JPH11143190A - Toner replenishing vessel and electrophotographic image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a toner replenishing vessel and an electrophotographic image forming device capable of preventing scatter of the toner or the like, and performing open/close of the toner ejecting port on the toner replenishing vessel provided with excellent assembling property and a transport/discharging property with a simple operation. SOLUTION: This device is allowed to block the opening section 1-a of the toner replenishing vessel 1 filled with the toner by a cap 5, to open the cap 5 by letting the same rotated by coupling 6, and to block by thrusting the cap 5 in the opening section 1-a. A screw shape 1-c is composed by the screw material, and the cap 5 is composed by the elastic material. As a result, the device is kept free from the toner scattering, and provided with the excellent assembling property.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toner supply device in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, fine powder toner has been used as a developer in image forming apparatuses such as copying machines and printers. When the developer in the image forming apparatus main body is consumed, toner is supplied to the image forming apparatus using a toner supply container.

For this reason, a system has been proposed and put to practical use in which a toner supply container is placed inside the image forming apparatus main body and toner is discharged little by little from a small opening.

In such a system, it is difficult to discharge the toner spontaneously only by the action of gravity or the like, and some kind of toner conveying means is required.

In the conventional toner supply container disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-99176, the toner in the toner supply container is fed laterally by a screw-shaped conveying member at the bottom of the container, and is provided on the lower surface of the container. Is configured to fall from the discharged toner outlet. The stirring member is rotatably housed in the container in parallel with the conveying member, and the sprocket attached to the end of the conveying member engages with the plurality of claws at the corresponding end of the stirring member. As a result, the stirring member rotates following the rotation of the transport member by the drive from the drive unit.

Thus, the toner in the container is prevented from agglomerating or offset, and the toner is reliably discharged without remaining.

A conventional toner supply container disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-58405 is provided with a spiral stirring member having one end fixed to the supply container having a screw-shaped conveying member and the other end swingable. The helical stirring member vibrates. Thus, similarly to the first conventional example, the toner is prevented from blocking and the toner is completely discharged.

The toner supply container disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-44000 has a cylindrical shape in its entirety, has a spiral projection on its inner surface, and has a small toner outlet near the center on one end. ing. The toner conveyed to the end on the discharge port side where toner is conveyed by the rotation of the container main body 251 in response to the drive from the main body side is guided by an expelling shape near the opening, and is discharged near the center of the container. It is lifted to the outlet and discharged out of the container. Further, the cap is press-fitted so as to fit into the discharge port.

[0009]

The present invention is a further development of the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a toner replenishing container and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus which have a simple structure, a small number of parts and are easy to assemble.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a toner supply container and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus which do not require a shutter mechanism for closing a toner discharge port, are inexpensive, and do not scatter toner.

In the present invention, even if a shutter is not provided,
An object of the present invention is to provide a toner supply container and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus in which toner does not scatter due to opening and closing when the toner supply container is attached and detached.

[0013]

The main aspects of the present invention are as follows with the same reference numerals as in the claims.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toner supply container detachably mountable to an image forming apparatus main body, the container main body having a toner discharge port for discharging toner and accommodating toner therein, and the toner main body. A cap for releasably closing the discharge port, and a toner stirring and conveying member provided in the container body, wherein the cap is rotated to remove the cap from the toner discharge port, and the cap is pushed in. The toner supply container is configured to close the toner discharge port.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toner supply container detachably mountable to an image forming apparatus main body, wherein the container main body and a toner discharge port for discharging toner from the container main body provided in the container main body are provided. A toner agitating and conveying member for sending out toner, and a cap for closing a toner outlet of the container main body, wherein the toner outlet is cylindrical and has an internal thread on an inner periphery, and the cap is an internal thread. The toner supply container is characterized in that at least a portion of the container body having an internal thread is made of an elastic material whose diameter can be expanded.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (Embodiment 1) {Overall Configuration} FIG. 8 is a sectional view of an image forming apparatus having a toner replenishing device according to the present invention.

