JP4719192B2 - Toner bottle, electrophotographic apparatus to which the toner bottle is attached, and toner bottle molding method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a developer bottle used for an electrophotographic apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, and a printer, that is, a toner bottle for filling toner, an electrophotographic apparatus to which the toner bottle can be mounted, and a toner bottle forming method.

  An electrophotographic apparatus using an electrophotographic method in which an electrostatic latent image is formed on a photoconductive photoreceptor, the latent image is developed with charged colored particles (toner), and transferred to paper is copied. It is embodied in machines, facsimiles, printers, etc. and is now widely used. The toner is generally mounted in an electrophotographic apparatus in a state of being accommodated in a bottle (see Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-20705). When this toner bottle is empty, a new toner bottle is obtained. Exchanged.

  Further, in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, the cap member that seals the mouth portion of the toner bottle is gripped by a collet chuck built in the electrophotographic apparatus, the cap member is removed, and when the toner bottle is empty, the collet chuck Teaches that the cap member is pushed into the toner bottle and covered.

  Such toner bottles are generally made of plastic and are manufactured by a blow molding method. FIG. 1 shows a manufacturing process of a toner bottle by a conventional blow molding method. The production of the toner bottle will be described in the order of steps. First, the parison 2 is pushed out from the blow pin 1 (FIG. 1 (a)), and then the mold 3 is closed as shown in FIG. 1 (b). 3 is opened (FIG. 1 (c)) and the molded bottle 4 (FIG. 1 (d)) is taken out, and then the burr 5 is cut to make the final toner bottle 6 ( FIG. 1 (e)).

  The toner bottle 4 thus molded has a problem that the thickness of the cylindrical main body 5 exceeds 1 mm, and it is difficult to strictly maintain the molding accuracy. For this reason, when mounted on an electrophotographic apparatus, due to manufacturing errors of the toner bottle 4, due to mismatch between the toner bottle 4 and the related apparatus, for example, the mouth portion of the toner bottle is electrophotographic. There is a possibility that problems such as toner spilling may occur without completely adhering to the sealing material incorporated in the apparatus.

JP-A-7-20705

  An object of the present invention is to provide a toner bottle that improves the molding accuracy of the toner bottle and solves the above-described practical problems.

