Patent Application
20060104663
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cartridge detachably mounted to image forming apparatuses, such as photocopiers and printers of forming images onto recording material by utilizing an electrophotographic system.
2. Related Background Art
In order to improve replaceability of parts, there is such an image forming apparatuses adopting an electrophotographic system that is provided with a cartridge detachably mounted to the image forming apparatus derived by unitizing a plurality of members. For example, there is such a cartridge that removes toner still remaining on a photosensitive member or a transfer belt due to failure in complete consumption for tansfer from a photosensitive member or recording material onto a transfer belt to discharge it as waste toner.
In this case, the main body apparatus comprises a housing container of housing waste toner discharged from this cartridge and waste toner carrying means in order to retrieve (or recover) it to the housing container.
There exists a circulation unit of bringing mutual orifices into communication in order to deliver waste toner between this cartridge and the waste toner carrying means (or the housing container), and shutter means is provided so that the orifice of this delivery unit is opened and closed and the toner is not scattered to the outside. Thus, shutter means is essential for the cartridge system detachably mounted to the main body apparatus in order to prevent toner leakage from the cartridge at the time of cartridge replacement (see, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. H04-81172).
However, a waste toner shutter in a prior art cartridge in the attach/detach system has presented problems as described below. That is, when a cartridge is detached from/attached to the main body apparatus, a user might touch by mistake the waste toner shutter provided to the cartridge, and then the toner shutter would open to leak toner from the waste toner from a discharge port. In addition, such a problem was present that toner would be stuck (or attracted) onto the surface of the cartridge by the toner leaking from the waste toner receiving port provided in the main body side when the cartridge was mounted onto the main body of the image forming apparatus.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to prevent toner from being scattered due to a user's opening, by mistake, a shutter of toner discharge port of a cartridge when he/she exchanges the cartridge.
In addition, another object of the present invention is to prevent the surface of the cartridge container from being polluted with toner at the time when the waste toner shutter is opened and closed.
In addition, another object of the present invention is to provide a cartridge that enables miniaturization.
In order to attain the above described objects, a cartridge has: a cartridge detachably mounted to an image forming apparatus is provided which comprises: removing means of removing toner on an image bearing member; a discharge port of discharging toner removed by said removing means; a shutter of opening and closing said discharge port; and a lock mechanism of unlockably locking said shutter.
Another cartridge of the present invention is a cartridge detachably mounted to an image forming apparatus having a shutter of opening and closing a toner receiving port, comprising: removing means of removing toner on an image bearing member; a discharge port of discharging toner removed by said removing means; a shutter of opening and closing said discharge port; and an engaging part engaged with said shutter of said image forming apparatus so that said shutter of said cartridge and said shutter of said image forming apparatus move in conjunction.
Another cartridge of the present invention is a cartridge detachably mounted to an image forming apparatus, comprising: a toner supply port of receiving toner supply; developing means of developing a latent image formed onto an image bearing member with toner supplied from said toner supply port; removing means of removing toner on an image bearing member; a discharge port of discharging toner removed by said removing means; a first shutter of opening and closing said discharge port; a second shutter of opening and closing said toner supply port; and an engaging part, provided in said image forming apparatus, to be engaged with opening/closing means of opening and closing said first and second shutters at a time when mounting of said cartridge onto said image forming apparatus is completed.
Another cartridge of the present invention is a cartridge detachably mounted to an image forming apparatus comprising: developing means of developing an electrostatic image formed onto an image bearing member with toner; and removing means of removing toner on an image bearing member, wherein said developing means implements development with toner supplied from outside said cartridge, and toner removed by said removing means is discharged outside said cartridge.
Next, an embodiment related to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to drawings.
At first, a configuration of a cleaning apparatus as well as waste toner carrying means in an image forming apparatus in adaptation of electrophotographic technology of the present embodiment system will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4A and 4B.
