JP4659352B2 - Toner collection container, image forming apparatus, and tandem color image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a toner recovery container, and more particularly to a toner recovery container of an image forming apparatus for recovering transfer residual toner discharged from a cleaning device of an image forming unit.

The image forming apparatus mainly includes an image forming unit including a cleaning device, a paper feeding unit for conveying paper, and a toner recovery container (Patent Document 1). In this image forming apparatus, in the image forming unit, an image is formed by transferring toner onto the sheet conveyed by the sheet feeding unit. For example, when the image forming apparatus is a tandem type color image forming apparatus, the image forming unit is arranged in tandem for each color of magenta, yellow, cyan, and black, and each color toner is transferred to the sheet by the image forming unit of each color. A color image is formed. At this time, the untransferred toner discharged from the cleaning device is collected in a toner collecting container. The toner recovery container includes a housing and a stirring member. The housing is for accommodating transfer residual toner. The stirring member is disposed inside the housing. The stirring member has a rotating shaft portion and a plurality of paddles. The rotating shaft is rotatably mounted on the housing in the vicinity of the inner wall surface of the housing and in parallel with the inner wall surface. The plurality of paddles are formed at intervals on the rotary shaft portion in order to agitate the untransferred toner inside the housing. In this toner recovery container, by rotating the rotation shaft portion of the stirring member, the transfer residual toner accommodated in the housing is stirred by a plurality of paddles formed on the rotation shaft portion, so that the transfer residual toner has a uniform height. It is averaged.
JP 2003-15493 A

  In the conventional toner collection container, the transfer residual toner accommodated in the housing is agitated by a plurality of paddles formed on the rotation shaft portion by rotating the rotation shaft portion of the stirring member, and the transfer residual toner is uniform. Leveled to height. . At this time, since the rotating shaft portion is rotatably mounted on the housing in the vicinity of the inner wall surface of the housing and parallel to the inner wall surface, if the rotating shaft portion is warped during molding of the stirring member, the rotation of the stirring member When the shaft portion is rotated, the paddle formed on the rotating shaft portion may collide with the inner wall surface of the housing, which may cause abnormal noise, twisting of the rotating shaft portion, damage to the paddle or the housing, and the like. In particular, when the stirring member is molded from a synthetic resin or the like, warping of the rotating shaft portion after molding tends to increase due to shrinkage of the synthetic resin or the like. In addition, if a plurality of paddles are integrally formed on the rotating shaft, warping of the rotating shaft after forming may occur in an unpredictable direction. When such a warp is generated in the rotating shaft portion of the stirring member, for example, the toner introduction hole of the toner recovery container is one of the inner wall surfaces of the toner recovery container for the convenience of arrangement of each member of the image forming apparatus. If the rotation shaft portion is also arranged close to the inner wall surface of the toner recovery container according to the position of the toner introduction hole, the paddle is rotated when the rotation shaft portion of the stirring member is rotated. Becomes easy to collide with the inner wall surface on the side where the rotating shaft portion is close. Then, there is a possibility that abnormal noise when the paddle collides with the inner wall surface of the housing, twisting of the rotating shaft portion, damage to the paddle and the housing, and the like become larger. In particular, when the toner collection container is disposed in contact with the exterior plate, abnormal noise can be clearly heard outside the image forming apparatus, and the user of the apparatus may feel uncomfortable.

  An object of the present invention is to prevent the paddle of the stirring member from colliding with the inner wall surface of the housing when the rotating shaft portion of the stirring member is rotated even if the rotation shaft portion of the stirring member is warped. is there.

  The toner collecting container of the image forming apparatus according to claim 1 is for collecting the transfer residual toner discharged from the cleaning device of the image forming unit. The toner recovery container includes a housing and a stirring member. The housing is for accommodating transfer residual toner. The stirring member is disposed inside the housing and has a rotating shaft portion and a plurality of paddles. The rotating shaft portion is rotatably mounted on the housing in the vicinity of the inner wall surface of the housing and in parallel with the inner wall surface. The plurality of paddles are formed at intervals on the rotating shaft portion in order to agitate the transfer residual toner collected in the housing. A positioning portion for positioning the stirring member on the housing is formed on at least one of the housing and the stirring member.

