JP4423140B2 - Toner container, toner supply device, and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a toner container for storing toner, a toner supply device for supplying toner to a developing device, and an image forming apparatus.

  In an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile machine, or a multi-function machine having at least two functions, toner is consumed by use, so that the consumed amount must be sequentially supplied to the developing device. Generally, toner is replenished to a developing device from a toner container such as a toner cartridge or a toner bottle, and when the toner in the toner container becomes empty, the toner container is replaced. Since the replacement of the toner container is performed by the user, it is required that the replacement operation is simple and that the hands and clothes due to toner scattering or the like are not contaminated during the replacement.

  Further, when toner is replenished from the toner container to the developing device, variations in the discharge amount from the toner container may cause image quality degradation such as blurring and color unevenness due to variations in toner density. Therefore, stable toner discharge is required for the toner replenishing device including the toner container.

  Various types of toner containers have been proposed and implemented in order to meet the above requirements. As one of them, a cylindrical toner bottle having a helical toner conveying portion is well known. The toner bottle is used with one end having a smaller diameter than the spiral main body at one end, and the bottle main body being set in a state where the bottle axis is almost horizontal. In an image forming apparatus using this type of toner bottle, the toner is transported and discharged in the horizontal direction, and therefore, when the remaining amount of toner is low, the amount of discharged toner varies, or a large amount of toner is consumed at the end of the toner. Sometimes remained.

JP-A-11-202606 JP 2000-310901 A

  Patent Document 1 discloses a toner replenishing device that is provided with a plurality of scraping members having different scraping amounts so that toner is stably and gently decreased when the remaining amount of toner decreases. The toner container used in this apparatus is set and used in a state where the bottle axis is substantially horizontal, but the toner can be replenished to some extent with stability even when the remaining amount of toner becomes small.

  However, in the apparatus in which the toner container is placed horizontally, the mouth portion is also directed to the side, so that the setting direction of the container is also performed from the lateral direction. For this reason, it cannot be said that the operability at the time of setting is good due to the fact that the user has to bend when setting.

  Therefore, Patent Document 2 discloses a toner container that can be set from above even if the apparatus is used by placing the toner container horizontally. In the toner container described in this publication, a bottle cap as a discharge member is attached to a mouth portion of a toner bottle as a container body, and a toner replenishing port is provided on the peripheral surface of the bottle cap. When the toner replenishing port is provided on the peripheral surface of the bottle cap in this way, the opening direction of the replenishing port is different from the bottle mouth by 90 degrees, so that the container can be set from above.

  By the way, it is well known that toner is a powder having poor fluidity and easily agglomerating. For this reason, in a toner container using a bottle cap, there is a problem that toner aggregates in the bottle cap and gradually closes the toner replenishing port and eventually closes.

  Furthermore, if a bottle cap is provided, the toner discharged from the bottle mouth must be sent to the toner replenishment port. Particularly, when the remaining amount of toner decreases, the amount of toner replenishment varies, and the remaining toner at the end of the toner is also reduced. There were times when it increased.

  In view of the above-described conventional circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a toner container, a toner replenishing device, and an image forming apparatus that can stably supply toner in a toner container having a discharging member attached to a container body.

In order to achieve the above-described object, the present invention provides a container main body having a helical toner conveying portion that is formed in a cylindrical shape and conveys toner stored by rotation to the mouth side, and a mouth of the container main body. A discharge member that is attached to the peripheral portion and has a replenishing port on its peripheral surface and that is rotatable relative to the container main body, and the toner transported to the front side of the mouth by the toner transport portion is lifted and transported to the mouth portion. A toner container in which the container main body and the discharge member are integrally attached to and detached from the apparatus main body, and are fixedly supported on the mouth side of the container main body. the transport member extending in a direction opposite to dry portion is provided to the mouth portion of the container body, the toner container the conveying member, characterized in that extending to supply port of the pumping unit through the discharge member of the container body Propose.

In the toner container of the present invention, it is effective that the transport member is formed in an elongated plate shape and includes a transport plate that is inclined with respect to a plane including the axis of the container body.

