The present invention relates to a developer supply container for supplying a powdery developer to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus for forming an image with the developer, and the image forming apparatus using the developer supply container.
The electrophotographic image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium in accordance with an electrophotographic image forming method. Examples of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus may include an electrophotographic copying machine, electrophotographic printers (such as a laser beam printer and an LED printer), a facsimile apparatus, a word processor, etc.
In the image forming apparatus such as the electrophotographic copying machine, the laser beam printer, etc., a latent image is formed by selectively exposing an electrically uniformly charged surface of a photosensitive drum to light and is developed with a developer to form a developer image. Then, the developer image is transferred onto a recording medium to effect image recording. In such an image forming apparatus, the developer is required to be supplied every time the developer is used up. Here, a developer supply container for supplying the developer to the image forming apparatus is roughly classified into a so-called simultaneous supply-type developer supply container which supply the whole amount of developer contained in the developer supply container to a developer receiving container of a main assembly of the image forming apparatus at the same time and a stationary-type developer supply container which is mounted into the image forming apparatus main assembly, left standing as it is, and gradually supplies the developer to a developing apparatus until the developer is used up.
Particularly, in recent years, from the viewpoints of contamination during supply of the developer and operability, many proposals for the latter stationary-type developer supply container have been made. In the case where a developer in an image forming apparatus is consumed, a developer supply container (hereinafter also referred to as a “toner cartridge”) is replaced by demounting it from the image forming apparatus and mounting a new one into the image forming apparatus, so that (fresh) toner is supplied to the image forming apparatus.
The toner as the developer is very fine powder, so that there has arisen such a problem that the toner scatters from a minute spacing between constitutional parts due to operational vibrations or the like during a toner supply operation, thus contaminating a user or surrounding parts with the toner. For this reason, such a method that a developer supply container is mounted inside a main assembly of image forming apparatus and toner is discharged little by little from a small opening has been proposed and put into practical use. In such a method, it is difficult to discharge the toner naturally by the action of gravity or the like, so that the image forming apparatus is generally provided with any toner stirring conveyance means.
Further, below the toner cartridge (developer supply container), the image forming apparatus is provided with a buffer portion, as a toner containing portion, for temporarily storing the toner. Inside the buffer portion, a metering screw for stirring the toner and feeding a predetermined amount of toner corresponding to a degree of rotation and a conveyance screw, disposed downstream from the metering screw, for conveying the toner by being rotated always during recording (image formation) are disposed so as to supply a necessary amount of toner to a process cartridge.
In the case where all the amounts of toner in the toner cartridge are discharged into the buffer portion to empty the toner cartridge in the above described image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus detects the empty of the toner cartridge and provides notification, to a user, that the developer supply container should be replaced with new one. In accordance with this notification, the user removes the (old) empty developer supply container from the image forming apparatus and inserts a new developer supply container into the image forming apparatus in place of the empty developer supply container, so that the image forming apparatus is capable of further continuing an image forming operation.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-162861 has disclosed, as an example of a conventional developer supply container, such a constitution that a shutter of a developer supply container is opened and closed through a rotational force transmission member provided in a main assembly of an image forming apparatus, as shown in
Referring to
Further, as shown in
Further, as shown in
In the constitution as described above, as a driving force transmission mechanism, gears are ordinarily used. For this reason, an idling period is generated by the time rotation members start to transmit a driving force to each other when the container shutter is rotated by the knob from the opened state toward a closing direction. This is because there is backlash between the gears. More specifically, with reference to
With respect to the above constituted toner container 600, as shown in
Incidentally, demands for a further reduction in mounting space of the main assembly of image forming apparatus and an improvement in operability have been still increased, so that arrangement of consumable articles such as the developer supply container (toner cartridge) and a removal direction of the developer supply container are of increasing importance. For the reduction in mounting space, it is effective to set the removal direction of the consumable article and an access direction into the main assembly such as a housing open/close direction during clearance of paper jam as uniform as possible. As a result, the apparatus main assembly is provided with a side surface free from an open/close door, so that there is no need to ensure a space for opening and closing the door at the side surface at the time of mounting the image forming apparatus, thus being very effective for space saving. Further, a single function printer having no image reading mechanism is improved in operability by setting the consumable article removal direction as an upward direction of the main assembly since the image reading mechanism covering an upper portion of the image forming apparatus is not employed.
In view of this point, e.g., as shown in
Even in the case where such a constitution is employed, similarly as in the case of the conventional toner container 600 inserted from a side surface of the apparatus main assembly, there arises the backlash problem. For this reason, it is necessary to adopt such a constitution that the toner container 31 cannot be removed until the main assembly shutter and the container shutter are closed with reliability. Particularly, with respect to the main assembly shutter, there is a possibility that the deviation of the shutter resulting from the backlash is accumulated when the shutter is closed plural times in repetitive use even when the deviation by one closing operation is within an allowance. For this reason, during repetition of replacement of the toner container 31, there are possibilities that the developer receiving opening cannot be finally closed and that the container shutter and the main assembly shutter cannot be engaged with each other in order to ensure conjunction of the container shutter with the main assembly shutter. Accordingly, return of the main assembly shutter to the original position should be observed carefully.