The present configuration is provided with a plurality of photosensitive drums arranged in a line corresponding with respective colors as an image forming apparatus in an electrophotographic system in a plurality of colors or in full color. And it is a so-called in-line type image forming apparatus that sequentially overlapping toner images in respective colors formed on respective photosensitive drums to form a color image.
At first,
In the respective process cartridges 114C, drum type electrophotographic photosensitive members (hereinafter to be referred to as a photosensitive drum) 115C are installed. In the circumference of a photosensitive drums 115C, a primary charging apparatus 116C, a developing apparatus 117C, a transfer roller 118 as transfer means and a drum cleaner apparatus 119C are disposed. In addition, a laser exposure apparatus 111C is installed below and between the primary charging apparatus 116C and the developing means 117C.
With reference to
The developing apparatus 117C retains toner internally and causes toner in respective colors to be stuck onto respective electrostatic latent images formed on respective photosensitive drums 115C to be developed (visualized) as toner images.
And the transfer roller 118C shown in
The drum cleaner apparatus 119C has a cleaning blade etc. for removing, on the photosensitive drum 114C, transfer residual toner remaining after the primary transfer on the photosensitive drum 115C.
The intermediate transfer belt unit 120C comprises a drive roller 121C to simultaneously operate as a secondary transfer opposite roller, a gear on the drive roller shaft, that is not shown in the drawing, and is driven to rotate by a drive gear on the main body that is not shown in the drawing either. The drive roller 121C is disposed so as to face the secondary transfer roller 122C.
In addition, at the downstream side in a conveying direction of the transfer material T in the secondary transfer roller 122C, a fixing apparatus having a fixing roller 123C and a pressure roller 124C is installed in a vertical path configuration.
The exposure apparatus 111C is configured by laser emitting means of implementing emission corresponding with chronological electric digital pixel signals in given image information, a polygon mirror and a reflection mirror etc. In addition, applying exposure to the respective photosensitive drums 115C, electrostatic latent images corresponding with image information onto the surface of the respective photosensitive drums 114C charged by respective primary charging apparatuses 116C.
The toner image formed with such an image forming apparatus is transferred onto the transfer material T in a secondary transfer part 127C subject to application of resist correction to the transfer material T, which is separated into a single sheet with the sheet feeding roller 125C inside a sheet feeding apparatus 129C with a resist roller 126C. In addition, the transfer material T undergoes heating/pressing with the fixing apparatus and discharged from the paper output roller 128C.
Next, a toner circulation configuration will be described based on
At first, in
In the above described configuration, as shown in
Therefore, sufficient cleaning prior to the start of the next image forming process will become an indispensable requirement for deriving an image of quality, and therefore a drum cleaning apparatus 119C is provided so as to be located adjacent to the photosensitive drum 115C and a belt cleaning apparatus 130C is provided so as to be located adjacent to the transfer belt respectively. As for details of the drum cleaning apparatus 119C, the one configured by bringing a cleaning blade 131C made of a resilient member such as urethane rubber as removing means into contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum 114C to remove the residual toner is simple in configuration as well as compact and is excellent in toner removing function, and therefore has been widely used conventionally. This configuration comprising this blade is likewise in the belt cleaning means.
The waste toner retrieved by the drum cleaning apparatus 119C through such an image forming process is carried to outside the cleaning apparatus, that is, outside the process cartridge 114C with the first carrying screw 132C as in
The waste toner carrying apparatus 133C refers to a carrying path of carrying waste toner discharged from the belt cleaner apparatus 130 C as well as four drum cleaner apparatuses 119C to the right direction of the main body of the apparatus, and the second carrying screw 134C is disposed rotatably inside the waste toner carrying apparatus and is driven to rotate in the →K1 direction. A waste toner housing apparatus 135C is disposed at the end part at the tip in the carrying direction of the waste toner carrying apparatus 133C and is configured so as to retrieve all the waste toner to its inside.