Furthermore, in the toner container of the present invention, it is effective that the container bottom side of the conveying member has a length extending to a spiral region provided with a pumping portion.
Furthermore, in the toner container of the present invention, it is effective that the transport plates of the transport member are provided in the same number and adjacent to the pumping portions.

  Furthermore, in the toner container of the present invention, it is effective that the container main body is made of polyethylene terephthalate, and the gear driven by the container main body is formed by integral molding.

In order to achieve the above object, a toner replenishing device according to the present invention comprises the toner container according to any one of claims 1 to 6 and replenishes the toner contained in the toner container to the developing device of the apparatus main body. It is characterized by doing.

In the toner replenishing device of the present invention, it is effective to replenish the toner in the toner container to the developing device by the suction force of the screw pump.
Furthermore, in order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention uses the toner replenishing device according to claim 7 or 8 .
In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, it is effective that the toner container is mounted on the apparatus main body from above.

According to the configuration of the first aspect , the toner stored in the container main body can be stably supplied to the supply port of the discharge member without being affected by the remaining amount.

  According to the configuration of the third aspect, since the protruding member is an agitating member provided with at least one agitating rod that passes near the inner peripheral wall surface of the discharging member by the rotation of the container body, the toner aggregates in the discharging member. Even this can be solved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the conveying member is formed in the shape of an elongated plate and includes the conveying plate that is inclined with respect to the plane including the axis of the container body, the toner is slid down on the conveying plate. Can be transported.

According to the configuration of the third aspect , since the container bottom side of the conveying member has a length extending to the spiral region provided with the pumping portion, it is possible to convey the toner before coming out from the mouth portion.

According to the configuration of the fourth aspect , since the transport plates of the transport member are provided in the same number as and adjacent to the pumping portion, the transport plate can be transported more efficiently than the toner, and the remaining toner can be greatly reduced. it can.

According to the configuration of the sixth aspect , since the container body is made of polyethylene terephthalate and the gear driven by the container body is formed by integral molding, the gear accuracy can be improved and the cost can be reduced.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, since the toner container according to any one of the first to sixth aspects is provided and the toner stored in the toner container is replenished to the developing device of the apparatus main body, stable and reliable toner replenishment can be achieved. can get.

According to the configuration of the eighth aspect , since the toner in the toner container is replenished to the developing device by the suction force of the screw pump, stable and reliable toner replenishment can be obtained.
According to the ninth aspect , since the toner replenishing device according to the seventh or eighth aspect is used, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus capable of obtaining the above effect.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a color laser printer which is an example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. This color laser printer has a configuration in which a paper feeding unit 2 is disposed at the lower part of the apparatus main body 1 and an image forming unit 3 is disposed above the paper feeding unit 2. The image forming unit 3 is provided with an intermediate transfer belt 7 as an image carrier constituted by a flexible endless belt wound around a plurality of rollers 4, 5, 6. The image forming unit 3 is provided with four image forming units 8Y, 8C, 8M, and 8K as image forming means facing the lower running side between the rollers 4 and 5 of the intermediate transfer belt 7. Yes.

  The four image forming units 8 include a photosensitive drum 10 as a latent image carrier in contact with the intermediate transfer belt 7. Around the photosensitive drum 10, a charging device 11, a developing device 12, and a cleaning device 13 are arranged. Further, the primary transfer is performed inside the intermediate transfer belt 7 at a position where the photosensitive drum 10 is in contact with the intermediate transfer belt 7. A transfer device 14 is provided. In the present embodiment, the four image forming units 8Y, 8C, 8M, and 8K have the same structure, but the developer color of the developing device 12 is divided into four colors of yellow, cyan, magenta, and black. It has been. Also, below the image forming unit 8, there is disposed an optical writing unit 15 as optical writing means for irradiating the surface of each photosensitive drum with optically modulated laser light L. The laser light L is applied to the charging device 11 and the developing device. The photosensitive drum 10 is irradiated in between. The members provided for each color, such as the image forming unit 8, are denoted by Y for yellow, C for cyan, M for magenta, and K for black for each color, but in the description common to all colors, Y, Explanation will be made without adding C, M, and K.