Further, in order to realize size reduction of the image forming apparatus as a whole, when the respective toner containers 31 are disposed closely, a size of the handle 36 is restricted, so that an amount of rotational movement of the toner container is also restricted. For this reason, in order to ensure the same amount of rotational movement for each mounting of the toner container 31, it is necessary to engage the toner container 31 with the gear drive mechanism of the apparatus main assembly while retaining an initial position of the handle 36. Accordingly, it is necessary to dispose an axial direction of the handle 36 to be perpendicular to the insertion direction of the toner container 31 and dispose the drive mechanism of the apparatus main assembly to be substantially under the toner container 31 (downstream in the insertion direction of the developer supply container). In that case, a force is exerted on the gar drive mechanism in such a direction that the gears are separated from each other, i.e., that the toner container 31 is pulled out. Thus, it is necessary to provide such a constitution that the toner container 31 can be held simply with reliability. Incidentally, the conventional toner container 600 had the insertion direction, thereof into the apparatus main assembly, identical to the rotational axis direction of the knob 603, so that it was possible to easily hold the toner container 600 with respect to a force for separating the gears from each other, i.e., a force exerted in a vertical direction of the rotational axis of the rotation member by holding a guide rail 604 of the toner container 600 with a main assembly guide 506.
When the above described opening and closing mechanism of the shutters and the holding mechanism of the toner container 31 are intended to be realized as an automatic control mechanism, an increase in production cost is caused to occur. Further, when the respective operations for opening and closing the shutters and for holding the developer supply container are intended to be performed manually, the number of steps for performing replacement operation of the developer supply container is increased, so that there is a possibility that the increased steps lead to a poor operability.
An object of the present invention is to provide a developer supply container, detachably mountable to a main assembly of an image forming apparatus, capable of returning a main assembly shutter to an initial position with reliability during removal thereof and capable of being mounted and demounted reliably and simply.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus to which the developer supply container is detachably mountable.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a developer supply container detachably mountable to a main assembly of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, comprising:
a developer containing portion for containing a developer;
a developer discharge opening to be disposed opposite to a developer receiving opening provided in the apparatus main assembly when the developer supply container is mounted into the apparatus main assembly;
a container-side engaging portion for fixing the developer containing portion by being engaged with a main assembly-side engaging portion provided in the apparatus main assembly when the developer supply container is mounted into the apparatus main assembly;
an operation member capable of performing a moving operation in a mounted state of the developer supply container; and
a transmitting portion, provided in the operation member, for transmitting a driving force for opening and closing the developer discharge opening to a relay portion, provided in the apparatus main assembly, for opening and closing the developer discharge opening;
wherein, in the mounted state of the developer supply container, the operation member is capable of opening and closing a main assembly shutter member, provided in the apparatus main assembly, for opening and closing the developer discharge opening through the relay portion;
wherein the container-side engaging portion is movable by movement of the operation member so that it retains engagement thereof with the main assembly-side engaging portion when the operation member is moved in a opening direction for opening the main assembly shutter member and so that it releases the engagement with the main assembly-side engaging portion when the operation member is moved in a closing direction for closing the main assembly shutter member; and
wherein a position of the operation member when the container-side engaging portion is located in a position to release the engagement with the main assembly-side engaging portion is away, in the closing direction, from a position thereof when the container-side engaging portion is located in a position to be engaged with the main assembly-side engaging portion during mounting of the developer supply container.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electrophotographic image forming apparatus having a main assembly to which a developer supply container is detachably mountable, the image forming apparatus, comprising:
a developer receiving opening to be disposed opposite to a developer discharge opening of the developer supply container to be mounted;
a main assembly shutter member for opening and closing the developer receiving opening;
a main assembly-side engaging portion for being engaged with a container-side engaging portion of the developer discharge opening of the developer supply container to be mounted; and
a relay portion, connected with a transmitting portion which is provided in an operation member of the developer supply container so as to transmit a driving force for opening and closing the developer discharge opening, for transmitting a driving force for opening and closing the developer receiving opening to the main assembly shutter member;
wherein, in the mounted state of the developer supply container, the operation member is moved to transmit the driving force from the transmitting portion to the a main assembly shutter member, through the relay portion to enable an operation for opening and closing the main assembly shutter member;
wherein the container-side engaging portion is movable by movement of the operation member so that it retains engagement thereof with the main assembly-side engaging portion when the operation member is moved in a opening direction for opening the main assembly shutter member and so that it releases the engagement with the main assembly-side engaging portion when the operation member is moved in a closing direction for closing the main assembly shutter member; and
wherein a position of the operation member when the container-side engaging portion is located in a position to release the engagement with the main assembly-side engaging portion is away, in the closing direction, from a position thereof when the container-side engaging portion is located in a position to be engaged with the main assembly-side engaging portion during mounting of the developer supply container.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon a consideration of the following description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
a) and 1(b) are schematic explanatory views of a main assembly of an image forming apparatus.