  In the toner collection container, the rotation residual shaft of the stirring member is rotated, whereby the transfer residual toner accommodated in the housing is stirred by a plurality of paddles formed on the rotation shaft. At this time, in the positioning part formed in at least one of the housing and the stirring member, the stirring member is positioned in the housing.

  Here, when the rotation shaft portion of the stirring member is rotated and the transfer residual toner in the housing is stirred by the plurality of paddles of the stirring member, the stirring member is positioned in the housing in the positioning portion. Even if the portion is warped, the paddle of the stirring member can be prevented from colliding with the inner wall surface of the housing.

  The toner collecting container of the image forming apparatus according to claim 2 is the toner collecting container of the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the positioning portion protrudes outwardly from the rotating shaft portion of the stirring member in a disk shape. Has been. And at least one part of the outer peripheral surface of the disk-shaped positioning part is in contact with the inner wall surface of the housing. In this case, at least a part of the outer peripheral surface of the disc-shaped positioning portion is brought into contact with the inner wall surface of the housing, so that the plurality of paddles are not brought into contact with the inner wall surface of the housing. Thereby, even if the rotating shaft part of the stirring member is warped, the paddle of the stirring member can be prevented from colliding with the inner wall surface of the housing when the rotating shaft part of the stirring member is rotated.

  The toner collecting container of the image forming apparatus according to claim 3 is the toner collecting container of the image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein at least a part of the outer peripheral surface of the disk-shaped positioning portion is provided on the inner wall surface of the housing. Abutted against the projected portion. In this case, at least a part of the outer peripheral surface of the disc-shaped positioning portion is brought into contact with the protruding portion of the housing, so that the plurality of paddles are not brought into contact with the inner wall surface of the housing. Thereby, even if the rotating shaft part of the stirring member is warped, the paddle of the stirring member can be prevented from colliding with the inner wall surface of the housing when the rotating shaft part of the stirring member is rotated.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the toner collecting container of the image forming apparatus, the positioning portion is formed at a substantially central portion in the axial direction of the rotating shaft portion. In this case, since the positioning portion is formed at the substantially central portion in the axial direction of the rotating shaft portion, the plurality of paddles are disposed on the rotating shaft portions on both sides of the positioning portion. Thereby, it becomes easy to maintain the space | interval of the several paddle arrange | positioned at the both sides of a positioning part, and the inner wall face of a housing equally, and can make it difficult to make a some paddle collide with the inner wall face of a housing.

  According to a toner recovery container of an image forming apparatus according to a fifth aspect, in the toner recovery container of the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the positioning portion is formed in an arc concave shape on the inner wall surface of the housing. At least one of the plurality of paddles is accommodated in the arcuate concave positioning portion. In this case, by storing at least one of the plurality of paddles in the arc-shaped concave positioning portion, the rotational trajectory of the stirring member can be stably maintained by the paddles stored in the positioning portion. Thereby, even if the rotating shaft part of the stirring member is warped, the paddle of the stirring member can be prevented from colliding with the inner wall surface of the housing when the rotating shaft part of the stirring member is rotated.

  The toner collection container of the image forming apparatus according to claim 6 is the toner collection container of the image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a plurality of positioning portions are formed at intervals in the axial direction of the rotation shaft portion. Has been. In this case, since a plurality of positioning portions are formed at intervals in the axial direction of the rotating shaft portion, the stirring member can be stably positioned on the housing at the positioning portion. Thereby, even if the rotating shaft part of the stirring member is warped, the paddle of the stirring member can be prevented from colliding with the inner wall surface of the housing when the rotating shaft part of the stirring member is rotated.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus having a cleaning device for forming an image on a paper using toner, a paper feeding portion for conveying the paper, and a transfer residue discharged from the cleaning device. A toner collection container according to any one of claims 1 to 6 for collecting toner. In this image forming apparatus, in the image forming unit, an image is formed by transferring toner onto the sheet conveyed by the sheet feeding unit. At this time, the untransferred toner discharged from the cleaning device is collected in a toner collecting container.

