JPH0934233A - Toner bottle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a toner bottle for facilitating the reuse of a scraping member, without clogging with toner, with simple structure at a low cost by enclosing the scraping member provided with scraping blade parts in the bottle body. SOLUTION: An opening part 3 is provided in almost the center of one end surface of the bottle main body 2 formed to a nearly cylinderical shape. In the inner periphery of the cylindrical part of the bottle main body 2, a spiral carrying groove 4 for carrying the toner housed inside to the side of the opening part, 3 by the rotation of the toner bottle 1. The scraping member 10 constituted of a belt-like formed supporting part, 11 and plural scraping blade parts 12 provided on both sides of the supporting part 11, centering it are enclosed in the toner bottle 1. The scarping blade parts 12 are made of a material having elasticity such as a polyester film. The scraping member 10 is deformed so that the scraping blade parts 12 are wound on the supporting part 11, to be inserted from the opening part 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toner bottle containing toner to be supplied to a developing device of an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electrophotographic method is used in which an electrostatic latent image is formed on a photoconductive photoreceptor, and an image composed of the obtained toner is transferred to transfer paper by colored particles which charge the latent image. Copiers, facsimile machines, printers, etc. are widely used. In the image forming apparatus using the electrophotographic method, when the toner is consumed from the developing unit, the toner stored in the toner bottle or the toner cartridge is replenished and continuously used. However, the toner stored in the toner bottle or the toner cartridge may cause a blocking phenomenon due to temperature, humidity and the like. In order to destroy this blocking phenomenon and ensure the fluidity of the toner, various measures have been conventionally made.

In the toner bottle 20 shown in FIG. 5, a stirring ball 21 made of a glass ball or a carrier ball is enclosed inside the toner bottle 20 together with the toner 22. When replenishing the toner 22 from the toner bottle 20,
By applying vibration or the like, the blocking phenomenon of the toner 22 is destroyed and the fluidity of the toner 22 is improved.

Further, the toner cartridge 30 shown in FIG.
Then, a stirring member 31 for stirring the toner is provided in the cylindrical main body, and the stirring member 31 also has a function of conveying the toner to the opening 32. Furthermore, the stirring member 31
Has a scraping part 33 for scraping the toner on the corner side of the main body to the opening part 32 side, and the scraping part 33 has the stirring member 3
A plurality of grooves 34 are provided in order to reduce the rotational torque of unit 1. In the toner cartridge 30, by rotating the stirring member 31, the blocking phenomenon of the toner is destroyed and the fluidity of the toner can be improved.

[0005]

However, in the former toner bottle 20 described above, if the diameter of the stirring ball 21 is smaller than the discharge port 23, the stirring ball 21 will be discharged from the discharge port 2.
There is a problem that the toner may flow out from the nozzle 3, and if the diameter of the stirring ball 21 is larger than the discharge port 23, the port 23 is blocked and the toner does not come out.

Further, in the latter toner cartridge 30, since the stirring member 31 is rotatably supported, it is expensive, and even if it is desired to reuse the stirring member 31 after use, the mounting structure and shape are complicated. There was a problem that it took time.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, has a simple structure and is inexpensive, is easy to clog and reuse toner, and also destroys the blocking phenomenon of the toner to improve the fluidity of the toner. An object is to provide a toner bottle that can be improved.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a toner replenishing device for replenishing toner contained in a bottle main body to a developing device through an opening of the bottle main body by rotating the bottle main body. The toner bottle to be used is characterized in that a scraping member having a supporting portion and elastic scraping blade portions provided on both sides of the supporting portion is enclosed inside the bottle body.

Further, the present invention is effective when a reinforcing member is attached to the supporting portion of the scraping member. Furthermore, the present invention is effective when a spiral carrying groove is formed in the bottle body, and the width of at least the tip of the scraping blade portion is narrower than the interval between the carrying grooves.

Furthermore, in the present invention, the inside diameter of the opening is formed smaller than the inside diameter of the bottle body, and the scraping member has a width of the support portion smaller than the inside diameter of the opening, It is effective if it can be taken in and out.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the toner bottle 1. The toner bottle 1 has a bottle main body 2 formed in a substantially cylindrical shape, and an opening 3 having a diameter smaller than that of the cylindrical portion is provided at a substantially center of one end surface thereof. On the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion of the bottle body 2, there is formed a spiral-shaped conveying groove 4 for conveying the stored toner inside to the opening 3 side by the rotation of the toner bottle 1.

