JPH08152775A - Shutter device for toner housing bottle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a shutter device for toner housing bottle capable of simultaneously/uniformly supplying all toner in the bottle from a canter part through a large toner flowing down port, without remaining the toner, in a short time. CONSTITUTION: Toner flowing down ports 9 and 11 centering around the mouth part of the bottle are concentrically formed on a bottle fitting plate 8 and a shutter attaching plate 12 which are freely relatively turned around the mouth part of the toner housing bottle, one end parts of plural shutters 10 for opening/ closing the toner flowing down port 9 are pivotally attached to the shutter plate 12 and an interlocking mechanism 19 turning the shutters 10 around one end sides in accordance with the relative turning of the bottle fitting plate 8 and the shutter attaching plate 12 is provided over the bottle fitting plate 12 and the shutters 10.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toner container bottle shutter device for supplying toner to a developing device equipped in an image forming apparatus such as an electrostatographic copying machine or a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When replenishing toner from the above-mentioned toner storage bottle, the cap at the mouth of the bottle is removed to prevent the toner from spilling, and the bottle is turned upside down so that the toner is directly transferred from the bottle to the developing device. Since it is very difficult to replenish toner, a toner storage bottle having a shutter device at its mouth has been proposed.

As shown in FIG. 8, this shutter device has an intermediate cap 23 sealed to the mouth 22 of the toner containing bottle 21 and a screw cap 24 screwed to the bottle mouth 22, respectively. Toner replenishment ports 25 and 26 having a size that is less than half the size of the bottle mouth 22 are formed. When replenishing toner, the toner containing bottle 21 equipped with a shutter device is turned upside down, Set on the toner replenishment section and screw type cap 2
4 or the bottle 21 is rotated so that the toner flow-down openings 25 and 26 of the intermediate cap 23 and the screw cap 24 are aligned with each other, so that the toner is supplied to the developing device.

[0004]

However, in the shutter device having the above-described structure, the toner flow-out ports 25 and 26 are formed at positions deviated from the center of the bottle port portion 22, so that the toner is unevenly supplied to the developing device. In addition, there is waste of toner remaining around the toner flow-down opening 25 of the intermediate cap 23, and in addition, the toner flow-down openings 25 and 26 can be formed only to a size of half or less of the bottle opening 22. There was a problem in that it took a considerable amount of time to refuel.

An object of the present invention is to provide a shutter device that can solve all of the above inconveniences.

[0006]

A shutter device for a toner containing bottle according to the present invention, which has achieved the above object, comprises a bottle mounting plate and a shutter mounting plate which are rotatable relative to each other around the center of the mouth of the bottle. , A plurality of shutters that form the toner flow-out port around the center of the mouth of the bottle in a concentric manner and that opens and closes the toner flow-down port on the bottle mounting plate side, one end of which is the bottle mounting plate or shutter mounting plate An interlocking mechanism that pivotally attaches to one side and extends between the other side of the bottle mounting plate or the shutter mounting plate and each shutter and rotates the shutter around one end side with the relative rotation of the bottle mounting plate and the shutter mounting plate. The point is that it is provided.

[0007]

According to the above characteristic structure, a plurality of shutters can be opened and closed at once by a simple operation of rotating the bottle mounting plate and the shutter mounting plate relative to each other and rotating the shutter around one end side. By forming the toner flow-down opening almost the same as the opening of the toner storage bottle, almost no toner remains on the shutter, and the toner can be discharged evenly from the center through the large toner flow-down opening. The entire amount of toner can be replenished to the developing device in a short time.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a shutter device 3 of a toner storage bottle 2 for replenishing toner to a hopper 1 of a developing device equipped in, for example, an electrostatic photocopier, and a shutter device 3 is provided on one end side in the longitudinal direction of the hopper 1. A bottle loading section 5 having a toner replenishing port 4 communicating with the toner storage bottle 2 via the is provided.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the shutter device 3 has a bottle mounting plate 8 having a cylindrical body 7 fitted into the mouth 6 of the toner containing bottle 2, and the bottle mounting plate 8. The opening of the cylindrical body 7 is a toner outlet 9 which is slightly larger than the bottle mouth 6.
As a result, a plurality of (two in this embodiment) shutters 10, 10 for opening and closing the mouth portion 6 of the toner storage bottle 2, and a toner flow-down port that is concentric with the toner flow-down port 9 and has substantially the same size. Shutter mounting plate 12 on which 11 is formed
As shown in FIG. 4, on the lower surface side of the shutter mounting plate 12, radial recesses formed around the toner supply port 4 of the bottle loading section 5 (see FIG. 1).
A rotation stopping member 13 that engages with a and a cylindrical body 14 that is connected to the toner replenishing port 4 are provided.

The shutter 10 has a generally semi-circular shape around two circular centers spaced apart from each other, and has a first and a second expansion on one end side and the other end side. The protrusions b and c are formed and the first pin 1 is attached to the first protrusion b.
5 is provided so as to project vertically, and the second pin 16 is provided at the second bulging portion c so as to project upward.

Then, in the closed state of the toner flow-down port 9 by the shutters 10, 10, a recess d for pivotally connecting the first pin 15 on one end side of each shutter 10 is provided in the shutter mounting plate 12, and As shown in FIG. 5, the bottle mounting plate 8 is provided with a first guide rail e into which the first pin 15 is fitted, around the center of the toner flow-down port 9. As it goes along the radial direction passing through the center of the outlet 9,
The 2nd which inserts the 2nd pin 16 of the other end side of each shutter 10
The guide rail f is formed by being slightly curved.

