirring blade fixed to the stirring shaft and a coupling gear connected to one end of the stirring shaft has been preferably used. The gear serves to transmit the driving force to the outside of the container via the drive unit and the stirring shaft and to form a bearing seal structure for the housing of the container to maintain the hermeticity.

The seal portion is generally structured to compress the packing member in the axial direction by the gear. As the packing member, foam such as polyurethane and polyethylene, wool felt, and various rubber sponges are preferably used. In any case, the packing member is an elastic body, and the adhesiveness is obtained by the restoring force generated by compression by the gear.

Various means are used to fix the gear against the restoring force of the packing member. For example, make a small hole in the gear orthogonal to the axial direction,
There is a method of inserting a gear to compress the packing member, and after connecting with the stirring member, a stopper member is fitted into the hole to prevent the stopper from coming off. As the stopper member, an E-shaped snap ring, a snap pin, or the like is used. Is used. As another method, a snap-fit claw is formed on the gear, and when the gear is inserted and the packing member is compressed and connected to the stirring member, the claw is hooked and fixed to the inner wall of the container housing. There is.

[0011]

However, in the above conventional example, in the sliding portion of the bearing seal portion,
Toner may aggregate, so-called coarse particles may be generated,
This caused white stripes and black dots due to the image quality. This was particularly remarkable in the following cases.

(1) When the number of rotations of the stirring member is increased in order to improve the toner transportability.

(2) When a large amount of toner is filled in order to extend the life of the toner cartridge or the process cartridge. For example, 200g or more, especially 350g for one component toner
It becomes more remarkable when the above filling is performed.

(3) A case where a high sealing property is required due to the finer particles of the toner and the increase in the capacity, and the compressibility of the packing member is increased. Especially when using wool felt as the packing material and compressing it to 7% or more.

(4) In the case where the low molecular weight component of the binder is increased to rapidly fix the toner in order to improve the fixing property of the toner.

When coarse particles are generated, not only the image quality but also the coarse particles intruding into the sliding portion of the bearing seal portion and the rotational torque of the stirring member is abnormally increased, which may exceed 10 kgf.cm. is there. In such a state, the torque for rotating the toner stirring member becomes large, which may cause an accident such as damage to a motor or a relay gear that rotationally drives the toner stirring member.

Further, there is a problem that the gear and the stirring member come off when the physical distribution falls. This is not a problem in the configuration in which the gear and the stirring member are fixed by an E-shaped snap ring or snap pin, but a snap-fit claw is formed on the gear to reduce the number of parts. In the case of a structure in which the claw is hooked and fixed on the inner wall of the container housing, it may come off when dropped. If the locking strength of the claws is increased in order to prevent this, the generation of the coarse particles tends to become more severe, and it has been difficult to balance the impact resistance and the sealability.

The present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to have a toner stirring member which can rotate with a low torque without generating coarse particles in the seal portion of the stirring member. A toner cartridge, a process cartridge, and a developing device using the cartridge.

[0019]

A typical structure according to the present invention for achieving the above object is to store a toner in a toner cartridge which stirs and stores the stored toner and has an opening at a predetermined position. And a stirring member that stirs the toner in the toner supply container, and a drive transmission unit that is exposed from an end of the toner supply container and that transmits a driving force to the stirring unit. ,
A sealing member for sealing a portion of the stirring member exposed from the toner replenishing container, and a locking portion for rotatably locking the drive transmission portion of the stirring member to the toner replenishing container. It is characterized in that it is provided outside the toner supply container rather than the member.

Another structure is a process cartridge detachably mountable to the main body of an image forming apparatus, which has an image carrier, at least one process unit acting on the image carrier, an opening at a predetermined position, and a toner container. A stirring having a toner replenishing container for storing, a stirring unit for stirring the toner in the toner replenishing container, and a drive transmitting unit exposed from an end of the toner replenishing container and transmitting a driving force to the stirring unit. A member and a seal member for sealing the portion where the stirring member is exposed from the toner replenishing container, and a locking portion for rotatably locking the drive transmission portion of the stirring member to the toner replenishing container. And a toner accommodating means that is provided outside the toner supply container with respect to the seal member.

[0021]

In the above structure, since the engaging portion between the stirring member and the toner replenishing container is located outside the sealing portion between the stirring member and the toner replenishing container, the toner in the toner replenishing container is sealed by the sealing portion. Thus, it is prevented from entering the locking portion. For this reason, coarse particles are not generated in the locking portion, and therefore the rotation torque of the stirring member does not increase.

As a result, it is possible to obtain a high quality image without white stripes, etc., and it is possible to increase the rotation speed of the stirring member to improve the toner feeding speed and the process speed.

[0023]

EXAMPLES As a description of preferred examples of the present invention, the first example will be described first, then other examples will be described, and finally the experimental results will be shown.

<< First Embodiment >> A first embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. Here, as the order of the description, the overall configuration of a copying machine that uses a developing device to which a toner cartridge is mounted, the configuration of the toner cartridge, the mounting of the toner cartridge in the developing device, the toner feeding operation from the toner cartridge to the developing device, The description will be made in the order of attachment / detachment from the developing device, recycling of the toner cartridge, and recycling configuration for reuse.

[Overall Configuration of Copier] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the overall configuration of the copying machine, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a developing device. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a document reading device, which irradiates a document placed on a platen glass 1a with an illumination lamp 1b, scans the lamp 1b and a scanning mirror 1c, and reflects light from the document. An electrostatic latent image is formed by irradiating the photosensitive drum 2, which is an image carrier, through the mirror 1c and the reflection mirrors 1d, 1e, 1f, and the lens 1g having the focusing and zooming functions.

The photosensitive drum 2 has a photosensitive layer on its surface and can be rotated by the main motor 3 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1 in accordance with the image forming operation. Around the photosensitive drum 2, a charging device 4, a developing device 5, a transfer device 6 and a cleaning device 7 are arranged. And the rotating photosensitive drum 2
The surface of the sheet is uniformly charged by the charging device 4, an electrostatic latent image is formed by exposure from the document reading device 1, and the toner is transferred to the electrostatic latent image by the developing device 5 to form a toner image. To do.

In the developing device 5, the toner in the developing chamber 5a is sent to the developing sleeve 5c containing a fixed magnet by the toner feeding member 5b, the developing sleeve 5c is rotated, and the developing blade 5d imparts a triboelectric charge. A toner layer is formed on the surface of the developing sleeve 5c, and the toner is transferred to the photosensitive drum 2 in accordance with the latent image to form a toner image and visualize it.

Then, the toner image is transferred onto the recording medium 9 conveyed by the conveying device 8 by applying a voltage from the transfer device 6. The transfer device 6 includes a transfer charger 6a and a separation charger 6b.
And the recording medium 9 conveyed by applying a voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the toner by the transfer charger 6a.
The toner image is transferred onto the recording medium 9 after transfer, and a voltage is applied to the recording medium 9 after transfer by the separation charger 6b to separate it from the photosensitive drum 2.

The toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 2 after the toner image is transferred onto the recording medium 9 is scraped off by the cleaning blade 7a and removed by the cleaning device 7 which collects it in the collected toner reservoir 7b.

On the other hand, in the carrying device 8, upper and lower cassettes 8a1 and 8a2 are mounted below the main body of the device, and the recording media 9 housed in the respective cassettes 8a1 and 8a2 are registered one by one by pick-up rollers 8b1 and 8b2. 8c
Can be supplied to. The recording medium 9 supplied from the cassettes 8a1 and 8a2 or the manual feed tray 8d is conveyed by the pair of registration rollers 8c which rotates in synchronization with the image forming operation of the photoconductor drum 2, and at the position of the transfer device 6 as described above. The toner image is transferred to.

Then, the recording medium 9 after the image transfer is conveyed by a conveying belt 8e to a fixing device 10 composed of a driving roller 10a and a heating pressure roller 10b having a built-in heater, and heat and pressure are applied by the fixing means 10. The transferred image is fixed and discharged by the discharging roller pair 8f to the outside of the apparatus.

In the copying machine according to this embodiment, the automatic document feeder 11 is mounted on the upper portion of the original glass 1a so that a plurality of originals can be automatically separated and fed one by one. There is. Since the structure of the automatic document feeder 11 is publicly known, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[Toner Cartridge] Next, the structure of the toner cartridge C will be described. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the toner cartridge C is mounted in the cartridge mounting portion 5e of the developing device 5 serving as a cartridge mounting means, and is left as it is to gradually supply toner to the developing chamber 5a until the toner is used up. It is a so-called stationary (built-in) cartridge.

As shown in the exploded view of parts in FIG. 4, the toner cartridge C comprises a toner supply container 12, flanges 13 and 14, a stirring member 15, a cap 16 and a handle member 17. Less than,
Each member will be sequentially described, then the assembling method will be described, and the sealing structure of the stirring member will be further described.

[Toner Supply Container] First, the toner supply container 12
As shown in FIG. 4, this is a cylindrical member, and slit-shaped toner discharge openings 12a extending in the longitudinal direction thereof are provided.
A notch 12b for fitting and positioning the protrusions 13 and 14 is provided.

The inner length in the axial direction of the container 12 is preferably set in the range of about 160 mm to 400 mm,
More preferably about 180 mm to 330 mm, most preferably about 2
It is desirable to set it to 00mm to 310mm.

When the inner length of the cylinder is shorter than 160 mm, the toner supplied into the developing chamber does not sufficiently reach the end portion in the longitudinal direction of the developing sleeve 5c, which easily causes image defects such as white spots. . On the other hand, when the inner length of the cylinder exceeds 400 mm, the length of the developing device 5 in the container inserting direction becomes large, which is not preferable for making the developing device 5 compact. However, the length is the recording medium 9 for recording an image.
It is preferable to appropriately change the size according to the size (A3, A4, B4 size, etc.).

The inner radius of the container 12 is about 10 mm
It is preferable to set in the range of 50 mm, more preferably about
It is desirable to set it to 15 mm to 35 mm, most preferably about 25 mm to 30 mm.

When the inner normal radius of the container 12 is smaller than 10 mm, the agitating member 15 mounted in the container has a capability of loosening the toner and a capability of discharging the toner from the container to the developing chamber. Not preferable. On the other hand, if the radius exceeds 50 mm, the rotating torque of the stirring member 15 mounted in the container when stirring the toner becomes large, which is not preferable.

In this embodiment, the container 12 has an inner radius of
55mm, wall thickness 0.8mm, inner length of cylinder in axial direction 297.5 m
It is a cylinder of m. The length of the toner discharge opening 12a in the longitudinal direction is substantially equal to the length of the toner supply container 12 in the longitudinal direction.
It is 96 mm and the lateral length is 7 mm.

The toner supply container 12 is a stirring member described later.
In view of the relationship with 15, it is preferable that the inner diameter accuracy and the roundness of the cylinder be accurately obtained. Therefore, a thermoplastic resin is most suitable as a material forming the container 12, and among them, acrylonitrile / styrene / butadiene copolymer (ABS) and polyester are easy to obtain accuracy and are relatively inexpensive, and moreover, drop impact It is particularly preferable because it is strong, and impact-resistant polystyrene resin (HIPS) can also be preferably used. Note that paper, aluminum, or the like can be used in addition to the thermoplastic resin.

As a method of manufacturing the container 12 with a thermoplastic resin, it is preferable to form the toner discharge opening 12a and the notch 12b by press working after extrusion molding, and more preferably, internal sizing called a core cooling type is performed. Therefore, it is possible to further improve the inner diameter accuracy and the roundness. A more preferable manufacturing method is to use injection molding, which is more accurate than extrusion molding,
Heat seal for film-like sealing materials and flanges 13 and 14
It does not deform due to heat history such as hot melt adhesion.

When manufacturing by injection molding, Japanese Patent Application No.
-64803, it is preferable to integrally mold either of the flange and the round cylinder because the number of parts and the assembly process can be reduced, and it is more preferable to use a high-speed high-pressure injection molding machine as a molding machine. preferable. In this case, the injection pressure is 5
It is suitable that the resin filling time is 00 to 1500 kgf / cm ² and the resin filling time is about 0.005 to 0.02 seconds.