  When the image forming operation is started, the photosensitive drum 10 of the image forming unit 8 is rotated clockwise by a driving device (not shown), and the surface of the photosensitive drum 10 is set to a predetermined polarity by the charging device 11. Uniformly charged. The charged photoreceptor surface is irradiated with the laser beam L from the optical writing unit 15, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor drum 10 surface. At this time, the image information to be exposed on each photosensitive drum 10 is single-color image information obtained by separating a desired full-color image into color information of yellow, cyan, magenta, and black. The electrostatic latent image formed in this way is visualized as a toner image by the developer of each developing device 12 when passing through the developing device 12.

  Intermediate transfer belt 7 One of the plurality of rollers 4, 5 and 6 is rotationally driven counterclockwise by a driving device (not shown), whereby the intermediate transfer belt 7 is driven to travel in the direction indicated by the arrow. And the other rollers are driven to rotate. The yellow toner image formed by the yellow image forming unit 8Y including the yellow developing device 12 is transferred by the transfer device 14 to the intermediate transfer belt 7 that travels in this way. To the transferred yellow toner image, the cyan toner image formed by the image forming units 8C, 8M and 8K, and further the magenta toner image and the black toner image are sequentially superimposed and transferred by the transfer device 14, and thus the intermediate transfer belt 7 is A full-color toner image is carried on the surface. The intermediate transfer belt 7 is provided with a secondary transfer device 20 facing the roller 6 and a belt cleaning device 21 facing the roller 4 for cleaning the belt surface.

  Residual toner adhering to the surface of the photosensitive drum after the toner image is transferred is removed from the surface of the photosensitive drum by the cleaning device 13, and then the surface is subjected to a static eliminating action by a static eliminator (not shown). The surface potential is initialized and prepared for the next image formation.

  On the other hand, a recording medium made of paper or a resin sheet is fed from the paper feeding unit 2 and fed to the image forming unit 3 from the paper feeding port 2a. A recording medium, for example, a sheet fed to the image forming unit 3 is fed to a secondary transfer device 20 facing the roller 6 via a registration roller 24. At this time, a transfer voltage having a polarity opposite to the toner charging polarity of the toner image on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt is applied to the secondary transfer device 20, whereby the toner image on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt is collectively transferred onto the sheet. The When the sheet on which the toner image has been transferred passes through the fixing device 22, the toner image is melted and fixed on the sheet by the heat and pressure. The fixed paper is discharged to a paper discharge unit 23 constituted by the upper part of the image forming apparatus main body 1 as indicated by an arrow. Further, in the intermediate transfer belt 7 after the toner image is transferred to the paper, the toner remaining on the belt is removed from the cleaning device 21.

  The above description is an image forming operation when a full-color image is formed on a sheet. However, a single-color image is formed by using any one of the image forming units 8, or a two-color or three-color image is formed. It can also be formed.

  Next, the configuration of the developing device 12 will be described with reference to FIG. The developing device 12 includes a magnetic field generating means inside, a developing sleeve 25 as a developer carrying body that carries and conveys a two-component developer containing magnetic particles and toner, and is carried on the developing sleeve 25. And a doctor 26 as a developer regulating member that regulates the layer thickness of the conveyed developer. A developer accommodating portion 27 that accommodates the developer regulated by the doctor 26 without being conveyed to the developing area facing the photosensitive drum 10 is formed on the upstream side of the doctor 26 in the developer conveying direction. A toner conveying screw 28 for agitating and conveying the toner is provided adjacent to the lower portion of the developer accommodating portion 27.