  The toner bottle of the present invention is a toner bottle for supplying toner to an electrophotographic apparatus, and a preform having a mouth portion of the final shape of the toner bottle is formed by injection molding. A bottle-shaped main body is formed by biaxial stretch blow molding. In the toner bottle of the present invention, a protruding portion that gradually protrudes toward the axis of the toner bottle is formed in a portion adjacent to the mouth portion of the main body. It is formed at the time of axial stretch blow molding. In the toner bottle of the present invention, a spiral rib projecting inward is formed on the side wall of the main body, and the spiral rib is formed at the time of the biaxial stretch blow molding. It is characterized by that. In the toner bottle of the present invention, the inner diameter of the mouth of the toner bottle is gradually increased toward the tip. In the toner bottle of the present invention, the side wall of the main body of the toner bottle has a thickness of 0.1 to 1 mm. In the toner bottle of the present invention, the preform includes a flange for holding a mold, and a protrusion for identification is provided on the flange. In the toner bottle of the present invention, the toner bottle material contains an antistatic agent. In the toner bottle of the present invention, a rib for transmitting a rotational driving force to the toner bottle is formed on the bottom of the toner bottle. In the toner bottle of the present invention, a rough surface is formed on a part of the surface of the preform. In the toner bottle of the present invention, the rough surface is formed by blasting the preform after the preform is formed and before the biaxial stretch blow molding. It is characterized by being. In the toner bottle of the present invention, the rough surface is formed by a cloth or paper with an abrasive on the preform after the preform is formed and before the biaxial stretch blow molding. It is characterized by being. The toner bottle according to the present invention is characterized in that the rough surface is formed by a portion obtained by applying a texture to a molding surface of a mold for molding the preform. In the toner bottle of the present invention, the protruding portion of the toner bottle is formed by a slide that can be projected and retracted from a molding surface of the biaxial stretch blow mold. In the toner bottle of the present invention, a rib for transmitting a rotational driving force to the toner bottle extends obliquely from the bottom of the toner bottle, and at the time of the biaxial stretch blow molding, the toner It is formed by the bottom type | mold for shape | molding the said rotational driving force transmission rib with the bottom part of a bottle, This bottom type | mold is characterized by releasing while rotating. In the toner bottle of the present invention, a rib for transmitting a rotational driving force to the toner bottle extends obliquely from the bottom of the toner bottle, and at the time of the biaxial stretch blow molding, the toner It is formed by the bottom type | mold for shape | molding the said rotational driving force transmission rib with the bottom part of a bottle, This bottom type | mold is characterized by releasing while rotating. In addition, the electrophotographic apparatus of the present invention is an electrophotographic apparatus using the toner bottle of the present invention, and includes an apparatus for crushing the toner bottle. In the toner bottle of the present invention, the identification protrusion is formed by a telescopic mold that is detachably provided on a mold for molding the preform. In the toner bottle of the present invention, the cap of the mouth portion of the toner bottle is provided with a vent and a filter member provided in the vent. In the mold for forming a toner bottle for supplying toner to an electrophotographic apparatus according to the present invention by biaxial stretch blow molding, a toner bottle partially including the protruding portion is formed. Further, a gas vent hole communicating with the outside is opened in a concave portion provided in the mold. In the biaxial stretch blow molding method for a toner bottle according to the present invention, the toner bottle includes a protruding portion in part, and gas is forcibly forced from a recess provided in the mold for forming the protruding portion. It is characterized by sucking. Moreover, in the preform for molding the toner bottle of the present invention by the biaxial stretch blow molding method, the preform is 1.5 to 3 times in length and width to make the toner bottle as the final product. It is designed to have a draw ratio. In the method of molding the toner bottle of the present invention by the biaxial stretch blow molding method, the preform of the toner bottle includes a plate-like portion and a protrusion protruding from the plate-like portion, and the preform is After heating, before the heated preform is put into the mold for biaxial stretch blow molding, the rotational position of the preform is adjusted by means for engaging with the protrusion. . The toner bottle formed by the biaxial stretch blow molding of the present invention is characterized in that it has a vent hole formed in the wall of the toner bottle, and a filter is provided in the vent hole. Further, in the method for biaxially stretch-blow molding the toner bottle of the present invention, when the preform of the toner bottle is stretched in the mold, a hollow is introduced into the preform from the mouth of the preform. Compressed air is discharged from the opening of the stretch bin through the internal passage of the stretch pin while the stretch pin is inserted and the bottom of the preform is pushed and stretched by the stretch pin.