The opening 12a of the toner supply container 12 is sealed by a seal member 12c. The seal member 12c is peeled off by the operator when the toner cartridge C is used.

The sealing member 12c is a film-like flexible sheet, and is made of, for example, polyester, nylon, polyethylene,
It is made by stacking ethylene vinyl acetate adhesive layers and has a thickness of about 50.
μm to 200 μm, more preferably 100 μm to 150 μm
The degree is suitable. The seal member 12c is fixed to the toner replenishing container 12 with sufficient strength to prevent toner leakage due to temperature / humidity fluctuations, atmospheric pressure fluctuations, vibrations, drop impacts, and the like in the distribution process, and with peelable strength. It is desirable that the maximum peeling strength is 10 kgf or less, more preferably 6 kgf or less, and most preferably 4.5 kgf or less when the seal member 12c is folded 180 degrees and pulled in the longitudinal direction.

As a method for adhering the seal member 12c to the container 12, hot plate welding, impulse sealing, ultrasonic welding, high frequency welding or the like can be used, and hot plate welding is particularly preferable.

The total length of the seal member 12c is the toner discharge opening.
The length is set to be at least twice the length in the longitudinal direction of 12a, and the portion not fixed around the opening 12a is folded back 180 degrees to be used as a puller, and the adhesive, hot melt adhesive, double-sided tape, or other means is used. Lightly fixed to any of the fixed portion of the seal member 12c, the toner supply container 12, the flange 13, and the handle member 17.

[Flanges] The flanges 13 and 14 are attached to both ends of the cylindrical toner supply container 12 described above, and are made of acrylonitrile / styrene / butadiene copolymer (ABS), polyester, or high impact polystyrene (HIPS). ) Is injection-molded and manufactured. Each of the flanges 13 and 14 has two protrusions 13a1, 13a2, 14a1 and 14a2 on its peripheral surface.
Notch 12 of toner replenishing container 12 described above for 13a2, 14a1, 14a2
Align with b.

Further, one flange 13 has a filling port 13b for filling the toner, and a cross-shaped rib 13c is formed inside the filling port, and a stirring member 15 described later is provided at the center thereof. A shaft hole 13d for supporting the shaft is formed.
The diameter of the filling port 13b is preferably set to 50% or more, more preferably 60% or more of the inner diameter of the toner supply container 12. This is to improve the toner filling time and the filling efficiency.

A hole 14b for inserting the stirring member 15 is formed in the other flange 14, and this hole 14b is also formed.
A ring-shaped collar portion 14c for supporting the outer peripheral surface of the gear portion 15a2 of the stirring member 15 described later is provided around the periphery of the. A ring-shaped rib 15 provided on the gear portion 15a2 is provided on a part of the collar portion 14c.
A claw portion 14d for locking a3 is provided.

The flanges 13 and 14 are fitted and joined to both ends of the toner supply container 12 to which the sheet member 12c is attached. As this bonding method, methods such as hot melt adhesion, ultrasonic welding, and wrapping with an adhesive tape can be used, and particularly hot melt adhesion is preferable because it is simple and sufficient sealing property and adhesive strength can be obtained. Further hot melt adhesive,
The method of applying to the inner surface of the end portion of the toner replenishing container 12 is particularly preferable because the hot melt adhesive does not squeeze out.

The projection 13a provided on the flanges 13 and 14
The height of 1, 13a2, 14a1 and 14a2 and the positional relationship with the toner discharge opening 12a will be described later.

{Stirring member} The stirring member 15 is shown in FIG. 4 and FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, it comprises a stirring shaft 15a and a stirring blade 15b attached thereto.

(Stirring shaft) The stirring shaft 15a has, for example, a cross section of approximately H.
It is a bar-shaped member, and has a fitting portion 15a1 which is fitted into the shaft hole 13d of the flange 13 at one end in the axial direction.
A gear portion 15a2 that is connected to the drive system is formed at the other end. A ring-shaped rib 15a3 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the gear portion 15a2. In addition, caulking bosses 15a4 for attaching the stirring blades 15b are formed at several positions on the shaft body.

It is important that the stirring shaft 15a has a straightness. Therefore, the stirring shaft 15a has a vertical cross-sectional shape such as a substantially H-shape, a substantially L-shape, a substantially T-shape or the like which is hard to warp. However, it is most preferable to have a substantially H-shaped cross section.

The material of the stirring shaft 15a is most preferably polyacetal (POM) in consideration of the slidability and creep resistance of the shaft supporting portions at both ends of the shaft. As the manufacturing method, injection molding is preferably used because of the ease of the manufacturing method.

(Stirring Blade) The stirring blade 15b attached to the stirring shaft 15a has a blade portion protruding from the shaft 15a in at least two directions. In this embodiment, the flexible main blade protruding in two directions. It has a portion 15b1 and an auxiliary wing portion 15b2. The main wing portion 15b1 has an end face over substantially the entire length of the shaft 15a, and has slits 15b3 in places. Further, it has a rectangular hole 15b4 communicating with the slit 15b3 portion. The auxiliary wing portion 15b2 has an end face at a position corresponding to the slit 15b3.

Further, the caulking hole portion 15b5 into which the caulking boss 15a4 of the stirring shaft 15a is fitted is inserted in the longitudinal central portion of the stirring blade 15b.
There are multiple.

The material forming the stirring blade 15b is
A material with moderate elasticity and creep resistance can be used, for example, a polyurethane rubber sheet or a rubberized cloth may be used,
Particularly preferred is a polyester (PET) film. The thickness is preferably about 50 μm to 500 μm, and particularly preferably about 150 μm to 300 μm. When the thickness is less than about 50 μm, the elasticity becomes weak and the toner conveying force is reduced, and when the thickness is more than about 500 μm,
Since the elasticity becomes too strong and the stirring blade 15b rubs against the inner wall of the container 12 and rotates, a large rotation torque is required.
In this embodiment, the thickness is 188 μm.

As a method of processing the stirring blade 15b, it is preferable to punch and manufacture the above-mentioned materials by press working because of high precision and low cost.

In the stirring shaft 15a and stirring blade 15b manufactured as described above, the caulking boss 15a4 is inserted into the caulking hole 15b5,
In addition, the both are integrated by thermal caulking or ultrasonic caulking. The stirring member 15 is inserted into the toner supply container 12, and both ends are supported by the flanges 13 and 14 so as to be rotatably attached. The method of attaching the stirring member 15 will be described later.

Here, the shape of the stirring blade 15b will be described. It is preferable that the stirring blades 15b project from the stirring shaft 15a in at least two or more directions. In particular, as in the present embodiment, the blade portions projecting in two directions have tangential lines that rub against the inner wall of the toner supply container 12, respectively. It is desirable to have different lengths. That is, although one main wing portion 15b1 is provided with slits 15b3 in places, it has a sufficient restoring force and has a high toner carrying ability because it extends over substantially the entire length of the stirring blade 15a. Moreover, the slit 15b3 and the rectangular hole 15b4 provided in the main wing portion 15b1 do not increase the rotational torque. Further, the amount of remaining toner can be extremely reduced by the auxiliary wing portion 15b2 protruding only at the portions corresponding to the positions of the slit 15b3 and the hole portion 15b4. By doing so, for example, the stirring blade 15b having the shape of the present embodiment is compared with the case of the blade portion that is evenly projected in two directions.
In this case, the rotation torque is rather small, even though the toner carrying capacity is high.

From the viewpoint of improving the toner carrying capacity and reducing the rotating torque, the width of the slit 15b3 provided in the main wing portion 15b1 is preferably about 0.5 mm to 3 mm. The distance between the slits is about 20 mm to 60 mm, more preferably about 30 mm.
It is desirable to set it to mm-55 mm, most preferably about 34 mm-52 mm. The length of the rectangular hole 15b4 in the rotation axis direction is preferably about 20% to 80% of the distance between the slits. The hole 15b4 is parallel to the stirring shaft 15a,
It is desirable that the side closer to 15a be in contact with the agitation shaft 15a.

Further, from the viewpoint of reducing the remaining amount of toner to be sent out and reducing the rotating torque, the length of the end surface of the auxiliary blade portion 15b2 in the rotating axis direction is about 5 mm longer than the width of the slit 15b3.
It is preferable to set the length to be 15 mm longer.

Next, the distance in the radial direction of rotation of the stirring blades 15b1 and 15b2 will be described. This is slightly longer than the inner radius of the toner supply container 12a, and rotates while lightly rubbing the inner wall of the container 12a during rotation. As a result, the stirring blades 15b1, 15
b2 rotates while flexing slightly, and is restored by the elasticity of the stirring blades 15b1 and 15b2 at the toner discharge opening 12a and protrudes,
By repelling the toner, the toner supply effect is enhanced.

Therefore, the distance from the center of rotation of the stirring member 15 to the tip of the blade is about 0.5 mm to 5 mm, more preferably 1.0 mm to 4 mm, and most preferably 1.5 mm than the inner radius of the toner supply container 12. It is desirable to configure the length to be about 3 mm to 3 mm.

If the length is shorter than 0.5 mm, it is impossible to sufficiently restore the stirring blade. On the contrary, if the length is longer than 3 mm, the toner carrying capacity becomes unnecessarily large. Therefore, excess toner is stored in the developing chamber 5a. It is not preferable because not only the toner is sent in to cause aggregation of the toner but also the rotation torque becomes large.

In this embodiment, as described above, the stirring shaft
Although the example in which the 15a and the stirring blade 15b are separately configured and integrated by caulking has been shown, it is preferable that the stirring shaft 15a and the stirring blade 15b are integrally configured by injection molding or the like. By doing so, not only the number of parts and the assembling process can be reduced, but also it is advantageous in obtaining the accuracy of the length from the center of the rotating shaft to the tip of the blade.

In this case, it is preferable to use a high-speed and high-pressure injection molding machine as the injection molding machine, which is suitable for accurately molding the thick portion of the shaft portion and the thin portion of the blade portion simultaneously. In the case of this integral injection molding, the injection pressure is about 500kgf / cm ² ~ 15
00 kgf / cm ² , and the resin filling time is preferably about 0.005 seconds to 0.02 seconds. The stirring member 15 in which the stirring shaft 15a and the stirring blade 15b are integrated with the above value was injection-molded.
No inconvenience such as waviness occurred in the portion b.

A more preferred manufacturing method is to use a gas assist injection molding machine. In this case, since the stirring shaft 15a can be hollow, the stirring shaft 15a
It is very convenient to obtain the straightness, and a hollow two-sided circular shape is most preferable as the cross-sectional shape. This two-way cutting is to be a seat surface for attaching the stirring blade 15b.

{Cap} Cap 16 is a toner supply container
After filling 12 with toner, fill port 13 provided on flange 13
It is for closing b, and is made of a material such as low density polyethylene, high density polyethylene, polypropylene (preferably low density polyethylene) formed in a cylindrical shape having a bottom.

By pressing the cap 16 into the filling port 13b, the filling port 13b is sealed and toner leakage is prevented.

{Handle member} Next, the handle member 17 will be described. This is to fill the toner replenishing container 12 with the toner, cover the cap 16 that seals the filling port 13b, and attach the toner cartridge C to the developing device 5. It serves as a handle when attaching and detaching. As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 6 which is a cross-sectional explanatory view of the handle member, the structure thereof includes the fitting portion 17a and the handle portion.
A movable lever 17c which constitutes a locking means for preventing the rotation of the toner cartridge 17b and the toner cartridge C is integrally constructed. As the material for the handle member 17, a thermoplastic resin such as polypropylene (PP), acrylonitrile / styrene / butadiene copolymer (ABS), or high impact polystyrene (HIPS) can be used. Lever 17c, which is a movable part that can be moved by
In particular, polypropylene is preferably used because it has

The fitting portion 17a is a portion for fitting the handle member 17 to the flange 13, is formed in a tubular shape, and has a tubular end portion at a position corresponding to the projections 13a1 and 13a2 of the flange 13 described above. Notches 17a1 are provided, and locking claws 17a2 are provided at several locations (three locations at equal intervals in the circumferential direction in the present embodiment) on the inner peripheral surface thereof.
Is provided. The notch 17a1 is formed by the projection 13a1 of the flange 13,
The grip member 17 is fitted and positioned in the 13a2, and the locking claw 17a2 is locked in a locking recess 13e provided corresponding to the outer peripheral surface of the flange 13 in a stab-killing state (so-called patching), so that the grip member 17 is fixed. Fits and locks on the flange 13.