  If the image forming apparatus includes the toner recovery container according to any one of claims 1 to 6, the transfer residual toner in the housing is rotated by the plurality of paddles of the stirring member by rotating the rotating shaft portion of the stirring member. When the agitator is agitated, the agitating member is positioned in the housing at the positioning portion, so that even if the rotating shaft portion of the agitating member is warped, the paddle of the agitating member is prevented from colliding with the inner wall surface of the housing. it can.

  The tandem color image forming apparatus according to claim 8 includes a cleaning device, an image forming unit for forming a color image on a sheet using a plurality of colors of toner, a sheet feeding unit for conveying the sheet, and a cleaning unit. A toner recovery container according to any one of claims 1 to 6 for recovering transfer residual toner discharged from the apparatus. In this image forming apparatus, a color image is formed in the image forming unit by transferring a plurality of colors of toner onto a sheet conveyed by a sheet feeding unit. At this time, the untransferred toner discharged from the cleaning device is collected in a toner collecting container.

  Thus, if the tandem color image forming apparatus is provided with the toner recovery container according to any one of claims 1 to 6, the rotating shaft portion of the stirring member is rotated, and the plurality of paddles of the stirring member rotate the inside of the housing. When the transfer residual toner is agitated, the agitating member is positioned in the housing at the positioning portion, so that the paddle of the agitating member does not collide with the inner wall surface of the housing even if the rotating shaft portion of the agitating member is warped. can do.

  According to the present invention, when the transfer residual toner in the housing is agitated by the plurality of paddles of the agitating member by rotating the rotating shaft portion of the agitating member, the agitating member is positioned on the housing in the positioning portion. Thereby, even if the rotating shaft part of the stirring member is warped, the paddle of the stirring member can be prevented from colliding with the inner wall surface of the housing when the rotating shaft part of the stirring member is rotated.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a tandem type color printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. The color printer 1 is transported by image forming units 2M, 2Y, 2C, and 2B for each color for forming a color image, toner containers 3M, 3Y, 3C, and 3B for each color, and a transport belt 4 that transports paper. First to fourth transfer rollers 5M, 5Y, 5C, and 5B for transferring the toner images of the respective colors onto the paper, and a paper feed mechanism 6 that feeds the paper to the image forming units 2M, 2Y, 2C, and 2B; It has a toner collection container for collecting the toner after transferring the toner images of the respective colors onto the paper, a fixing unit 7 for fixing the toner image transferred onto the paper, and a discharge unit 8.

  The image forming units 2M, 2Y, 2C, and 2B form magenta, yellow, cyan, and black toner images, respectively, and are sequentially arranged in the horizontal direction along the conveyance belt 4 from the upstream side in the conveyance direction of the paper. Has been placed. Each of these image forming units 2M, 2Y, 2C, 2B has a photosensitive drum 10 having a photosensitive layer made of amorphous silicon or the like as an image carrier, and a charger 11 is provided around each photosensitive drum 10. The exposure device 12, the developing device 13, and the cleaning device 14 are arranged in this order.

  The conveying belt 4 is circulated and driven between a driving roller 20 and a driven roller 21. The transport belt 4 sucks and transports the paper transported from the paper feed mechanism 6 through the paper feed transport path 22 in a substantially horizontal direction. The first to fourth transfer rollers 5M, 5Y, 5C, and 5B are disposed so as to face the photosensitive drums 10 of the image forming units 2M, 2Y, 2C, and 2B via the transport belt 4. Each of the first to fourth transfer rollers 5M, 5Y, 5C, and 5B is movable between an upper transfer position and a lower release position by a solenoid 23. Here, when the first to fourth transfer rollers 5M, 5Y, 5C, and 5B are moved upward and arranged at the transfer position, the sheet on the conveyance belt 4 comes into contact with the photosensitive drum 10. On the other hand, when the first to fourth transfer rollers 5M, 5Y, 5C, and 5B are moved downward and disposed at the release position, the sheet on the conveyor belt 4 and the photosensitive drum 10 are separated from each other.

