JPS5854370A - Toner recovery device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the inside of the device from being stained with a discharged toner, by utilizing a member for detecting the quantity of the recovered toner and detecting that mounting of a toner recovery vessel is forgotten. CONSTITUTION:A toner recovery vessel holder 1 is held shakable in vertical by a shaft 41 and a spring 5, and a longitudinal shaft 16 is provided with a detecting lever 61 having a shutter plate 62, and the detecting lever 61 is provided so as to enter into the holder 1 by a spring 63, and the motion of the shutter plate 62 is detected by an optical detector 65. When a toner vessel 3 is filled up with a toner, the holder 1 sinks downward, and the lever 61 is moved, and excess of the toner is displayed by the detector 65. When the vessel 3 is removed, the lever 61 is turned left by the spring 63 and enters into the notch part of the holder 1, and excess of the toner is displayed by the detector 65 similarly, but it is found in the process for display confirmation that mounting of the vessel 3 is forgotten, thus preventing the inside of the device from being stained with the discharged toner.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a toner recovery device K for an electrophotographic device, etc.
11 liters.

In an electrophotographic device that uses a dry development transfer method, untransferred toner remains on the surface of the photoreceptor after the transfer process, but this is removed from the photoreceptor in the cleaning section and stored in a toner collection container installed inside the machine. . By the way, the toner that has been collected and collected cannot be used again for development, and when the container is full, the entire container must be taken out of the machine and disposed of. Collection scenario
Although it has a mechanism to detect the amount, if there is no mechanism to detect the presence or absence of a container, and if you forget to put a new container in the aircraft, it will be discharged as the device operates and the 9F toner will be released below the outlet. If it falls and contaminates the inside of the device, it may impair the function of the device and cause a tumor.

In view of these problems, the present invention has a simple structure that prevents contamination of the inside of the device by ejected toner, without using a detection member for detecting the amount of collected toner, and at the same time detects forgetting to attach the toner collection container. The object of the present invention is to provide a toner recovery device, and the details of the present invention will be explained below based on the illustrated embodiment N.

The drawing shows one embodiment of the present invention. A rising piece 11.15 that holds both sides of the toner collection container 50 that is attached so as to wrap around the pipe 21.
is integrally bent and formed, and one of the above-mentioned upright pieces 11 is pivoted to the four-frame frame so that it can be swung downwards using the 1- side as a reference point. The bottom surface of the other side is held upward by a spring 5. Al:j is a mechanism for detecting the amount of collected toner and the presence or absence of the toner collection container 1, which is a characteristic part of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 2, the inside of this rising paper piece 15 is moved by the spring 4s! A detection lever 61 that is urged to enter by IC1 and has a shutter plate 62 at its tip is pivoted so that it can rotate parallel to the surface of the container holder 1. The light emitting element 65m and the light receiving element are placed in such a position that the collected toner does not reach the specified amount and the shutter plate 62 can be detected only on the platform on the container holder 1 (on which the toner collection container 5 is placed). An optical detector 6S consisting of an element 45b is provided. In addition, the reference numeral 7 in the figure is a motor (not shown), which is driven by a jumping cam, which causes a sudden impact when the cam follower 42 at the end of the lever 4 is dropped into the small diameter part, and only the toner in the collection container s is removed. The KII is configured to move the toner to the left in the figure by its inertia, stack it below the discharge port, and sequentially feed the nine toners into a wide area (in sequence). In the figure, numeral 8 indicates the photoreceptor drum. There is.

In the nine embodiments described above, the toner discharged from the discharge pipe 21 of the cleaning unit 2 is stored in the toner collection storage #
However, the jumping cam 7, which is rotated by a motor (not shown), moves the container holder 1 to the left in the figure via the cam 7 roller 742 that is rolling in contact with the 111th surface of the jumping cam 7. By displacing the cam 7 intermittently, the cam 7 or aI 742 deposits the toner at the lower part of the small diameter part of the cam 7 (due to the shock when it collides with the discharge area) and sequentially sends the toner into the large part of the storage space. There is still some toner storage capacity inside the collection container 2, and the amount of deflection of the spring 5 supporting the bottom surface on the other side of the container holder 1 is only small. Shutter plate 62
VCTo in the optical detector 65 blocks the light from the light emitting element 48m.

When the inside of the toner collection container 5 becomes filled with collected toner (therefore, the spring 5 can no longer resist this load and bends downward, the container holder 1 sinks clockwise around the shaft 41 at the end of the lever 4). Due to this, the nine detection lever 61 supported by the container holder 1 and 11 is also lowered, and the shutter plate 62 at the tip is removed from the optical detector 45, so the light emitting element 65 no longer receives light from the field. Element 6Sb
11C on the panel board (not shown) by the output signal.
) Excessive number is displayed.

When such a state is reached and the toner collection storage @B is removed from the top of the container holder 1 in order to discard the collected toner at the 9th stage or earlier, the detection lever 41, which is given levorotation by the spring 6BVC, will move to the 9th stage or earlier. As shown in FIG. 2 (b) K, the shutter plate 62 at the rounded tip that enters the container holder 1 is removed from the optical detector 6S. This condition-
As described above, an excessive amount of toner is displayed on the panel board, but the operator can discover that the container has been forgotten in the process of checking this display.

Although the above explanation is based on an example in which the housing of the present invention is incorporated into an electrophotographic device, the present invention can also be applied to other devices (such as electrostatic recording devices and magnetic recording devices that employ a dry development method). Needless to say, in addition to the above-mentioned detectors, there are also optical detectors such as photointerrupters, non-contact type detectors using a combination of reed switches and magnets or Hall elements and magnets, and reed type detectors. It is also possible to use a proximity switch consisting of a combination of a switch, a magnet and a magnetic plate, or a filler, a microswitch, etc.

As described above, according to the present invention, a single member is provided that is displaced depending on the amount of toner in the container and the presence or absence of the container, and the amount of donor and the presence or absence of the container are simultaneously detected from the displacement of this member.
t, fe, so it can be easily installed even in small equipment with limited space, especially in installations where a collection container with a small capacity is used and the container must be replaced frequently.
It is possible to prevent contamination of the inside of the machine caused by overflow of waste (recovery container) or forgetting to attach a container.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an example of a toner recovery device according to the present invention, and FIGS. Container holder, 2...Cleaning unit, 5...Toner collection container, 4-Lever, 61-Detection lever, 62-Shutter plate, 65-Detector, 7-
...Jumping cam, 42 river cam follower. Agent Patent Attorney Keiji Nishikawa

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a device configured to collect toner removed from the surface of a latent image carrier into a container installed in the machine, the amount of toner in the container and the presence or absence of the container (a single member that is displaced according to a detection member configured to detect the displacement of the container and output a signal corresponding to the amount of toner in the container and the presence or absence of the container.