JPS6240479A - Developing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent lowering of the developer supplying capacity of a rotary body and maintain a visible image of high quality by supplying sufficient quantity of developer by providing a vibrating body that vibrates contacting with a rotary body, and giving loosening action to developer. CONSTITUTION:A vibrating body that vibrates contacting with a rotary body is provided, and a sheet 10 made of elastic body is used as the vibrating body. An end side 10a of the sheet 10 is stuck fast on the inner wall of a tank 1, and a free end side 10b is projected to a position at which it can abut on the wire 7 of a rotary body 5. Accordingly, when the rotary body 5 rotates, the free end side 10b comes into contact with the wire 7 periodically and vibrates in the direction of an arrow B. Consequently, the sheet 10 can loosen the toner that tends to coagulate inside or around the wire 7 and can prevent the occurrence of coagulation of the toner. Accordingly, the toner supplying capacity of the rotary body does not lower for a long period and the sufficient quantity of the toner can be supplied to a developing roller 4.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention provides a developer carrier that supports and transports a developer;
The present invention relates to a developing device that includes a rotating body that supplies developer to a developer carrier and visualizes an electrostatic latent image formed on the latent image carrier by the developer conveyed by the developer carrier.

It has been well known to use the above type of developing device in image forming devices such as electronic copiers, printers, and facsimiles. In this type of developing device, a two-component developer containing a carrier and a toner, a one-component developer consisting of a toner and no carrier (i.e., powder of toner particles,
Alternatively, a developer containing an auxiliary component is used, but especially when a -component type developer is used, the toner aggregates near the rotating body over time, which reduces the toner conveying ability of the rotating body. , ff1. There was a risk that the amount of toner supplied to the image-side carrier would decrease. If the amount of toner supplied decreases, problems such as deterioration of the quality of visible images, especially the density of a part of a solid image becoming extremely thin, occur.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a developing device which eliminates the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks with a simple structure.

(2) The present invention proposes a configuration in which a vibrating body is provided that vibrates in contact with a rotating body, and the vibration imparts a loosening effect to the developer.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a case where a developing device according to the present invention is used in an electronic copying machine, and a tank 1 contains a one-component developer (hereinafter referred to as toner) 2. The toner may be magnetic or non-magnetic.

The toner 2 in the tank 1 is pressed toward a developer carrier configured as a developing roller 4 by an agitator 3 rotating clockwise. A rotating body 5 is located near the developing roller 4, and the rotating body 5 shown as an example in the figure has a rotating shaft 6 rotatably supported on the side plate (not shown) of the tank, as also shown in FIG. and a wire 7 whose both ends 7a are fixedly supported by the rotating shaft 6, and the wire portion 7b other than the both ends 7a extends parallel to the rotating shaft 6 at uniform intervals. When the rotating shaft 6 is rotationally driven by a drive device (not shown), the wire 7 is thereby rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 1 about the axis of the rotating shaft 6.

The toner pressed by the agitator 3 is conveyed by the wire 7 of the rotating body 5, and is supplied to the surface of the developing roller 4, which is rotated counterclockwise. The toner supplied to the developing roller 4 has its layer thickness regulated by a regulating node 8 that is pressed against the developing roller 4, and is triboelectrically charged to a predetermined polarity. The toner that has passed through the blade 8 is carried in the rotational direction of the developing roller 4 while being supported on the surface of the developing roller 4 . When this toner reaches the area facing the developing roller 4 and the latent image carrier (in the illustrated example, the photoreceptor 9 is formed into a belt shape and travels in the direction of the arrow), the toner on the roller 4 is transferred to the photoreceptor 9. The latent image is electrostatically transferred to the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface, and the latent image becomes a visible image. It is conventionally known that a drum-shaped latent image carrier may be used in place of the belt-shaped photoreceptor, or a developer carrier made of a belt may be used.

The above-mentioned configuration itself is the same as that of a conventional developing device. In this case, in the conventional developing device, there is a risk that the toner will aggregate near the rotating body, as described above. To explain this in accordance with the configuration of the rotating body 5 shown in the figure, the toner that has entered the inside of the rotating wire 7 forms a cylindrical shape with a radius from the center of the rotating shaft 6 to the wire portion 7b over time. The toner particles may aggregate strongly, and toner particles may aggregate on the outside of the toner particles. When the toner aggregates like this.

The toner pushed by the agitator 3 is no longer conveyed through the inside of the wire 7, and the toner conveying ability of the wire 7 is significantly reduced, resulting in an insufficient amount of toner supplied to the developing roller 4.

Therefore, in the configuration according to the present invention, a vibrating body that vibrates in contact with the rotary body is provided, and in the illustrated embodiment, a sheet 10 made of an elastic body is used as the vibrating body. One end side 10a of this sheet 10 is fixed to the inner wall surface of the tank 1, and its free end side 10b protrudes to a position where it can come into contact with the wire 7 of the rotating body 5. Therefore, when the rotating body 5 rotates, the free end side 10b of the sheet IO vibrates in the direction of arrow B, which periodically hits the wire 7. Result sheet 1
0 can loosen the toner that tends to aggregate inside and around the wire 7, and can prevent the toner from agglomerating. Therefore, the toner supplying ability of the rotating body does not decrease forever, and a sufficient amount of toner can be supplied to the developing roller 4. Therefore, the quality of the visible image deteriorates,
In particular, defects such as parts of a solid image becoming thin or missing can be prevented. For example, a polyester film or the like can be advantageously used as the sheet 10.

In the above-described embodiments, a rotating body having one wire fixed to a rotating shaft was exemplified, but the present invention is of course applicable to other types of rotating bodies. For example, it may be a rotating body in which a plurality of wires are fixed to a rotating shaft, a rotating body in which one or more teeth or blades are implanted in the rotating shaft, or the like.

At this time, depending on the form of the rotating body, the vibrating body may always be in contact with the rotating body (for example, when a plurality of wires or blades are provided).

Further, it may be preferable to bring the rotating body into contact with the developer carrier. It is possible to use various types of members other than sheets as the vibrating body, and any member that vibrates in contact with the rotating body may be used.

Processing According to the present invention, since the vibrating body can provide a loosening effect to the toner that tends to aggregate, it is possible to prevent the developer supplying ability of the rotating body from decreasing due to changes in the environment or the like over time, and to improve the development process. It has become possible to maintain a high quality visible image by supplying a sufficient amount of developer to the developer carrier.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view showing an example of a developing device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the positional relationship among a vibrating body made of a sheet, a rotating body, and a developing roller. 2 ・Developer 5...Rotating body

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] Comprising a developer carrier that supports and transports developer, and a rotating body that supplies developer to the developer carrier, latent images are formed by the developer transported by the developer carrier. A developing device for visualizing an electrostatic latent image formed on a carrier, further comprising a vibrating body that vibrates in contact with the rotating body.