  According to the present invention, since the mouth portion of the final shape of the toner bottle is formed at the stage of making a preform by injection molding, the accuracy of the mouth portion can be improved, and the main body is biaxially stretch blow molded. Therefore, the thickness of the main body can be reduced. As a result, the amount of material to be used can be reduced, and not only can the inside of the bottle be visually recognized from the outside, but also the toner bottle that has been used, that is, emptied, can be crushed and reduced in volume. According to the present invention, the toner filled in the toner bottle is rotated around the axis of the toner bottle by the protruding portion formed in the portion adjacent to the mouth portion of the toner bottle main body. It is possible to guide smoothly to the part. According to the present invention, the toner filled in the toner bottle can be conveyed to the mouth side by rotation about the axis of the toner bottle by the spiral rib formed on the side wall of the toner bottle main body. . According to the present invention, since the inner diameter of the mouth portion of the toner bottle gradually increases toward the tip, the toner can be smoothly discharged from the toner bottle. According to the present invention, since the side wall of the main body of the toner bottle has a thickness of 0.1 to 1 mm which is thinner than the conventional one, there is an advantage that the amount of material to be used can be reduced. According to the present invention, since the protrusion for identification is provided on the flange for holding the mold, the protrusion can be used for identification when the toner bottle is used, and different types of toner can be used for the electrophotographic apparatus. The toner bottle filled with can be prevented from being set by mistake. According to the present invention, by including an antistatic agent in the material of the toner bottle, the amount of toner adhering to the inner wall surface of the molded toner bottle can be reduced. According to the present invention, the toner bottle can be rotated using the rib formed on the bottom of the toner bottle, and the rigidity of the bottom of the toner bottle can be increased by the rib. According to the present invention, since a rough surface is formed on a part of the surface of the preform, the substantial contact area between the preform and the mold is reduced during biaxial stretch blow molding. As a result, smooth stretching of the preform can be promised, and the temperature can be effectively raised by the heat reflection effect of the unevenness of the surface, making it easy to stretch with a low heat quantity, transferability of the mold surface Can be improved. This rough surface may be formed by blasting the preform, may be formed by cloth or paper with an abrasive, or molding a mold for molding the preform. You may make it form by adding a texturing to a surface. According to the present invention, since the protruding portion of the toner bottle is made by a slide that can be projected and retracted from the molding surface of the blow molding die, it has a special three-dimensional shape that cannot be made by ordinary blow molding. Even the protruding portion can be blow-molded. According to the present invention, the bottom mold for forming the rotational driving force transmission rib together with the bottom portion of the toner bottle is released while being rotated, so that the rib extends obliquely from the bottom of the toner bottle. Even if it is undercut, the bottom mold can be released smoothly. According to the present invention, by incorporating a device for crushing the toner bottle in the electrophotographic apparatus, it is not necessary for the operator to touch the toner bottle at all in order to crush the toner bottle of the present invention. There is an advantage that the operator does not get his hands dirty when processing the toner bottle. According to the present invention, since the identification protrusion is made by a nesting mold that is detachably provided on a mold for molding the preform, a plurality of nesting molds are prepared and selected from these. The nested mold can be mounted on a common mold. Thus, a toner bottle having different identification protrusions can be made while using a common mold for molding the preform. According to the present invention, since the toner bottle cap is provided with the air vent provided with the filter member, when the empty toner bottle is crushed, the toner remaining in the toner bottle blows out to the outside. Can be prevented. According to the present invention, a gas vent hole that communicates with the outside is provided in a concave portion that is provided in a mold for forming a toner bottle partially including a protruding portion by biaxial stretch blow molding. Since the gas is opened, the gas escaped into the recess can be released to the outside through the vent hole at the time of blow molding, so that the stretchability can be prevented from being hindered by the gas accumulated in the recess. According to the present invention, when a toner bottle for supplying toner to an electrophotographic apparatus is partially formed by biaxial stretch blow molding, a mold is provided to mold the protruding portion. Since the gas is forcibly sucked from the formed recess, not only can the stretchability be inhibited by the gas accumulated in the recess, but also the forming accuracy in the recess by helping the extension in the recess. Can be ensured. According to the present invention, a preform for molding a toner bottle for supplying toner to an electrophotographic apparatus by a biaxial stretch blow molding method is used in a vertical and horizontal direction to produce a toner bottle as a final product. Since it is designed to have a stretching ratio of 3 times, the toner bottle can be formed by a stable stretching without any difficulty. According to the present invention, when the toner bottle is formed by the biaxial stretch blow molding method, the rotation position of the preform is positioned using the projection provided on the preform plate-like portion, and then the mold is put into the mold. Therefore, it is not necessary to correct the rotation position of the preform when setting the preform on the mold. According to the present invention, since the vent hole provided with the filter is provided on the wall of the toner bottle, the toner remaining in the toner bottle is prevented from blowing out to the outside when the empty toner bottle is crushed. can do. According to the present invention, when the toner bottle is formed using the biaxial stretch blow molding method, the compressed air is discharged from the opening of the stretch bottle while the bottom of the preform is pushed and stretched by the hollow stretch pin. Even with complicated toner bottles, molding accuracy can be ensured.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described by way of examples. FIG. 2 shows a process for producing a toner bottle according to the present invention by a biaxial stretch blow molding method. Fig.2 (a) shows the process of heating the extending | stretching part of the preform 10 previously produced by injection molding with a heater. The preform 10 includes a mouth portion 10a having a final shape to be provided in the toner bottle, and a flange 10b located on the proximal end side of the mouth portion 10a. This flange 10b is for supporting the preform 10 when biaxial stretch blow molding described later is performed by injecting compressed air into the preform 10.