An annular member 17 is erected continuously on the peripheral portion of the shutter mounting plate 12, and an annular member for locking the peripheral surface of the shutter mounting plate 12 is mounted on the peripheral portion of the bottle mounting plate 8. The hook member 18 of the bottle is hung so that the bottle mounting plate 8 and the shutter mounting plate 1
A shutter holding space is formed between the shutter mounting plate 12 and the bottle mounting plate 8 in a state where relative rotation with respect to 2 is allowed.

The toner is replenished by the toner containing bottle 2 provided with the shutter device 3 having the above structure, for example, as follows. First, the toner containing bottle 2 provided with the shutter device 3 is turned upside down so that the cylinder 14 on the shutter mounting plate 12 side is communicated with the toner replenishing port 4 of the bottle loading section 5, and the surroundings of the shutter mounting plate 12 are connected. The stopper member 13 is locked in the radial concave portion a to position the mounting posture of the shutter device 3 with respect to the bottle loading portion 5.

In this state, when the bottle mounting plate 8 or the toner containing bottle 2 is rotated clockwise in a plan view, the second pin 16 receives a pressing force by the second guide rail f formed on the bottle mounting plate 8. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6A in which the shutters 10 and 10 are viewed from the lower side,
As shown in (B) and (C), the shutters 10, 10
Rotates about the first pin 15 at one end thereof in a point-symmetrical posture.

That is, based on the interlocking mechanism 19 including the second pin 16 and the second guide rail f into which the second pin 16 is engaged,
When the plurality of shutters 10 and 10 virtually remove the shutter mounting plate 12 and the shutter device 3 is viewed from below, the toner flow-down port 9 is in the closed state shown in FIG. 7A, and FIG. It is possible to switch to the opened state of the toner flow-down opening 9 shown in FIG.
A dam plate 20 is provided on the upper surface of the shutter mounting plate 12 so as to match the movement loci of the tips of 0 and 10.

Here, the toner flow-down openings 9 and 11 are formed to be slightly larger than the opening 6 of the toner containing bottle 2, and a plurality of shutters 10 and 10 completely open the toner flow-down opening 9. By opening the plurality of shutters 10, 10 by doing so, the shutter 1
It is possible to replenish all of the toner in the toner containing bottle 2 to the developing device in a short time without leaving any toner on 0 and 10 and evenly from the central portion through the large toner outlets 9 and 11. Become.

The shape and size of the first guide rail e on the side of the bottle mounting plate 8 may be of any type as long as the relative movement of the first pin 15 is allowed, or
If the first pin 15 is pivotally attached only to the shutter mounting plate 12, it is not necessary to form the first guide rail e on the bottle mounting plate 8.

Further, although the second guide rail f is arranged along the radial direction passing through the center of the toner flow-down opening 9, the shutters 10, 10 are caused by the relative rotation between the bottle mounting plate 8 and the shutter mounting plate 12. If 10 can be rotated, it is not particularly necessary to follow it in the radial direction, and the direction of the curve may be reversed, or it may be formed in a straight line.

Further, the rotation stop member 13 is continuously provided on the shutter mounting plate 12 so as to position the shutter device 3 with respect to the bottle loading portion 5. However, this positioning structure is omitted and the bottle mounting plate 5 is omitted. 8 or the toner containing bottle 2 and the shutter mounting plate 12 may be grasped by both hands and the toner may be relatively rotated to supply toner.

Further, in the above embodiment, the shutter 1
One ends of the shutters 0 and 10 are pivotally attached to the shutter mounting plate 12, and the interlocking mechanism 19 is provided between the other ends of the shutters 10 and 10 and the bottle mounting plate 8. On the contrary, the shutter 10 , 10 may be pivotally attached to the bottle mounting plate 8 and the interlocking mechanism 19 may be provided across the other ends of the shutters 10 and 10 and the shutter mounting plate 12, that is, the shutter device having the above configuration. It is possible to use 3 upside down.

Further, the interlocking mechanism 19 is not limited to being provided by specifying the other end side of the shutters 10 and 10, and can be implemented by specifying the arc center side of the shutters 10 and 10, for example. It is possible.

[0022]

As described above, according to the shutter device for a toner containing bottle according to the present invention, the toner is hardly left on the shutter by a simple operation of relatively rotating the bottle mounting plate and the shutter mounting plate. The entire amount of the toner in the toner containing bottle can be replenished to the developing device all at once from the central portion through the large toner flow-down port.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a shutter device in a disassembled state together with a hopper and a toner cartridge.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a shutter device.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view in which the shutter device is disassembled and the shutter is expanded.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a shutter mounting plate.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a bottle mounting plate.

6A, 6B, and 6C are explanatory views showing the opening operation of the shutter.

FIG. 7A is an explanatory diagram showing a closed state of a shutter,
(B) is an explanatory view showing an open state of the shutter.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional shutter device.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Toner containing bottle, 6 ... Bottle mouth, 8 ... Bottle mounting plate, 9, 11 ... Toner outlet, 10 ... Shutter, 12 ... Shutter mounting plate, 19 ... Interlocking mechanism.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A shutter device for a toner containing bottle, wherein a bottle mounting plate and a shutter mounting plate, which are rotatable relative to each other around the center of the mouth of the bottle, have a toner flow-down port around the center of the mouth of the bottle. A plurality of shutters that are formed in a core shape and that open and close the toner outlet on the bottle mounting plate side are pivotally attached at one end side to one of the bottle mounting plate or shutter mounting plate, and the bottle mounting plate or shutter. Between the other of the mounting plate and each shutter, there is provided an interlocking mechanism for rotating the shutter around one end side with the relative rotation of the bottle mounting plate and the shutter mounting plate. Shutter device.