JPH0727483Y2 - Copier toner recovery device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial field of application) The present invention relates to a toner collecting device in a drum cleaning device of a copying machine.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, as a drum cleaning device in an electronic copying machine, as shown in FIG. 3, a drum 21 having a photosensitive layer 22 is provided.
The cleaning blade 23 is brought into sliding contact with the peripheral surface of the toner to scrape off the toner, and the toner is removed by the cleaning blade.
Seal plate 24 that slides on the peripheral surface of the drum 21 at a position below 23
It is known that the toner is received by the gutter-shaped toner receiver 25 via the transfer means 26 and the toner is collected by the transfer means 26 which is arranged in the toner receiver 25 and includes a spirally drivable spiral member. There is.

Further, Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-49313 discloses that, as shown in FIG.
The cleaning blade 23 is slidably contacted with the peripheral surface of the drum 21, and the toner storage container 27 is arranged. The toner is placed between the drum 21 and the toner storage container 27 by sliding contact with the peripheral surface of the drum 21 below the cleaning blade 23. A seal plate 28 is provided to prevent leakage from the seal plate 28, and the seal plate 28 is held by a holding member 30 rotatably loosely fitted to a support shaft 29 parallel to the axis of the drum 21, and the rotary shaft 31 is fixed to the rotary shaft 31. Toner retained on the seal plate 28 is struck by the impactor 33 attached via the elastic body 32 to impact the seal plate 28 via the support shaft 29 and the holding member 30. It is disclosed that it is configured to slide down.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) However, in the cleaning device as shown in FIG. 3, the toner is accumulated and accumulated on the surface of the seal plate 24, and the toner is accumulated on the cleaning blade 23 in a short time. As a result, a toner deposit may be formed. Therefore, the toner that should fall after that does not fall, and the toner cannot be reliably collected, and the accumulated toner hardens and damages the photosensitive layer 22, and the cleaning blade
There is also a problem that the tip of 23 is also damaged and the quality of the copied image is significantly deteriorated.

Further, Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-49313 discloses a means for solving such a problem. However, although it is an indirect impact, the toner is applied to the seal plate 28 by impact. However, it is necessary to give a strong impact to the seal plate 28 in order to reliably prevent the toner accumulation. Therefore, the photosensitive layer is
There is the problem that it is impossible to avoid damaging 22 altogether.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention provides a toner recovery device for a copying machine, which can surely prevent toner from accumulating on the seal plate and damage the photosensitive layer on the drum peripheral surface. With the goal.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a toner collecting device of a copying machine for collecting toner from a drum peripheral surface,
A cleaning blade in sliding contact with the drum peripheral surface, a toner receiver provided below the cleaning blade so as to receive the toner scraped off by the cleaning blade, and extending from the toner receiver,
A seal plate that is in sliding contact with the drum peripheral surface below the cleaning blade, a transfer member that is rotatably provided in the toner receiver, and has a spiral transfer blade for transferring toner, and a plurality of combs. The plurality of operating pieces are arranged in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the transfer blade, and each operating piece is a spiral of the transfer blade as the transfer member rotates. And a deposition preventing member that moves up and down independently in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the transfer member according to the shape.

(Operation) Since the present invention has the above-mentioned configuration, the toner scraped off by the cleaning blade falls into the toner receiver through the seal plate, and the axis of the transfer blade is rotated by the rotation of the transfer member having the spiral transfer blade. Received after being transferred in one direction. At this time, the plurality of comb-teeth-shaped operation pieces of the deposition preventing member individually come into contact with the spiral transfer blades of the rotating transfer member, respectively, and as the transfer member rotates, a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the transfer member. Since the blades are individually moved up and down in accordance with the spiral shape of the blades, the toner that falls to the toner receiver and is about to be deposited on the seal plate is scraped off independently of the plurality of operation pieces that are individually moved up and down. Compared to the case where these units move up and down in series as a result of the operation, the toner can be efficiently scraped off while dispersing the toner and dropped into the toner receiver quickly and smoothly. It does not accumulate.

Therefore, the toner accumulated on the seal plate does not damage the photosensitive layer on the peripheral surface of the drum, and the toner can be reliably collected.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 is a drum, and a photosensitive layer 2 having a thickness of about 10 μm is formed on the peripheral surface of the drum. A cleaning device 3 removes the toner remaining on the peripheral surface of the drum 1 after the toner image formed on the peripheral surface of the drum 1 is transferred to a copying machine. The cleaning device 3 is provided at an appropriate position around the drum 1. There is. The cleaning device 3 includes a cleaning blade 4 that slidably contacts the peripheral surface of the drum 1 to scrape off the toner, and a toner collecting device 5 that collects the scraped toner T. The toner collecting device 5 is provided with the toner T scraped off.
A trough-shaped toner receiver 6 for receiving the toner, a seal plate 7 extending from the toner receiver 6 below the cleaning blade 4 so as to be in sliding contact with the peripheral surface of the drum 1, and disposed in the toner receiver 6. The transfer member 8 is provided.
The transfer member 8 is composed of a rotary shaft 9 which can be rotationally driven by a drive device (not shown) and a spiral blade 10 attached to the outer periphery of the rotary shaft 9. Further, a mounting piece 6a is extended outward from a side edge of the toner receiver 6 opposite to the drum 1, and the mounting piece 6a is provided.
The attachment portion 12 of the accumulation prevention member 11 is attached and fixed to the. The accumulation preventing member 11 is composed of an elastic member such as an elastic plate or an elastic sheet made of a thin synthetic resin, and a plurality of operation pieces 13 are extended from the attachment portion 12 in a comb tooth shape. This motion piece 13
Is engaged with the spiral blade 9 of the transfer member 8 and its tip reaches the vicinity of the seal plate 7, and as the spiral blade 9 rotates, the tip of the operating piece 13 approaches the seal plate 7. At the position, it is configured to move up and down in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis 9 of the transfer member 8.

