JPH11282237A - Toner storage container - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make the sliding ability of a shutter compatible with the sealing ability of an elastic sealing member by providing an insertion member which can be pulled out between the elastic sealing member and the shutter or in the elastic sealing member itself. SOLUTION: The insertion member 14 is put between a shutter main body 11 and the elastic member 12. It is good to round or incline the corner part of the member 14. By thus doing, the member 14 is easily pulled out and inserted. It is advantageous to provide a guide groove on the main body 11 in order to smoothly insert or pull out the member 14. By sticking resin film on the surface of the member 12 coming in contact with the member 14, the stiffness of the member 12 is enhanced and the strength of the surface thereof coming in contact with the member 14 is improved, whereby it is advantageous to prevent the damage of the member 14 when it is inserted. By providing a notch at a part of the main body 11 and/or the member 12 on a side where the member 14 is inserted, the member 14 is easily inserted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toner container, and more particularly, to a toner supply (storage) used for supplying a developer to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile, and a printer using an electrophotographic system. The present invention relates to a container, and more particularly to a structure of a shutter attached to a toner supply port of the container.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus employing an electrophotographic system, toner is used as a developer. When the toner is consumed, it is necessary to supply new toner to the developing unit of the image forming apparatus. The replenishment of the new toner is performed by the toner filled in the toner storage container. This toner supply container is usually constituted by a seal that seals the container body and its opening (toner supply port). However, this seal is generally a film, and when removing the film, the hands and clothes are stained with the toner, and since the container cannot be sealed after the toner is replenished, the toner remaining in the container may be spilled or scattered. .

In view of the above, a toner replenishing container has been proposed in which a reciprocating slide shutter is attached to an opening of a container body in order to store the remaining toner in the container and supply it to the image forming apparatus when necessary. Have been. With this kind of toner replenishing container, a high sealing property is required in accordance with the recent tendency to minimize the toner particle size. The proposed toner supply container having a conventional sliding shutter includes, for example, the following (1) and (2)
and so on.

(1) Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-160730 discloses that a first storage section, a second storage section, and a storage section are separated from each other and have an opening at a position overlapping with an opening of the container and are interlocked with the container. A shutter, and an elastic sheet member disposed around the opening of the shutter. By changing a gap between the container and the shutter around the opening, the amount of change of the elastic seal member is changed. The disclosed toner storage container is disclosed. (2) Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-119350 discloses a container body having an opening for storing a developer, a shutter member for closing the opening, shutter support means, and the shutter member on the opening side. A developer supply container having a seal member (elastic member) mounted between the surface of the shutter support means and the shutter support means, and having a concave portion communicating with the surface of the shutter support means which abuts and slides on the seal member. It has been disclosed.

However, in the toner supply containers (1) and (2), it is difficult to achieve both the sliding property of the shutter and the sealing property of the elastic sealing member. In other words, if the seal by the elastic seal member is loose, the shutter slides easily, so that it is easy for the user to operate the image forming apparatus when it is mounted. However, the toner is easily leaked when the toner supply container is moved or transported. Conversely, if the elastic seal member has a tight seal, toner leakage can be prevented, but there is a problem that the sliding resistance of the shutter is large and it is difficult to slide.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a toner container having a sliding shutter in which the sliding property of a shutter and the sealing property of an elastic seal member are compatible.

[0007]

The present inventor has studied the toner container having a sliding shutter from various angles in order to achieve the above object.
It has been found that a better toner supply container can be obtained by providing a removable insertion member between the elastic seal member and the shutter or in the elastic seal member itself. The present invention has been made based on this.

According to the present invention, first, in a toner storage container including a container body having a toner supply port and a shutter attached to the toner supply port, the shutter is slid in a flat plate shape to supply the toner. A shutter body capable of opening and closing a mouth, an elastic member provided on a surface of the shutter body on the toner supply port side, and a pull-out member inserted between or within the elastic member and the shutter body. And a toner container having an insertion member.

Secondly, there is provided the first toner container described above, wherein the elastic member has a rounded or rounded corner portion. Third, the first or second toner container is provided, wherein a groove for easily inserting an insertion member between the shutter body and the elastic member is provided in the shutter body. Is done. Fourth, the first, second, or third toner container is provided, wherein a resin film is adhered to a surface of the elastic member on a side in contact with the insertion member. Fifth, the toner storage container according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the width of the elastic member is wider than the diameter of the toner supply port. Sixthly, there is provided the toner container according to any one of the first to fifth features, wherein a cutout is partially formed on an end surface of the shutter body and / or the elastic member on the insertion member insertion side. Is done.

Seventh, the insertion member is sealed with a label, a tape, or the like at the time of shipment, and the label, the tape, or the like is peeled off at the time of use so that the insertion member can be pulled out. A toner container according to any one of the first to sixth aspects is provided.