On the inner surface of the fitting portion 17a, several ribs 17a3 (not particularly limited, but about four ribs are preferable) are provided. The inner diameter between the rib tips is
When the handle member 17 is fitted into the flange 13, the rib inner diameter portion presses the outer peripheral surface of the cap 16 when the grip member 17 is fitted into the flange 13. Further, a step portion 17a4 is provided at a predetermined position of the rib 17a3, and when the handle member 17 is fitted to the flange 13, the step portion 17a4 is a cap as shown in FIG.
It is in a position to hold the end of 16.

As a result, when the handle member 17 is fitted to the flange 13, the cap 16 is completely hidden and the rib 17
Pressed by a3, the cap 16 is completely prevented from falling off the filling port 13b.

It should be noted that the method of attaching the handle member 17 to the flange 13 is not limited to the above-mentioned patching, and various methods such as hot melt bonding, ultrasonic welding, press fitting and winding of adhesive tape are possible. Is. But,
The patching stop described above is particularly preferable because of its simplicity. Further, in the case of the patching stop, it may be detachable instead of the locking in the above-described slaughtered state.

The movable lever 17c is formed by making a cut in a part of the fitting portion 17a so as to be movable up and down by the elasticity of the fitting portion 17a, and has a lock projection 17c1 protruding at a predetermined position. When the toner cartridge C is rotated and mounted on the developing device 5, as will be described later, the lock protrusion 17c1
The developing device 5 is locked at a predetermined position to prevent the toner cartridge C from rotating during image formation.

{Assembling Method of Toner Cartridge} Next, a procedure for assembling the above-mentioned members and assembling the toner cartridge C will be described.

As described above, first, the sheet member 12c is attached to the opening 12a of the toner supply container 12 to close the opening 12a, and the hot melt adhesive is applied to the inner surfaces of both ends of the toner supply container 12. Then, the protrusions 13a1, 13a2, 14a1 and 14a2 provided on the flanges 13 and 14 are formed in the notch 12 of the toner supply container 12.
The flanges 13 and 14 are fitted and adhered to both ends of the toner replenishing container 12 by aligning so as to fit with b.

Next, the stirring member 15 in which the stirring blade 15b is attached to the stirring shaft 15a is inserted from the hole 14b of the flange 14 and assembled into the toner replenishing container 12.
15b is a thin and flexible one, and the main wing portion 15b
The length from the end of b1 to the end of the aileron 15b2 is equal to that of the hole 14
Since it is larger than the diameter of b, it is difficult to insert it as it is.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7B, the jig 18 is attached to the flange 14. The jig 18 has a funnel-shaped hole 18a which is continuous from a large diameter hole to a small diameter hole, and the small diameter portion of the funnel hole 18a is set to have the same size as the hole 14b of the flange 14. When the jig 18 is attached to the flange 14, the small diameter portion and the hole 14b communicate with each other. Therefore, when the stirring member 15 is inserted through the funnel hole 18a of the jig 18, the blade portion
15b1 and 15b2 are bent along the surface of the funnel hole 18a, and are smoothly inserted into the hole 14b of the flange 14 while being guided by the hole surface.

As described above, the stirring member 15 is inserted into the toner supply container 12, and the fitting portion provided at the insertion tip of the stirring member 15 is inserted.
15a1 is fitted in the shaft hole 13d of the flange 13. At this time, in order to facilitate the fitting, a jig 19 is attached to the flange 13 as shown in FIG. 7 (b).

The jig 19 has an outer diameter capable of being fitted into the filling port 13b of the flange 13, and has a cross groove (not shown) cut to avoid the cross rib 13c provided in the filling port 13b. is there. A funnel-shaped hole 19a is formed at the insertion end of the jig 19, the tip has a large diameter, the diameter of the hole gradually decreases, and the smallest diameter portion is continuous with the shaft hole 13d. ing. Therefore, the fitting portion 15a1 at the tip of the stirring member inserted from the side of the flange 14 of the toner supply container 12 has the funnel hole 19
It is guided by a and smoothly fits into the shaft hole 13d.

After the fitting portion 15a1 is fitted into the shaft hole 13d as described above and the stirring member 15 is strongly pushed, the ring-shaped rib 15a3 (see FIG. 4) provided on the gear portion 15a2 becomes the claw portion of the flange 14.
It becomes immovable in the rotation axis direction by being locked to 14d (so-called patching), and immovable in the rotation radius direction because the outer periphery of the gear part 15a2 is supported by the ring-shaped flange part 14c (see FIG. 4) of the flange 14. Become. For this reason, the stirring member 15 is
Both ends are supported by 3 and 14, and it can rotate without rattling. When installing the stirring member 15, the flange
In order to prevent the toner from leaking from between the hole 14b of 14 and the gear portion 15a2 of the stirring member 15, it is preferable to attach a toner leak preventing seal as described later in the meantime.

Next, the jigs 18 and 19 are removed, and the filling port 13
Fill toner from b. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, toner (one-component magnetic toner in this embodiment) T can be filled by using a developing hopper 30 or the like. In the developing hopper 30, a supply port 30b for filling the toner T is formed on the upper part of a funnel-shaped main body 30a, and a filling port 13 for the toner cartridge C is formed on the lower end part.
An adapter 30c suitable for b is attached. Further body
A rotatable auger 30d is arranged inside the 30a, and the toner filling speed is adjusted by appropriately controlling the rotation of the auger 30d. If the inner surface of the main body 30a is subjected to fluorine treatment to reduce the friction coefficient, the efficiency of filling the toner cartridge C with toner from the developing hopper 30 can be improved. After the toner T is filled in this way, the cap 16 is press-fitted into the filling port 13b to close the filling port 13b.

Next, the protrusions 13a1 and 13a2 of the flange 13 and the notches 17a1 of the handle member 17 are aligned with each other, and the fitting portion 17a of the handle member 17 is press-fitted into the flange 13 to lock the fitting portion 17a. The claw 17a2 is locked in the locking recess 13e of the flange 13 and is fixed so as not to fall off. As a result, the cap 16 is completely hidden as described above, and the cap 16 is fixed by the rib 17a3 (see FIG. 6).

As described above, the toner cartridge C as shown in FIG. 3 can be assembled.

{Stirring member seal structure} Here, the hole 14b of the flange 14 of the toner cartridge C and the stirring member 15
A seal structure for preventing the toner from leaking between the gear portions 15a2, which is the drive transmission portion that transmits the rotational force to the stirring portion, will be described with reference to FIG.

As described above, the stirring member 15 is attached to the flange 14
When it is strongly pushed in, the claw portion 14d, which is the locking portion provided on the flange 14, is locked by the ring-shaped rib 15a3, which is the locked portion provided on the gear portion 15b2, and the stirring member 15 cannot move in the rotation axis direction. Becomes Prior to inserting the stirring member 15, the flange
A flat plate ring-shaped packing member 30 as a toner leakage preventing seal member is interposed around the holes 14b of the fourteen. As a result, the packing member 30 is sandwiched while being compressed between the stirring member gear portion 15a2 and the flange 14.

As the packing member 30, a material having elasticity is preferable, and a foam such as polyethylene or polyurethane, a rubber sponge or a wool felt can be used.
Wool felt is particularly preferred. The wool felt has appropriate elasticity, is excellent in durability, has relatively good slidability, can reduce the rotation torque of the stirring member 15, and is inexpensive. Therefore, in this example, a wool felt having a thickness of 3.0 mm and an apparent density of 0.28 g / cm ³ was used, and this was used as the gear portion 15a2.
It is used by compressing it up to 2.5 mm between the flange and the flange 14.

If the packing member 30 is too dense,
It becomes difficult to obtain the airtightness, and the rotation torque tends to increase. Therefore, when the high-density packing member 30 is used, it is necessary to reduce the compression rate to keep the rotational torque low. This compression rate is determined by the dimensions of the stirring member 15 and the flange 14, and the thickness of the packing member 30, and it is possible to easily increase or decrease the compression rate, but there are variations. Further, since the stirring member 15 and the flange 14 are formed by injection-molding a thermoplastic resin as described above, there is a possibility that fine contact is formed on the contact surface with the packing member 30. For this reason, if the packing member 30 has too high a density, it becomes difficult to absorb the packing member 30 and secure the hermeticity.

On the other hand, if the packing member 30 is too low in density, it becomes difficult to maintain the hermeticity for a long period of time, and in the case of wool felt, there is a problem that fluffing is likely to occur. Therefore, packing member with too low density
In the case of 30, the above-mentioned dimensional variation and surface roughness are easily absorbed, and the hermeticity is easily obtained, but if the state of being compressed for a long time continues, permanent compression strain occurs and the hermeticity rather deteriorates.

For the above reasons, the packing member 30 is made of wool felt and has an apparent density of 0.
In the range of ^{20g / cm 3 ~0.35g / cm 3} , more preferably 0.25 g /
It is desirable to use those in the range of cm ^{3 to} 0.30 g / cm ³ .

The compressibility of the packing member 30 may be appropriately set according to the material of the packing member 30 and the apparent density, but in the case of the wool felt having the apparent density, it is 4%.
~ 40% range, more preferably 10% ~ 30% range,
Most preferably, it is desirable to set in the range of 15% to 20%. This is because if the compression rate is smaller than the above range, permanent compression occurs due to long-term compression and the hermeticity deteriorates, and conversely if the compression rate is larger than the above range, the hermeticity decreases and the rotational torque increases.

The flange 14 has a ring-shaped rib 14 so that the inner diameter portion of the flat plate ring-shaped packing member 30 may come into contact with the flange 14.
e is provided. The purpose of providing the rib 14e is as follows.

The packing member 30 is sandwiched by the ribs 14e to prevent the packing member 30 from being rotated together by the rotation of the stirring member 15 and to prevent the fluff generated from the wool felt from entering the toner supply container 12 as much as possible. This is because Further, when the stirring blade 15b is inserted into the toner supply container 12, it serves to prevent the packing member 30 from being damaged and standing up and to guide the stirring blade 15b so that it can smoothly pass through the hole 14b. is there. Further, when the process cartridge C is accidentally dropped, the impact thereof causes the gear portion 15a2 of the stirring member 15 to abut against the rib 14e, and the toner supply container.
It has a function to prevent the locked state of the locking part from being disengaged because it cannot enter the inside. Also, as shown in FIG.
A space 31 is formed between the rib 14e and the gear portion 15a2, and this space serves as a buffer space for toner particles agitated in the toner supply container 12. That is, when the toner particles are subjected to shear stress, the shear stress is relaxed by escaping into the space,
Generation of agglomerated coarse particles, so-called coarse particles, is prevented.

By interposing the packing member 30 between the flange 14 attached to the toner replenishing container 12 and the gear portion 15a2 of the stirring member 15 as described above, the toner in the toner replenishing container 12 is separated from the gap between them. Can be surely prevented from leaking. Further, by setting the compression rate of the packing member 30 within an appropriate range, it is possible to prevent the rotational torque of the stirring member 15 from rising abnormally. Therefore, it is possible to increase the rotation speed of the stirring member 15, improve the toner carrying capacity, and increase the image forming speed.

Further, the engagement portion between the flange member 14 and the gear portion 15a2 (the engagement portion between the claw portion 14d and the ring-shaped rib 15a3) is arranged outside the toner supply container 12 with respect to the packing member 30. Therefore, the toner in the toner supply container 12 does not leak and reach the locking portion. Therefore, it is possible to prevent generation of coarse particles in which the leaked toner is abraded by the locking portion and aggregates. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the coarse particles from entering the developing chamber and causing white stripes, black spots, or the like during image formation.