  Next, the operation of this developing device will be described. In the developing device 12, a developer layer is formed on the developing sleeve 25. Further, the toner is taken into the developer from the developer accommodating portion 27 by the movement of the developer layer conveyed by the rotation of the developing sleeve 25. The toner is taken in so that the developer is within a predetermined toner density range. The toner taken into the developer is charged by frictional charging with the carrier. The developer containing charged toner is supplied to the surface of the developing sleeve 25 having a magnetic pole inside and is carried by magnetic force. The developer layer carried on the developing sleeve 25 is conveyed in the direction of the arrow as the developing sleeve 25 rotates. In the middle, after the thickness of the developer layer is regulated by the doctor 26, the developer layer is conveyed to a developing area facing the photosensitive drum 10. In the development area, development based on the latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 10 is performed. The developer layer remaining on the developing sleeve 25 is conveyed to the upstream portion of the developer accommodating portion 27 in the developer conveying direction as the developing sleeve 26 rotates.

  In FIG. 1 described above, an accommodating stack portion 30 for accommodating toner bottles 31Y, 31M, 31C, and 31K as toner containers is disposed above the intermediate transfer belt 7. As shown in FIG. 3, the toner bottles 31 </ b> Y, 31 </ b> M, 31 </ b> C, and 31 </ b> K are set in the storage stack unit 30 so as to be placed from the top for each toner color. That is, when the cover 32 of the paper discharge unit 23 is opened, the toner bottles 31Y, 31M, 31C, and 31K appear, and the toner bottles 31Y, 31M, 31C, and 31K can be replaced by operations from above. The Y, M, C, and K toners in the toner bottles 31Y, 31M, 31C, and 31K are appropriately replenished to the developing devices 12 of the image forming units 8Y, 8M, 8C, and 8K, respectively, by a toner replenishing device that will be described later. These toner bottles 31Y, 31M, 31C, and 31K are attached to and detached from the apparatus main body 1 independently of the image forming units 8Y, 8M, 8C, and 8K.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing the front end side of the toner bottle 31.
In FIG. 4, the toner bottle 31 is provided with a cylindrical bottle body 33 as a container body, and a cap 40 as a cylindrical discharge member that is rotatable relative to the bottle body 33 at the tip. . The cap 40 includes a cap portion 41 having a toner replenishing port 44 provided in a lower peripheral surface, and a holder portion 42 that is fixed to the cap portion 41 and attaches the cap portion 41 to the bottle body 33. And the claw part 43 provided in the holder part 42 is latched by the groove | channel of the bottle main body 33, and the cap 40 and the bottle main body 33 are comprised relatively rotatably. It should be noted that a seal 45 is interposed at the joint between the bottle main body 33 and the cap part 41 to prevent toner leakage from the part. The holder portion 42 of the cap 40 is provided with a handle 46 and a shutter 47. Further, a bottle gear 34 that is an input gear used as an input unit configured integrally with the bottle body 33 is provided in the vicinity of the bottle body 33 where the cap 40 is attached.

  When attaching the toner bottle 31 to the apparatus main body 1, first, the cover 32 shown in FIG. 1 is opened upward to expose the storage stack portion 30. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, after the toner bottle 31 is placed on the storage stack portion 30, the handle 46 is rotated. With this rotation, the cap 40 integrally formed with the handle 46 rotates, and the shutter 47 moves in the circumferential direction of the cap 40 to open and the toner supply port 44 is opened. Are connected and fixed. Since this mechanism is not the gist of the present invention, a detailed description is omitted. The toner bottle 31 set in the storage stack portion 30 is drivingly connected with the bottle gear 34 meshing with a driving gear (not shown) provided on the apparatus main body 1 side.

  On the other hand, in order to remove the toner bottle 31 from the apparatus main body 1, the handle 46 is rotated in the reverse direction to release the connection between the cap 40 and the storage stack unit 30, and at the same time, the shutter 47 is closed and the toner supply port 44 is opened. Closed. Then, the toner bottle 31 can be taken out from the apparatus main body 1 while holding the handle 46 as it is. As described above, since the toner bottle 31 can be placed and removed from the upper side of the apparatus main body 1, the replacement operation of the toner bottle 31 is easy to understand and can be easily performed. In addition, since the handle 46 is formed on the cap 40, the cap 40 can be rotated and fixed to the accommodation stack portion 30 easily. When the toner bottle 31 is detached from the apparatus main body 1, the shutter 47 is not opened even if the handle 46 of the cap 40 is rotated. As a result, it is possible to prevent the shutter 47 from being accidentally opened when the toner bottle 31 is replaced and the toner inside is spilled.

  FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the bottle main body 33. The bottle main body 33 has a mouth portion 35 at one end thereof, and serves as a toner transport portion that transports toner stored by rotation to the mouth portion 35 side. A spiral 36 that protrudes toward the inside of the container is formed. The opening of the mouth 35 is concentric with an axis (not shown) of the bottle main body 33 and is smaller in diameter than the diameter of the bottle main body 33. A second spiral 37 is formed between the spiral 36 and the mouth portion 35 to discharge the toner from the mouth portion 35 having a small diameter, and a pumping portion 38 for pumping the toner is provided in the second spiral 37. The pumping portion 38 of this example can be seen only at one place in FIG. 5, but is provided at two places at intervals of 180 °.

  In the toner bottle 31 having such a configuration, toner adheres and aggregates on the wall surface of the cap portion 41 facing the mouth portion 35, and the attached toner gradually increases to narrow the toner replenishing port 44. In the worst case, the toner replenishing port There is a problem of blocking 44, particularly when a toner having poor fluidity is used.

  Therefore, in the toner bottle 31 according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 6, the bottle body 33 is provided with a stirring member 50 as a protruding member protruding toward the cap 40 side. Since the stirring member 50 is fixed to the bottle main body 33, it rotates together with the bottle main body 33. The agitation member 50 in this embodiment includes an agitation rod 51. The agitation rod 51 is formed in such a length that the tip of the agitation rod 51, that is, the end on the side of the cap 40 reaches the toner supply port 44. It is provided at a position that passes close to the inner peripheral surface of 40.

In the toner bottle 31 configured as described above, when the bottle main body 33 rotates for toner replenishment, the substantially integrated stirring member 50 also rotates. On the other hand, since the cap 40 is held by the apparatus main body 1 without rotating, the stirring member 50 moves near the inner peripheral surface of the cap 40 and scrapes off toner adhering to the peripheral surface of the cap 40. Further, the toner adhering to the wall surface facing the mouth portion 35 of the cap 40 is also scraped off, so that the adhering toner gradually increases to narrow the toner replenishing port 44, and in the worst case, the toner replenishing port 44 is blocked. Can be prevented. Accordingly, stable toner supply can be continuously obtained from the toner bottle 31. Further, the stirring rod 51 stirs the toner discharged from the bottle main body 33 and mixes it with air, thereby promoting fluidization and supplying the developing device 12 with the toner in a state in which the toner hardly aggregates. The length of the stirring bar 51 may be the length of the entire length of the toner replenishing port 44 as shown in FIG. 6, or the length of the stirring rod 51 may be as long as approximately half of the toner replenishing port 44 as shown in FIG. good. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, a flexible film 54, for example, mylar (trade name) may be attached to the stirring bar 51, and the flexible film 54 may touch the inner peripheral surface of the cap 40. The position may be slightly away from the inner peripheral surface.

  Table 1 shows an experimental result on whether or not the toner aggregated in the cap 40 is released with and without the stirring member 50 using toner that easily aggregates in the toner bottle 31 of FIG. Indicates. At this time, an experiment was conducted with two types of the stirring member 50 attached, the stirring rod 51 having a length up to the toner replenishing port 44 and the one before the toner replenishing port 44.

  In Table 1, ○ indicates that the aggregated toner is released and the toner is discharged, and Δ indicates that the aggregated toner is released little by little, but the amount of toner discharged from the bottle is small, and × indicates that the aggregated toner is released. This indicates that no toner is discharged. As can be seen from Table 1, there is a large difference in the results depending on the presence or absence of the stirring member 50 for the toner that easily aggregates. If the stirring member 50 is used, stable replenishment with less variation in the replenishment amount even with toner that easily aggregates. I was able to. However, it has been found that even if the stirring member 50 is provided, if the length does not reach the toner supply port 44, the effect is halved.