The toner container according to the present invention is a shutter provided with an elastic member, in which the amount of squeezing of the elastic member is changed by an insertable pull-out member. According to the present invention, the insertion member for changing the amount of squeezing of the elastic member is inserted between the elastic member and the shutter body or into the elastic member, and does not come into contact with the toner. It doesn't get dirty. The toner container according to the present invention has an extra step of removing the insertion member from the user, and a step of inserting the insertion member into the maker, which complicates the means for filling the container with the toner. However, moreover, the effect of avoiding the leakage of toner during movement and transportation of the toner storage container is great, and the container has a high hermeticity, which more than compensates for the above-mentioned drawbacks.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail. As mentioned above, a toner supply container using a sliding shutter with an elastic member is already known. In order to eliminate the leakage of toner from the conventional toner supply container, it is necessary to increase the amount of crushing of the elastic member, but this increases the opening / closing force of the shutter and is inconvenient to handle. Conversely, if an attempt is made to reduce the opening / closing force of the shutter, toner leakage will occur. Heretofore, there has not been proposed a toner supply container that effectively prevents toner leakage and has a small opening / closing force of a shutter. The present invention prevents toner leakage by inserting a member (insertion member) capable of collapsing the elastic member between or between the conventional elastic member and the shutter or within the elastic member, and removes the insertion member to operate at the time of use. It facilitates sex.

FIG. 10 shows a state where the elastic member 1 is attached to the shutter body 11.
2 shows a conventional structure in which toner is prevented from leaking. In the figure, 13 is an adhesive tape, 21 is a container body,
Reference numeral 22 denotes an opening (toner supply port) of the container body. The toner container according to the present invention includes a shutter body 11 and an elastic member 1.
It is characterized in that the insertion member 14 is narrowed between the two (FIG. 1) or that the insertion member 14 is arranged in the layer of the elastic member 12 (FIG. 2). The insertion member 14 may be provided with an R (roundness) or slant at the separation portion, which has an advantage that the insertion and removal of the insertion member 4 is facilitated (FIGS. 2 and 3).

In the present invention, it is advantageous to provide a guide groove 11a as shown in FIG. 4 in the shutter body 11 in order to smoothly insert and withdraw the insertion member 14. Also, the insertion member 14 of the elastic member 12
It is preferable that a resin film 15 is stuck on the surface in contact with (FIG. 5). Adhering the resin film 15 is advantageous for increasing the stiffness of the elastic member 12 and improving the strength of the surface in contact with the insertion member 14 to prevent damage when the insertion member 14 is inserted.

By providing a cutout in a part of the shutter body 11 and / or the elastic member 12 on the side where the insertion member 14 is inserted, insertion of the insertion member 14 becomes easy. FIG. 6 shows an example of the notch 11 b provided in the shutter body 11. Here, by making the insertion member 14 larger than the toner supply port 22, the sealing can be reliably performed.

In the present invention, examples of the material of the shutter body 11 include plastic resins (polyethylene (PE), polypropylene, polystyrene (PS), ABS, etc.), composite materials of these resins and glass fibers, and metals such as stainless steel. Can be The material of the elastic member 12 is silicon rubber,
Examples include urethane rubber, low-foam polyurethane rubber, and sponge. The material of the insertion member 14 includes
HDPE, PS, etc. can be used. As the resin film 15, a film such as PET is used. Adhesive tape 1
An adhesive can be used instead of 3. Elastic material 1
2. The thickness of the insertion member 14, the resin film 15, and the like can be determined as appropriate.

When replenishing the toner contained in the toner container of the present invention to the developing unit of the image forming apparatus, the toner is mounted on the image forming apparatus with the container main body 21 up and the shutter main body 11 down. Subsequently, the insertion member 14 is pulled out, and the shutter is slid to drop the toner. Although the shutter main body 11 has a flat plate shape, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 7, the inner surfaces of both side ends stop on the outer surface of the opening 22 of the container main body so that the shutter body 11 can slide integrally with the elastic member 12. It is supposed to be. However, the method of sliding the shutter is not limited to the above.

It is preferable to ship the toner container filled with toner with the insertion member 14 sealed with a label, tape, or the like 80 (unused) (FIG. 7). Although the insertion member 14 of the present invention cannot be returned to the original state when the insertion member 14 is withdrawn to a certain extent, it can be returned if it is intentionally returned. At that time, it is not possible to discriminate between unused products and used products, and even if a third party fills with peeling toner, it cannot be distinguished from the arrow, and quality cannot be guaranteed. In order to avoid such an unexpected situation, an unused container filled with toner and the insertion member is labeled,
It is preferable to seal with a tape 80 or the like.