Here, preferable values are shown as the dimensions of each part shown in FIG. The distance L ₁ between the hole 14b and the stirring member 15 does not hit the inner diameter of the hole even if the stirring member 15 is eccentric, and in order to reduce the hole diameter, it is in the range of 0.3 mm to 3 mm, more preferably 0.3 to 1.5 mm. It is desirable to set the range, and most preferably 0.5 mm.

Further, the locking length L ₂ of the claw portion 14d is in the range of 0.3 mm to 3 mm, more preferably 0.7 mm to ensure the locked state and facilitate so-called patching.
It is desirable to set in the range of 2 mm, most preferably 1.2 mm.

The distance L between the tip of the rib 14e and the gear portion 15a2
₃ is in the range of 0.3 mm to 1 mm, more preferably 0.3 mm in order to prevent the fluff of the packing member 30 from entering the toner supply container 12 and to prevent the gear portion 15a2 from rubbing against the rib 14e. ~ 0.7 mm range, most preferably 0.5
It is desirable to set to mm.

The thickness L _{4 of the} compressed packing member 30
Is in the range of 1 mm to 5 mm, more preferably in the range of 2 mm to 3 mm, and most preferably 2.5 in order to obtain a sufficient sealing property and not to generate coarse particles in the toner.
It is desirable to set to mm.

The above dimensions can be easily achieved by appropriately setting the dimensions of the flange 14, the stirring member 15, and the packing member 30. Particularly, in the present embodiment, the stirring member
Since the gear portion 15a2 is integrally formed with the stirring shaft 15a of the fifteen, not only is it easy to set the dimensions described above, but also the number of parts is reduced as compared with the case where it is configured as a separate member. The number of steps can be reduced.

[Mounting of Toner Cartridge on Developing Device] As shown in FIG.
It is inserted into the cartridge mounting portion 5e of the developing device 5 and mounted. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the developing device 5 has a cartridge mounting portion 5e for mounting the toner cartridge C on the side of the developing chamber 5a, and the mounting portion 5e and the developing chamber 5a.
And are communicated with each other through the opening 5f. A shutter member 20 that can open and close the opening 5f is provided in the communicating portion. The shutter member 20 rotates as the toner cartridge C is attached and detached.

Next, the structure of the shutter member 20 and the procedure for mounting the toner cartridge C will be described.

{Shutter member} The shutter member 20 is used when the toner cartridge C is not mounted in the mounting portion 5e.
As shown in FIG. 11A, the opening 5f is closed to prevent the toner from flowing back from the developing chamber 5a to the mounting portion 5e. In this closed state, the shutter member 20 has the spring member 29 attached to the inner top surface of the cartridge mounting portion 5e.
It is held down by and is prevented from slipping off.

When the toner cartridge C is mounted in the mounting portion 5e, the shutter member 20 rotates, and the shutter member 20 shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the opening 5f is opened so that the toner can be supplied from the toner cartridge C to the developing chamber 5a.

As shown in FIG. 12, the shutter member 20 has an opening 20a in a part of a semi-cylindrical surface along the peripheral surface shape of the toner supply container 12. The shape and size of the opening 20a is substantially the same as the toner discharge opening 12a of the toner supply container 12, or the opening 20a of the shutter member 20 is slightly larger.
The shutter member 20 is preferably made by punching and bending a metal plate such as SUS, and a seal member 20b is attached to the inner periphery of the opening 20a to prevent toner leakage (see FIG. 11). The seal member 20b is preferably an elastic body, and a polyester sheet, polyurethane foam or the like is more preferably used.

When the toner cartridge C is inserted into the mounting portion 5e, the seal member 20b is brought into contact with the outer surface of the toner cartridge C to prevent the toner from leaking between the shutter member 20 and the toner cartridge C. Further, as shown in FIG. 11, the periphery of the opening 5f of the developing chamber 5a and the shutter member 20 are
A seal member 21 similar to the above is also provided between and to prevent toner from leaking between them.

{Toner Cartridge Installation Procedure} Next, the operator attaches the toner cartridge C described above to the developing device 5.
The procedure for attaching to will be described. First, the general procedure for mounting the toner cartridge C will be described with reference to FIG. 13. When mounting, the side cover 22 of the copying machine is opened (FIG. 13A), and after the used toner cartridge C is removed, A new toner cartridge C is inserted into the cartridge mounting portion 5e of the developing device 5 so that the toner discharge opening 12a faces upward (FIG. 13B). Next, after pulling out the seal member 12c closing the toner discharge opening 12a (FIG. 13C), the toner cartridge C is placed so that the position of the toner discharge opening 12a coincides with the opening 5f of the developing device 5. The toner cartridge C is set by rotating it by about 90 degrees (FIG. 13D).
It is locked so that it does not rotate around 15 rotations. Then, the side cover 22 is closed and the mounting of the toner cartridge C is completed (FIG. 13E).

When the toner cartridge C is to be attached / detached, the movable lever 17c is operated to release the lock (FIG. 13 (f)), and the toner cartridge C is detached from the developing device 5 by performing the operation in the opposite manner. You can

The operation of each part when the operator mounts the toner cartridge C in the developing device 5 according to the above procedure will be described.

When the toner cartridge C is inserted into the cartridge mounting portion 5e, the insertion side end of the mounting portion 5e is
As shown in FIGS. 14 (a) and 14 (b), two grooves 23a and 23c are provided at positions corresponding to the protrusions 14a1 and 14a2 provided on the flange 14, and the toner cartridge C cannot be inserted unless the two grooves 23a and 23c match. There is no such thing. Protrusion 13 on flange 13
Although a1 and 13a2 are provided, their angular positions are protrusions 14a1 and 14a.
The flange protrusions 13a1 and 13a2 can also be automatically inserted into the grooves 23a and 23b because they are matched with a2 and the corresponding protrusions 13a1 and 13a2 have the same shape or the protrusions 13a1 and 13a2 are made smaller. The groove 23a and the flange protrusion 14
By changing the shape of a1 for each type of toner cartridge C (the developing device to be used differs depending on the type of toner, etc.), it is possible to prevent accidentally mounting different types of toner cartridges C. I can.

Since the two flange projections 14a1 and 14a2 have different sizes and are arranged so as not to come to the opposite positions by 180 degrees, the insertion angle of the toner cartridge C is uniquely determined. It When the toner cartridge C is inserted, the toner discharge opening 12a is arranged to face substantially upward. This is to prevent the toner from scattering when the toner cartridge C is attached or detached, and particularly when the used toner cartridge C is pulled out, a small amount of toner remaining inside does not spill and scatter. .

As shown in FIG. 14A, a guide rail 24 parallel to the cartridge insertion direction is provided on the inner surface of the cartridge mounting portion 5e, and the flange protrusion 14a1 is inserted along the guide rail 24a1. Therefore, if the operator does not insert the toner cartridge C to the predetermined position,
The toner cartridge C cannot be rotated in the mounting direction (the arrow direction in FIG. 14B). This guide rail 24
As shown in FIG. 14 (a), the cartridge mounting portion 5e
Is interrupted at the front part and the back part, and when the toner cartridge C is fully inserted, the flange protrusion
14a1 is removed from the guide rail 24 and the flange
The protrusion 13a2 of 13 comes off the groove 23b, and the toner cartridge C
Can be rotated in the mounting direction.

Further, as shown in FIG. 14 (a), a flange portion 25 is provided on the edge portion of the cartridge mounting portion 5e on the cartridge insertion side. When the operator completely inserts the toner cartridge C into the cartridge mounting portion 5e as described above, the movable lever 17c elastically deforms and the lock projection 17c1 gets over the collar 25 as shown in FIG. 15 (a). As a result, even when the operator grasps the end portion 12c1 of the seal member 12c and pulls out the seal member 12c covering the toner discharge opening 12a, the lock projection 17c1 has the collar portion 25c as described above.
The toner cartridge C is locked by the seal member
It is not pulled out of the cartridge mounting portion 5e as the 12c is pulled out.

When the toner cartridge C is completely inserted, as shown in FIG. 12, the toner discharge opening 12a and the shutter opening 20a are in communication with the shutter member 20, and the flange projections 13a1, 13a2, 14a1 are formed. , 14a2 sandwich the four corners of the shutter member 20 and engage with both ends of the shutter member 20. This allows the shutter member 20 to rotate integrally with the rotation of the toner cartridge C.

Here, a seal member for the toner discharge opening 12a
Although 12c is peeled off, since the toner cartridge C is completely contained in the cartridge mounting portion 5e, the toner does not scatter or spill out. In particular, in order to eliminate the deviation in the longitudinal direction of the toner in the conventional toner cartridge, it is generally practiced to shake the toner cartridge, but in this way the toner in the toner supply container 12 is sufficiently air-filled. In the case of a toner cartridge having a high fluidity due to a decrease in the bulk density of the toner in the container, the effect of preventing toner scattering is remarkable when configured as in this embodiment.

Now, after the operator peels off the seal member 12c to open the toner cartridge C, the toner cartridge C is then rotated so that the toner discharge opening 12a is oriented in a predetermined direction. In this embodiment, the opening 5f of the developing device 5
Is substantially right beside the toner cartridge C, so that the toner discharge opening 12a is directed substantially horizontally. As previously mentioned,
Flange protrusions 13a1, 13a2, 14a of the toner cartridge C
Since the shutter member 20 is engaged so as to be sandwiched between 1 and 14a2, when the grip portion 17b of the toner cartridge C is held and rotated, the shutter member 20 is driven and integrally rotated. At this time, the adhesiveness between the outer surface of the toner cartridge C and the shutter member 20 and between the developing chamber 5a and the shutter member 20 is maintained by the seal members 20b and 21.

When the toner cartridge C is rotated, the protrusion 13a2 of the flange 13 is locked to the stepped portion 26 provided on the cartridge mounting portion 5e as shown in FIG. 14 (a). Moreover, even if the toner cartridge C is to be pulled out during the rotation, the protrusion 13a2 is restricted by the stepped portion 26 and cannot be pulled out.

Here, the relationship between the flange projection of the toner cartridge C and the toner discharge opening 12a in this embodiment will be described. First, the flange protrusion is the toner discharge opening.
The shutter member 20 can be rotated even if it is provided on at least one of the flanges 13 and 14 as long as the shutter member 20 is located at a position deviated from the extension line of the longitudinal direction of 12a. However, the action force associated with the opening and closing of the shutter member 20 is substantially evenly distributed to both ends of the shutter member 20 and the toner cartridge C in the rotation axis direction to reduce the deformation of the toner cartridge C and to open and close the shutter member 20. In order to make it smoother, it is preferable that at least one flange projection is provided at each end of the toner cartridge C in the rotation axis direction. Further, as in the present embodiment, toner is discharged to both end portions of the toner cartridge C in the axial direction. More preferably, two protrusions 13a1, 13a2, 14a1 and 14a2 for opening and closing are provided at opposite positions so as to sandwich the extension line of the opening 12a.

The projections 13a1, 13a2, 14a1, 14a2 are
The toner replenishing container 12 may be integrally molded with the toner replenishing container 12 or may be welded or adhered as a separate member. It is more preferable that the flanges 13 and 14 attached to both ends in the axial direction are integrally molded.

Further, the flange protrusions 13a1, 13a2, 14a1, 14a2
The end portion of the toner discharge opening 12a side is a portion that engages with the shutter member 20 when the shutter member 20 is opened and closed,
This is where the action of opening and closing the shutter is most applied. Therefore, the component force of the acting force applied to the engagement surface, the component force acting in the direction away from the center line of the cylinder of the toner supply container 12 and the component force acting toward the center of the cylinder should be as small as possible. Is preferred. Therefore, the flange protrusion 13a1,
It is preferable that the side ends of 13a2, 14a1 and 14a2 on the side of the toner discharge opening 12a be substantially perpendicular to the tangent line of the outer peripheral surface of the cylinder of the portion.

