JP4166144B2 - Toner cartridge - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention provides a main body having a toner filling port, a toner cap that seals the filling port, and one shaft end located inside the main body so as to be positioned at the filling port. And a rotating member that stirs the toner cartridge.

In the toner cartridge used in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, or a printer, in order to form a large toner filling port, a shaft support portion that pivotally supports one end of the rotating member is supported at substantially the center of the filling port. There is a configuration in which a rib is provided and a toner cap is attached to a filling port to reinforcely support the rib or the shaft support (for example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 2002-6607 A

  However, in Patent Document 1, there is a problem in that it is difficult to put toner into the cartridge and easily spills because the toner cartridge is provided with a rib and a shaft support for supporting the rotating member at the filling port. In addition, since the shaft support portion is configured to be supported by the toner cap in a reinforcing manner, when the toner cap is press-fitted into the filling port, it is necessary to position the rib against the rib and consider the rotation direction. There was a problem that it took time to install.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a toner cartridge capable of easily attaching a toner cap and efficiently filling the toner.

[Characteristic configuration 1]
A main body having a toner filling port, a toner cap for sealing the filling port, and a rotation that is installed inside the main body so that one end of the shaft is positioned at the filling port and stirs the toner. A rotating member that is rotatably supported by a support portion provided on an inner wall side around the filling port of the main body at the shaft end on the filling port side. A support portion, and the toner cap includes a shaft support portion that rotatably supports the shaft end portion on the filling port side of the rotating member, and the support portion of the main body portion is provided around the filling port. is formed in a cylindrical shape protruding from the inner wall inwardly, the supported portion of the rotary member, an annular portion to which the supported on the outer periphery of the shaft end of the rotating member, toward the inner wall of the front Stories body portion annular as protrude, fits inside the support portion Te In that it is constituted by a projecting piece provided.

The supported portion provided at the shaft end portion of the rotating member on the toner filling port side is rotatably supported by a supporting portion provided on the inner wall side around the toner filling port of the main body, and then the toner cap is attached to the toner filling port. inserting the, shaft support with the toner cap is rotatably supported lifting the shaft end portion of the toner filling opening side of the rotary member.
Here, the rotating member performs stirring and / or conveyance of the toner or both.

Therefore, according to this characteristic configuration, the toner cap is configured to support only the shaft end portion of the rotating member. Therefore, when the toner cap is attached to the filling port, the positioning with respect to the rib supporting the rotating member and the rotation direction are taken into consideration. There is no need, and the toner cap can be easily attached to the filling port.
Also, according to this feature configuration, since the rib or the like for supporting the rotating member is not provided in the filling port, the toner filling nozzle can be inserted to the back of the filling port, and it is easy to put the toner when filling the toner. This makes it difficult to spill and improves the toner filling efficiency .

And according to this characteristic structure, the support part of a main-body part is formed in a cylindrical shape, the to-be-supported part of a rotating member is comprised with an annular part and a protrusion piece, and a protrusion piece is an inner side of an annular support part. Therefore, the rotating member can be favorably supported without obstructing the rotation of the rotating member with a simple configuration, and a practical embodiment of the toner cartridge according to the present invention can be obtained.

  Hereinafter, a toner cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The toner cartridge 1 according to the present invention is used in a developing device using a magnetic one-component developer (toner) in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, or a printer.

  The toner cartridge 1 according to the present invention includes a main body 2 having a toner filling port 2a, a toner cap 3 for sealing the filling port 2a, and one shaft end 4a inside the main body 2 to the filling port 2a. And a rotating member 4 that is disposed so as to stir the toner.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the main body 2 is configured by a hollow member in which a circular filling port 2 a is formed, and a rotating member 4 is installed therein. The filling port 2a is formed in such a size that the filling nozzle 8 for filling the toner can be inserted. Further, the main body 2 is provided with a support 6 on the inner wall side around the filling port 2a in order to support the rotating member 4. In the present embodiment, a rotating member 5 for conveying the toner is provided inside the main body 2.

  The support portion 6 is formed in a cylindrical shape protruding inward from the inner wall around the filling port 2a. The support portion 6 is formed to have a size that can accommodate a protruding piece 7b of the rotating member 4 described later, and has a height lower than the height of the protruding piece 7b of the rotating member 4. In consideration of the size of the protruding piece 7b, the toner cap 3 is set to be able to play between the inner peripheral surface of the support portion 6 and the outer peripheral surface of the protruding piece 7b in a state where the toner cap 3 is attached to the main body 2. Has been.