  FIGS. 8 to 10 show different embodiments of the stirring member 50, and the stirring member 50 shown in FIG. Two or more stirring rods 51 can be provided. A perspective view of the stirring member 50 at this time is shown in FIG. The stirring member 50 is provided with a stirring bar 51 on one side of a ring part 52 with a part cut away, and two locking arms 53 on the other side. The stirring member 50 can be easily attached to the toner bottle 31 by locking the locking arm 53 to the pumping portion 38 described above. Therefore, the assembling property is good and the stirring member 50 can be attached to the toner bottle very easily. Further, the stirring member 50 provided with the stirring rod 51 and the locking arm 53 in the ring portion 52 passes through the pumping portion 38 by providing the stirring rod 51 with respect to the locking arm 53 while being shifted in the circumferential direction of the ring portion. The discharged toner can be stirred more efficiently. That is, the toner can be stirred more efficiently by providing the stirring rod 51 at a position where the stirring rod 51 stirs the toner in time with the toner discharged after being pumped up by the pumping unit 38.

  The agitating member 50 shown in FIG. 9 is provided with an agitating rod 51 formed in an elongated plate shape, and is inclined so as to approach the axis of the bottle body 33 as it proceeds from the container bottom to the mouth 35. Yes. When the stirrer 51 is tilted in this way, a new moving path for moving the toner along the surface of the stirrer 51 is formed, so that the toner conveying force is increased and the residual toner amount can be reduced.

  The stirring member 50 shown in FIG. 10 has two stirring rods 51 that are connected at the tips of connecting rods 55 and the stirring portion is formed in a U shape. In this way, the stirring member 50 having the connecting rod 55 stirs not only the peripheral surface of the cap 40 but also the toner adhering to the facing surface of the mouth portion 35 of the cap 40, so that the aggregation within the toner cap is ensured. Can be prevented. The connecting rod 55 may be provided on the inclined stirring rod 51 shown in FIG.

  By the way, since the toner bottle 31 is set in the printer with the axis thereof being horizontal, the toner cannot be replenished using gravity and the residual toner tends to increase. Although the used toner bottle becomes waste, if a large amount of toner remains, it is not only uneconomical but also environmental problems. Furthermore, the replacement of the toner bottle 31 is normally performed by the user. However, if a large amount of toner remains in the removed container, it may cause distrust to the manufacturer. Therefore, there is a demand to reduce the remaining amount of toner in the used toner bottle 31 as much as possible even if it is set almost horizontally.

  Therefore, the toner bottle 31 according to the present invention takes measures to reduce the remaining amount of toner in the toner bottle 31, and to obtain a stable toner supply even when the remaining amount of toner decreases.

  In FIG. 12, a conveying member 60 as a protruding member protruding toward the cap 40 is provided on the bottle body 33, and the conveying member 60 is formed in an elongated plate shape. The leading end of the conveying member 60 on the downstream side in the toner conveying direction reaches the toner replenishing port 44, and the trailing end extends to reach the switching portion from the spiral 36 to the second spiral 37, that is, throughout the entire second spiral. It has a certain length. In the state shown in FIG. 12, the bottle body 33 is when the toner pumped by the pumping unit 38 falls, and the conveying member 60 is inclined with respect to the plane including the axis of the bottle body 33, that is, the rear end side is It is attached with an inclination that gradually decreases toward the tip. Therefore, most of the toner falls on the surface of the conveying member 60 from the pumping portion 38, and the toner dropped on the conveying member 60 moves on the surface of the conveying member 60 and is conveyed to the toner supply port 44.

  In the toner bottle 31 thus configured, when the bottle body 33 rotates, the toner moved to the mouth 35 side by the spiral 36 is pumped up by the pumping portion 38 of the second spiral 37, and the toner dropped from the pumping portion 38 and the first toner The toner dropped from the two spirals 37 is conveyed to the toner replenishing port 44 while sliding on the inclined conveying member 60. Therefore, by providing the conveyance member 60 extending from the bottle main body 33 to the cap 40, not the toner that exits the opening 35 of the bottle main body 33 but the toner that comes out from the opening 35 to the toner supply port 44 of the cap 40. It can be transported smoothly. Therefore, even if the opening 35 has a smaller diameter than the bottle main body 33, the toner can be smoothly conveyed to the toner supply port 44 of the cap 40 so as to flow. Thus, even when the remaining amount of toner in the toner bottle 31 is low and the replenishment becomes unstable, the toner can be reliably conveyed to the toner replenishment port 44.