An original 101 is placed on an original platen glass 102 and is arranged such that information of the original is imaged on a photosensitive drum 104 by a plurality of mirrors and lenses of an optical unit 103. Of the sheets P stacked in the sheet cassettes 105 to 108, an optimal sheet cassette 105 is selected based on information input by a user from an operation unit (not shown) or the sheet size of the document 101.
To 108. And the paper feeding / separating device 105A ~
One sheet conveyed by 108A is conveyed to a registration roller 110 via a conveyance unit 109, and the paper P is transferred and synchronized with the rotation of the photosensitive drum 104 and the timing of scanning of the optical unit 103. Separate charger 111,1
12, a voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the toner image on the photosensitive drum 104 is applied from the back of the sheet P to transfer and separate the toner image onto the sheet P, and the sheet P is sent to the fixing unit 114 by the transport unit 113. After the toner on the paper P is fixed by heat and pressure in the fixing unit 114, 1) In the case of one-sided copying, the paper P passes through the paper discharge reversing unit 115 and is discharged to the paper discharge tray 117 by the paper discharge roller 116. Is done. 2) In the case of double-sided copy The sheet P is re-fed and conveyed by the control of the flapper 118 of the sheet reversing section 115.
0 is conveyed to the registration roller 110, passes through the image forming, conveying, and fixing unit in the same manner as described above, and is then discharged onto the paper discharge tray 117. 3) In the case of multiplex copy A part of the paper P is discharged to the outside of the apparatus by the paper discharge roller 116 once through the paper discharge reversing unit 115, and the end of the paper P passes through the flapper 118, and the paper discharge roller 1
The flapper 118 is controlled at the timing when the paper P is still nipped, the paper discharge roller 116 is rotated in the reverse direction, and the paper P is transported again into the apparatus.
Is conveyed to the registration roller 110, and is discharged onto a paper discharge tray 117 through an image forming, conveying, and fixing unit in the same manner as described above.

In the image forming apparatus having the above-described structure, devices such as a developing device 201, a cleaning device 202, and a primary charging device 203 are arranged around the photosensitive drum 104.
In this image forming section, the rotating photosensitive drum 104 is uniformly charged by the primary charger 203 as shown in the figure, and a latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum 104 by the optical section 103. The developing unit 201 uses the optical unit 103 to apply toner to the photosensitive drum 104 by using the optical unit 103 so that the toner is attracted to the photosensitive drum 104 in order to make the information formed as an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 104 visible. A toner supply container 1 for supplying toner to the developing device 201 is provided detachably from the inside of the main body to the outside of the apparatus. As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the toner replenishing container 1 is driven by a driving system (not shown) by rotating and opening the toner replenishing container mounting unit cover 2 around a hinge (not shown) in the direction of arrow a. The toner supply container 1 is set on the tray 3 pulled out to the position. Alternatively, the toner supply container 1 placed on the tray 3 pulled out can be removed.

{Toner Replenishing Container and Attaching Portion of Toner Replenishing Container} Next, the configuration of the toner replenishing container 1 will be described.

FIG. 4 shows a state where the cap 6 is closed, and FIG. 5 shows a state where the cap 5 is opened. FIG.
FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C are diagrams showing a state until the toner supply container is connected to the coupling and the opening is opened.

4 and 5, the toner supply container 1 is a hollow container and has an opening 1 for discharging toner.
-A. In the container main body 10, a toner conveying screw 11 and a toner discharge spring 12 are arranged at the same center in the longitudinal direction of the toner supply container 1 toward the opening 1-a, and are filled with toner.

One end of the toner conveying screw 11 is rotatably supported by the concave portion 1-1 of the toner supply container 1, and the other end is a shaft 5-1 extending from the cap 5 into the toner supply container 1.
And a spiral blade that can convey the toner in the direction of arrow f on the outer periphery of the shaft. In addition, it has a rib-shaped convex portion 11-b serving as a spring seat of the toner discharge spring 12. Specifically, for example, the hole 11-a has a square cross section, and the shaft 5-1 has a square cross section that fits into the hole 11a having the square cross section.