a) and 2(b) are external perspective views of the image forming apparatus main assembly.
a) and 3(b) are perspective views of a toner cartridge including a front surface thereof, and
a) and 4(b) are rear views of the toner cartridge.
a) and 5(b) are explanatory views of rotational movement of a handle of the toner cartridge.
a) and 6(b) are schematic views for illustrating a driving force transmitting mechanism.
a) and 7(b) are explanatory views of a toner supply apparatus frame member of the image forming apparatus main assembly.
a), 8(b) and 8(c) are schematic views for illustrating a mounting operation of a developer supply container.
a), 9(b) and 9(c) are schematic views for illustrating a lock release mechanism of the handle.
a) to 10(d) are schematic views for illustrating a relationship between an amount of rotational movement.
a), 11(b) and 11(c) are schematic views for illustrating a shutter.
a) and 14(b) are explanatory views of a conventional developer supply container.
a), 16(b) and 16(c) are schematic views for illustrating backlash of gears.
Embodiments of a developer supply container and an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
(General Structure)
A main assembly 100 of an image forming apparatus according to this embodiment and a developer supply container to be mounted into the image forming apparatus main assembly 100 will be described with reference to the drawings. First, a general structure of the image forming apparatus main assembly 100 will be described with reference to
In
Inside the image forming apparatus, as shown in
Four toner cartridges 31 into which fresh developers of four colors are filled, respectively, are mounted into the image forming apparatus main assembly 100. As shown in
At the buffer portion 42, an unshown toner sensor is disposed and sends a signal to a controller portion when the toner in the toner cartridge 31 is used up and is not discharged into the buffer portion 42 and thus the toner in the buffer portion 42 is used up, so that notification that a developer supply container for which color is emptied out is provided to a user. The user opens a cartridge cover 23 of the main assembly 100 in Y direction on the basis of the information from the main assembly 100 and takes the empty toner cartridge 31 out of the main assembly 100 in Z direction, and then mounts a new toner cartridge 31 in the main assembly 100. Thereafter, when the cartridge cover 23 is closed, a driving force is transmitted to the stirring member of the toner cartridge 31 on the basis of a signal from the controller portion, so that the inside of the buffer portion is refilled with toner to be returned to a recordable state.
Further, each of the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d is constituted so as a process cartridge detachably mountable to the image forming apparatus main assembly. The process cartridge may include either one of the primary charge roller and the developing device, in addition to the photosensitive drum. In this embodiment, the photosensitive drum 1, the charging apparatus 2, and the developing device 3 are integrally disposed in the process cartridge. At an upper surface of the image forming apparatus, an openable and closable top cover 16 is disposed so as to permit replacement of the process cartridge integrally supporting the photosensitive drum, the developing device 3, and the like, and replacement of the intermediary transfer belt 6.
Here, as described above, with a demand for reduction in mounting space in a user office, the image forming apparatus main assembly 100 is required to be designed as a compact one, so that the above described respective members have to be designed to be compact in size and have to be disposed efficiently. Particularly, in the full-color image forming apparatus as in this embodiment, it is important to perform more efficient design since the toner cartridge 31, a developer supply container mounting portion 17 for mounting the toner cartridge 31 described later, the driving force transmitting mechanism, and the like are disposed four by four.
Further, in the image forming apparatus main assembly 100 in this embodiment, the design is performed in view of space saving with respect to not only the mounting space when the image forming apparatus main assembly 100 is mounted but also spaces (such as a space for opening the cover the main assembly and a space for mounting the toner cartridge 31) necessary to replace the toner cartridge 31. Further, as shown in
(Developer Supply Container)
Next, the toner cartridge 31 of this embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.
