JPH0736269A - Toner replenishing tank - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a toner replenishing tank whose constitution is simplified by dispensing with a means for exclusively driving a shutter member and which can prevent the leakage of toner. CONSTITUTION:A toner supplying roller 25 on which a groove 25a is formed is provided in the housing part 27A1 of a toner replenishing tank main body 27A. The toner supplying roller 25 is rotated in synchronization with a rotary member for stirring/carrying the toner 14, to held and carry the toner in the groove 25a and drop the toner from a toner discharge port 13. The toner supplying roller 25 is stopped and works for closing the toner discharge port 13 in this state.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toner replenishing tank which is detachably attached to a developing device main body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In image forming apparatuses such as copiers, printers, and facsimiles, which form an electrostatic latent image on a latent image carrier made of, for example, a photoconductor, a dry type developing device is widely used to visualize the latent image. Has been adopted.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an example of the structure around a photoconductor of a copying machine equipped with such a developing device.

In this figure, a photoconductor 1 having a predetermined diameter is driven to rotate in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure. First, the surface of the photoconductor 1 is uniformly charged by a charging roller 2. Then, a predetermined electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photoconductor 1 by performing optical writing on the charged surface with the laser light 3 according to the image signal. The laser light 3 is emitted from the optical writing unit 4.

A developing device 5 is provided on the lower right side of the photosensitive member 1 in the drawing, and a toner replenishing tank 7 is attached to the developing device main body (developing container main body) 6. The toner supply tank 7 is detachable from the developing device main body 6. The toner supply tank 7 may be called a "toner cartridge".

The toner replenishing tank 7 has a toner replenishing tank main body 7A, in which the toner 8 for replenishing the developing device main body 6 is stored. On the other hand, the developing device main body 6
A replenishing roller 9, a developing roller 10, a toner transfer roller 11 and the like are provided therein, and these are each driven to rotate in the illustrated direction. The toner replenishing tank main body 7A is provided with a toner outlet 13 which is opened toward a replenishing roller 9 which is a toner replenishing portion on the developing device side.

The toner supply tank 7 is further provided with a main body 7A.
There is a toner stirring / conveying rotating member 14 arranged inside the main body 7A for conveying the toner 8 contained in the main body 7A toward the toner discharge port 13 while stirring the toner. The toner agitating / conveying rotating member 14 is rotationally driven in the direction of the arrow in the figure, and by this rotation, the toner 8 is conveyed toward the toner discharge port 13 and from the discharge port 13 toward the replenishing roller 9. To fall. The toner stirring / transporting rotary member 1
4 is sometimes called an "agitator".

In this way, the toner is replenished to the replenishing roller 9 which is the toner replenishing portion on the developing device side, and the developer (not shown) in the developing device main body 6 which has received this toner replenishment. Is supplied from the replenishing roller 9 to the developing roller 10 and further transferred to the toner transfer roller 11 made of an elastic material such as rubber. The developer on the roller 11 is used to visualize the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor 1. That is, the electrostatic latent image is visualized as a toner image.

On the other hand, the recording paper 18 is sent by the registration roller pair 16 toward between the photoconductor 1 and the transfer roller 17, and the toner image on the photoconductor 1 is transferred to the sent recording paper 18. It After that, the recording paper 18 is sent toward the fixing roller pair 19, and the toner image on the recording paper 18 is fixed there. The recording paper 18 that has passed through the fixing roller pair 19 is discharged to the outside of the apparatus by the discharge roller. On the other hand, the surface of the photoconductor 1 after the transfer is cleaned by the cleaning device 20, and then the residual charge on the photoconductor 1 is removed by the discharging lamp 21 to prepare for the next process.

Here, the toner supply tank 7 shown in FIG.
When the toner inside the main body is exhausted,
Although the toner is to be replaced, if a small amount of toner remains in the body of the used toner replenishment tank that should be taken out from now, when the toner replenishment tank is taken out, the residual toner is removed. It leaks out more. For example, if a tank 7'as shown in FIG. 4 is used as the toner supply tank, the residual toner may leak directly from the toner discharge port 13 ', and the surroundings or hands may be soiled with the toner.

Therefore, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 3, a shutter member 15 is provided in the toner replenishing tank main body 7A at a position facing the toner discharge port 13. The shutter member 15 has a shutter portion 15 a that closes the toner discharge port 13.
When the toner is replenished, it maintains the rotational position shown in the figure and guides the toner 8 in the toner replenishment tank main body toward the toner discharge port 13.

