JP3140600B2 - Toner container - Google Patents

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 so-called environmentally friendly toner container which is easy to dispose of and has excellent environmental properties.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An image forming toner is loaded into an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine in a state of being filled in a toner container, and supplied from the toner container to the image forming apparatus.

Conventionally, for example, a bottle-shaped container has been used as the toner container, and a resin is used as a material for forming the toner container, including a lid material.

[0004]

However, since the conventional toner container is made of resin, there is a problem that the environment is damaged by disposal after use. Specifically, when incineration is attempted, the incinerator is damaged due to the high calorie burned. Therefore, disposal after use will be based on landfill disposal, but in the case of landfill disposal, even if the volume is reduced by crushing, etc., it will not decompose in the soil and scatter on the ground surface. There is a problem that the appearance is significantly impaired. That is, the conventional toner container is not sufficiently environmentally friendly.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a so-called environment-friendly toner container which is easy to dispose after use and has excellent environmental properties.

[0006]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a toner container filled with toner for forming an image, comprising: a flange provided on a peripheral edge of an opening surface; What is claimed is: 1. A toner container comprising: a container body provided with a toner filling opening; a resin frame for reinforcing the container body; and a cover film covering an opening surface of the container body so as to be openable. Is formed of paper, and a flange formed of a resin molded product and a resin frame are integrally formed. The flange formed of the integrally formed resin molded product and the resin frame are formed on the container body. A toner container, wherein the cover film is bonded to the flange by heat fusion, and the toner filling port is closed by a filling port closing member.

[0007]

The toner container of the present invention has a container body formed of paper, a flange provided on a peripheral edge of an opening surface of the container body, a resin frame for reinforcing the container body, and the opening surface. And a cover film that covers the opening so as to be openable.

The flange provided on the periphery of the opening surface of the container body engages with a toner container holding portion provided in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and is held in the image forming apparatus. The cover film that covers the opening surface of the container so as to be openable is directly heat-sealed to a resin flange formed by sealing the container body, and is peeled from the container body held in the image forming apparatus. . As a result, the toner filled in the container body is supplied to the image forming apparatus from the opening surface. On the other hand, the supply of the toner to the container body is performed from a toner filling port formed on any surface of the container body, and the toner filling port is closed by a filling port closing member after the toner is filled. Therefore, the toner container is loaded and used in the image forming apparatus in a state in which the toner is filled in the container body from the toner filling port, and then the toner filling port is closed by the filling port closing member. When the toner in the container body runs out, the toner container is removed from the image forming apparatus and is replaced with a new toner container.

The used toner container taken out of the image forming apparatus is discarded together with the cover film. The toner container is made of a paper container body and a flange formed of a resin molded product integrally formed. And a resin frame,
And a cover film made of resin that covers the opening surface of the container body so as to be openable, so that separation and collection of paper and resin are easy, and the container body occupying most of the volume is formed of paper. Therefore, incineration can be easily performed. Therefore, this toner container is excellent in environmental properties.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view schematically showing an example of the toner container of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a cover film of the toner container is peeled off, and FIG. 3 is a resin molded product formed integrally. It is explanatory drawing which shows a flange and the frame part made of resin.

As shown in FIG. 1, this toner container 1
It comprises a resin frame 2, a paper container body 3, a resin flange 5, and a cover film 4. The shape of the container body 3 is a box-like shape with one surface opened.

As a material for forming the container body 3, paperboard is preferably used, and processed paperboard is particularly preferably used. More specifically, white balls, kraft balls, coated balls, laminated balls, polyethylene processed balls, polypropylene processed balls, resin processed balls and the like can be mentioned.

Of these, preferred is a polyethylene-processed ball having a polyethylene layer on one side of paperboard, and the polyethylene layer is formed so as to form the inner surface of the container and to form the cover film fusion surface of the flange 5. You. Then, at the time of box making, both the corner portion 10 of the container body 3 and the mating portion 11 of the blank are bonded with a hot melt adhesive.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the toner container according to the present invention comprises a paper container main body 3, a flange 5 made of a resin molded product integrally formed, and a resin frame portion 2.
Are integrally formed.

Here, when the container body 3 is made of paperboard, a flange 5 made of an integrally formed resin molded product is used.
And the resin frame 2 is disposed inside the container body 3, and the resin for joining the container body 3 to the flange 5 and the frame 2 is poured between them, and simultaneously and integrally with the flange 5. And a container body having a resin frame 2 may be formed. Alternatively, after the container main body 3 is made of paperboard, the flange 5 and the frame 2 are arranged on the container body 3 and these are formed, for example. The container body having the flange 5 and the frame 2 may be formed by joining with an ultrasonic seal or the like.

The shape of the frame portion 2 made of resin is not particularly limited, but it is preferable to use a shape that requires a small amount of plastic as long as the strength is maintained. For example, a frame shape corresponding to the ridge of the container body 3 may be used, or
Further, a frame shape for reinforcing the bottom of the container body 3 may be used.