  In biaxial stretch blow molding, the preform 10 is heated with a heater set in a blow pin (carrier pin) 12, transported to a mold position, closed, and then movable up or down. This is performed by injecting compressed air while pushing up the bottom of the preform 10 with a stretch pin SP that can advance and retract along the axis of the preform 10 through the mouth, that is, while stretching the bottom of the preform 10 ( FIG. 2 (b)). Next, the pair of side mold halves 14 and 15 are opened, and the bottom mold 16 is moved away from the bottom 13 a of the bottle 13 to take out the bottle 13. In this series of steps, settings such as the heater heating temperature, the heater installation position, the pressure of the compressed air injected from the blow pin 12 into the preform 10, and the movement timing of the stretch pin SP are optimal for molding the bottle 13. It can be arbitrarily adjusted to meet the conditions.

  Thus, the toner bottle 13 manufactured by the biaxial stretch blow molding method may have the same basic configuration as the toner bottle disclosed in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-20705). Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the toner bottle 13 has an elongated bottomed cylindrical main body 17, and a short cylindrical mouth portion 18 protruding along the axis is formed on one end surface thereof. In addition, a spiral rib 19 protruding inward is formed on the side wall of the cylindrical main body 17. Further, the side wall of the main body adjacent to the bottle mouth portion 18 is formed in a shape in which approximately half of its circumference gradually protrudes toward the bottle axis, and this protrusion 20 is continuous with the spiral rib 19. In addition, the portion adjacent to the mouth portion 18 is formed in a shape protruding from the inner diameter of the mouth portion 18 toward the bottle axis.

  The toner bottle 13 is placed in an electrophotographic apparatus (not shown) in a horizontal state and is rotated about its axis so that the toner inside the bottle 13 is directed toward the mouth 18 by the spiral rib 19. When it is sent out and approaches the mouth part 18, it moves toward the axis (center side) of the bottle by the projecting part 20, and finally flows down like a slide from the projecting part 20 to the outside from the mouth part 18 It flows out (see FIGS. 5 and 6). 5 and 6 indicate the rotation direction of the bottle 13. 5 and 6 are explanatory views of the operation of the protruding portion 20, and the mouth portion 18 and the like are illustrated in a simplified manner.

  FIG. 7 shows a main part of a modified example of the toner bottle 13, and the shape of the short cylindrical mouth portion 18 is gradually tapered toward the outside as shown in FIG. You may make it the shape. Thereby, the outflow of the toner T from the port 18 to the toner supply port 21 in the electrophotographic apparatus can be smoothly guided. The tapered shape of the mouth portion 18 may be such that only the inner diameter of the mouth portion 18 gradually increases toward the tip.

  The main material of the toner bottle 13 is selected from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP) and the like. Since the toner bottle 13 easily adheres to the inner wall surface of the bottle due to electrostatic force in the usage state, an antistatic agent may be added to the material of the toner bottle 13 to improve this. Preferably, this can reduce the amount of toner remaining in the empty toner bottle 13.

  The toner bottle 13 has a thickness of the main body 17 of 0.1 mm to 1 mm (see FIG. 8A), and the amount of contents can be visually confirmed from the outside by making it thinner than the conventional one. In addition to the advantage that the amount of material to be used can be reduced, there is an advantage that the empty toner bottle 13 can be crushed and reduced in volume. Actually, the toner bottle 13 is made of PET and PP, the main body 17 of the empty toner bottle 13 is sandwiched between both hands, and the bottle main body 17 is compressed in the radial direction. As shown in FIG. It was confirmed that the main body 17 can be crushed in the radial direction.

  As can be understood from FIG. 2 (b), the mold 11 is formed at a portion corresponding to the flange 10 b of the preform 10, more specifically at a portion adjacent to the preform flange 10 b of the pair of side mold halves 14 and 15. The toner bottle 13 includes a base end portion 18a of the mouth portion 18 and a shoulder portion 22 connected to the base end portion 18a. (See FIG. 3).

  Further, in order to make the toner bottle 13 having the protruding portion 20 described above by the biaxial stretch molding method, one side mold half 14 or 15 is provided with a slide 25 that can be projected and retracted from its molding surface. What is necessary (FIG. 9). The movable timing of the slide 25 is preferably set to a timing that does not impair the final shape of the toner bottle body 17 in consideration of the stretching conditions, and a servo motor can be used as a specific driving means.

