JPH07261529A - Toner supplying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the scattering of a toner when it is supplied by providing a cover member having elasticity or a recovery property and covering a toner supply port, and forming multiple crossing notches at part of the cover member. CONSTITUTION:A cover member 2 having elasticity or a recovery property is provided to cover and block a toner supply port 1 by adhesion or another method. The cover member 2 has proper stiffness and/or thickness not to hinder the movement of the discharge tube 6 of a toner bottle 5 to be inserted. Multiple radially crossing notches are formed at the center section of the face of the cover member 2, and the discharge tube 6 of the toner bottle 5 is inserted into the toner supply port 1 to supply the toner while multiple sector notch pieces 4 formed by the notches are retreated into a device. The notch pieces 4 have sufficient stiffness and/or thickness to be pressed and retreated into the device by the insertion of the toner bottle 5 and to be returned to the original position by the removal of the toner bottle 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toner replenishing device for an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, and more particularly to replenishing toner for replenishing toner from a toner bottle into a developing device or a toner supplying device. Concerning the composition of the mouth.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An image forming apparatus as described above has a task of replenishing toner (one-component toner or two-component developer toner) consumed for development into a developing device or a toner supplying device. Normally, the replenishment toner is contained in a replaceable cartridge or a toner bottle, and is replenished into the apparatus by replacing the entire cartridge or by spraying toner powder from the toner bottle.

[0003]

By the way, in the case of the cartridge system, since the entire cartridge is replaced when the toner in the cartridge is consumed, the scattering of the toner powder to the outside of the apparatus during the operation is prevented. However, there are problems in terms of configuration complexity or cost.

On the other hand, the toner bottle method has advantages over the cartridge method in terms of simplification of construction and cost, but since toner is sprayed from the outlet of the bottle, toner powder Scattering outside the device was unavoidable. For example, although FIG. 4 shows an example of a conventional toner bottle type toner replenishing device, the door 10 of the toner replenishing port 100 is shown.
1 is opened, toner is sprayed from the discharge port 103 of the toner bottle 102, and the developing device (or toner supply device) 104
Toner is replenished inside. In order to uniformly supply the toner in the longitudinal direction of the device (direction perpendicular to the paper surface), the worker replenishes while shaking the toner bottle in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface, but the scattering of toner powder at this time can be avoided. Absent.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points,
An object of the present invention is to provide a toner replenishing device that prevents toner from scattering during replenishment.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, a toner replenishing device according to the present invention is provided with a cover member having elasticity or a restoring property so as to cover a toner replenishing port, and a part of this cover member. The present invention is characterized in that a plurality of intersecting cuts are formed, and a toner bottle discharge port is inserted into the cuts so that toner can be supplied to a developing device or a toner supply device.

Preferably, the cover member is made of a porous material, and in particular, at least the cut piece of the cover member forming the cut portion is pushed by the insertion of the bottle and retracts toward the inside of the apparatus, It has sufficient "strain" and / or thickness to return to its original position when the bottle is pulled out.

According to still another aspect, a reinforcing flange having elasticity or a restoring property is provided so as to surround the cut portion, and a plurality of the toner replenishing ports are provided at a distance from each other in the longitudinal direction of the developing device or the toner supplying device. To be

[0009]

With this configuration, when the toner is replenished, the discharge cylinder of the toner bottle is inserted into the above-described cut portion, and the toner is replenished with the discharge port of the bottle protruding into the apparatus. At this time, the cut piece blocks the peripheral surface of the toner discharge cylinder, and prevents the toner powder from scattering from the gap around the discharge cylinder to the outside of the apparatus. It should be noted that even if the bottle is shaken or moved so as to change the direction for replenishment, the elasticity or the recoverability of the cover member does not interfere with the operation of the bottle.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a main part of a toner replenishing device according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 shows a replenishing port for replenishing toner from the outside into a developing device or a toner supplying device 10. Although not shown in the drawing, the replenishment port 1 is formed of a circular or rectangular hole having an appropriate size, and connects the inside of the developing device (or toner supplying device) 10 to the outside of the developing device (or toner supplying device). ) 10 in the longitudinal direction (perpendicular to the paper surface), that is, in the magnet brush type developing device, for example, a plurality of magnets 10 are provided apart from each other along the axial direction of the magnet brush.