FIG. 8 shows three toner containers of the present invention (cyan, magenta, and yellow toner containers).
In this example, one toner storage container 20 and one developing unit 30 are illustrated for convenience. The toner from the toner storage container (carbridge) 20 falls into the toner hopper 50 through the slit hole 40 and is sent to the developing unit 30 of the image forming apparatus from a toner outlet 61 provided on the inner surface of the holder 60. The toner supply from the toner storage container 20 to the hopper 50
This is done by rotating the holder 60, which
Supplied equally. The developing unit 30 corresponds to a holder for each color as shown in the drawing, and is finally fixed to the holder and screws at the time of production and assembly to be integrated. This is the same for all three colors. The rotation of the holder occurs in accordance with the three-color development, and rotates together with the developing unit. At this time, the toner is replenished equally in three colors. In the figure, 71 is a photoreceptor, and 72 is a screw.

FIG. 9A shows the positional relationship between the toner container 20 and the shutter 10 and the insertion member 14 and these members. FIG. 9 (b) shows the insertion member 1 from FIG. 9 (a).
FIG. 4 is a diagram of a state where 4 is extracted.

As described above, in the toner container of the present invention, a removable member (insertion member) capable of appropriately crushing the elastic member is provided between the conventional elastic member and the shutter or in the elastic member. This structure prevents the leakage of toner during transportation of the container filled with toner or immediately before use, and facilitates operability during use by removing the insertion member.

[0022]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the insertion member is provided between the shutter body and the elastic member to prevent the toner from leaking before use, and the insertion / extraction member is pulled out during use to open and close the shutter. Can be reduced. According to the second aspect of the present invention, the load on the elastic member at the end of the insertion member is reduced at the interface between the shutter body and the elastic member by forming an R or an inclination at the end of the cross-sectional shape of the insertion member. Can be. According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the groove for facilitating the removal of the insertion member is provided in the shutter body, the operation at the time of mounting is facilitated. According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the resin film is adhered to the back surface of the elastic member, the elastic member can be strengthened and the insertion member can be prevented from being damaged at the time of insertion. According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the width of the elastic member is made wider than that of the toner supply port, the sealing can be reliably performed. According to the invention of claim 6,
By forming a cutout portion on the end surface of the shutter body and / or the elastic member on the side where the insertion member is inserted, the insertion member can be easily inserted. According to the invention of claim 7, since the insertion member at the time of shipment is sealed with a label, a tape, or the like, and the label, the tape, or the like must be peeled off at the time of use, the unused product and the used product can be distinguished. It is also possible to determine whether or not another person has refilled the toner, and it is easy to compensate for the quality.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a shutter is attached to a supply port of a toner storage container.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a shutter is attached to a supply port of the toner storage container.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a shutter is attached to a supply port of the toner storage container.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a state where a guide groove of an insertion member is formed in a shutter body.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a state in which a resin film is provided on an elastic member on the shutter body side.

FIG. 6 is a view in which a cutout is provided in a part of the shutter body.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a state where the insertion member is sealed with a label or a tape.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the toner storage container of the present invention is mounted on a holder.

9A is a diagram illustrating a state where a shutter is attached to the toner storage container, and FIG. 9B is a diagram illustrating a state where the shutter is removed from the toner storage container.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a state in which a conventional shutter is attached to a toner storage container.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Shutter 11 Shutter main body (11a guide groove, 11b cutout) 12 Elastic member 13 Adhesive tape 14 Insertion member 15 Resin film 20 Toner storage container 21 Container main body 22 Toner supply port 30 Developing unit 40 Slit 50 Toner hopper 60 Holder 61 Toner discharge Exit 71 Photoconductor 72 Screw 80 Label, tape, etc.

Claims (7)

[Claims] A container body having a toner supply port and a toner storage container comprising a shutter attached to the toner supply port, a shutter body capable of opening and closing the toner supply port by sliding the shutter in a flat plate shape;
An elastic member provided on a surface of the shutter body on the toner supply port side, and a releasable insertion member inserted between the elastic member and the shutter body or into the elastic member. Toner container. 2. The toner container according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member has a rounded or inclined corner in a cross-sectional shape thereof. 3. The toner container according to claim 1, wherein the shutter body is provided with a groove for easily inserting an insertion member between the shutter body and the elastic member. 4. The toner container according to claim 1, wherein a resin film is adhered to a surface of the elastic member on a side in contact with the insertion member. 5. The toner container according to claim 1, wherein a width of the elastic member is larger than a diameter of the toner supply port. 6. The toner container according to claim 1, wherein a notch is formed in an end surface of the shutter body and / or the elastic member on the insertion member insertion side. . 7. The insertion member is sealed with a label, a tape, or the like at the time of shipping, and the label, tape, or the like is used at the time of use.
7. The toner container according to claim 1, wherein the tape or the like is peeled off and the insertion member is pulled out.