The height of the protrusions 13a1, 13a2, 14a1 and 14a2 is about 2 mm higher than that of the outer peripheral surface of the toner replenishing container 12 in order to securely engage the shutter member 20 and open and close the shutter member 20.
It is preferable that the protrusion is in the range of 10 mm to 4 mm
6 mm is more preferable. When this protrusion amount is less than 2 mm, the engagement portion is less engaged, and the engagement portion of the shutter member 20 has protrusions 13a1, 13a2, 14 when the shutter member 20 is opened and closed.
It is easy to get on the a1 and 14a2 and malfunction. On the contrary, if the amount of protrusion is larger than 10 mm, it is not preferable because the cartridge mounting portion 5e of the developing device 5 is prevented from being made compact.

Next, the toner discharge opening 12a and the opening 12
As shown in FIG. 16, the toner supply container has a positional relationship in the cylinder circumferential direction with the projections 13a1 and 13a2 (first projections) and 14a1 and 14a2 (second projections) provided to face each other with a being sandwiched therebetween. A straight line connecting the center of the cylinder 12 and the center c1 of the toner discharge opening 12a in the longitudinal direction, and the center of the cylinder and the projection 13a for opening the shutter member.
Toner discharge opening side angle of theta ₁ between connecting it straight line and the side edge of the 1,14A1, the straight line connecting the longitudinal center c1 of the cylinder center and the toner discharge opening 12a of the toner supply container 12, a cylindrical The angle between the center and the straight line connecting the side ends of the projections 13a2 and 14a2 for closing the shutter member on the toner discharge opening side is θ ₂
In this case, the angle θ ₁ is preferably set in the range of about 20 ° to 90 °, more preferably about 30 ° to 50 °, most preferably about 40 ° to 50 °. The angle θ ₂ is about 70 degrees to 1
It is desirable to set the angle in the range of 60 degrees, more preferably about 105 degrees to 130 degrees, and most preferably about 110 degrees to 120 degrees (in this embodiment, the angle θ ₁ is 45 ± 1 degrees, θ ₂ The 1
15 ± 1 degree).

If the angle θ ₁ is less than 20 degrees and θ ₂ is less than 70 degrees, the toner discharge opening of the toner replenishing container 12 having a low rigidity is opened.
Since the protrusions 13a1, 13a2, 14a1, 14a2 are close to the 12a, the toner discharge opening 12a is easily deformed during the opening / closing operation of the shutter member 20 and a space for providing the seal member 20b attached around the shutter opening 20a is provided. It is not preferable because it cannot be obtained. Also, the angle θ ₁ is 90 degrees,
If θ ₂ is larger than 160 degrees, the circumferential length of the shutter member 20 is inevitably long, and the operating force associated with opening and closing the shutter member 20 is unnecessarily large, which is not preferable.

In this embodiment, as described above, a pair of projections 13a1 and 14a1 for shutter member opening operation and a pair of projections 13a2 and 14a2 for shutter member closing operation are provided at both longitudinal ends of the toner supply container 12, respectively. However, when the protrusion is provided only at one end in the longitudinal direction of the toner replenishing container 12, for the same reason as described above, the positions of the protrusions facing each other across the toner discharge opening 12a are the center of the cylinder and the toner. The angle formed by the straight line connecting the center of the discharge opening 12a in the longitudinal direction and the straight line connecting the center of the cylinder and the side end of the protrusion on the toner discharge opening 12a side is set in the range of about 20 to 160 degrees. It is desirable to do.

When the toner cartridge C inserted in the cartridge mounting portion 5e is rotated in the mounting direction, the flange projections 13a1 and 14a1 for shutter closing operation are locked to the shutter member 20 and the cartridge C and the shutter as described above. The member 20 rotates integrally. This rotation is restricted when the flange protrusions 13a2, 14a2 hit the step 27 provided on the cartridge mounting portion 5e, as shown in FIG. 14 (a). At this time, the toner supply container 12 and the openings 12a, 20a of the shutter member 20 are oriented in a substantially horizontal direction and communicate with the opening 5f of the developing device 5 (see FIG. 11B).

Thus, when the toner supply container 12 is rotated to the rotation restricting position, the movable lever 17c elastically deforms and the lock protrusion 17c1 is attached to the cartridge mounting portion 5e as shown in FIGS. 15 (b) and 15 (c). The end 25a of the flange 25 provided is overcome and automatically locked and locked at the end 25a. As a result, even if the toner cartridge C tries to rotate in the clockwise direction in FIG. 15B, the rotation is restricted because the lock protrusion 17c1 is locked at the end of the flange portion.

The lock projection 17c1 is formed with an inclined surface 17c2 inclined in the rotation direction so that the lock projection 17c1 can easily get over the end 25a when the toner cartridge C is rotated in the mounting direction. Therefore, even if the movable lever 17c is not pressed, when the toner cartridge C is rotated in the mounting direction and the lock protrusion 17c1 comes into contact with the flange end 25a, the inclined surface 17
The movable lever 17c elastically deforms along c2, and the lock protrusion 17c
c1 gets over the end 25a. The movable lever 17c elastically returns and is automatically locked when the vehicle gets over. The click feeling at this time allows the operator to know that the toner cartridge C is securely locked.

By mounting the toner cartridge C,
As shown in FIG. 14 (a), the gear portion 15a2 of the stirring member 15 is connected to the drive gear 28 on the apparatus main body side and can be driven and rotated.

[Toner Feeding Operation] The toner cartridge C is attached to the developing device 5 to form an image as described above. Next, the toner feeding operation in the toner cartridge C at the time of image formation will be described.

At the time of image formation, the driving force is transmitted to the stirring member 15, and the stirring member 15 moves in the clockwise direction in FIG. 11 (b), for example.
It rotates at a speed of 10.2 rpm. As a result, the toner in the toner replenishing container 12 is sufficiently stirred and uniformized by the stirring blade 15b, and while being appropriately charged, it passes through the toner discharge opening 12a, the shutter opening 20a, and the developing device opening 5f, and the developing device 5f. 5 to the developing chamber 5a. At this time, since the toner discharge opening 12a faces the substantially horizontal direction, a large amount of unstirred and uncharged toner does not flood the developing device 5 at one time. Then, as the development proceeds, the toner in the toner supply container 12 decreases, but the stirring member
Since the toner delivery force by 15 is sufficient, the toner in the developing chamber 5a of the developing device 5 is always kept at a constant amount.

This is because the stirring blade 15b is made of an elastic material, and the radius of rotation of the stirring blade 15b is slightly longer than the cylinder radius of the toner supply container, so that the tip of the blade protrudes slightly from the toner discharge opening 12a to the outside. It is because it is done. That is, the stirring blade 15b was bent and urged while rotating while rubbing against the inner wall of the container 12, but when the stirring blade 15b reaches the toner discharge opening 12a, it is restored by the elasticity of the stirring blade 15b. Then, the toner is splashed off and the toner is developed in the developing device 5.
It is to send to.

When the amount of toner in the toner supply container 12 is large, the toner splashing action is not remarkable because a large amount of toner becomes a resistance, and an excessive amount of toner is removed by the developing device 5.
Then, the toner is prevented from aggregating and the image defect caused by the aggregation is prevented. Moreover, since the stirring blade 15b bends, an increase in the rotation torque is prevented. On the other hand, the toner supply container 12
As the amount of toner inside decreases, the restoring operation of the stirring blade 15b becomes smoother, and high toner feeding force is exhibited.

As a result, the toner in the toner supply container 12 can be sent to the developing device 5 with almost no remaining. Further, since the stirring blade 15b rubs against the inner wall of the container,
Generation of coarse particles of toner is prevented.

As described above, since the stirring blade 15b rotates while rubbing against the inner wall of the toner replenishing container 12, it is conceivable that the toner cartridge C rotates around the rotation of the stirring member 15. In the example, as mentioned above,
Since the lock protrusion 17c1 is locked to the collar portion 25 of the cartridge mounting portion 5e (see FIGS. 15 (b) and 15 (c)), the toner cartridge C does not hang around and the position of the toner discharge opening 12a ( In particular, the angular position of the lower side edge is always guaranteed stably, and the toner supply amount and the image quality are also stabilized.

When the toner cartridge C is mounted and the lower edge of the toner discharge opening 12a is 0 degrees in the horizontal direction with respect to the cylindrical axis of the toner supply container 12, the angle range is ± 10 degrees. , And more preferably ± 5 degrees. In this embodiment, the angle is set to −3.6 degrees.

[Removal of Toner Cartridge from Developing Device] Next, when removing the toner cartridge C from the developing device 5, from the state shown in FIGS. 15 (b) and 15 (c),
The operator pushes down the movable lever 17c provided on the handle member 17 toward the handle portion 17b side, and the lock projection 17c1 and the end portion 25 of the collar portion 25.
The toner cartridge C is rotated in the clockwise direction (the shutter member 20 is also rotated integrally) while releasing the locked state with the a, and the toner discharge opening 12a is returned to the upward state, and then the toner cartridge C is replaced with the cartridge. Pull out from the mounting portion 5e. At this time, contrary to when the toner cartridge C is mounted, the toner cartridge C cannot be pulled out unless it is rotated until the toner discharge opening 12a faces upward.

The toner cartridge C is mounted, used,
The outer surface of the toner replenishing container 12a and the shutter member 20 are in close contact with each other throughout the entire process of attachment and detachment, and the sealing property is maintained. Therefore, no toner adheres to the outer surface of the used toner cartridge C removed from the developing device 5,
The operator can dispose of the used toner cartridge C without soiling the hands or clothes with the toner. Further, as described above, the amount of toner remaining in the used cartridge C is extremely small due to the high toner feeding force of the stirring member 15, so that the toner may spill in the process of disposing of the used cartridge C. There is no scattering.

[Recycling Procedure] The toner cartridge C according to this embodiment is used for image formation as described above,
After the toner is used up, it can be collected and recycled. Recycling of the collected toner cartridge C is performed according to the following procedure.

(1) Remove the handle member 17 from the flange 13.

This is a handle member if it is twisted by hand.
The locking state of the locking claw 17a2 of 17 and the locking recess 13e of the flange 13 can be released. However, since the removal strength when the handle member 17 is pulled straight is about 30 kgf, it is preferable to remove it by using some jig or device.

(2) The cap 16 is pulled out from the flange 13.

This can also be sufficiently pulled out by hand, but it can be pulled out more easily by using a tool such as pliers. However, when the cap 16 is reused, the cap 16 is pulled out by hand so as not to damage it, or is removed by using some jig.

(3) The outer surface and the inner surface of the toner supply container 12 are cleaned.

As a cleaning method, air blowing or vacuum suction may be performed, and then wiping may be performed with a waste cloth or the like. It should be noted that there is no problem even if the cleaning of the inner surface of the container 12 is omitted. Similarly, the handle member 17 and the cap 16 when reused are also cleaned.

(4) Toner discharge opening 12 of the toner supply container 12
A is sealed with a seal member 12c.

Since the seal member 12c is peeled off at the start of use of the toner cartridge C and is normally discarded,
The recovered toner cartridge C has no seal member 12c. Therefore, a new seal member 12c is attached with an adhesive or a hot melt adhesive, and the toner discharge opening 12
Seal a. It should be noted that heat sealing with a normal easy peel adhesive layer may be used.

(5) Check the tightness of the toner supply container 12.

Toner charging port by closing the hole 14b of the flange 14
The airtightness of the toner container 12 is confirmed by a so-called air leak test in which air is blown from 13b and air leak is detected. The confirmation of the hermeticity may be omitted, and the toner leakage may be confirmed after the toner filling described later.

(6) Check the rotation torque of the stirring member 15.

It is checked whether the rotating torque of the stirring member 15 is too high. This check may be omitted.

(7) Toner is filled from the filling port 13b, and the cap 16 is pressed into the filling port 13b.

The toner may be charged manually, but as described above, it is preferable to use an auger type filling machine as shown in FIG. The toner filling amount is preferably the same as that of a new toner, but it can be increased or decreased more than that.