  The paper feed conveyance path 22 is composed of a guide member serving as a conveyance guide and a plurality of roller pairs. On the most downstream side of the paper feed conveyance path 22, toner image formation and paper conveyance are performed. A registration roller pair 25 for synchronization is provided. A suction roller 26 is provided between the registration roller pair 25 and the first transfer roller 5M. In this example, the suction roller 26 is disposed above the driven roller 21 on which the conveyance belt 4 is hung, so as to face the driven roller 21. At this position, the suction roller 26 applies a bias voltage for suction to the leading end portion or the entire surface of the paper so that the paper is attracted to the transport belt 4.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the fixing unit 7 includes a heating roller having a heater inside and a pressure roller pressed against the heating roller. A paper discharge conveyance path 27 is provided between the fixing unit 7 and the discharge unit 8. As with the paper feed transport path 22, the paper discharge transport path 27 includes a guide member and a plurality of roller pairs. The discharge unit 8 is formed on the upper surface of the apparatus, and the sheet that has passed through the fixing unit 7 is conveyed upward via the sheet discharge conveyance path 27 and discharged to the upper surface of the apparatus.

  The toner collection container 40 is for collecting the transfer residual toner discharged from the cleaning device 14 of the image forming units 2M, 2Y, 2C, 2B. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the toner recovery container 40 is disposed below the side of the cleaning device 14 of the image forming units 2M, 2Y, 2C, and 2B, and mainly includes a housing 41 and a stirring member 42. And. The housing 41 is long in the longitudinal direction as shown in FIG. 2 so that transfer residual toners from the image forming units 2M, 2Y, 2C, 2B corresponding to the four colors of the tandem configuration can be collected. Further, since the amount of the transfer residual toner discharged from the image forming portions 2M, 2Y, 2C, and 2B of the respective colors is not uniform, the stirring member 42 can make the transfer residual toner uniform in the housing 41. Thus, it is provided long in the longitudinal direction.

  The housing 41 is formed in a box shape that is long in the direction in which the transport belt 4 transports paper (paper transport direction), and can accommodate residual toner inside. As shown in FIG. 2, the housing 41 includes a housing member 41 a that opens upward and a lid member 41 b that seals the opening of the housing member 41 a. The housing member 41a has a bearing portion 41c and a protruding portion 41d. A sensor for detecting the amount of transfer residual toner in the housing 41 to detect fullness and prompting the user to replace the toner recovery container with an unused product is disposed inside the protrusion 41d. The reason why the sensor is provided in this portion is that if the sensor is provided so as to protrude outward from the toner recovery container, the width of the image forming apparatus in the direction perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction is increased accordingly. The lid member 41b is formed with an introduction hole 41e for introducing the transfer residual toner into the housing member 41a at a position offset to one end in the short direction. The introduction holes 41e are formed at, for example, four locations at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction of the lid member 41b. Transfer residual toner from the cleaning devices 14 of the image forming units 2M, 2Y, 2C, and 2B is collected from the four introduction holes 41e into the housing member 41a. The bearing portion 41c is formed on the inner wall surfaces 41f and 41g in the short direction of the housing member 41a. This bearing portion 41c is formed in the short direction of the housing member 41a in correspondence with the introduction hole 41e in order to sufficiently stir the transfer residual toner collected in the housing member 41a from the introduction hole 41e with the stirring member 42 described later. The inner wall surfaces 41f and 41g are formed so as to be offset toward the inner wall surface 41h in the longitudinal direction, and both ends of the rotating shaft portion 42a of the stirring member 42 are rotatably supported. The protrusion 41d is formed at a substantially central portion of the inner wall surface 41h in the longitudinal direction of the housing member 41a.