In the above structure, the drum 1 rotates in the direction of arrow A in FIG.
Is rotated in the direction of arrow B, the toner T remaining on the peripheral surface of the drum 1 after being transferred to the copying machine is scraped off by the cleaning blade 4, and the toner receiver 6 is not leaked to the outside by the seal plate 7. It falls inside and is transferred by the spiral blade 10 in one axial direction of the rotating shaft 9 as the transfer member 8 having the spiral blade 10 rotates, and is collected. At this time, the plurality of comb-teeth-shaped operation pieces 13 of the deposition preventing member 11 individually come into contact with the spiral blades 10 of the rotating transfer member 8, and as the transfer member 8 rotates, the rotation shaft 9 of the transfer member 8 rotates. Since each of them is individually moved up and down in a direction orthogonal to the above, the toner that has fallen to the toner receiver 6 and is about to be deposited on the seal plate 7 is scraped off independently of the plurality of operation pieces 13 that are individually moved up and down. As a result of the operation, compared with the case where these move up and down in an integrated manner, the toner can be efficiently scraped while dispersing the toner and dropped into the toner receiver 6 quickly and smoothly. It does not deposit on top.

Therefore, the toner accumulated on the seal plate 7 does not damage the photosensitive layer 2 on the peripheral surface of the drum 1, and the toner can be reliably collected. Further, the operating piece 13 does not press the toner to be scraped off, and is not in contact with the seal plate 7 as in the present embodiment,
It is also solved that the contact pressure of the seal plate 7 against the peripheral surface of the drum 1 is greatly increased and the photosensitive layer 2 is damaged.

Further, since the deposition preventing member 11 operates in accordance with the rotation of the transfer member 8, it is not necessary to separately provide a driving means for the deposition preventing member 11.

The transfer member 8 is not limited to the one having the spiral blade 10 attached to the outer periphery of the rotary shaft 9, but may be a transfer member for rotating a spiral wire or a ribbon-shaped member or another transfer mechanism by rotation. May be.

(Effects of the Invention) According to the toner collecting device of the copying machine of the present invention, the plurality of comb-teeth-shaped operation pieces of the accumulation preventing member are
A plurality of toner particles that are individually moved up and down in the direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the transfer member according to the spiral shape of the transfer blades, and the toner that falls to the toner receiver and is about to be deposited on the seal plate is moved up and down individually. By the independent scraping operation of the operation piece of, compared to the case where these move up and down integrally and continuously, it is possible to scrape efficiently and disperse the toner and drop it quickly and smoothly in the toner receiver. The toner does not deposit on the seal plate, the toner deposited on the seal plate does not damage the photosensitive layer on the peripheral surface of the drum, and the toner can be reliably collected. Further, since the deposition member is driven by the transfer member, it is not necessary to separately provide a driving means and the structure is simple.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIGS. 1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic structure of a toner collecting device as seen from the direction of arrow I in FIG. 2, and FIG. 2 is a side view of a cleaning device. FIG. 3 is a side view of a conventional cleaning device, and FIG. 4 is a side view of another conventional cleaning device. 1 ... Drum 4 ... Cleaning blade 5 ... Toner collection device 6 ... Toner receiver 7 ... Seal plate 8 ... Transfer member 10 ... Spiral blade (spiral body) 11 ... Accumulation prevention member 13 ... Operation One piece.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A toner recovery device for a copying machine for recovering toner from a drum peripheral surface, comprising: a cleaning blade in sliding contact with the drum peripheral surface; and the cleaning blade for receiving the toner scraped off by the cleaning blade. A toner receiver provided in a lower position of the toner receiver, a seal plate extending from the toner receiver and in sliding contact with the drum peripheral surface at a position lower than the cleaning blade, and a toner plate rotatably provided in the toner receiver. A transfer member having a spiral transfer blade for transfer, and an elastic member having a plurality of comb-shaped operating pieces,
The plurality of operating pieces are arranged in contact with the outer peripheral surfaces of the transfer blades, and the operating pieces rotate in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the transfer member according to the spiral shape of the transfer blades. 1. A toner collecting device for a copying machine, comprising: a deposition preventing member that moves up and down independently of each other.