  The main body portion 2 of the present embodiment is provided with a cylindrical cap receiving portion 2c that forms a filling port 2a. An inclined portion 2b is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the outer front end portion of the main body portion 2, and the toner cap 3 is connected to the filling port. When press-fitting into 2a, the end portion of the toner cap 3 is guided into the filling port 2a by the inclined portion 2b to facilitate positioning of the toner cap 3.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the toner cap 3 is a cylindrical member having a diameter substantially the same as the diameter of the filling port 2a, and is formed so as to satisfactorily seal the filling port 2a. The toner cap 3 is provided with a shaft support 3a for rotatably supporting the shaft end portion 4a to the shaft end portion 4a of the filling port 2a of the rotary member 4. The shaft support portion 3a is formed as a cylindrical recess in the center of the toner cap 3, and a gap is formed between the tip end portion of the shaft end portion 4a and the bottom surface of the shaft support portion 3a in a state where the toner cap 3 is attached to the filling port 2a. Is set to a depth that can.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the end face of the toner cap 3 according to the present embodiment protrudes in the circumferential direction to prevent the toner cap 3 from being pulled out from the filling port 2a. 3c is formed, and the retaining portion 3c on the attachment side is configured to be elastically deformable until it does not protrude from the side surface of the toner cap 3. When the toner cap 3 is press-fitted into the filling port 2a, the filling port 2a is sealed by holding the outer end portion and the inner end portion of the filling port 2a between the retaining portions 3b and 3c formed at both ends.

  The rotating member 4 includes a stirring plate for stirring the toner, and the shaft end portions thereof are supported by the main body portion 2 and the toner cap 3, respectively. Further, the rotating member 4 includes a supported portion 7 that is rotatably supported by the support portion 6 of the main body portion 2 at the shaft end portion 4a on the filling port 2a side. In the present embodiment, the supported portion 7 protrudes toward the annular portion 7 a supported on the outer periphery of the shaft end portion 4 a of the rotating member 4 and the inner wall of the main body portion 2, and fits inside the support portion 6. It is comprised with the protrusion piece 7b provided in the annular part 7a.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the annular portion 7 a is configured by a ring-shaped member supported by ribs extending radially from the shaft end portion 4 a. It is also a good embodiment of the present invention that the annular portion 7a is formed of a disk-like member provided with a hole for facilitating filling of the toner. The protruding pieces 7b are provided at three locations in the present embodiment, but the number and size capable of favorably supporting the supported portion 7 are set in accordance with the size of the filling port 2a.

  In addition, an inclined portion 4b is formed on the shaft end portion 4a of the rotating member 4 so that the diameter becomes shorter toward the distal end side. When the toner cap 3 is press-fitted into the filling port 2a of the main body 2, the inclined portion 4b contacts the edge of the shaft support portion 3a of the toner cap 3 and guides the shaft end portion 4a into the shaft support portion 3a. The positioning of the cap 3 with respect to the shaft support portion 3a is facilitated.

In this embodiment, the rotating member 4 used for stirring the toner is used as the rotating member 4, but it is also desirable to apply the rotating member 4 to the rotating member 4 for conveying toner.
In this embodiment, the developing device using the magnetic one-component developer as the toner has been described. However, it is also a desirable embodiment to be applied to a developing device using a two-component developer or a non-magnetic one-component developer. .

Sectional view of the toner cartridge according to the present invention in a side view direction The partial perspective view of the toner cartridge concerning the present invention of the side view direction Sectional drawing of the support part and supported part of the toner cartridge concerning this invention

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Toner cartridge 2 Main-body part 3 Toner cap 4, 5 Rotating member 6 Support part 7 Supported part 7a Circular part 7b Projection piece 8 Filling nozzle

Claims (1)

A main body having a toner filling port, a toner cap for sealing the filling port, and a rotation that is installed inside the main body so that one shaft end is positioned at the filling port and stirs the toner. A toner cartridge comprising a member,
The rotating member includes a supported portion rotatably supported by a supporting portion provided on an inner wall side around the filling port of the main body portion at the shaft end portion on the filling port side,
The toner cap includes a shaft support portion rotatably supporting the shaft end portion on the filling port side of the rotation member;
The support portion of the main body is formed in a cylindrical shape protruding inward from an inner wall around the filling port,
The supported portion of the rotating member has an annular portion supported on the outer periphery of the shaft end portion of the rotating member, and an annular shape so as to protrude toward the inner wall of the main body portion and fit inside the supporting portion. A toner cartridge composed of a protruding piece provided in the section.

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