  The stirring member 42 is disposed inside the housing 41 as shown in FIG. The stirring member 42 is formed of, for example, a synthetic resin, and has a rotating shaft portion 42a, a plurality of paddles 42b, and a positioning portion 42c as shown in FIGS. The rotating shaft portion 42a is disposed in parallel to the inner wall surface 41h in the vicinity of the inner wall surface 41h of the housing member. Then, both ends of the rotating shaft portion 42a are rotatably mounted on the bearing portions 41c of the housing member 41a. The plurality of paddles 42b are for agitating the transfer residual toner inside the housing 41, and are formed integrally with the rotary shaft portion 42a. In order to secure a trapezoidal space between the plurality of paddles 42b and the rotation shaft portion 42a, both sides of the plate member long in the rotation shaft direction of the rotation shaft portion 42a are bent to the rotation shaft portion 42a side. Molded. A plurality of paddles 42b are connected to the rotating shaft portion 42a at both ends of the plate member whose both sides are bent toward the rotating shaft portion 42a. The plurality of paddles 42b are set so that the distance between the paddle 42b and the rotating shaft portion 42a is as wide as possible so that the inner wall surface 41k side opposite to the inner wall surface 41h in the longitudinal direction of the housing member 41a can be stirred. Yes. For this reason, if the rotation shaft portion 42a of the stirring member 42 is warped, the paddle 42b is likely to come into contact with the inner wall surface 41h. In order to prevent this contact, a positioning portion 42c described later is provided on the rotating shaft portion 42a. The positioning part 42c is for positioning the stirring member 42 in the housing 41 as shown in FIG. The positioning portion 42c is integrally formed to protrude outwardly from the rotation shaft portion 42a of the stirring member 42 in a disk shape at a substantially central portion in the axial direction of the rotation shaft portion 42a. And at least one part of the outer peripheral surface of the disk-shaped positioning part 42c is contact | abutting to the protrusion part 41d of the accommodating member 41a. When the positioning portion 41c is directly brought into contact with the inner wall surface 41h of the housing 41 without providing the protruding portion 41d, the operation of leveling the transfer residual toner by the stirring member 42 in the housing 41 is impaired by the positioning portion 42c. In order to prevent this, a space for securing a flow path of the transfer residual toner is provided between the outer peripheral surface of the positioning portion 42c and the rotating shaft portion 42a.

Next, the operation during image formation will be briefly described.
When the print data from the computer is sent to the color printer 1, the print data is distributed to the image data for each color by the control unit of the color printer and appropriately processed. , And sent to the exposure unit 12. The surface of the photosensitive drum 10 is charged by a charger 11, and the surface of the photosensitive drum 10 is statically exposed by exposing the photosensitive drum 10 according to image data from an exposure device 12. An electrostatic latent image is formed. Then, the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 10 is developed by the developing device 13, and a toner image of each color is formed. When the toner images of the respective colors pass through the photosensitive drum 10 corresponding to the respective colors and the first to fourth transfer rollers 5M, 5Y, 5C, and 5B and are sequentially passed through the toner image, The image is transferred onto the paper. In this way, a color toner image is formed on the paper. The color toner image is fixed on the sheet by the action of heat and pressure when the sheet passes through the fixing unit 7, and then discharged to the sheet discharge unit 8 via the sheet discharge conveyance path 27.

  As described above, when a series of image forming operations are performed in the color printer 1, the residual toner is discharged from the cleaning device 14 as the transfer residual toner and is collected in the toner collection container 40. Then, the untransferred toner accommodated in the housing 41 of the toner recovery container 40 is agitated by a plurality of paddles 42b formed integrally with the rotation shaft portion 42a by rotating the rotation shaft portion 42a of the stirring member 42. The

  In the conventional toner collection container 40, if the rotation shaft portion 42 a of the stirring member 42 disposed in parallel to the inner wall surface 41 h adjacent to the inner wall surface 41 h of the housing 41 is warped, the rotation shaft portion of the stirring member 42 is When the pad 42a is rotated, the paddle 42b formed on the rotating shaft portion 42a collides with the inner wall surface of the housing 41, and noise, twisting of the rotating shaft portion 42a, damage to the paddle 42b and the housing 41, etc. There was a risk of it occurring. For example, when the stirring member 42 is molded from a synthetic resin or the like, the warp of the rotating shaft portion 42a after molding tends to increase due to the shrinkage of the synthetic resin or the like. Further, when the plurality of paddles 42b are integrally formed on the rotating shaft portion 42a, the warping of the rotating shaft portion 42a after forming tends to occur in an unpredictable direction. When such a warp occurs in the rotation shaft portion 42a of the stirring member 42, when the rotation shaft portion 42a is rotated in the stirring member 42 disposed close to the inner wall surface 41h that is long in the longitudinal direction of the housing member 41a. The paddle can easily come into contact with the inner wall surface 41h. Then, there is a possibility that abnormal noise when the paddle 42b collides with the inner wall surface of the housing 41, twisting of the rotating shaft portion 42a, damage to the paddle 42b and the housing 41, and the like are further increased.