Next, a shutter lock configuration as opening/closing means of the toner delivery part being a feature of the present configuration will be described with reference to
At first,
The waste toner shutter mechanism is configured as in
Next, a method of unlocking this lock mechanism will be described with reference to
In addition, in the supply side, the toner supply port (not shown in the drawing) of the supply container in the side of the main body of supplying toner to the cartridge and the toner supply receiving port (not shown in the drawing) of the cartridge are disposed (mounted) in a predetermined location to face without relative movement, and then a shutter lock member 149C of locking opening and closing operations of the shutter of the toner supply port will contact the unlocking member 148C provided in the main body to move in the K6 direction to unlock the lock in the portion Q2. This will enable the discharge port shutter 102C and the supply shutter 147C to open and close, to transmit drive of moving the shutter as in
In addition, the configuration brings the shutter provided in the discharge port of the cartridge into engagement with the shutter provided in the toner receiving port side in the main body side when the cartridge is mounted to the main body of the apparatus and causes the shutter provided in the main body side to receive the drive of the main body to open the shutter of the cartridge. In addition, the configuration brings the shutter of the toner supply port in the main body side and the shutter of the supply receiving port of the cartridge into engagement to cause the shutter provided in the main body side to receive the drive of the main body to open thereby the shutter of the cartridge. Here, in the case where a user drives the shutter manually, drive transmission is implemented in the other way around unlike the above described case, and it is advisable that the user etc. drives a shutter in the cartridge side to drive the shutter in the main body side in engagement with the shutter in the cartridge side.
In addition, the cartridge supply receiving port and the discharge port are provided in the same side in a longitudinal direction of the cartridge so as to limit disposition of the drive source to only one side of the main body of the apparatus to simplify the configuration to make it possible to plan cost reduction.
Such unlocking of a lock can be implemented by opening the first door 020C and the exchange door 030C to the main body apparatus 010A in the K10 and K11 directions, and moving the process cartridge 114C in the K9 direction to be set to the main body apparatus 010C.
Thus, it will become feasible to prevent without fail the delivery port from scattering toner at the time of detachment and attachment of the process cartridge since the shutter member is opened/closed after the toner delivery port of the process cartridge and the delivery port in the main body side corresponding with it are mounted thereon.
Subsequently, a configuration that the first shutter of the waste toner shutter mechanism having undergone unlocking of the lock rotates will be described with reference to
The process cartridge 114C set to the main body apparatus 010C in
At first, drive means 152C of moving this shutter is provided with a manual drive on the waste toner carrying apparatus 133C as in
In addition, the above described case relates to a configuration for the shutter to rotate, but as in
Next, the case of using a motor provided with drive transmission in the main body apparatus will be described with reference to
The waste toner motor 155C of driving the waste toner carrying apparatus 133C operates to cause the first gear line (156C and 157C) to operate so that the opening/closing lever moves in the K13 and K14 directions to open and close the shutter (102C and 104C). Here, the present configuration has used the waste toner motor, but any motor such as sheet feeding motor etc. disposed in the main body apparatus derives the same effect. And the motor implements operations of opening the shutter subject to confirmation that the process cartridge has been set.
In addition,
Thus, the waste toner shutter is opened, and in a state that the process cartridge and the orifice of the waste toner carrying apparatus are brought into communication, the carrying screw 132C inside the process cartridge 114C is driven as in
And, at the time when the process cartridge 114C is removed, the opening/closing lever 154C moves in the K14 direction as in
As described above, the present embodiment system can prevent scatter of waste toner from waste toner shutter due to image forming apparatus detachment/attachment as a result of opening/closing the shutter after the shutter of waste toner discharged from the cleaning container (process cartridge) is set at a predetermined location in the main body of the image forming apparatus and can achieve, by far, image quality stability and improvement in operability for users.
In addition, in the present invention, a toner receiving port of receiving toner discharged from the cartridge, and a toner supply container of supplying the cartridge with toner are provided to the main body side in advance, but may be mounted thereto, and in that case, such a configuration may be taken that a shutter is driven after the toner receiving port or the toner supply container is already mounted thereon.
This application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-329241 filed on Nov. 12, 2004, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-329241 | Nov 2004 | JP | national |