The toner discharge spring 12 is connected to the cap 5 shown in FIG.
Is closed, the cap 5 and the toner conveying screw 11 are closed.
And the projection 11-b. Next, a rotational force is transmitted to the cap 5 from the apparatus main body 13 via the coupling 6 shown in FIG. Opening 1-
a, the toner discharge spring 12 pushes the cap 5 in the direction of arrow g as shown in FIG.
Is pressed in the direction opposite to the arrow g, and the toner conveying screw 11 is pressed.
The toner conveyed to the opening 1-a by the toner conveying screw 11 in the direction of the arrow f by rotating integrally with the toner conveying screw 11 passes through the space 1-5 between the container body 10 and the cap 5 to the outside of the toner replenishing container 1. Take it out. The toner conveying screw 11 and the toner discharge spring 12 are twisted in the same twist direction. Further, when the cap 5 shown in FIG. 4 is closed, the toner discharge spring 12 is provided on a cylindrical inner periphery of the cap 5. The screw portion 5-b provided as a screw thread and the opening 1-1 of the toner supply container 1 are provided. As a result, it is possible to suppress rattling when engaging with the thread shape 1-c provided on the outer periphery of the cylindrical convex shape portion 1-b having a, and is effective in preventing toner leakage.

The thread shape 1-c of the container body 10 and the thread portion 5-b of the cap 5 have a semi-circular cross section in the thread.
The roots of the screws are flat. That is, the cylindrical convex portion 1
-B outer diameter 1-e outer diameter, cylindrical cap 5 inner circumference 5
The inner diameter of c is the root of the screw. And the projection 1-b
And the diameter of the screw thread 5-b of the cap 5 at the top of the thread is substantially equal, and is provided on the inner circumference of the portion where the screw thread 5-b of the cap 5 is provided and on the convex portion 1-b of the container body 10. The outer diameter of the thread shape 1-c is made substantially equal.

The cap 5 is made of a synthetic resin, for example, low density polyethylene or polypropylene, and has elasticity. The container body 10 is made of a hard synthetic resin such as impact-resistant polystyrene or ABS resin.

When the cap 5 is rotated in the direction of the arrow k shown in FIG. 4 (the direction in which the toner conveying screw 11 sends the toner in the direction of the arrow f), the screw shape 1-c and the screw portion 5-b are twisted. This is the direction in which the cap 5 is returned and moves in the direction of the arrow f to come off the convex portion 1-b.

With the above-described structure, the container body 1
0 in the direction of arrow g in FIG.
When the convex portion 1-b is pressed against the cap 5, the thread 1-c of the convex portion 1-b has a semicircular cross section, and the thread 5 of the cap 5 has a semicircular cross section. b, the diameter of a portion of the cap 5 where the screw portion 5-b is present is increased,
The screw shape 1-c of the container body 10 is the screw portion 5 of the cap 5.
-B, and comes inside the inner circumference 5c of the cap 5, and the threaded portion 5-b of the cap 5 is reduced in diameter to form a convex portion 1-.
It fits on the outer circumference 1-e of b.

As shown in FIG. 1, a rack gear 3-a is provided below the tray 3 in the moving direction of the tray 3, and a pinion 4-d of an output section of the driving device 4 meshes with the rack gear 3-a. As shown in FIG. 7, the driving device 4 provided in the device main body 13 is driven by a gear 4-b fixed to an output shaft of a motor 4-a fixed to a driving device frame 4-e attached to the device main body 13. It is engaged with an intermediate gear 4-c rotatably fitted to a fixed shaft 4c-1 fixed to the device frame 4-e. The intermediate gear 4-c is engaged with a pinion 4-d fixed to the drive device frame 4-e and rotatably supported by the fixed shaft 4d-1.

When the toner replenishing container 1 is mounted on the toner replenishing portion of the device main body 13, the coupling 6 having a hole for fitting with the convex portion 5-a of the toner replenishing container 1 is driven. The driving device 7 for discharging toner is fixed. The convex portion 5-a of the toner supply container 1 and the hole of the coupling 6 fitted into the convex portion 5-a are, for example, a shaft and a hole whose cross section is D-cut.