  Like the protruding portion 20 and the shoulder portion 22, a portion where the preform 10 is in sliding contact with the molding surface of the mold 11 at the time of biaxial stretching molding, for example, the corresponding portion of the preform 10 (reference symbol R in FIG. 4). The surface of the shaded area) should be a rough surface with fine irregularities, that is, a rough surface. As a result, the substantial contact area between the preform 10 and the mold 11 can be reduced, and smooth stretching of the preform 10 can be promised, and the temperature can be effectively reflected by the heat reflection effect due to the unevenness of the surface. And can be easily stretched with a low heat quantity.

  In order to make a part of the surface of the preform 10 rough, for example, the preform 10 may be blasted to form the rough surface R before biaxial stretching, or with an abrasive. The rough surface R may be formed by rubbing with a cloth or paper. Alternatively, the roughened surface R may be formed at the time of molding the preform 10 by subjecting a corresponding portion of the injection mold for forming the preform 10 to a texture.

  Further, as can be understood from FIGS. 3 and 10, a driving force transmitting rib 26 extending in the diameter direction may be formed on the bottom 13 a of the toner bottle 13. Similar to the toner bottle disclosed in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-20705), the front end portion of the toner bottle 13 is supported by the bottle holder and installed in the electrophotographic apparatus. The toner bottle 13 may be driven to rotate around its axis by being supported by a rotating bracket that rotates through a gear train connected to the gear train, but instead of or in addition to this, The electrophotographic apparatus may be provided with driving means that engages with the ribs 26 on the bottom 13a of the toner bottle and rotates the toner bottle 13 about its axis. The driving force transmission rib 26 has a secondary effect that the rigidity of the bottom 13a of the toner bottle 13 can be improved.

  As shown in FIG. 10, it is effective that the ribs 26 serving as the driving force transmitting means extend obliquely from the bottom 13 a of the toner bottle 13. In order to form the rib 26 vertically or inclined from the bottom 13 a of the toner bottle 13, a concave portion corresponding to the rib 26 may be formed on the molding surface of the bottom mold 16. The cut part 26a (see FIG. 10B) makes it impossible to release the mold. In order to perform this mold release without any problem, the bottom mold 16 may be moved away from the bottle bottom 13a while rotating.

  As described above, the flange 10b of the preform 10 has a function of fixing the preform 10 to the mold 11 at the time of biaxial stretch blow molding, that is, a mold latching function. As shown in FIG. 11, the protrusion 27 may be formed. In order to make the projection 27 function as an index representing the contents of the toner bottle 13, different identification projections 27 may be formed according to the contents. Specifically, for example, the arrangement positions of the projections 27 are made different. Alternatively, the length may be varied. In order to realize this, a core mold 31 included in the mold 30 of the preform 10 is provided with a detachable mold 32 for making the protrusions 27 so as to be detachable. It is preferable to prepare a plurality of nested types with different shapes or arrangement positions. Thereby, there exists an advantage that the main part of the core side type | mold 31 can be made shared. The identification protrusion 27 thus formed makes it possible to prevent the toner bottle 13 containing an inappropriate toner from being erroneously set in the electrophotographic apparatus.

  FIG. 14 and FIG. 15 illustrate an instrument for crushing an empty toner bottle 13. The bottle crusher 40 has a pair of side plates 41 that are spaced apart from each other. At three corners of the side plate 41, a guide pin 42 and a spring 43 installed around the guide pin 42 are provided. The spring 43 biases the pair of side plates 41 away from each other. The bottle crusher 40 is preferably provided with a handle 44 on each of the pair of side plates 41, and the operator holds the pair of handles 44 with both hands and applies a force in a direction to bring the pair of side plates 41 closer to each other. Can do. Before performing this operation, the empty bottle 13 can be crushed in the radial direction by placing the empty bottle 13 in a space between the pair of side plates 41. Since the bottle is not touched, the remaining toner does not stain the hand. By attaching a device having a drive source to the bottle crusher 40 in the bottle installation space of the electrophotographic apparatus, the bottle crusher automatically crushes the bottle 13 when the toner bottle 13 becomes empty. Can be reduced. As described above, the toner bottle 13 is crushed in the radial direction, but the toner bottle 13 may be crushed in the vertical direction.