The toner bottle 1 is filled with a scraping member 10 comprising a belt-shaped supporting portion 11 and a plurality of scraping blades 12 provided on both sides of the supporting portion 11 as a center. . In this case, at least the scraping blade portion 12 is provided, for example, by using an elastic material such as a polyester film, or by setting it to a wall thickness or the like so as to have elastic structure. The support 1
The width W of 1 is smaller than the inner diameter D of the opening 3. The length of the supporting portion 11 in the longitudinal direction is arbitrary, but it is preferable if it is in the range of ½ or more of the length of the toner bottle 1 in the axial direction to slightly shorter than its entire length.

As a method of enclosing the scraping member 10 having the above structure in the toner bottle 1, as shown in FIG. 2, the elastic scraping blade portion 12 is deformed so as to be wound around the supporting portion 11 to open It can be inserted from the part 3. After the insertion, as shown by the chain line in FIG. 2, the scraping blade portion 12 expands in the bottle body 2 due to its elasticity, so that there is no possibility of easily coming out of the bottle body. However, the scraping member 10 can be taken out by forcibly elastically deforming the scraping blade portion 12 with a hand, a tool, or the like.

In the toner bottle 1 thus constructed, the scraping member 10 is enclosed in the bottle body 2, and as shown in FIG.
Since the scraping blade portion 12 receives the movement of the toner and the scraping member 10 rotates, the toner blocking is destroyed,
The fluidity of the toner can be improved.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a scraping member 10 in which a reinforcing member 13 is integrated with a supporting portion 11 by adhesion or the like is used. According to this structure, the scraping member 10 can be rotated even when the toner amount is reduced to some extent by the inertial force due to the rotation of the toner bottle 1. The length H of the scraping blade portion 12 is set so that it touches the inner wall of the bottle body.

Further, the width L2 of the scraping blade portion 12 of the scraping member 10 is set to be slightly smaller than the carrying width L1 of the spiral carrying groove 4 of the bottle body 1. In this way, the toner accumulated in the spiral conveying groove 4 can be scraped off by the scraping blade portion 12. Although the toner in the carrying groove 4 is carried and the scraping blade 12 also tries to move forward, the scraping blade 12 does not hit the constricted portion of the bottle body 2 and does not go out.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and various modifications can be made. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the scraping member 10 is bent at a right angle to the supporting portion 11 of the scraping blade portion 12, and this structure is extremely preferable in terms of strength. 11
The scraping blade portion 12 may be flat.

Further, the scraping member 10 has a supporting portion 11 and a scraping blade portion 12 which are separate members, and the supporting portion 11 is a rigid member and the scraping blade portion 12 is an elastic member. May be.

[0019]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the scraping member having the supporting portion and the elastic scraping blade portions provided on both sides of the supporting portion is enclosed in the bottle body. The scraping member is rotated by the rotation of the bottle to break the toner blocking and improve the fluidity of the toner.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the reinforcing member is attached to the supporting portion of the scraping member, the toner bottle can be rotated even if the toner amount is reduced to some extent by the inertial force due to the rotation. it can.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the spiral carrying groove is formed in the bottle body and the width of at least the tip of the elastic member is narrower than the interval between the carrying grooves, the toner in the carrying groove is surely discharged. Can be scraped off.

According to the structure of claim 4, the inside diameter of the opening is formed smaller than the inside diameter of the bottle body, and the scraping member has a support portion whose width is smaller than the inside diameter of the opening and can be taken in and out from the opening. Therefore, it can be reused easily.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a toner bottle according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional explanatory view showing an operation of inserting a scraping member in the toner bottle of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing another embodiment of the scraping member in the toner bottle of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing a rotating state of a scraping member in the toner bottle of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional toner bottle.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a conventional toner cartridge.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Toner bottle 2 Bottle main body 3 Opening part 4 Conveying groove 10 Scraping member 11 Support part 12 Scraping blade part 13 Reinforcing member

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A toner bottle for use in a toner replenishing device that replenishes toner stored in a bottle body to a developing device from the opening of the bottle body by rotating the bottle body. A toner bottle comprising a scraping member provided with elastic scraping blades provided on both sides of the supporting portion. 2. The toner bottle according to claim 1, wherein a reinforcing member is attached to a support portion of the scraping member. 3. The toner bottle according to claim 1, wherein a spiral carrying groove is formed in the bottle body, and a width of at least a tip of the scraping blade portion is narrower than an interval between the carrying grooves. A toner bottle characterized in that. 4. The toner bottle according to claim 1, wherein an inner diameter of the opening is smaller than an inner diameter of a bottle body, and the scraping member has a width of the support portion. A toner bottle, which is smaller than the inner diameter of the opening and can be taken in and out through the opening.