As shown in FIG. 7, the container body 10 has a quadrangular upper section and an isosceles triangular section at the lower section, and is a single hollow container. The lower end is rounded into a cylinder with the vertex of the triangle being the same as the center of the toner conveying screw 11 as the center of the cylinder.

The tray 3 has V-shaped receiving portions 3-b, 3-c with which the lower side surface 10-a of the container body 10 contacts, and the container body 1
0 at the root side of the convex part 1-b of the container body 10
Arc-shaped receiving portion 3-d close to 0-c and toner container 10
A stopper 3-e which is in contact with the rear end wall 10-b is provided. Therefore, as shown by the arrow in FIG.
Is placed on each of the receiving portions 3-b, 3-c, 3-d,
The toner supply container 1 is stably supported on the tray 3 by the receiving portions 3-b, 3-c, and 3-d.

Next, the structure and operation of the toner supply container 1 will be described below.

1 to 6 are views for explaining the structure and operation of one toner supply container 1, and FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the toner supply container 1.

FIG. 1 shows a rack gear 3-a in which the toner replenishing container mounting portion cover 2 shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. When the toner supply container 1 is set on the tray 3, the toner supply container 1 is set on the tray 3, and when the toner supply container 1 is pushed in the direction of arrow b, the toner supply container 1 When the sensor S1 provided detects that the toner replenishing container 1 has entered the toner replenishing container mounting portion, the driving device 4 rotates in the direction of the arrow f to drive the toner replenishing container 1 in the retraction direction.

FIG. 2 shows a state in which the toner replenishing container 1 is located at the innermost position of the first retracted position (this position is detected by a sensor S2 provided in the apparatus main body 13). The convex portion 5-a having a D-cut cross section of the cap 5 of the container 1 and the coupling 6 are set in a state where the drive from the toner discharge driving device 7 can be transmitted.

At this time, the projection 3-b provided on the tray 3
The shutter 8 is slidably held in the direction of arrow c and urged in the direction of arrow d by an elastic member (not shown). The hole 8-a provided in the shutter 8 closes the toner outlet 9. Is moved against the urging force. Next, when the toner replenishing container mounting portion cover 2 is closed, a sensor S3 provided on the apparatus main body 13 detects that the cover 2 is closed, and the driving device is moved to the position where the toner replenishing container 1 shown in FIG. 4 moves in the direction of arrow d. At this time, the cap 5 is rotated in the opening direction by the toner discharge driving device 7 via the coupling 6 to open the cap 5 earlier than the timing at which the toner supply container 1 moves to the second retracted position. It has become.

When the tray 3 moves in the direction of the arrow d, the shutter 8 slides in the direction of the arrow d by an elastic member (not shown), and the hole 8-a moves on the toner outlet 9. The toner discharged from the supply container 1 is supplied from the toner discharge port 9 to the hopper 2 of the developing device 201.
01a.

Next, when the toner replenishing container 1 is to be taken out, the user opens the toner replenishing container mounting part cover 2 and the sensor S3 detects that the toner replenishing container mounting part cover 2 is opened, and the driving device 4 Then, the tray 3 moves in the direction of arrow e in the figure, to the position where the toner supply container 1 is retracted to the first position. At this time, the toner discharge driving device 7 is stopped, and the cap 5 is pushed into the convex portion 1-c of the toner supply container 1 by the coupling 6, so that the toner inside the toner supply container becomes external as shown in FIG. So as not to leak.

Next, the toner supply container 1 is moved by the tray 3 by the drive unit 4 to the position shown in FIG. The user can remove the toner supply container 1 and replace it with a new toner supply container.

As described above, the toner supply container is
By rotating and removing the cap that closes the opening and pushing it in to close the opening, the following effects can be obtained. (1) Compared with the shutter method and the method of peeling off the seal, the opening can be performed with less force and more surely. (2) Since the cap and the toner supply container are connected by a screw, the toner contained therein leaks out even after a distribution such as a drop or vibration, or an environmental change such as a high temperature, a high humidity and a reduced pressure. There is nothing wrong, and reliable and good sealing properties can be obtained. (3) Since it can be sealed with one touch by pushing, toner contamination and scattering in this resealing operation are small. (4) No coarse particles are generated during the resealing operation.