As described above, it is preferable to reuse the cap 16 that has been pulled out in order to enhance the recycling efficiency. However, the cap 16 may be a newly molded one. In this case, the cap does not necessarily have the same shape as the original shape as long as it has a function of sealing the filling port 13b.

(8) The outer surface of the toner supply container 12 is cleaned.

As in the case of (3) described above, this cleaning method may be performed by air blowing or vacuum suction, and then wiping with a waste cloth or the like. Also, this step can be omitted.

(9) Check if toner leakage occurs.

Although it is confirmed that the toner is filled and the toner does not leak from the toner supply container 12, this step can be omitted.

(10) Attach the handle member 17.

The removed handle member 17 is pushed into the flange 13, and the locking claw 17a2 of the member 17 is locked in the locking recess 13e which is the locked part of the flange 13, and the handle member 17 is flanged.
Attach to 13. If the locking claw 17a is damaged when removing the handle member 17 in the above (1), a newly molded handle member 17 may be used.

As described above, by reusing the toner cartridge C by collecting the used cartridge once and refilling it with the toner, it is possible to save resources, save energy and reduce dust.

<< Other Embodiments >> Next, other embodiments will be described. In the description with reference to the drawings, portions having the same functions as those of the above-described first embodiment will be designated by the same reference numerals and the description will be incorporated.

{Other Embodiments of Toner Cartridge} First
Another embodiment of each part of the toner cartridge C described in the embodiment will be described in the order of the stirring member, the toner supply container, the grip member, and the recycling structure.

(Other Embodiments of Stirring Member) First, stirring member 15
Another example is shown in FIG. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 17, the main wing portion 15b1 and the auxiliary wing portion 15b2 are agitating member 15 from the middle.
Is bent to the downstream side with respect to the rotation direction of. In the case of this shape, since the tip end side portion of the blade portion obliquely faces the toner, there is an effect that the rotation torque of the stirring member 15 is further reduced.

Further, in the case of the agitating member 15 having the above-mentioned shape, the tip of the agitating blade approaches the toner discharge opening 12a, the elasticity of the blade is released, and the component of the force for sending the toner in the horizontal direction increases when the toner bounces off. And add toner to the toner supply container.
Not only is it pumped up from the bottom of 12 to the toner discharge opening 12a, but the force to be sent from the toner discharge opening 12a to the developing device 5 is enhanced.

Therefore, in a compact developing device in which the developing chamber 5a and the cartridge mounting portion 5e are arranged substantially horizontally, it is effective to configure the stirring blade 15b as described above. Further, as described above, when the stirring blade 15b is bent midway, the contact angle between the tip of the stirring blade and the inner wall surface of the toner replenishing container 12 becomes smaller than that in the case of the first embodiment described above. Coarse particles of the toner are less likely to occur.

Here, when the stirring blade 15b is bent from the middle as described above, the bending angle is about 0 degree from the viewpoint of the increase of the toner feeding force and the decrease of the rotation torque.
Desirably, it is set to 90 degrees, more preferably about 20 to 90 degrees, and most preferably about 40 to 90 degrees. Further, the bent portion of the bent wing portion is located at a position of about 50% to 95%, more preferably about 60% to 90%, most preferably about 70% to 80% from the rotation axis of the entire length in the radial direction of rotation of the wing portion. It is desirable to configure so that

The stirring blade 15b may be constructed as shown in FIG. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 18, the main wing portion 15
A plurality of toner passage windows 15b6 are provided between the holes 15b4 provided in b1.
Is provided. With this configuration, when the stirring member 15 rotates during image formation, the toner in the toner supply container 12 is not limited to the holes 15b4 of the main wing portion 15b1 but also the toner passage window.
The toner also passes through from 15b6, and the rotation torque of the stirring member 15 decreases. Further, by making the window 15b6 an appropriate size, the waist strength of the main wing portion 15b1 can be adjusted, and the toner can be repelled from the discharge opening 12a with an appropriate strength.

(Other Embodiment of Toner Replenishing Container) Next, another embodiment of the toner replenishing container 12 will be described. In the above-described first embodiment, the toner discharge opening 12a provided in the toner supply container 12 has a rectangular shape (see FIG. 4). However, as shown in FIG. 19, it is a corner portion of the rectangular toner discharge opening 12a. The corner 12a1 (the lower corner when the toner cartridge C is mounted in the developing device 5 in this embodiment) 12a1 on the side where the handle member 17 is attached is slanted. The opening may be narrower than the other openings.

When the toner cartridge C is attached to the developing device 5 to form an image, the corner portion of the toner discharge opening 12a,
In particular, the toner is likely to be discharged into the developing chamber from the corner on the side where the handle member 17 is attached, but as described above, the corner on the side where the handle member 17 is attached, especially the lower side portions 12a1 are formed obliquely to narrow the width. To keep the toner discharge opening 12a in the longitudinal shape.
The toner is uniformly discharged over the entire area, and toner spill does not occur.

Further, in the above-described first embodiment, when the toner cartridge C is attached or detached, the shutter member 20 can be rotated integrally with the cartridge C, so that the shutter member 20 can be locked at the end portion thereof. The protrusions 13a1, 13a2, 14a1 and 14a2 are provided on the flanges 13 and 14, respectively.
The a2, 14a1, and 14a2 may be provided not at the flanges 13 and 14 but at the longitudinal end portion of the toner supply container 12 as shown in FIG.

Alternatively, at least one of the flanges 13 and 14 and the toner supply container 12 may be integrally molded. In this case, as shown in Fig. 21, a flange with a filling port 13b
It is more preferable to integrally mold 13 because the core collapse of the mold can be prevented. Furthermore, as the molding machine in this case, it is preferable to use an ultra-high-speed high-pressure injection molding machine,
Injection pressure 500kgf / cm ² ~1500kgf / cm ² at that time, the filling time of the resin is desirably set to about 0.005 seconds to 0.02 seconds.

The protrusions 13a1, 13a2, 14a1 and 14a2 have the toner discharge opening 12 provided in the toner supply container 12 as described above.
Since it is necessary to dispose the toner replenishing container 12 having the toner discharging opening 12a at a constant angular position with respect to a, the toner replenishing container 12 having the toner discharging opening 12a is integrally formed as described above. Then, the positioning can be performed with higher accuracy and more easily.

(Other Embodiments of Handle Member) Next, the handle member 17
22 may be configured as shown in FIG. 22 as another embodiment. This handle member 17 shows an example in which an H-shaped protruding rib 17d is provided at a predetermined position of the fitting portion 17a, that is, at a position opposite to the side where the toner discharge opening 12a is provided when the toner supply container 12 is attached.

With this structure, when the toner cartridge C is inserted into the cartridge mounting portion 5e of the developing device 5 and rotated to mount the toner cartridge C, as shown in FIG. The H-shaped rib 17d of 17 contacts the inner peripheral surface of the cartridge mounting portion 5e, and pushes out the toner cartridge C to the left side of FIG. 11B. As a result, the toner replenishing container 12 is opened at the opening 5f of the developing device 5.
The toner discharged from the toner discharge opening 12a is reliably supplied to the developing chamber without spilling into the cartridge mounting portion 5e.

(Other Embodiment of Recycling) Next, when the used toner cartridge C is collected and recycled, in the first embodiment described above, the handle member 17 and the cap 16 are used.
Although the example in which the toner is removed and the toner is refilled from the toner filling port 13b is shown, the toner may be refilled from the toner discharge opening 12a without removing the handle member 17 and the cap 16. The recycling procedure at that time is as follows.

(1) Clean the outer and inner surfaces of the toner supply container 12.

Handle member for the recovered toner cartridge C
Toner supply container with 17 and cap 16 attached
The outer surface and the inner surface of 12 are cleaned. In this cleaning method, it is preferable that air blowing or vacuum suction is performed as in the case of the first embodiment, followed by wiping with a waste cloth or the like. It should be noted that there is no problem even if the cleaning of the inner surface of the container 12 is omitted.

(2) Check the rotation torque of the stirring member 15.

It is checked whether the rotation torque of the stirring member 15 is too high. This check may be omitted.

(3) Toner is filled from the toner discharge opening 12a.

A cap that closes the toner filling port 13b
In order not to remove 16 the toner is supplied from the opening 12a of the toner supply container 12. It is preferable to use an auger type filling machine for this toner filling as in the first embodiment, but it may be manually filled.

(4) Seal the toner discharge opening 12a with the seal member 12c.
Seal with.

Since the toner filling port 13 is still closed by the cap 16, the toner discharging opening 12a is closed by the sealing member 12.
By sealing with c, the toner filled in the toner supply container 12 is sealed. The material of the sealing member 12c and the sealing method are the same as in the first embodiment described above.

(5) Clean the outer surface of the toner supply container 12.

In this cleaning method, as in the case of cleaning before toner filling, air blowing or vacuum suction may be performed, and then wiping may be performed. Also, this step can be omitted.

(6) Check if toner leakage occurs.

Although it is confirmed that the toner is filled and the toner does not leak from the toner supply container 12, this step can be omitted.

By filling the toner through the toner discharge opening 12a provided in the toner supply container 12 as described above, the toner cartridge C can be easily recycled without removing the handle member 17 and the cap 16.

{Other Embodiments Applied to Process Cartridge} In the above-described first embodiment, the photosensitive drum 2 and the developing device 5 constituting the image forming portion are provided in the main body of the apparatus, and the toner is supplied for toner replenishment. Although the example in which the cartridge C is made removable is shown, in order to prevent the toner from leaking from between the hole 14b of the flange 14 of the toner cartridge C and the gear portion 15a2 which is the drive transmission portion of the stirring member 15 described above. The seal structure (see FIG. 9) can be similarly applied to the process cartridge.

The process cartridge has a structure in which, for example, a photosensitive drum, a charging device, a developing device, and a cleaning device are integrated into a cartridge. For example, as shown in FIG. 23, rotating the photosensitive drum 32 having a photosensitive layer,
The surface thereof is uniformly charged by applying a voltage to a charging roller 33, which is a charging device, and the optical image from the reading device 1 is exposed on the photosensitive drum 32 via the exposure unit 34 to form a latent image,
The developing device 35 is configured to develop. The developing device 35 includes a stirring member for stirring the toner in the toner supply container 35a.
Development sleeve with fixed magnet 35c sent out by 35b
While rotating 35d, a toner layer to which a triboelectric charge has been applied by the developing blade 35e is formed on the surface of the developing sleeve 35d, and the toner is transferred to the photosensitive drum 32 according to the latent image to form a toner image. And visualize it. Then, after the toner image is transferred to the recording medium 9 by applying a voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the toner image to the transfer device on the apparatus main body side, the cleaning blade 36a scrapes off the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 32, and the squeeze sheet The cleaning device 36 scoops the residual toner on the photosensitive drum 7 by the scrubbing device 36b and collects it in the waste toner reservoir 36c. Each component such as the photosensitive drum 32 is housed in a housing in which a toner container 37a, a developing frame body 37b, and a cleaning container 37c are combined to form a cartridge, and a cartridge mounting means provided in the main body of the image forming apparatus. It is removably attached to.

As described above, the process cartridge P is
By replacing not only the toner supply container 35a but also the photoconductor drum 32 and the like in a cartridge so that the cartridge can be replaced, not only the toner can be easily replenished, but also the photoconductor drum 32 and the like can be easily maintained. is there.

In the process cartridge P, the stirring member 35b is integrally provided with the coupling gear portion 35b3 at the end of the stirring shaft 35b1, and the stirring blade 35b2 similar to that of the first embodiment is attached to the stirring shaft 35b1. This is rotatably attached to the toner supply container 35a, and the toner is sent out from the toner discharge opening 35a1. The gear portion 35b3 of the stirring member 35b
The seal configuration between the toner replenishing container 35a and
The same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained by making the configuration similar to that described with reference to FIG. 9 of the embodiment.

