JPH0326396B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention is an electrophotographic copying machine in which toner remaining as an untransferred image on a photoreceptor is scraped off by a cleaning device such as a blade, and the scraped toner is removed. The present invention relates to a device that transports and collects waste by transporting it to a collection container.

Prior Art Conventional toner collection devices include Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-40876
As shown in the example described in the publication (FIG. 5), toner is conveyed from the cleaning section through a pipe 02 by a helical coil 01.
It is stored in the collection container 03.

The toner is pushed out from the discharge port to the collection container 03 only toward the downstream side in the rotational axis direction of the helical coil 01, and the toner accumulated in the collection container 03 forms a mountain shape due to the frictional force acting between the particles.
Even if the mountain-like accumulated toner reaches the ejection port,
The top portion of the accumulated toner is moved downstream in the direction of the rotational axis of the helical coil 01 by the toner pushed out from the ejection port, thereby preventing the ejection port from being blocked from the inside.

Problem to be Solved However, the top portion of the accumulated toner that has reached the discharge port is moved downstream in the direction of the rotation axis of the helical coil 01, but since the top portions are successively successive after that, it is opposed to the discharge port of the collection container 03. reaching the side wall,
If the space on the downstream side of the rotation axis of the helical coil 01 in the recovery container 03 is completely filled, the discharge port will be blocked even if there is a space in the direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the helical coil 01. The toner does not reach every corner of the container, and the effective capacity of the container cannot be fully utilized.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a toner collection device that can fill a collection container with toner to every corner.

Means and Effects for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an apparatus for cleaning untransferred toner left on a photoreceptor of an electrophotographic copying machine using a cleaning device and storing it in a collection container.
The direction of the rotational axis of the screw conveyor that conveys the untransferred toner to the container is the direction of toner discharge into the container, and the rotational shaft of the screw conveyor is extended into the container, and an impeller is integrated into the extended portion. This toner recovery device for an electrophotographic copying machine is configured to be provided and rotated coaxially with the screw conveyor.

Since an impeller is installed on the rotating shaft of the screw conveyor that extends into the collection container, the toner pushed out from the discharge port by the rotation of the impeller is also discharged in a direction perpendicular to the rotating shaft of the screw conveyor. Even if the top of the pile of toner accumulated in the container reaches the toner discharge port, it is pushed in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the screw conveyor, allowing the toner to be distributed to every corner of the container, further improving filling efficiency. can be improved.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described below.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a screw conveyor that horizontally conveys toner 6 that remains untransferred on a photoreceptor (not shown) and is scraped off by a cleaning device (not shown) to a collection bottle 4 serving as a collection container.
The discharging end 3 of the screw conveyor 1 is aligned with the recovery bottle 4 so that the extension of the rotating shaft 2 of the screw conveyor 1 is located on one side of the upper end of the rectangular parallelepiped recovery bottle 4 (one side in the direction perpendicular to the paper plane in FIG. connected to the opening 5;
An impeller 7 is fitted into an extension of the rotating shaft 2 inside the collection bottle 4 .

As shown in FIG. 2, the impeller 7 has three blades protruding from the outer periphery of the rotating shaft 2 in a substantially tangential direction.

Since the present embodiment is constructed as described above, the toner 6 scraped off by the cleaning device from above the photoreceptor is directed by the screw conveyor 1 from the upper opening 5 of the collection bottle 4 toward the downstream side in the rotational axis direction. Then, it is pushed out into the collection bottle 4.

A part of the toner 6 conveyed into the collection bottle 4 is pushed out in a direction perpendicular to the rotating shaft 2 by the rotation of the impeller 7.

Therefore, the toner 6 discharged into the collection bottle 4 deviates from the vertical position below the impeller 7 and falls, and even if the top of the pile of accumulated toner 6 reaches the height of the opening 5, it will not block the opening 5. The toner 6 that is about to spread is pushed away in the direction perpendicular to the rotating shaft 2, and the collection bottle 4
The opening 5 is not blocked by the toner 6 while leaving a space inside except for the impeller 7 portion, and the filling efficiency is extremely high.

Note that since the collection bottle 4 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape and does not have a constriction at the top, no empty space is left below the constriction when toner is accumulated in the container.

Regarding impellers, in addition to the impeller 7 shown in FIG. 2, there is also an impeller 8 with two blades protruding radially from the rotating shaft 2 at an angle of 180 degrees as shown in FIG. 3. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 4, an impeller 9 having three blades projecting radially from the rotating shaft 2 at an angle of 120 degrees can be used.

Further, in the embodiment described above, the discharge end 3 of the screw conveyor 1 is located on one side of the upper end of the collection bottle 4, but the position may be moved as appropriate in the horizontal direction (perpendicular to the plane of the paper in FIG. 1). good.

Although the present invention has been described above in detail with respect to the embodiments shown in the drawings and the embodiments not shown in the drawings, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and can be used as necessary within the scope of the spirit of the invention. The design can be freely modified as appropriate.

Effects of the Invention The present invention can utilize not only the conveyance force in the direction of the rotation axis of the screw conveyor, but also the pressing force in the direction perpendicular to the rotation axis by the impeller.
The filling efficiency can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view of a toner recovery device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional front view cut along the - line in FIG. 1, and FIGS. A cross-sectional front view showing a modified example of the impeller;
FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional side view of a conventional toner recovery device. 1... Screw conveyor, 2... Rotating shaft, 3
... Screw conveyor discharge end, 4 ... Collection bottle, 5 ... Collection bottle opening, 6 ... Toner, 7,
8,9...impeller.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a device for cleaning untransferred toner left on a photoreceptor of an electrophotographic copying machine using a cleaning device and storing it in a collection container, the direction of the rotation axis of a screw conveyor that conveys the untransferred toner to the container is defined as An electrophotographic copying device characterized in that the toner is discharged into the container in a direction, the rotating shaft of the screw conveyor is extended into the container, and an impeller is integrally provided in the extended portion to rotate coaxially with the screw conveyor. Machine toner collection device.