  However, in this embodiment, when the transfer shaft toner in the housing 41 is stirred by the plurality of paddles 42b of the stirring member 42 by rotating the rotating shaft portion 42a of the stirring member 42, the outer periphery of the disk-shaped positioning portion 42c. The stirring member 42 is positioned on the housing 41 in a state where at least a part of the surface is in contact with the protruding portion 41 d of the housing 41. Thus, the plurality of paddles and the inner wall surface of the housing can be kept at a predetermined interval, and the plurality of paddles can be prevented from colliding with the inner wall surface of the housing.

[Other Embodiments]
(A) In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the positioning portion 42c is formed on the stirring member 42 has been described. However, the member that forms the positioning portion 42c is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the positioning portion is the housing of the toner recovery container. You may form in.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 5, the housing 141 of the toner recovery container 140 includes a housing member 141 a that opens upward and a lid member 141 b that seals the opening of the housing member 141 a. The housing member 141a has a bearing portion 141c and a positioning portion 141b.

  The lid member 141b is formed with an introduction hole 141e for introducing a transfer residual toner into the housing member 141a at a position offset to one end in the short direction. The introduction holes 141e are formed at, for example, four locations at a predetermined interval in the longitudinal direction of the lid member 141b. Transfer residual toner from the cleaning devices of the image forming units 2M, 2Y, 2C, and 2B is collected from the four introduction holes 141e into the housing member 141a. The bearing portion 141c is formed on the inner wall surfaces 141f and 141g in the short direction of the housing member 141a. This bearing portion 141c corresponds to the introduction hole 141e in the short direction of the accommodation member 141a in order to sufficiently agitate the transfer residual toner collected from the introduction hole 141e to the accommodation member 141a by the agitating member 142 described later. The inner wall surfaces 141f and 141g are formed so as to be offset toward the inner wall surface 141h in the longitudinal direction, and both ends of the rotating shaft portion 142a of the stirring member 142 are rotatably supported. The positioning part 141 b is for positioning the stirring member 142 in the housing 141. The positioning portion 141b is formed in an arcuate concave shape on the inner wall surface 141h of the housing member 141a so as to face one of the paddles 142b described later (see FIG. 6).

  The stirring member 142 of the toner recovery container 140 is disposed inside the housing 141 as shown in FIG. The stirring member 142 is formed of, for example, a synthetic resin and has a rotating shaft portion 142a and a plurality of paddles 142b. The rotation shaft portion 142a is disposed in parallel to the inner wall surface 141h in the vicinity of the inner wall surface 141h of the housing member. Then, both ends of the rotating shaft portion 142a are rotatably attached to the bearing portions 141c of the housing member 141a. The plurality of paddles 142b are for stirring the transfer residual toner inside the housing 141, and are formed integrally with the rotating shaft 142a. In order to secure a trapezoidal space between the plurality of paddles 142b and the rotation shaft portion 142a, both sides of the plate member long in the rotation shaft direction of the rotation shaft portion 142a are bent to the rotation shaft portion 142a side. Molded. A plurality of paddles 142b are connected to the rotation shaft portion 142a at both ends of the plate member whose both sides are bent toward the rotation shaft portion 142a. The plurality of paddles 142b are set so that the interval between the paddle 142b and the rotating shaft portion 142a is as wide as possible so that the inner wall surface 141k side opposite to the inner wall surface 141h in the longitudinal direction of the housing member 141a can be stirred. Yes. For this reason, if the rotating shaft 142a of the stirring member 142 is warped, the paddle 142b is likely to come into contact with the inner wall surface 141h. In order to prevent this contact, a positioning portion 142c described later is provided on the rotating shaft portion 142a. One paddle 142b among the plurality of paddles 142b is accommodated in a circular arc concave positioning portion 141b as shown in FIG. The paddle 142b accommodated in the positioning part 141b is rotatable together with the rotating shaft part 142a along the arc of the positioning part 141b.