The toner cartridge 31 is mounted into the image forming apparatus main assembly 100 and gradually supplies developer to a portion to be supplied with the developer while being mounted as it is, thus being of a so-called stationary type. Incidentally, the toner cartridge 31 is mounted, at a position as shown in
The toner cartridge 31 is, as shown in
Inside the toner container 31a, as shown in
To the container shutter 32, as shown in
The handle 36 is, as shown in
Further, the handle 36 is, as shown in
Further, the handle 36 is provided with a handle rail 39 as an example of a container-side engaging portion as shown in
At an outer peripheral surface of the container shutter 32, as shown in
<Operation During Mounting of Developer Supply Container>
An operation when the toner cartridge 31 is mounted will be described with reference to
First, a user opens the toner cartridge cover 23 of the image forming apparatus main assembly 100 in the Y direction (
As shown in
Further, as shown in
In such a state that the toner cartridge 31 is only mounted, as shown in
An operation of the handle lock 38 at that time will be described with reference to
Further, by this inserting operation, a shutter lock 46 of the container shutter 32 is raised by a shutter lock release projection 55f in an upward direction (indicated by an arrow S shown in
Next, when the grip portion 36a is tilted toward a direction of an arrow V as shown in
As shown in
<Operation During Removal of Developer Supply Container>
When toner in the toner container 31a is used up and is not supplied from the developer discharge opening 30 to the buffer portion, a toner sensor at the buffer portion detects no toner and a cartridge replacement massage is displayed. The user opens the cartridge cover 23 and performs the replacement of the toner cartridge 31.
More specifically, first, the user rotates the grip portion 36a in a direction of an arrow W in order to close the container shutter 32 of the toner cartridge 31 and the apparatus shutter 52. Then, by further rotating the handle 36 as shown in
Here, an amount of rotational movement of the handle 36 will be described with reference to
Referring to
A third bar line represents the amount of handle rotational movement during the close of the shutters. As described above, the driving force is not transmitted in an amount corresponding to backlash of the gear when the handle 36 starts to be moved, so that only the handle 36 is moved in an amount C. Further, the handle 36 is rotated in the amount B but the toner cartridge 31 cannot be removed since the projection 54a is engaged with the handle rail 39. Then, when the handle 36 is further rotated in an amount D, the terminated portion 39a (position R) comes immediately under the projection 54a, so that it is possible to remove the toner cartridge 31.
The amount of handle rotational movement (Q to R) in the shutter close direction is larger than the amount of handle rotational movement in the shutter open direction (O to Q). However, by setting a length of the handle rail corresponding to the amount (O to R) so that it is not less than that corresponding to backlash loss, it is possible to realize such a state that the toner cartridge 31 can be removed only after the container shutter 32 and the apparatus shutter 52 are returned to their original positions.
Further, as shown in
The handle 36 is, after the projections 53a and 54a reach the terminated portion 39a, stopped at such a further moved position at which an upper surface of the container grip 35 and a lower surface of the grip portion 36a run against each other. At this time, the main assembly shutter lock 55a elastically restored to the original position to lock the apparatus shutter 52. By the above described constitution, it is possible to ensure that the shutters are closed when the user removes the toner cartridge 31 from the image forming apparatus main assembly. By adopting such a constitution that the toner cartridge 31 cannot be taken out until the shutters are completely closed, it is possible to prevent toner scattering from the toner container and accumulation of deviation of the shutters due to repetitive mounting and demounting of the toner cartridge.
Further, when the toner cartridge 31 is taken out, the shutter lock 46 is not supplied with a pressing force from the shutter lock release projection 55f on the toner cartridge 31 side, so that the shutter lock 46 is elastically restored to the original position to be engaged with the shutter lock receiving portion 28. As a result, it is possible to prevent the container shutter 32 from being accidentally opened, so that there is no worry that the toner in the container is scattered out, and handling of the toner cartridge outside the main assembly becomes easy.
Further, at a lower portion below a center of the rotational movement of the handle 36, an abutting portion 41 as an example of a container-side return means is provided (
As described hereinabove, according to the present invention, in the image forming apparatus to which the developer supply container is inserted and removed therefrom in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the drive mechanism, it is possible to return the main assembly shutter and the container shutter to their initial positions with reliability during the removal of the developer supply container and to simply hold the developer supply container so as to transmit the driving force with reliability during the mounting of the developer supply container.
Further, by employing such a constitution that the developer supply container is mounted and demounted in the vertical direction, it is not necessary to ensure a space for mounting and demounting the developer supply container at a side surface of the apparatus main assembly. As a result, the image forming apparatus can be mounted in a state close to a wall surface of a room to permit effective utilization of a mounting space of the apparatus main assembly. Particularly, a single function printer has no image reading portion, so that an opening and closing operation can easily be performed even when an opening and closing portion is provided on the apparatus main assembly. As a result, it is not necessary to access a side surface of the printer main assembly, so that it is possible to perform a replacement operation of the developer supply container from a front surface side where an operation portion is provided. Thus, an operability can be improved.
While the invention has been described with reference to the structures disclosed herein, it is not confined to the details set forth and this application is intended to cover such modifications or changes as may come within the purpose of the improvements or the scope of the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2004-328680 | Nov 2004 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP2005/021066 | 11/10/2005 | WO | 00 | 1/29/2008 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2006/052005 | 5/18/2006 | WO | A |
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