On the other hand, when the toner is not replenished, the shutter member 15 is rotated so that the shutter portion 15a is located at the toner discharge port 13, and the toner discharge port 13 is blocked by the shutter portion 15a. There is. In this state, when the toner replenishment tank 7 is replaced, there is no possibility that the residual toner inside leaks out of the tank. However, in such a conventional example, a complicated driving means for rotationally displacing the shutter member 15 to two positions is required, and not only the structure of the toner replenishing tank becomes complicated, but also the tank structure tends to become large in size. There is a drawback that the cost becomes high.

[0013]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a toner replenishing tank which eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, eliminates the need for complicated driving means, simplifies the construction, and reliably prevents toner leakage. To provide.

[0014]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention accommodates toner to be replenished in a developing device main body, and opens it toward a toner replenishing portion in the developing device main body. A toner replenishing tank main body having a toner discharge port, and a toner stirring / conveying rotary member for conveying the toner contained in the main body toward the toner discharge port while stirring the toner are provided, and are detachably attachable to the developing device main body. In the toner replenishing tank, a portion of the toner replenishing tank main body that faces the toner discharge port is rotationally driven in synchronization with the toner agitating / conveying rotating member, and the grooves extending in the axial direction are spaced apart from each other in the circumferential direction. A toner supply roller engraved on the toner supply roller is provided, and the toner replenishing tank main body is provided with a toner agitating / conveying rotating member side and a toner discharge roller so that the toner is captured and carried in the groove of the toner supply roller. Except for the portion of the mouth proposes a toner supply tank having a housing portion in which the inner wall surface surrounding the periphery of the toner supply roller.

Further, it is effective to provide an elastic body on the inner wall surface of the housing portion, and the inner wall surface of the elastic body surrounds the toner supply roller.

Further, in each of the above-mentioned constitutions, it is effective that the toner supply roller has at least an elastic body at the outer peripheral portion engraving the groove.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a main part of a toner supply tank 27 and a part of a developing device 5 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The basic structure of the toner supply tank 27 shown in this figure is the same as that of the toner supply tank 7 shown in FIG.
The toner 8 to be supplied to the developing device main body 6 is accommodated inside,
In addition, the toner replenishing tank main body 27A having the toner discharge port 13 opened toward the toner replenished portion (replenishing roller 9 in this example) in the developing device main body 6 and the toner 8 stored in the main body 27A while stirring the toner It has a toner agitating / conveying rotating member 14 that conveys it toward the discharge port 13. The overall construction of the copying machine in which the toner supply tank 27 is assembled is the same as that shown in FIG. Therefore, the description of the same parts as the conventional one will be omitted for convenience.

In the toner replenishment tank 27 shown in FIG. 1, unlike the conventional tank, a toner supply roller 25 is provided in the toner replenishment tank main body 27A at a portion facing the toner discharge port 13. On the toner supply roller 25, a plurality of grooves 25a extending in the axial direction are provided in the circumferential direction at intervals. Further, in the toner replenishing tank main body 27A, the toner supply roller 25 except for the toner agitating / conveying rotary member 14 side and the toner discharge port 13 is arranged so that the toner is captured and carried in the groove 25a of the toner supply roller 25. A housing portion 27A ₁ that surrounds the periphery is provided. In the case of this example, an elastic body 26 made of a material such as sponge, felt or rubber is fixedly attached to the inner wall surface of the housing portion 27A ₁ . As described above, in this example, the inner wall surface of the elastic body 26 provided inside the housing portion 27A ₁ surrounds the toner supply roller 25, and the inner wall surface is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the toner supply roller. 25 rotates while sliding on the inner wall surface of the elastic body.

The shaft 29 of the toner supply roller 25 is rotatably supported by the wall portions (not shown) at both ends of the housing portion 27A ₁ , and one end portion thereof has a gear as shown in FIG. 32 is fixed. The gear 32 meshes with a gear 31 fixed to one end of the shaft 28 of the toner agitating / conveying rotating member 14 (FIG. 1).

The shaft 28 shown in FIG. 2 is driven to rotate clockwise in the drawing by a rotation driving means (not shown), and this rotation is transmitted to the gear 32 via the gear 31. The toner supply roller 25 in FIG. 1 rotates counterclockwise in the drawing. That is, the toner stirring / conveying rotation member 14 and the toner supply roller 25 rotate in synchronization with each other.

With the rotation of the toner agitating / conveying rotating member 14, the toner in the toner replenishing tank main body 27A is sent to the toner supply roller 25, and the toner enters the groove 25a facing the sending direction. The toner that has entered in this way is carried while being captured and carried in the space between the groove 25a and the inner wall surface of the elastic body 26, and when the groove 25a corresponds to the toner discharge port 13, the carried toner is It falls from the groove 25a and is guided to the replenishing roller 9 through the toner discharge port 13.

