JPS6035062B2 - Powder developer cartridge - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a detachable cartridge for supplying powder developer to a developing device.

2. Description of the Related Art Image forming apparatuses that visualize electrostatic tank images include electrophotographic copying apparatuses and electrostatic recording apparatuses.

In these devices, it is well known that a visible image is obtained by supplying a powder developer to an electrostatic latent image formed by a predetermined process on a photoreceptor or a member to be charged. This visible image is transferred to another transfer material and used as a copy or data. In this way, when visualizing an electrostatic image, that is, developing it, the powder developer in the developing device (powder developer can be one-component type or one consisting of toner and carrier). However, since so-called toner (which will be explained below using toner as a representative example) is consumed, it is necessary to replenish the toner in a timely manner. For this reason, the developing device is often provided with a hopper-like storage section for storing toner for replenishment. However, there is a limit to the amount of toner that can be stored in the storage section, and if the developing device is used for a long time, the toner in the storage section will be used up. In many conventional devices, before the toner in the storage section is used up, a new container is refilled with toner. However, when toner is transferred to the above-mentioned storage section using a separate container, the toner tends to scatter as the toner moves, contaminating peripheral equipment and workers, causing machine failure, or contaminating completed copies. It caused this. To solve the above-mentioned problem of the developing device, a method commonly used at present is to store toner in a certain container that is detachable from the main body of the developing device, and when the toner in the container runs out. The entire container must be replaced.

Such a container that can be attached to and detached from the main body is called a cartridge. This force-tridge method is much more effective in preventing toner from scattering during replenishment than the method described above that moves toner directly, and allows toner or developer to be replenished easily. There is an advantage. However, in the conventional powder developer cartridge mechanism, it is configured to be inserted in a direction parallel to the axis of the developing roller, and the seal of the discharge opening along the longitudinal direction of the cartridge is Since the seal is then peeled off or released by being pulled in the longitudinal direction, it is not easy to operate and has restrictions on the layout of the device.Furthermore, if the seal is peeled off before installation, toner may spill when inserted. However, the problem of contamination had not been completely resolved. An object of the present invention is to provide a powder developer cartridge capable of exposing a closed portion by manually pulling one end of a sealing member in a direction substantially perpendicular to the developing roller when the cartridge is mounted parallel to the developing roller. It is provided by.

This purpose consists of a container having in the longitudinal direction an opening for discharging powder developer approximately the same length as the developing roller, and a peelable sealing member sealing the opening and having one end forming a grip. This is achieved by using a container.

According to the present invention, the cartridge can be attached and detached in a direction substantially perpendicular to the developing loaf, allowing for flexible layout of the device, and making it easy to peel off the sealing member after attaching the cartridge. This will not scatter.

The invention will now be explained in detail with reference to the illustrated embodiments.

First, an example of a cartridge for powder development based on the present invention will be explained. In FIG. 1a, reference numeral 1 indicates a cartridge containing powder developer 4, reference numeral 2 indicates a removable seal member that closes the closing portion, and reference numeral 3 indicates a sealing opening.
1B is a cross-sectional view of the cartridge 1 taken along the line AA in FIG. 1A, and FIG. 1C is a side view of FIG. 1A viewed from the direction of arrow C. That is, the cartridge 1 is an elongated hexahedral container molded from synthetic resin or the like and has a trapezoidal cross section with only one acute angle 8. The entrance part 3 extends in the longitudinal direction of the cartridge 1, and its length is approximately equal to the length of the developing loaf (indicated by reference numeral 20 in FIG. 2), its width is approximately 1'2 of the width of the cartridge, and it has an acute angle. It is formed on the upper plate 5 having the edge 6a having 0 as one side and having the maximum area. The upper plate 5 and the swash plate 6 sandwiching the acute angle a are in close contact with the back plate 15 of the developing device and the backing plate 10b of the support member 10 via packing materials 16 and 12, respectively, as shown in FIG. It is formed smoothly. The attitude of the cartridge 1 when installed is as shown in FIG. 5, and the angle a is experimentally set so that the toner falls and flows smoothly when the upper plate 5 including the opening is upright. . Reference numeral 7 indicates ears formed at both ends of the cartridge.
A recess 8 is formed in the support member 10 to engage with a click 11 of the support member 10 shown in FIG. In addition, in FIG. 8, to explain the sealing member that closes the entrance part 3 of the cartridge 1, the grip part 2a of the sealing member 2 is indicated by the broken line 2.
It is folded back with a valley fold in the longitudinal direction at b, and then folded back diagonally into a mountain fold at chain line 2c. Next, an example of a developing device according to the present invention to which the above cartridge 1 is applied will be explained with reference to FIG.