That is, a flat plate ring-shaped packing member is compressed as a seal member between the gear portion 35b3 which is the drive transmission portion of the stirring member 35b and the toner replenishing container 35a (for example, wool felt is compressed by 4% to 40%). The gear portion 35b3 and the toner replenishing container 35a (for example, the toner replenishing container 35a is provided with a retaining claw, and the retaining claw is provided on the gear portion 35b3). Since the locking portion that is pushed into the locking portion and locked is located outside the toner container with respect to the packing member, toner does not leak into the locking portion during image formation, and It is possible to prevent the generation of coarse toner.

The stirring member is not limited to a flexible member such as a stirring blade, but may be structured as shown in FIG. 24 (a). That is, the stirring member 38 is formed by separately forming a rod-shaped member 38a bent to stir the toner and a gear portion 38b as a drive transmission member. When the stirring member 38 is assembled, the rod-shaped member 38a is formed. 38 is inserted from the toner discharge opening 35a1 and one end thereof is inserted into the recess 35a2 of the toner supply container 35a. Next, the gear portion 38b is inserted from the hole 35a3 provided in the toner supply container 35 and attached to the other end of the rod-shaped member 38a, and the stirring member 38 is rotatably attached to the toner supply container 35a. At this time,
In order to prevent the toner from leaking between the hole 35a3 of the container 35a and the gear portion 38b, a packing member 39 made of a flat ring-shaped wool felt is used as a seal member between the container 35a and the gear portion 38b by 4% to 40%. It is intervened so that it becomes the compression rate of.

Then, the gear portion 38b and the toner supply container 35a
As shown in FIG. 24 (b), the engaging portion with the engaging claw 35a5 is provided at the tip of a ring-shaped collar portion 35a4 provided on the toner supply container 35a.
When the gear portion 38b is pushed into the collar portion 35a4, the gear portion 38b is locked by the locking claw 35a5, the packing member 39 is compressed, and the gear portion 38b does not move in the rotation axis direction.

Since the locking portion is also provided outside the toner replenishing container with respect to the packing member 39, the toner in the toner replenishing container 35a does not leak to the locking portion at the time of image formation, and the toner is not leaked to the locking portion. The generation of coarse toner is prevented. Further, in the structure shown in FIG. 24, the packing member
Since 39 seals the two surfaces of the gear member 38b, the sealing performance is improved and toner leakage is prevented more reliably.

The process cartridge described above is
For example, an electrophotographic photosensitive member as an image carrier and at least one process means are provided. Therefore, as the mode of the process cartridge, in addition to the embodiment described above, for example, the image carrier and the charging means are integrally made into a cartridge, which can be attached to and detached from the apparatus main body. The image carrier and the developing means are integrally formed into a cartridge, which can be attached to and detached from the main body of the apparatus. The image carrier and the cleaning means are integrally made into a cartridge so that it can be attached to and detached from the apparatus main body. Further, there is one in which an image carrier and two or more of the above-mentioned process means are combined into an integrated cartridge, which can be attached to and detached from the apparatus main body.

That is, the above-mentioned process cartridge is one in which the charging means, the developing means or the cleaning means and the electrophotographic photosensitive member are integrally made into a cartridge, and the cartridge can be attached to and detached from the main body of the image forming apparatus. . Further, at least one of the charging means, the developing means, and the cleaning means and the electrophotographic photosensitive member are integrally made into a cartridge so that it can be attached to and detached from the main body of the image forming apparatus. Further, it means that at least the developing means and the electrophotographic photosensitive member are integrally made into a cartridge so as to be attachable to and detachable from the apparatus main body.

Other Embodiments of Image Forming Section As the developing method, various known developing methods such as a two-component magnetic brush developing method, a cascade developing method, a touch-down developing method and a cloud developing method can be used. Is.

The image carrier for forming a toner image by the developing device 5 is not limited to the photosensitive drum of the first embodiment described above, but includes, for example, the following. First, a photoconductor is used as the photoconductor, and examples of the photoconductor include amorphous silicon, amorphous selenium, zinc oxide, titanium oxide, and an organic photoconductor (OP).
C) etc. are included. The shape on which the photoconductor is mounted includes, for example, a drum-shaped, belt-shaped rotating body, a sheet-shaped body, and the like. Generally, a drum-shaped or belt-shaped one is used. For example, in the case of a drum type photoconductor, a photoconductor is vapor-deposited or coated on a cylinder of aluminum alloy or the like. Is.

As for the structure of the charging means, the so-called contact charging method was used in the above-mentioned first embodiment, but a tungsten wire which has been conventionally used as another structure is provided with a metal shield such as aluminum around the three sides, It goes without saying that a configuration may be used in which positive or negative ions generated by applying a high voltage to the tungsten wire are moved to the surface of the photosensitive drum to uniformly charge the surface of the drum.

The charging means may be of a blade type (charging blade), a pad type, a block type, a rod type, a wire type or the like, other than the roller type.

Further, as a method for cleaning the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum, the cleaning means may be constituted by using a blade, a fur brush, a magnetic brush or the like.

Further, in the above-described first embodiment, the developing device 5
Although a copying machine is exemplified as an image forming apparatus using the above, it is not necessary to limit to the copying machine as long as it is an apparatus that forms an image using toner, and for example, a laser beam printer, an LED printer, a facsimile machine, or the like. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied even if there is.

<< Experimental Results >> [Experiment-1] Using the toner cartridge C described in the first embodiment, a cylindrical toner replenishing container 12 having an inner diameter of 55 mm and an inner length of 322.5 mm as shown in FIG. An agitating member 15 was set, and 380 g of one-component toner was charged in the agitating member 15 and the agitating member 15 was mounted on the developing device 5 as shown in FIG.
The rotation speed of the stirring member 15 was 10.2 rpm. A4 size 5.
While using 24% originals to print in intermittent endurance mode,
The amount of toner in the developing chamber 5a and the amount of toner in the toner supply container 12 were measured.

From the space in the developing chamber 5a, the proper amount of toner in the developing device is about 100 g. Since the inside of the developing chamber 5a is empty at the beginning of image formation, the toner is rapidly supplied from the toner supply container 12 to the developing chamber 5a, and the amount of toner in the developing chamber 5a increases relatively rapidly, but reaches about 100 g. Then it saturates and keeps a constant value.

As described above, the amount of toner in the toner supply container 12 is decreasing with the progress of image formation, but nevertheless, the amount of toner in the developing chamber 5a is maintained at about 100 g. Eventually, when almost all the toner in the toner supply container 12 was used up, the amount of toner in the developing chamber 5a also began to decrease.

The toner amount detecting means arranged in the developing chamber is set to operate when the amount of toner in the developing chamber becomes 70 g or less, so that the amount of toner in the developing chamber becomes 70
When the value is g or less, a message prompting replacement of the toner supply container 12 is displayed. By this time, about 7,000 images had been printed.

The amount of toner in the developing chamber 5a, 70 g, is sufficient to obtain a good image even if the toner is solid black, and the toner is replaced with a new toner cartridge C and new toner comes in. Is a sufficient amount that does not cause reversal fog due to self-contamination.

[0214] The toner supply container in which the image output is completed in this way
When the remaining amount of toner in 12 was examined, it was an extremely low level of 3 to 5 g.

When a similar test was conducted using an A4 size 25% original, the toner amount detecting means was activated at the time when about 1500 images were output. At this time, the amount of toner remaining in the toner supply container 12 was 5 to 10 g.

The relationship between the remaining amount of toner and the dirt depends on the shape of the toner supply container 12, particularly the size of the toner discharge opening 12a.
When the width of 12a is as narrow as 7 mm, it is unlikely that the toner will be spilled or scattered during the discarding process if the remaining toner amount is up to about 10 g.

[Experiment-2] The same toner supply container 12 as in Experiment-1 was filled with 380 g of toner, and the toner discharge opening
Stirrer 15 at a speed of 10.2 rpm without opening 12a.
It was rotated continuously for 10 hours.

The 10-hour continuous rotation corresponds to the output of 7,000 sheets. At this time, I continued to measure the rotation torque, but after the initial slight decrease, I kept a constant level,
It didn't rise.

After completion of rotation for 10 hours, a toner supply container
When the toner in 12 was taken out and passed through a 150 mesh (100 μm) open mesh screen, no coarse particles remained on the mesh. The weight average particle diameter of this toner was 7.6 μm.

[Experiment-3] The same experiment was performed by incorporating the conventional stirring member shown in FIG. 25 into the same toner supply container 12 as in the first embodiment. This stirring member 50 is a rotary shaft.
A toner feeding blade 53 is provided on one side of the toner feeding blade 53 via an elastic holding member 52, and a slit 54 extending in the rotation radius direction of the toner feeding blade 53 is provided. Is the same as the inner radius of the cylinder 55.

As a result, in the case of an A4 size 4% original, 6300
The toner amount detecting means was activated after the image was output, and the remaining amount of toner in the toner supply container at this time was 10 to 20 g.

Similarly, for an A4 size 15% original, 20
~ 35g of toner remained in the container. In this state, the toner was scattered even if the toner supply container was slightly tilted.

When the number of revolutions of the stirring member was increased to 31.2 rpm, the remaining amount of toner decreased. However, when the same procedure as in Experiment 2 was performed, a slight amount of coarse particles (100 μm or more) was observed. Was given.

[0224]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the engaging portion between the agitating member and the toner replenishing container is located outside the sealing portion between the agitating member and the toner replenishing container, the toner in the toner replenishing container is Is blocked by the seal portion from entering the locking portion. For this reason, coarse particles are not generated in the locking portion, and therefore the rotation torque of the stirring member does not increase.

Also, the locking claw provided on either the drive transmission part of the stirring member or the end of the toner supply container is pushed into the locked part provided on the other so as to be locked. By doing so, the assembling of the stirring member can be facilitated.

Further, by using wool felt as the seal member and keeping it compressed by 4% to 40% between the drive transmission portion and the toner supply container, excellent durability and slidability can be obtained. In addition, it is possible to achieve a seal that is unlikely to cause permanent distortion.

Further, by integrally forming the stirring shaft and the gear portion, which is the drive transmission portion, as the stirring member, the number of parts can be reduced and the assembling can be facilitated.

Further, by providing a stirring blade rotatable about the stirring shaft as the stirring member and providing a toner passage window on this stirring blade, the rotating torque of the stirring member can be reduced and at the same time, the stirring blade can be reduced. It is possible to easily adjust the waist strength of the person.

Further, by making the opening provided in the toner replenishing container rectangular and forming the narrow portion at the corner portion of the opening, the toner supply from the opening is made uniform and unnecessary from the opening. It is possible to prevent unnecessary toner from leaking.

Further, by attaching a handle member to the toner supply container and providing an H-shaped rib on the handle member, the opening provided in the toner supply container can be pressed to the developing chamber side when mounted on the developing device, It is possible to reliably supply the toner.

Further, by integrally molding the flange portion on at least one end of the toner supply container, it is possible to prevent the core of the mold from falling when injection molding the toner supply container.

Further, by integrally providing the protruding portion at a position outside the extension of the opening of the toner supply container, the positional accuracy of the opening and the protruding portion can be improved. When opening and closing, the positioning of the opening and the shutter can be easily made highly accurate.

Further, by constructing the developing device having the mounting portion to which the above-mentioned toner cartridge or process cartridge can be mounted, it becomes possible to obtain a high quality image without white stripes and the rotation speed of the stirring member. It is possible to improve the toner feeding speed and increase the process speed by raising the value.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the overall configuration of a copying machine.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a developing device.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a toner cartridge.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of parts of the toner cartridge.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a stirring member.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory cross-sectional view of a portion to which a handle member is attached.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of assembling the stirring member to the toner supply container.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of filling toner.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing a seal configuration between a gear portion of a stirring member and a flange.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view illustrating a developing device and a toner cartridge.

FIG. 11A is an explanatory view of a state in which the toner cartridge is inserted into the mounting portion, and FIG. 11B is an explanatory view of a state in which the inserted toner cartridge is rotated to be in a usable state.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a locked state of the shutter member and the protrusion of the toner cartridge.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a procedure for mounting the toner cartridge.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a toner cartridge and a cartridge mounting portion.