A relatively thin cover member 2 having elasticity or restoring property is provided by adhesion or other method so as to cover the toner supply port 1 and close it. For example, in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, with respect to the toner supply port 1 having a quadrangular shape, a cover member 2 having an area sufficient to close the supply port 1 is fixed to the peripheral edge of the supply port 1 by adhesion or the like on the four sides. Is blocking. The cover member 2 has an appropriate “brush” and / or thickness so as not to hinder the operation when the discharge tube of the inserted toner bottle is moved as described later. In addition, it preferably has appropriate flexibility in order to be in close contact with the discharge bottle of the toner bottle described later. A porous material such as sponge is particularly preferably used as the material of the cover member 2, but the material is not limited to this. Further, in the experiment, for example, a sponge material having a thickness of about 4 to 10 mm is preferably used, but the invention is not limited to this, and the operation is not obstructed when the discharge bottle of the toner bottle is moved as described above. Anything is fine.

As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of cuts 3 that intersect in a radial pattern are formed in a part of the surface of the cover member 2, for example, in the center, and a plurality of fan-shaped cuts formed by these cuts 3. Toner is replenished by pushing the piece 4 toward the inside of the apparatus and inserting the discharge cylinder 6 of the toner bottle 5 into the replenishing port 1 (FIG. 1). The cut piece 4 has a "strain" and / or a thickness sufficient for being pushed by the insertion of the bottle and retracting toward the inside of the apparatus, and returning to the original position when the bottle is pulled out.

Referring again to FIG. 2, an annular reinforcing flange 7 having an appropriate thickness of several mm to several tens of mm is provided so as to surround the cut portion. The reinforcing flange 7 is made of, for example, the same material as the cover member 2 and has elasticity or recoverability, and its inner diameter is preferably somewhat larger than the outer diameter of the portion of the discharge tube 6 of the toner bottle 5 inserted into the cut portion. It has a small diameter, and like the above-mentioned cut portion, when the bottle is inserted, it covers the peripheral surface of the bottle and is in close contact therewith, and acts so as to close a gap that may cause toner scattering.

As shown in FIG. 1, the discharge cylinder 6 of the toner bottle 5 containing the toner for replenishment is made of a relatively hard plastic cylinder slightly curved in one direction, and the bottle 5 is manually operated. The discharge pipe 6 is provided with the cut piece 4 of the covering member 2.
Is pushed open and inserted, and its discharge port 9 is projected into the apparatus. Then tilt the bottle, or change the direction back and forth,
Alternatively, by shaking, the replenishment toner in the bottle is scattered from the discharge port 9, and the developing device (or toner supply device) 10
Supply inside. When the bottle 5 is moved in this way, the cover member 2 has the reinforcing flange 7 due to its elasticity or shape recovering property, and the discharge pipe 6 remains in a state in which the reinforcing flange 7 has eaten the discharge pipe 6 of the bottle.
It deforms according to the movement of and does not hinder such movement.

FIG. 3 shows another example of the toner replenishing device according to the present invention. In the example of FIG. 1, the toner replenishing port 1 is located in the lateral direction, whereas the toner replenishing port 1 is in the upper surface direction. Being located in a different. Other configurations are similar to those of the example shown in FIG. 1 and operate similarly.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the scattering of the toner to the outside of the apparatus when replenishing the toner with a simple structure such as the use of the cover member.

【The invention's effect】 [Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing an example of a main part of a toner replenishing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view showing an example of the configuration of the cover member shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view showing an embodiment different from that shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional toner supply device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Replenishment port 2 Cover member 3 Notch 4 Notch piece 5 Toner bottle 6 Discharge cylinder 7 Replenishment flange

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A cover member having elasticity or a restoring property is provided so as to cover the toner replenishing port, a plurality of cuts intersecting a part of the cover member are formed, and a discharge bottle of a toner bottle is inserted into the cut portions. A toner replenishing device capable of replenishing toner to a developing device or a toner supplying device. 2. The toner replenishing device according to claim 1, wherein the cover member is made of a porous material. 3. At least a cut piece of a cover member forming the cut portion is pushed by the insertion of the bottle and retracts toward the inside of the apparatus, and is returned to the original position when the bottle is pulled out, and / or 3. The toner replenishing device according to claim 1, which has a thickness. 4. The toner replenishing device according to claim 1, further comprising a reinforcing flange that surrounds the cut portion and has elasticity or a return property. 5. The toner replenishing device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the toner replenishing ports are provided in the longitudinal direction of the developing device or the toner replenishing device so as to be separated from each other. 6. The cutout portion and / or the inner diameter of the reinforcing flange is of a size such that it can be pushed open by inserting the bottle discharge tube, and a gap between the bottle and the peripheral surface of the discharge tube is closed when the discharge tube is inserted. The toner replenishing device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein