Patent Application
20060198656
The present invention generally relates to seals, gaskets and the like, and more particularly to a seal or gasket to retain or seal toner in a printer toner cartridge or the like.
In the imaging industry, there is a growing market for the remanufacture and refurbishing of various types of replaceable imaging cartridges such as toner cartridges, drum cartridges, inkjet cartridges, and the like. These imaging cartridges are used in imaging devices such as laser printers, xerographic copiers, inkjet printers, facsimile machines and the like, for example. Imaging cartridges, once spent, are unusable for their originally intended purpose. Without a refurbishing process these cartridges would simply be discarded, even though the cartridge itself may still have potential life. As a result, techniques have been developed specifically to address this issue. These processes may entail, for example, the disassembly of the various structures of the cartridge, replacing toner or ink, cleaning, adjusting or replacing any worn components and reassembling the imaging cartridge.
Imaging cartridges include one or more compartments holding the marking material which is deposited on a surface, such as paper. For a laser toner cartridge, this compartment is referred to as the toner hopper. During the remanufacture of a laser toner cartridge, any remaining residual toner should be removed from the toner hopper and the toner hopper should be cleaned. New toner is then placed in the toner hopper and the hopper opening is then sealed with a toner hopper seal. The purpose of the toner hopper seal is to ensure that toner does not migrate from the toner hopper during shipping of the toner cartridge package. Being a fine, dry powder, toner will migrate throughout the package and may damage other components of the toner cartridge. Such toner migration will also create an esthetically unpleasing mess for the end user. If the toner is not confined to the toner hopper, the end users may have toner on their hands and clothes.
A variety of seals have been used to seal or reseal toner hoppers. One seal assembly includes a gasket having a removable seal covering the opening in the gasket.
The removable seal includes a tail. During the installation of the seal assembly, this tail is laid back over the removable seal and an end portion of the tail is placed through an opening between the toner hopper and the developer roller housing. The end user pulls the tail to remove at least a portion of the seal, allowing toner to migrate through the gasket opening from the toner hopper to the developer roller. However, during the installation of the seal assembly, the tail must be properly aligned with the rest of the seal assembly. This alignment requires extra time and labor, and if not performed correctly, may result in an inoperable installation. Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a seal assembly which includes a seal tail which attached to the seal assembly in the aligned position.
In one aspect of the present invention, a seal assembly for use in an imaging cartridge includes a gasket having an elongate gasket opening and a seal having first and second sides. The first side of the seal is at least partially affixed to a first side of the gasket and covers the gasket opening. The seal includes a seal tail extending over at least a portion of the second side of the seal such that an underside of the seal tail is adjacent to the second side of the seal. A tying element affixes the underside of the seal tail to the seal assembly.
A more complete understanding of the present invention, as well as further features and advantages of the invention, will be apparent from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.
The following detailed description of preferred embodiments refers to the accompanying drawings which illustrate specific embodiments of the invention. In the discussion that follows, specific systems and techniques for manufacturing or forming a seal assembly having an aligned seal tail are disclosed. Other embodiments having different structures and operations for the manufacture of other types of seals or seal assemblies including an aligned seal tail do not depart from the scope of the present invention.
The seal assembly 100 further comprises a removable seal 106 having a seal tail 108. As shown in
The removable seal 106 covers the gasket opening 104 and is adhered by heat sealing or adhesive, for example, to one side of the gasket 102. The seal tail 108 is folded back over the removable seal 106 and is held longitudinally in an aligned position by a tying element 110 that adheres the underside 109 of the seal tail 108 to another portion of the seal assembly 100. Preferably, the tying element 110 provides a sufficiently strong securing force to hold the seal tail 108 place during the handling and installation of the seal assembly 100, but is weak enough such that the bond can be readily broken when an end user pulls on an end of the seal tail 108 in the direction indicated by arrow 111. The adhesive binding strength of the tying element may be less than 0.70 pounds, per ASTM D3330 peel test.
As seen more clearly in
As seen in
To allow for the attachment of the seal assembly 100 to the toner hopper opening, an adhesive layer 112 preferably covers the bottom side of the gasket 102. The adhesive layer 112 may suitably comprise rubber, acrylic, a structural carrier, or a combination of such materials, for example. The adhesive layer 112 may be covered by a release liner 114 to protect the adhesive layer 112 until the release liner is removed prior to attachment of the seal assembly 100 to the toner hopper. Both the adhesive layer 112 and the release liner may include an opening corresponding the gasket opening 104. In an alternate embodiment, the gasket 102 may be affixed to the toner hopper by other suitable techniques, such as gluing, for example.
Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, those of ordinary skill in the art appreciate that any arrangement which is calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown and that the invention has other applications in other environments. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the present invention. The following claims are in no way intended to limit the scope of the invention to the specific embodiments described herein.