The flange 5 and the frame 2 may be formed of the same material or different materials.
Further, the flange 5 and the frame 2 may be formed integrally at the same time, or the flange 5 and the frame 2 may be separately formed, and these may be joined to be integrally formed. When the flange 5 and the frame portion 2 are integrally formed in this way, the resin flange 5 and the frame portion 2 can be easily separated from the paper container main body 3, so that separation and collection are easy and environmentally friendly. An excellent toner container can be obtained.

Examples of the material for forming the resin flange 5 and frame 2 include polystyrene (PS), nylon (Ny), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), ABS resin, and acrylonitrile-styrene copolymer. Engineering plastics such as resin (AS resin), modified polyphenylene sulfide resin (modified PPO), and polyphenylene ether (PPE).

A flange 5 is provided on the periphery of the opening surface of the container body 3.
Are formed. The flange 5 is engaged with a toner container mounting portion in the image forming apparatus, and the toner container 1 is held in the image forming apparatus. In FIGS. 1 and 2,
The shape of the flange 5 is simplified for the sake of simplicity. In practice, the flange 5 is appropriately shaped to engage with the toner container mounting portion in the image forming apparatus.

The cover film 4 for covering the opening surface of the container body 3 so as to be openable is directly heat-sealed to the flange 5. As the cover film 4 to be heat-sealed to the flange 5, for example, a three-layer laminated film composed of a heat-resistant layer / base layer / easy peel layer or a two-layer laminated film composed of substrate layer / easy peel layer is used. It is preferably used.

Here, as a material for forming the heat-resistant layer and the base material layer, for example, nylon (Ny), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), stretched polypropylene (OP)
P), drawn high-density polyethylene (drawn HDPE), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polystyrene (P
S) and the like. Further, as a material for forming the easy peel layer, for example, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EV)
A), polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE)
(PP-PE blend), a mixture of polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS) (PP-P
S blend).

The cover film 4 is directly heat-sealed to the flange 5 of the container body 3 so that the opening surface of the container body 3 can be opened. When the cover film 3 is configured as described above, the easy peel layer is thermally fused to the flange 4.

As shown in FIG. 2, the cover film 4 is peeled from one end side to the other end side in the image forming apparatus, thereby exposing the opening surface of the container body 3 and opening the opening. The toner that has been filled in the container body 3 from the surface is supplied to the image forming apparatus. In addition, this cover film 4
Is not removed in the image forming apparatus, and is taken out of the image forming apparatus together with the container body 3 in a state in which a fused portion with the flange 5 is left on one end side, and is discarded.

As shown in FIG. 1, a toner filling port 6 for previously filling the container body 3 with toner is formed on any surface of the container body 3 except for the opening surface. After the toner has been filled through the port 6, the toner filling port 6 is closed by a filling port closing member 7. Incidentally, the toner filling port 6 is usually formed in advance at the time of blanking.

The material for forming the filling port closing member 7 includes, for example, paper, resin film, resin molded product and the like.
However, when the filling port closing member 7 is formed of resin, it is necessary that the filling port closing member 7 can be easily separated from the container body 3 made of paper in order to facilitate separation and collection from paper at the time of disposal. In the toner container 1 shown in FIG. 1, the filling port closing member 7 is formed of a resin film, and the outer surface of the container body 3 is closed so as to close the toner filling port 6 formed in the container body 3 made of a polyethylene-made ball. Is heat-sealed. Further, the filling port closing member 7 is formed with a tab 7a for facilitating separation from the container main body 3 when the toner container 1 is disposed of.
Is pinched, and the filling port sealing member 7 is peeled off from the container body 3. This facilitates separate collection for each forming material.

The toner container 1 is usually mounted in an image forming apparatus with the opening surface covered with the cover film 4 facing down, and the container is opened from the opening surface exposed when the cover film 4 is peeled off. The toner filled in the main body 3 falls, and the toner is supplied to the image forming apparatus.

[0027]

As is apparent from the above detailed description, according to the present invention, a so-called environmentally friendly toner which is easy to separate and collect for each forming material in waste treatment and to reduce the volume, and is excellent in environmental properties. A container can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a toner container of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a peeled state of a cover film in the toner container shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a state where a flange in FIG. 1 is removed;

[Description of Signs] 1 ... Toner container 2 ... Resin frame 3 ... Container body 4 ... Cover film 5 ... Flange 6 ... Toner filling port 7 ... Filling port closing member

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-5-6091 (JP, A) JP-A-6-89062 (JP, A) JP-A-5-265321 (JP, A) JP-A-6-278738 (JP) JP-A-6-278739 (JP, A) JP-A-6-298240 (JP, A) JP-A 52-77868 (JP, U) JP-A 61-17065 (JP, U) JP-A 61-17065 64-47621 (JP, U) JP-A-2-146664 (JP, U) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65D 5/00-5/76 B65D 77/30 B65D 83 / 06 G03G 13/00-15/08

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A toner container filled with an image forming toner, a flange provided on a peripheral edge of an opening surface, a container body having a toner filling port formed on one of the surfaces, and reinforcing the container body. And a cover film that covers the opening surface of the container body so that the opening surface of the container body can be opened. The container body is formed of paper, and a flange formed of a resin molded product and a resin. And a flange made of a resin molded product and a resin frame are joined to the container body, and the cover film is thermally fused to the flange. Wherein the toner filling port is closed by a filling port closing member.