  Thus, when the positioning part 141b is formed in the housing 141, the paddle 142b accommodated in the positioning part 141b can stably maintain the rotation trajectory of the paddle 142b. That is, when one of the paddles 141a is rubbed and rotated on the positioning portion 141b, even if the rotation shaft portion 142a of the stirring member 142 is warped, the other paddle 141a is moved into the housing member 141a of the housing 141. It is possible not to collide with the wall surface 141k.

  (B) In the above embodiment, the example in which the agitating member 42 is positioned on the housing 41 by bringing the positioning portion 42c into contact with the protruding portion 41d of the housing member 41a has been shown. However, the agitating member 42 is positioned on the housing 41. The method to do is not limited to the said embodiment, You may make it contact | abut directly on the inner wall face of the accommodating member 41a.

  (C) In the embodiment and the other embodiments, the example in which the positioning portions 42c and 141b are formed one by one has been shown. However, the number of the locations where the positioning portions 42c and 141b are formed is the same as that of the embodiment. The present invention is not limited to the above and other embodiments, and a plurality of them may be used.

  (D) In the embodiment and the other embodiments, the example in which the positioning portions 42c and 141b are formed on the stirring member 42 or the housing 141 has been described. However, the positioning portions 42c and 141b are connected to the stirring member 42 and the housing 141. And may be formed simultaneously.

  (E) In the embodiment and the other embodiments, an example in which a color printer is used as the image forming apparatus has been described. However, the present invention can also be applied to other image forming apparatuses such as a color copying machine.

1 is a schematic cross-sectional configuration diagram of a color printer in which this embodiment is adopted. FIG. 3 is a top view of a toner collection container of the color printer. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a stirring member of the toner recovery container. Sectional drawing of the positioning part formed in the housing of the said toner collection container (AA cross section of FIG. 2). The top view of the toner collection container of the color printer by which other embodiment was employ | adopted. Sectional drawing of the positioning part formed in the housing of the said toner collection container (BB cross section of FIG. 5).

Explanation of symbols

2M, 2Y, 2C, 2B Image forming unit 14 Cleaning device 40, 140 Toner collection container 41, 141 Housing 42, 142 Stirring member 42a, 142a Rotating shaft 42b, 142b Multiple paddles 42c, 141b Positioning unit

Claims (4)

A toner recovery container of an image forming apparatus for recovering transfer residual toner discharged from a cleaning device of an image forming unit,
A housing for accommodating the transfer residual toner;
A rotating shaft portion that is disposed inside the housing and is rotatably mounted on the housing in parallel with the inner wall surface in the vicinity of the inner wall surface of the housing and the transfer residual toner collected in the housing is stirred. And a stirring member having a plurality of paddles formed at intervals on the rotating shaft part,
In the substantially central portion of the rotating shaft portion of the stirring member in the axial direction, the paddle has a disk shape protruding outward from the rotating shaft portion and has a length protruding in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction. It is formed in a disc shape shorter than the length in the direction orthogonal to the axial direction, and when the rotating shaft portion rotates, at least a part of the outer peripheral surface is a protrusion provided on the inner wall surface of the housing. A first positioning portion that abuts and maintains the plurality of paddles and the inner wall surface of the housing at a predetermined interval;
A toner collection container of an image forming apparatus. Is formed in an arc concave to the inner wall surface of said housing, at least one of the plurality of said paddle, and a second positioning portion whose tip is rotatably accommodated along the circular arc concave to claim 1 A toner collection container of the image forming apparatus. An image forming unit having a cleaning device for forming an image on paper using toner;
A paper feeding unit for conveying the paper;
The toner collection container according to claim 1 or 2 , for collecting the transfer residual toner discharged from the cleaning device;
An image forming apparatus comprising: An image forming unit for forming a color image on a sheet using a toner of a plurality of colors having a cleaning device;
A paper feeding unit for conveying the paper;
The toner collection container according to claim 1 or 2 , for collecting the transfer residual toner discharged from the cleaning device;
A tandem color image forming apparatus.

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