The developer container of the developing device is located on the side plate 37 (only one side is shown).
A back plate 15 supporting the upper plate 5 of the cartridge 1, which is formed substantially integrally with the cartridge 1, a receiving tray 18 for receiving toner discharged from the entrance portion 3 of the cartridge 1, and a side plate 37 located below the receiving tray 18. A developing device is disposed between a cartridge support member 10 which is swingably supported by approximately 90 degrees around a support shaft 14 solidly mounted in a tank, a cartridge 1 with the entrance portion 3 facing downward, a back plate 15, and a tray. It consists of Lofu 20. A packing material 16 is attached to the tip of the back plate 15, and the cartridge 1 is inserted through this packing material 16.
The upper plate 5 is pressed against the back plate 15. A doctor blade 22 is formed on the other end of the back plate 15, and a cover 15a covering the developing roller 20 and the brush roller 23 is formed substantially integrally with the back plate 15. One end of the saucer 18 is used for development. The other end 18 extends along the lower half circumference of the roller 20.
a has a partially cylindrical shape formed by an arc centered on the support shaft 14. The developing roller 20 is configured such that a permanent magnet (not shown) is disposed therein, and a nonmagnetic sleeve rotates in the direction D on the outside of the magnet to supply toner to the latent image carrier 19 . The brush roller 23 moves the latent image carrier 1 while bringing the brush 23a into contact with the latent image carrier 19 after development.
9, the latent image carrier 19 is rotated at a speed sufficient to remove the toner remaining on the surface of the latent image carrier 19.
It has the function of cleaning. Support member 1
The base plate 10a and the backing plate 10 are selectively swung to both the cartridge attachment position shown in FIG. 2 and the developer supply position shown in FIG.
b (see Fig. 2), a grip 13 (see Fig. 6) that is held by hand when swinging, a click 11 that engages with a recess 8 formed in the ear portion 7 of the cartridge 1, and a support for this. A protrusion 36 for positioning the member at the developer supply position (see FIG. 5) is substantially integrally formed of elastic synthetic resin or the like. The projecting piece 36 is a hole 37c bored in the side plate 37.
(Only one side is shown in FIG. 6) is configured to be able to be engaged and detached freely. A packing material 17 is attached to the back side of the part of the backing plate 10b to which the packing material 12 is attached, and the packing material 17 is configured to be able to freely slide on the surface of the partial cylinder 18a while the support member 10 is swinging. ing. Reference numeral 37b indicates a stopper that limits the swinging of the support member 10 at the cartridge attachment/detachment position shown in FIG. 2, and is fixed to the side plate 37 (only one side is shown). Also, the positioning mechanism will be explained as to whether the main body of the developing device is detachably attached to the copying machine. In FIG. 7, a support shaft 38 is fixed to the outside of both side plates 37 (only one side is shown; the other side is shown in FIG. 2) of the main body of the developing device. A positioning lever 39 is supported by the support shaft 38 with its elongated hole 39a swinging. The positioning lever 39 has a hand portion 3 at one end.
9b is formed with an engaging portion 39c in a different manner,
It is connected to the support shaft 38 by a spring 40. A hole 41 is formed in the side plate 37 in proximity to the side green portion 37a, and serves as a grip when the developing device is pulled out. On the other hand, a pin 42 for positioning the developing device is fixed to the main body of the copying machine. To position the developing device, the positioning lever 39 is swung counterclockwise and then pushed into the main body of the copying machine. Thereafter, when the positioning lever 39 is swung clockwise, the engaging portion 39c is attached to the pin 42 by the spring 40.
are tightly engaged due to the elasticity of the Therefore, the developing device is positioned relative to the main body of the photographing machine. Now, the method of mounting the cartridge will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 to 5. First, in FIG. 2, the support member 10 is
(see figure) and rotates it until it abuts against the stopper 37b, the grasshopper placement stand 10a becomes approximately horizontal. Seal member 2
When the cartridge 1 is pushed in the direction of the arrow with the shell holding surface facing upward, the elastic clicks 11 engage with the recesses 8 of the ears 7, and the cartridge bottom plate 9 is placed on the mounting table 10a and the cartridge is The swash plate 6 is pressed against and supported by the backing plate 10b via a packing material 12. In this state, as shown in FIG. 3, even if the grip 2a of the seal member 2 is pinched by hand and pulled to the right in the figure, the cartridge 1 will not come off the support section 10. Further, since the grip 2a of the sealing member is folded back as described above, the sealing member 2 only needs to be printed on one side. That is,
When printing the handling method, peeling method, etc. of the cartridge 1 on the sticker section 2, it is sufficient to print only on one side. Furthermore, if you pull the grip 2a in the direction of the displayed arrow,
Since the side green portion 2d is pulled first and the sealing member 2 is peeled off from the inner side 2e (see FIG. 6), the sealing portion 2 can be completely peeled off. Since the cartridge 1 is fixed even during this peeling operation of the seal portion 2, there is no risk of toner scattering. In addition, in FIGS. 2 to 4 showing the cartridge attachment/detachment position, the green part 3 on the side of the developing device
Since 7a can be considered as the end face of the machine, the cartridge 1 is exposed to the outside of the machine, and the operability is very good.