  Thus, the toner bottle 31 of the present embodiment can achieve stable toner conveyance with little variation in the replenishment amount, and the amount of toner remaining in the toner bottle 31 at the time of toner end can be greatly reduced.

  Incidentally, the bottle body 33 shown in FIG. 6 is provided with two pumping portions 38. Therefore, the toner falls twice for each rotation of the bottle body 33. Therefore, in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 14A, 14 </ b> B, and 14 </ b> C, the conveyance member 60 including the two conveyance plates 61 as many as the pumping portions 38 is provided. In this case, the conveying plate 61 is inclined together,

  As described above, when the conveyance member 60 provided with the same number of conveyance plates 61 as the pumping portions 38 is used, more stable and reliable toner conveyance can be obtained, and the residual toner can be further reduced. Further, the conveyance member 60 is provided in the bottle main body 33. At this time, as shown in FIG. 14, the conveyance member 60 in which the conveyance plate 61 is provided on the support ring 62 is produced, and this is formed in the mouth portion 35 of the bottle main body 33. If it is installed by fitting, the manufacturing is easy and the assembly is easy, so the cost can be kept low.

Next, a toner supply device that supplies toner from the toner bottle 31 to the developing device 12 will be described.
The toner replenishing device shown in FIG. 15 is provided with a toner reservoir 65 to which the toner replenishing port 44 of the cap 40 is connected, and a toner transport path 67 communicating with the developing device 12 and a toner transport path below the toner reservoir 65. A conveying screw 66 for conveying toner via 67 is provided. The axis of the conveying screw 66 is inclined so that the downstream side in the toner conveying direction is downward, and thereby the toner is smoothly conveyed without resisting gravity.

  In the toner reinforcing device, when a toner replenishment command is issued from a control unit (not shown), the conveying screw 66 rotates to replenish toner to the developing device 12. At the same time, the bottle main body 33 is also rotated when the bottle gear 34 is engaged with a drive gear (not shown). Supply. At the time of supplying the toner, the stirring member 50 also rotates together with the bottle main body 33, and the toner moves to the toner supply port 44 without stagnation due to aggregation or the like.

  16 and 17 is provided with an outlet member 70 in which a funnel-shaped opening 71 and a nozzle hole 72 into which a nozzle 75 described later is inserted are formed on the lower peripheral surface of the cap 40. The opening 71 of the outlet member 70 has an upper portion communicating with the toner replenishing port 44 of the cap 40, a lower portion communicating with the nozzle hole 72, and a shutter 73 fitted into the nozzle hole 72. The toner supply path is blocked. When the toner container 31 is set in the apparatus main body 1, a nozzle 75 is inserted into the nozzle hole 72, whereby the shutter 73 is pushed by the nozzle 75 and moves to the back side, and an opening 71 is formed in the nozzle 75. Communicating with the receiving port 76. Reference numeral 77 denotes a positioning pin provided in the nozzle 75, and reference numeral 74 denotes a positioning hole into which the positioning pin 77 provided in the outlet member 70 is inserted. The replenishment side of the nozzle 75 communicates with a suction port of a suction type powder pump (not shown) provided on the developing device side via a transport pipe (not shown). As this powder pump, a uniaxial eccentric screw pump capable of continuous quantitative transfer at a high solid-gas ratio called a MONO pump is advantageously used.

  Since the toner replenishing device configured as described above replenishes the toner developing device with the powder pump, it is necessary to close the opening 71 with toner. If there is a gap in the opening 71, the powder pump As a result, air is sucked in from the toner and the toner supply is hindered. Therefore, it is required that the opening 71 is filled with toner except when the toner container 31 is at the end of the toner. However, in the present invention, since the conveying member 60 described above is provided, the toner in the toner container 31 can be reduced to some extent. Regardless, the toner can be stably conveyed to the toner supply port 44 and the request can be answered.

