DEVELOPER HOLDER, IMAGE FORMING UNIT, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS

Abstract

A developer cartridge holds toner therein. A chamber is A shutter rotates in slide contact with the arcuate surface of the chamber, being movable either to a closing position where the shutter closes the first opening or to an opening position where the shutter opens the first opening. A rotating shaft is rotatably supported in the chamber. A resilient scraper blade has one end fixed to the rotating shaft and extends from the rotating shaft to scrape the arcuate surface when the rotating body rotates. When the scraper blade extends through the first opening, the scraper blade extends in a direction at an angle with a line tangent to an arcuate plane in which the arcuate surface lies, the scraper blade. The angle is in the range of 30 to 70 degrees.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limiting the present invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a general configuration of a printer of a first embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates a general configuration of an image forming unit BK of the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a first perspective view of the image forming unit BK to which the toner cartridge is attached;

FIG. 4 is a second perspective view of the image forming unit Bk to which the toner cartridge is attached;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a chassis of the image forming unit BK when the toner cartridge has been detached from the image forming unit BK;

FIG. 6 is another perspective view of the chassis;

FIG. 7 is a side view of the toner cartridge;

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal cross sectional view of the toner cartridge taken along a line 8-8 of FIG. 7;

FIGS. 9, 10, and 11 are perspective views of the toner cartridge;

FIG. 12 is a front view of the toner cartridge;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the shutter;

FIG. 14 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the toner cartridge;

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view of the toner cartridge when the shutter is at its opening position;

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view of the toner cartridge when the shutter has rotated from the opening position in FIG. 15 to its closing position;

FIG. 17 is a front view of a scraper blade;

FIG. 18 is a side view of the toner cartridge;

FIG. 19 is a longitudinal cross-sectional side view of the toner cartridge taken along a line 19-19 of FIG. 18;

FIGS. 20 and 21 illustrate the scraper blade and the shutter when the shutter is moving toward the closing position;

FIG. 22 illustrates the scraper blade and the shutter when the shutter is at an angle greater than 70° with a line tangent to the arcuate inner surface of a fresh toner chamber;

FIG. 23 illustrates the scraper blade and the shutter 53 when the shutter is moving toward the closing position further than the position in FIG. 21;

FIG. 24 illustrates the positional relation between the shutter and scraper blade when the perimeter of the opening formed in the shutter reaches the scraper blade that is at an angle larger than 70 degrees;

FIG. 25 illustrates the positional relation between the shutter and the scraper blade when the perimeter of the opening formed in the shutter has just traveled from one perimeter of the toner discharging opening to another;

FIG. 26 illustrates the positional relation between the shutter and the scraper blade when the perimeter of the opening formed in the shutter has moved further in the closing position;

FIG. 27 illustrates the scraper blade that has reached to the closing position where the scraper blade is completely released from between the shutter and the inner circumferential wall of a fresh toner chamber;

FIG. 28 illustrates the positional relation between the shutter and scraper blade when the perimeter of the opening formed in the shutter reaches the scraper blade that is at an angle larger than 70 degrees;

FIG. 29 illustrates the positional relation between the shutter and the scraper blade when the perimeter of the opening formed in the shutter has just traveled from one perimeter of the toner discharging opening to another;

FIG. 30 illustrates the positional relation between the scraper blade and the shutter when the scraper blade remains tightly held after the shutter has moved to the opening position;

FIG. 31 is a cross-sectional view of a toner cartridge of a second embodiment when the shutter is at the closing position;

FIG. 32 is a cross-sectional view of the toner cartridge when the shutter is at the opening position;

FIG. 33 is an enlarge view of a pertinent portion of FIG. 32;

FIG. 34 illustrates the scraper blade caught between the shutter and the inner circumferential wall of the fresh toner chamber;

FIG. 35 is a cross-sectional view of a toner cartridge illustrating a shutter when it is opened;

FIG. 36 is a partial enlarged cross-sectional view of FIG. 35;

FIG. 37 is a cross-sectional view of a toner cartridge illustrating a shutter when the shutter is at its closing position.

Claims

1. A developer cartridge comprising: a chamber holding a developer therein and including an inner surface and a first opening through which the developer is discharged;a shutter movable in slide contact with the inner surface of said chamber, said shutter being movable either to a closing position where said shutter closes the first opening or to an opening position where said shutter opens the first opening;a rotating body rotatably supported in said chamber;a resilient scraper blade having one end fixed to said rotating body and extending away from said rotating body, a free end of said scraper blade scraping the surface when said rotating body rotates, wherein when said scraper blade extends in a first direction through the first opening and a plane in which the surface lies, the first direction forming an acute angle with the plane at a position where the scraper blade extends through the plane.

2. The developer cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the angle is not larger than 70 degrees.

3. The developer cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the angle is not smaller than 30 degrees.

4. The developer cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said scraper blade and shutter are related such that L3-L4>L1-L2

5. The developer cartridge according to claim 1, wherein when said shutter is at the closing position, the shutter and said chamber define a space between the inner surface and said shutter.

6. The developer cartridge according to claim 5, wherein the space is defined by a stepped portion recessed from the inner surface of said chamber.

7. The developer cartridge according to claim 6, wherein said scraper blade and said shutter are related such that L6>L1-L5L7>L8

8. The developer cartridge according to claim 5, wherein said shutter includes a stepped portion recessed from a surface of said shutter facing the inner surface of said chamber.

9. The developer cartridge according to claim 8, wherein said scraper blade and said shutter are related such that L10>L1-L9L11>L8

10. The developer cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said scraper blade is a sheet of a resilient material.

11. An image forming unit incorporating said developer cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the image forming unit comprising a developer bearing body that bears developer thereon, and a developer supplying member that supplies the developer to the developer bearing body.

12. The image forming unit incorporating said developer cartridge according to claim 11, wherein the angle is not larger than ζdegrees.

13. The image forming unit incorporating said developer cartridge according to claim 11, wherein the angle is not smaller than 30 degrees.

14. The image forming unit incorporating said developer cartridge according to claim 11, wherein said scraper blade and shutter are related such that L3-L4>L1-L2

15. The image forming unit according to claim 11, wherein said developer cartridge is detachably attached to the image forming apparatus.

16. An image forming apparatus incorporating said developer cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the image forming unit comprising an image forming unit that forms a developer image; a transfer section that transfers the developer image onto a medium; anda fixing section that fixes the developer image on the medium into a permanent image.

17. The image forming apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the angle is not larger than 70 degrees.

18. The image forming apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the angle is not smaller than 30 degrees.

19. The image forming apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said scraper blade and shutter are related such that L3-L4>L1-L2