If it is necessary to further save space for attaching and detaching the cartridge, the center of the support 14 may be placed above the receiving tray 18 and placed inside the cartridge. Figure 4 shows cartridge 1
The seal member 2 is peeled off and the toner 4 is exposed through the closing part 3, while the grip 13 (see FIG. 6) is held in place. The support member 10 is rotated in the direction of arrow B about the support shaft 14 mounted on the side plate 37, and the cartridge upper plate 6 having the opening 3 is attached to one end of the back plate 15 of the developing device. 16 (see FIG. 5), the protruding piece 36 of the support member engages with the hole 37c of the side plate, and the mounting of the cartridge is completed. During this operation, the partial cylinder 18a of the tray 18 is formed in an arc centered on the support shaft 14, and the backing plate 1ob is also configured to perform circular motion around the support shaft 14, and the front and back sides of the backing plate 10b are Since the packing materials 12 and 17 are attached to each of the cartridges, the toner will not be smeared during or after the cartridge is installed.
Since the angle of the inner surface of the swash plate 6 where the toner falls and flows out due to gravity is appropriate, the toner does not stay in the middle.
Furthermore, the volume of the cartridge 1 is larger than the volume of the toner passage 21 from the opening 3 to the developing roller 2 after installation, so even if the cartridge 1 is installed, the entire amount of toner 4 is immediately transferred to the toner passage 21. There is no wastage of space where the cartridge 1 would instantly become empty if it were to fall.
After the cartridge 1' is installed, it functions as a part of the developing device, that is, a developer container, and the toner 4 is supplied to the developing roller 20 through the toner path 21 during the copying operation. This outflow is due to the function of the toner 4 to maintain the angle of repose in the opening 3. Whenever the developer in the toner passage 21 is consumed and the angle of repose at the closed portion 3 collapses, in other words, the toner 4 in the cartridge 1 is intermittently discharged. The toner that has flown down to the lower half of the developing roller 20 is transferred to the latent image carrier 19 by the magnetic force of a magnet (not shown) fixed inside the developing roller 20 and the rotation of the sleeve in the direction of arrow D.
The image of the port is visualized. When pulling out the developing device, push and move the positioning lever 39 slightly to the left in FIGS. 2 and 7, and then swing it.
What is necessary is to disengage the engagement portion 39c and the pin 42.

Furthermore, when blocking the developer, there is no need to pull out the developing device, but by disengaging the lever and the pin and changing the gap between the developing device and the latent image carrier 19, the blocked developer can be removed. Can be removed. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the state before the cartridge is installed, in which reference numeral 44 is the front part, 45 is a manuscript calendar table movable in the direction of arrow E;
Reference numerals 46 and 47 indicate side lids.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1a is a plan view showing an example of a powder developer cartridge used in an example of the developing device of the present invention, and FIG.
A sectional view taken along the line A-A of the cartridge in Figure a, Figure c is a side view of Figure 1 A seen from the direction of arrow C, and Figures 2 to 5 show the cartridge being removed or installed. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the electronic copying machine seen from the side where the cartridge is attached and detached, and FIG. 7 illustrates the formation of the grip of the seal portion. The plan view and FIG. 8 are perspective views showing only essential parts of the positioning mechanism of the developing device. 1... Powder developer cartridge, 2... Seal member,
2a...Grip, 3...Opening part, 10...Supporting member, 19...Latent image carrier, 20...Developing loaf, 23...Brush loaf o dislike side bridge 2 figure Noa diagram Boar 4 diagram 5 diagram 6 diagrams 7 diagrams 7 diagrams 6 diagrams

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A cartridge body containing a powder developer and having a developer discharge opening having approximately the same length as the developing roller, and a cartridge body that closes the opening and is peelable from the main body. and a grip portion provided at one end of the sealing member for peeling the sealing member from the opening when the sealing member is pulled in a direction other than the longitudinal direction of the opening. Cartridge for body developer. 2. The powder developer cartridge according to claim 1, wherein one end of the grip portion is folded back in a valley-fold manner in the longitudinal direction and further folded back obliquely in a mountain-fold manner. .