15A is an explanatory view of a state in which a toner cartridge is inserted into a cartridge mounting portion, and FIGS. 15B and 15C are explanatory views of a state in which the toner cartridge is locked in the cartridge mounting portion.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing a positional relationship between a toner discharge opening and a flange protrusion.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory view of another embodiment of the stirring member.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram of a stirring member having a toner passage window on a main wing portion.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment in which one corner of the toner discharge opening of the toner supply container is inclined.

FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment in which a projection for rotating a shutter is integrally provided on a toner supply container.

FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment in which one flange portion is integrally provided on the toner supply container.

FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram of an example in which an H-shaped rib is provided on the handle member.

FIG. 23 is a structural explanatory view of a process cartridge.

FIG. 24 is an explanatory diagram of another embodiment of the stirring member attached to the process cartridge.

FIG. 25 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional stirring member used in an experiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

C ... Toner cartridge, P ... Process cartridge,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Original reading device, 1a ... Original platen glass, 1b ... Illumination lamp, 1c-1f ... Mirror, 1g ... Lens, 2 ... Photosensitive drum, 3 ... Main motor, 4 ... Charging device, 5 ... Developing device, 5a ... Toner container, 5b ... Toner feeding member, 5c
... development sleeve, 5d ... development blade, 5e ... cartridge mounting portion, 5f ... opening, 6 ... transfer device, 6a ... transfer charger, 6b ... separation charger, 7 ... cleaning means, 7
a: cleaning blade, 7b: collected toner reservoir, 8
... Conveying device, 8a1, 8a2 ... Cassette, 8b1, 8b2 ... Pickup roller, 8c ... Registration roller, 8d ... Manual feed tray, 8e ... Conveying belt, 8f ... Ejection roller, 9 ... Recording medium, 10 ... Fixing device, 10a ... Driving Roller, 10b ... Heating and pressing roller, 11 ... Automatic document feeder, 12 ... Toner supply container, 12a ... Toner discharge opening, 12b ... Notch, 12c ... Seal member, 12c1 ... End, 13 ... Flange, 13a1, 13a2 ... Protrusion, 13b ... Filling port, 13c ... Rib, 13d ... Shaft hole, 13e ... Locking recess, 14 ... Flange, 14a1, 14a2 ... Protrusion, 14b ... Hole,
14c ... Ring-shaped collar portion, 14d ... Claw portion, 14e ... Rib, 15 ... Stirring member, 15a ... Stirring shaft, 15a1 ... Fitting portion, 15a2 ... Gear portion,
15a3 ... Ring-shaped rib, 15a4 ... Caulking boss, 15b ... Stirring blade, 15b1 ... Main blade portion, 15b2 ... Auxiliary blade portion, 15b3 ... Slit,
15b4 ... hole, 15b5 ... caulking hole, 15b6 ... toner passing window,
16 ... Cap, 17 ... Handle member, 17a ... Fitting portion, 17a1 ... Notch, 17a2 ... Locking claw, 17a3 ... Rib, 17a4 ... Step portion, 17b ... Handle portion, 17c ... Movable lever, 17c1 ... Lock protrusion, 17c2 ... inclined surface, 17d ... H-shaped rib, 18 ... jig, 18a ... funnel hole, 19 ...
Jig, 19a ... funnel hole, 20 ... shutter member, 20a ... opening,
20b ... Sealing member, 21 ... Sealing member, 22 ... Side cover, 23a, 23b ... Groove, 24 ... Guide rail, 25 ... Collar part, 25
a ... end, 26 ... step, 27 ... step, 28 ... gear, 29 ... spring,
30 ... Packing member, 31 ... Space, 32 ... Photosensitive drum, 33 ...
Charging roller, 34 ... Exposure unit, 35 ... Developing device, 35a ... Toner supply container, 35a1 ... Toner discharge opening, 35a2 ... Recessed portion, 35a3 ...
Hole, 35a4 ... collar part, 35a5 ... locking claw, 35b ... stirring member, 35b1
... stirring shaft, 35b2 ... stirring blade, 35b3 ... gear part, 35c ... magnet,
35d ... Developing sleeve, 35e ... Developing blade, 36 ... Cleaning device, 36a ... Cleaning blade, 36b ... Squeeze sheet, 36c ... Waste toner reservoir, 37a ... Toner container, 37
b ... developing frame, 37c ... cleaning container, 38 ... stirring member, 38a ... rod-shaped member, 38b ... gear part, 39 ... packing member

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Internal reference number FI Technical indication location G03G 21/16 (72) Inventor Kazuyuki Miyano 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. In the company

Claims (28)

[Claims] 1. A toner cartridge for agitating and delivering a stored developer, and a toner replenishing container having an opening at a predetermined position for accommodating the developer, and agitating for agitating the developer in the toner replenishing container. And a stirring member having a drive transmitting portion that is exposed from an end of the toner replenishing container and transmits a driving force to the stirring unit, and a portion for the stirring member to be exposed from the toner replenishing container. A toner, comprising: a seal member; and an engagement portion that rotatably engages the drive transmission portion of the stirring member with the toner replenishing container outside the toner replenishing container with respect to the seal member. cartridge. 2. The locking portion is configured such that a locking claw provided on one of the drive transmission portion and the end portion of the toner replenishing container is pushed and locked to a locked portion provided on the other side. Item 1. The toner cartridge according to Item 1. 3. The toner cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the seal member compressively holds the packing member between the drive transmission portion and the toner supply container. 4. The toner cartridge according to claim 3, wherein the packing member is a flat ring-shaped wool felt. 5. The toner cartridge according to claim 4, wherein the wool felt is compressed by 4% to 40% and sealed. 6. The toner cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the stirring member includes a stirring blade, a stirring shaft, and a gear portion. 7. The toner cartridge according to claim 6, wherein the stirring shaft and the gear portion are integrally molded. 8. The toner supply container is formed into a cylindrical shape, and the stirring blade has a flexible blade portion that projects from a stirring shaft in at least two directions, and at least one blade portion is the cylinder. Having an end face over substantially the entire length in the longitudinal direction, and having a slit and a developer passing window in places, and the other blade portion has an end face at a position corresponding to the slit, and further from the center of the stirring shaft. 8. The toner cartridge according to claim 7, wherein the distance to each wing is longer than the inner radius of the cylinder around the opening. 9. The toner replenishing container is formed into a cylindrical shape having an insertion hole at an end, and a flat plate ring-shaped seal member is attached to the end of the toner replenishing container having the insertion hole, and the stirring blade is inserted from the insertion hole. The stirring blade and the stirring shaft of the stirring member including the stirring shaft and the gear portion are inserted into the toner replenishing container, and the locking claw provided on one of the gear portion and the end portion of the toner replenishing container is attached to the other. The toner cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the toner cartridge is pushed into the stopper and locked. 10. The toner replenishing container is configured in a cylindrical shape, a rectangular opening is provided along a longitudinal direction of the cylinder, and a narrow portion is provided at a corner portion of the opening. Item 1. The toner cartridge according to Item 1. 11. The toner replenishing container is formed into a cylindrical shape, and a handle member is attached to one end of the toner replenishing container in a longitudinal direction, and an H-shaped member is provided at a position opposite to an opening provided in the toner replenishing container. The toner cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a rib is provided. 12. The toner supply container has a cylindrical shape and has an opening along the longitudinal direction of the cylinder.
2. The toner cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a projecting portion that is located outside the extension of the opening with respect to the longitudinal direction and that projects from the outer peripheral surface of the cylinder. 13. The toner supply container has a cylindrical shape and has an opening along the longitudinal direction of the cylinder.
2. The toner cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising flange portions provided at both ends of the cylinder, wherein at least one flange portion is formed integrally with the cylinder. 14. The toner cartridge according to claim 13, wherein the flange portion integrally formed with the cylinder has a developer filling port on a wall surface. 15. The cylinder has an inner diameter of 20 mm to 100 mm, a wall thickness of 0.4 mm to 1.5 mm, and a flange portion integrally formed with the cylinder has a wall thickness of 1.5 to 4 times the wall thickness of the cylinder. 14. The toner cartridge according to claim 13, wherein the toner cartridge is integrally molded in a shape in which a thin portion and a thick portion coexist. 16. The toner supply container has an injection pressure of 5
00kgf / cm ² ~ 1500kgf / cm ² , resin filling time 0.005
14. The toner cartridge according to claim 13, wherein the toner cartridge is molded by an ultra-high speed injection molding machine of a second to 0.02 second. 17. A process cartridge attachable to and detachable from an image forming apparatus main body, comprising: (a) an image carrier, at least one process means acting on the image carrier, and (b) an opening at a predetermined position, A toner replenishing container for accommodating the developer, a stirring unit for stirring the developer in the toner replenishing container, and a drive transmitting unit exposed from an end of the toner replenishing container and transmitting a driving force to the stirring unit. And a seal member for sealing a portion of the stirring member exposed from the toner replenishing container, and a drive transmission portion of the stirring member is rotatably locked to the toner replenishing container. And a toner accommodating means characterized in that the locking portion is provided outside the toner supply container with respect to the seal member. 18. The locking portion is configured such that a locking claw provided on one of the drive transmission portion and the end portion of the toner supply container is pushed into a locked portion provided on the other to lock. Item 17. The process cartridge according to Item 17. 19. The process cartridge according to claim 17, wherein the seal member holds the packing member under compression between the drive transmission portion and the toner supply container. 20. The process cartridge according to claim 19, wherein the packing member is a flat ring-shaped wool felt. 21. The process cartridge according to claim 20, wherein the wool felt is compressed by 4% to 40% and sealed. 22. The process cartridge according to claim 17, wherein the stirring member includes a stirring blade, a stirring shaft, and a gear portion. 23. The process cartridge according to claim 22, wherein the stirring shaft and the gear portion are integrally molded. 24. The process cartridge comprises a charging means, a developing means or a cleaning means as the process means, and an electrophotographic photosensitive member as the image bearing member, which are integrally made into a cartridge, and the cartridge is formed in an image forming apparatus main body. 17. The device according to claim 17, which is removable.
Process cartridge described. 25. The process cartridge is an image forming apparatus in which at least one of a charging unit, a developing unit, and a cleaning unit as the process unit and an electrophotographic photosensitive member as the image carrier are integrally formed into a cartridge. 18. The process cartridge according to claim 17, which is detachable from the main body. 26. The process cartridge is configured such that at least a developing unit as the process unit and an electrophotographic photosensitive member as the image carrier are integrally made into a cartridge so as to be attachable to and detachable from the main body of the image forming apparatus. 18. The process cartridge according to claim 17, which is a product. 27. In a developing device used in an image forming apparatus, (a) a toner replenishing container having an opening at a predetermined position for accommodating a developer, and a stirring for stirring the developer in the toner replenishing container. And a stirring member having a drive transmitting portion that is exposed from an end of the toner replenishing container and transmits a driving force to the stirring unit, and a portion for the stirring member to be exposed from the toner replenishing container. A toner, comprising: a seal member; and an engagement portion that rotatably engages the drive transmission portion of the stirring member with the toner replenishing container outside the toner replenishing container with respect to the seal member. A developing device comprising: mounting means for mounting the cartridge; and (b) a developer feeding member for transporting the developer to a developing portion. 28. In a developing device used in an image forming apparatus, (a) an image bearing member, at least one process means acting on the image bearing member, an opening at a predetermined position, and containing a developer. For supplying toner to the toner supply container, a stirring unit that stirs the developer in the toner supply container, and a drive transmission unit that is exposed from an end of the toner supply container and that transmits a driving force to the stirring unit. And a seal member for sealing a portion of the stirring member exposed from the toner supply container, and a locking portion for rotatably locking the drive transmission part of the stirring member to the toner supply container. A mounting means for mounting a process cartridge, characterized in that: a toner storage means provided outside the toner supply container with respect to the seal member; and (b) a developer. A developing device having a developer conveying means for conveying the developer site.