In this way, the toner in the toner replenishing tank 27 is replenished, but when the rotation of the toner agitating / conveying rotating member 14 stops, the toner supply roller 25 also stops in response to this. In any case, the toner supply roller 25 always stops when the toner supply is completed, but in this state, the toner supply roller 25 functions to block the toner discharge port 13, When replacing the replenishment tank 27, there is no risk that the residual toner in the tank body will leak out of the tank.

The toner supply roller 25 achieves both the function of positively conveying the toner and the function of closing the toner discharge port 13 (shutter function). Of these, the toner conveying function is achieved, so that the toner in the housing portion 27A ₁ does not become stagnant here.

By using such a toner replenishment tank 27, it is possible to prevent toner leakage when the toner replenishment tank is replaced. Further, since the toner supply roller 25 rotates in synchronization with the toner stirring / conveying rotation member 14,
It is not necessary to use a dedicated rotation driving means for driving the toner supply roller 25, the structure of the toner supply tank can be simplified or downsized, and the cost thereof can be further reduced.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the toner supply roller 25 is surrounded by the inner wall surface of the elastic body 26, but of course, the toner supply roller 25 is directly connected to the inner wall surface of the housing portion 27A _1. May be surrounded. In this case, the toner is captured and carried in the space surrounded by the groove 25a and the inner wall surface of the housing portion 27A ₁ (the space that is substantially sealed). However, when the inner wall surface in contact with the toner supply roller 25 is the inner wall surface of the slidable elastic body 26, the airtightness of the gap is improved, and the toner transport efficiency and the toner leakage prevention effect ( The sealing effect) is improved.

Further, the toner supply roller 25 is composed of a shaft 29 serving as a core metal and an elastic roller fixedly mounted around the shaft 29, and the groove 25a is provided in this elastic roller. Good. Is this arrangement, even if without the elastic member 26, also applicable when provided with this outer peripheral surface of the resilient roller is directly slide against the inner wall surface of the housing portion 27A ₁ , Or housing part 27A ₁
It slides on the inner wall surface of the elastic body 26 provided at.

In any case, it is sufficient for the toner supply roller to have at least an elastic body on the outer peripheral portion in which the groove is formed. In this example as well, the toner transport efficiency and the toner leakage prevention effect can be improved. The present invention can be applied to both a one-component developer and a developing device using a two-component developer. In the former case, the main body 27A of the toner replenishing tank 27 is used.
The toner inside is replenished to the toner inside the developing device. In the latter case, the toner inside the main body 27A of the toner replenishing tank 27 is replenished to the two-component developer inside the developing device.

[0029]

According to the structure of the first aspect, when the toner replenishing tank is replaced, it is possible to prevent the toner from leaking out of the tank, and the hands and the surrounding environment are contaminated with the toner. There is no fear. Further, since the dedicated rotation driving means for the toner supply roller provided in the toner replenishing tank is not required, the structure of the toner replenishing tank can be simplified and the cost can be further reduced.

According to the second and third aspects, the toner leakage preventing effect can be further enhanced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a main part of a toner supply tank according to an embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a part of a developing device.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a drive system of the toner replenishment tank of the above.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram around a photoconductor of an example of a copying machine used for explaining the present invention and a conventional example.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional configuration diagram around a toner replenishment tank of another example that is conventionally used.

[Explanation of symbols]

6 Developing Device Main Body 8 Toner 13 Toner Discharge Port 14 Toner Stirring / Conveying Rotating Member 25 Toner Supply Roller 25a Groove 26 Elastic Body 27 Toner Supply Tank 27A Toner Supply Tank Main Body 27A ₁ Housing Section

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A toner replenishing tank main body having therein a toner to be replenished to a developing device main body and having a toner discharge opening opened toward a toner replenishing portion in the developing device main body, and a main body inside the main body. And a toner agitating / conveying rotating member that conveys the contained toner toward the toner discharge port while agitating the toner.
In the toner replenishing tank that is detachable from the developing device main body, the toner replenishing tank main body is rotatably driven in synchronization with the toner agitating / conveying rotating member to extend in the axial direction at a portion facing the toner discharge port. A toner supply roller having grooves formed at intervals in the circumferential direction is provided, and the toner replenishing tank main body is provided with a toner agitating / conveying rotating member so that the toner is captured and carried in the groove of the toner supply roller. A toner replenishment tank, characterized in that a housing portion is provided, the inner wall surface of which surrounds the toner supply roller except for the side and the toner discharge port. 2. An elastic body is provided on the inner wall surface of the housing part,
The toner supply tank according to claim 1, wherein an inner wall surface of the elastic body surrounds the toner supply roller. 3. The toner replenishing tank according to claim 1, wherein the toner supply roller has at least an elastic body on an outer peripheral portion engraved with a groove.