When the cap is rotated during sealing, a small amount of toner remaining in the toner supply container and a small amount of toner attached to the cap are scattered, and the outer surface and the periphery of the toner supply container are easily stained. If it is pushed straight as it is, the toner adhering to the cap is also brought into the container as it is, so that there is little scattering.

With regard to coarse particles, there is no problem because toner does not exist on the inner periphery of the cap and the outer periphery of the opening of the container at the time of opening. However, when sealing after discharging the toner, a small amount of toner adheres to the above-mentioned location, and if the cap is rotated to seal, the toner intervenes in the sliding portion between the inner circumference of the cap and the outer circumference of the opening. However, the toner sometimes aggregates and melts to generate coarse particles (coarse particles). On the other hand, in the embodiment of the present invention in which the cap is pushed in and sealed, sliding between the cap and the toner supply container is minimized, so that coarse particles do not occur.

Further, since a stirring and conveying member is provided inside the toner supply container, a certain amount of toner can be reliably discharged without causing blocking or flushing of the toner. In the case of a toner supply container having a relatively small discharge port that is closed by a cap, it is particularly effective to stir, convey, and discharge the toner using a stirring and conveying member. The stirring and conveying member is screw-shaped in the present embodiment, but is not limited to this, for example, a member having a shaft attached with a flexible member such as mylar, a member that rotates a rod bent in a crank shape, Alternatively, various forms such as combinations thereof can be applied.

The driving force for rotating the stirring and conveying member is transmitted from the outside of the toner supply container to the stirring and conveying member via the cap, so that the driving force for rotating the stirring and conveying member is utilized. Since the cap can be removed, there is no need to actually remove the cap, which is a very preferable embodiment. In this case, the trouble of forgetting to remove the cap and rotating the stirring / conveying member and closing around the discharge port can be reliably avoided.

As shown in the present embodiment, the rotation axis of the stirring / conveying member penetrates the discharge port and transmits the rotational driving force via the cap. A related seal member is not required, the structure is simple and the cost can be reduced. In addition, problems such as generation of coarse particles due to the biting of the toner into the bearing portion and an increase in rotational torque can be prevented.

In the configuration in which the cap relays the rotational driving force of the stirring and conveying member, the stirring and conveying member and the cap are locked in the rotation direction of the stirring and conveying member, and are loosely fitted to each other so as to be movable in the axial direction. This can be preferably realized. Even when the cap is moved in the axial direction and removed from the toner supply container, the stirring / conveying member does not move in the axial direction with respect to the toner supply container, so that there is no dead space beyond the action of the stirring / conveying member. .

In the embodiment, the screw shape is provided on the outer periphery of the convex portion 1-b, and the screw portion 5b is provided on the cap 5. However, the female screw and the male screw may be reversed. That is, the toner discharge port a-
Reference numeral 1 denotes a cylindrical shape having an internal thread
May have a male thread that engages with the female thread, and at least a portion of the container body 10 that has the female thread may be made of an expandable elastic material.

[0048]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The assemblability and the good conveyance and discharge of the toner can be achieved.The opening and closing of the toner discharge opening is performed by rotating the cap integrated with the toner stirring and conveying member. By pushing in the cap, it is possible to surely carry out by a simple mechanism in the image forming apparatus without increasing the number of parts, and without scattering toner and the outside of the machine by scattering of toner, at low cost. It is possible to provide a toner replenishing device and a toner replenishing container for an image forming apparatus with good assembling properties.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state where a toner supply container has begun to be mounted on an image forming apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the toner supply device of the image forming apparatus in which the toner supply container is mounted.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state where a cap of the toner supply container is removed from the state of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of the toner supply container.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of the toner supply container.

FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C are vertical cross-sectional views showing engagement and disengagement of a toner supply container and a driving unit, respectively.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the toner supply container.

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus.