  Next, the manufacturing method of the bottle main body 33 is demonstrated. As described above, the bottle body 33 is provided with the bottle gear 34 for rotation. Usually, the bottle main body 33 and the bottle gear 34 are made separately and fixed by bonding or the like, but such a manufacturing method increases the cost. Therefore, by using polyethylene terephthalate as a material, the mouth 35 side including the bottle gear 34 of the bottle body 33 is made by injection molding, and then the storage side portion is made by blow molding, so that the bottle body 33 and the bottle gear 34 are integrated. Can be molded.

  Thus, by integrating the bottle main body 33 and the bottle gear 34, the assembly of the gear is eliminated, the gear accuracy is increased, and the recyclability is improved because the material is the same.

1 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus using a toner container according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing a developing device of the image forming apparatus. FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating an aspect when a toner container is set. FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a toner container according to the present invention on the mouth side. It is a perspective view showing a bottle body of the toner container. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of a toner container showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is an explanatory cross-sectional view illustrating a modified example of the toner container of FIG. 6. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing another modification of the toner container of FIG. 6. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing still another modified example of the toner container of FIG. 6. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing still another modified example of the toner container of FIG. 6. FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a stirring member used in the toner container of FIG. 8. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of a toner container showing another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is an explanatory perspective view illustrating toner conveyance in the toner container of FIG. 12. FIGS. 12A and 12B show a modified example of the toner conveying member of FIG. 12, in which FIG. 12A is a perspective view, FIG. 12B is a side view, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of a toner replenishing device using the toner container of FIG. 6. FIG. 13 is an explanatory sectional view of a toner replenishing device using the toner container of FIG. 12. FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a toner replenishing device using the toner container of FIG. 12.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 apparatus main body 12 developing device 31 toner container 33 bottle main body 34 bottle gear 35 mouth part 36 spiral 37 2nd spiral 38 pumping part 40 cap 44 toner supply port 50 stirring member 51 stirring rod 60 conveyance member 61 conveyance plate

Claims (10)

A container body that is formed in a cylindrical shape and includes a spiral toner transporting section that transports toner stored by rotation to the mouth side, and a replenishing port attached to the mouth of the container body. A discharge member that is rotatable relative to the container main body, and a pumping unit formed by protruding the toner transported to the front of the mouth by the toner transport unit and projecting it in the circumferential direction for transporting the toner to the mouth and a part, in the toner container, wherein the container body and the discharge member is detachable to the apparatus main body integrally,
Said fixedly supported by the mouth portion of the container body, wherein the conveying member extending in a direction opposite to dry portion is provided to the mouth portion of the container body, the conveying member is of pumping portion of the street the discharge member said container body A toner container that extends to a supply port . 2. The toner container according to claim 1 , wherein the transport member is formed in an elongated plate shape, and includes a transport plate that is inclined with respect to a plane including an axis of the container body. 3. The toner container according to claim 1 , wherein a side opposite to the mouth portion of the conveying member has a length extending to a spiral region provided with the pumping portion. 4. The toner container according to claim 1 , wherein the transport plate of the transport member is provided in the same number as and adjacent to the pumping unit. 5. 4. The toner container according to claim 1 , wherein the mouth portion of the container body is formed coaxially with the axis of the container body and has a smaller diameter than the toner conveying portion. 6. The toner container according to claim 1 , wherein the container body is made of polyethylene terephthalate, and a gear that is driven by the container body is formed by integral molding. A toner replenishing device comprising the toner container according to claim 1 , wherein the toner contained in the toner container is replenished to a developing device of the apparatus main body. 8. The toner replenishing device according to claim 7 , wherein the toner in the toner container is replenished to the developing device by a suction force of a screw pump. An image forming apparatus using the toner replenishing device according to claim 7 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the toner container is mounted on the apparatus main body from above.

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