9 is an external perspective view of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the mounting of the toner supply device in FIG. 9;

[Explanation of symbols]

P: paper S1, S2, S3: sensor 1: toner supply container 1-a: opening 1-1: recess
1-b: convex portion 1-c: screw shape 1-e: outer periphery
1-5: Space 2: Toner supply container mounting section cover 3: Tray 3-a: Rack gear 3-b, 3-c: V
Character receiving part 3-d ... arc-shaped receiving part 3-f ... V-shaped receiving part 3-
e: stopper 4 ... drive 4-a ... motor 4-b ... gear 4-c
... Intermediate gear 4c-1 ... Fixed shaft 4-d ... Pinion 4
d-1: fixed shaft 4-e: drive device frame 5 ... cap 5-a: shaft 5-b: screw portion 5-c ...
Inner circumference 6 Coupling 7 Toner discharge driving device 8 Shutter 8-a Hole 9 Toner discharge port 10 Container body 10-a Lower side surface 10-b Rear end wall 10-c Front end wall 11 ... Toner conveying screw 11-a ... Hole 11-b
... Convex part 12 ... Toner discharge spring 13 ... Device body 101 ... Document 102 ... Document table glass 103 ... Optical unit 104 ... Photoconductor drum 105 ... Paper feed cassette 106 ... Paper feed cassette 107 ... Paper feed cassette 108 ... Paper feed cassette 109 ... Conveying unit 110 ... Regist roller 111 ... Transfer charger 112 ... Separating charger 113 ... Conveying unit 114 ... Fixing unit 115 ... Discharge discharge reversing unit 116 ... Discharge discharge roller 117 ... Discharge tray 118 ... Flapper 119 ... Re-feed conveyance Path 120: Refeeding conveyance path 201: Developing device 201: Hopper 202: Cleaning device 203: Primary charging device

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing the front page (72) Inventor Kazuhiko Omata 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Yutaka Tomo 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inside (72) Inventor Kyota Miyazaki 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Tatsuya Goto 3-30-2, Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc.

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A toner supply container detachable from a main body of an image forming apparatus, comprising: a toner main body having a toner discharge opening for discharging toner; A cap, a toner stirring and conveying member provided in the container body,
A toner replenishing container comprising: a cap being rotated to remove the cap from the toner discharge port; and a cap being pushed in to close the toner discharge port. 2. The toner replenishing container according to claim 1, wherein the cap rotates and moves while rotating in a direction of a rotation center line. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cap is rotated to release the engagement with the toner discharge port.
4. The toner supply container according to 1. 4. The toner supply container according to claim 1, wherein the rotational driving force of the stirring / conveying member is transmitted from outside the container body to the stirring / conveying member via the cap. 5. The toner supply container according to claim 4, wherein a rotation axis of the stirring and conveying member penetrates the opening. 6. The toner according to claim 5, wherein the stirring and conveying member and the cap are locked in a rotation direction of the stirring and conveying member, and are loosely fitted to each other so as to be movable in an axial direction. Supply container. 7. The replenishing container according to claim 1, wherein the cap has an input portion for a driving force that is engaged with and disengaged from a driving unit of the image forming apparatus main body. 8. The toner supply container according to claim 1, further comprising an elastic member that urges the cap in a direction to remove the cap from a toner discharge port. 9. The toner supply container according to claim 8, wherein the agitating and conveying member and the elastic member rotate integrally. 10. The screw according to claim 9, wherein the stirring and conveying member is a screw, the elastic member is a coil spring, and the screw and the elastic member have the same torsion direction.
4. The toner supply container according to 1. 11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the rotation direction of the stirring and conveying member and the rotation direction of removing the cap are the same, and the toner conveying direction and the cap moving direction are the same. The toner supply container according to any one of the above. 12. A toner supply container detachable from an image forming apparatus main body, comprising: a container main body; and a toner stirring / conveying member for feeding toner from a toner discharge port for discharging toner from the container main body provided in the container main body. And a cap for closing the toner outlet of the container body, wherein the toner outlet is cylindrical and has an internal thread on the inner periphery, and the cap has an external thread that engages with the internal thread. A toner supply container, wherein at least a portion of the container body having a female screw is made of an elastic material whose diameter can be expanded.