  A cap 50 shown in FIGS. 12 and 16 is attached to the mouth 18 of the toner bottle 13 filled with toner. The cap 50 includes a vent 51, and the vent 51 is provided with an open-cell sponge 52 as a filter member. The open-cell sponge 52 allows air to flow into and out of the toner bottle 13. The toner has a function of preventing the movement of the toner. By providing the cap 50 with the vent 51 and the open-cell sponge 52, it is possible to prevent the toner remaining in the toner bottle from blowing out to the outside when the empty toner bottle is crushed. As shown in FIG. 13, the cap 50 may have a concave shape toward the outside, and the air holes 51 of the cap 50 may be replaced with the sponge 52 instead of the sponge 52 described above. You may make it stick the nonwoven fabric seal 54 from which the same effect is obtained.

  As described above, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-20705) discloses that a newly set toner bottle cap member is removed by a collet chuck built in an electrophotographic apparatus, and when the toner bottle is empty. The collet chuck teaches that the cap member is pushed into the toner bottle to cover the cap, but if this teaching is followed, as a modified example of the cap 50 described above, as shown in FIG. A protrusion 53 may be provided and the protrusion 53 may be gripped by a collect chuck.

  18 and subsequent drawings show other embodiments of the present invention. When the toner bottle is formed by the biaxial stretch blow molding method, for example, as shown in FIG. 18, when the toner bottle 13 includes a protruding portion 60 on a part thereof from a design or functional viewpoint. It is practically difficult to maintain the molding accuracy of the protruding portion 60. That is, as shown in FIG. 19, in the recess 61 provided in the mold 11 for forming the protruding portion 60 of the toner bottle 13, gas accumulates when the toner bottle 13 is molded, and the presence of this gas As a result, it is not possible to sufficiently extend into the recess 61, and as a result, there is a problem that the molding accuracy of the protruding portion 60 is impaired.

  FIGS. 18 and 20 show a mold that can solve the above-described problem. With reference to FIGS. 18 and 20, a biaxial stretch blow molding method that can solve the above-described problem. And the metal mold | die used for this is demonstrated. As shown in the figure, the mold 11 includes a gas vent hole 62 communicating with the cavity and the outside, and the gas vent hole 62 opens at the bottom 61 a of the recess 61 of the mold 11. It is preferable to insert a hard porous material 63 made of, for example, a sintered material into the gas vent hole 62, and the hard porous material 63 allows the mold surface of the recess 61 of the mold 11, that is, one of the cavity surfaces. The part should be made substantially.

  By using the mold 11 shown in FIGS. 18 and 20, the gas escaped into the recess 61 during blow molding is released to the outside through the gas vent hole 62 in the course of the biaxial stretch blow molding process. Become. Therefore, since the toner bottle 13 can be sufficiently inserted into the concave portion 61 of the mold 11 and stretched at the stage where the toner bottle 13 is molded, the mold transferability of the protruding portion 60 partially provided in the toner bottle 13 is achieved. Can be improved. The gas vent hole 62 may be opened at an arbitrary position of the bottom of the recess 61 and a portion adjacent thereto, that is, the bottom portion of the recess 61.

  If the gas venting through the gas vent hole 62 or the stretchability to the inside of the concave portion 61 is not sufficient, and if it is desired to ensure the stretchability to the inside of the concave portion 61, it is clearly shown in FIG. As described above, the gas may be forcibly vented from the outside through the gas vent hole 62 using, for example, a suction pump. In FIG. 18, reference numeral 64 is an O-ring for sealing. As described above, by providing the gas vent hole 62 of the mold 11, even if the toner bottle 13 is designed to have the protruding portion 60 having a small cross-sectional area and a relatively large height, for example, Molding accuracy can be ensured. As described above, this effect can be further ensured by forced suction through the gas vent hole 62.

  Further, the general shape of the toner bottle 13 has a relatively large height compared to the diameter of the bottle. In the case of blow molding such a toner bottle 13, in order to make the toner bottle 13 excellent in mold transferability by appropriately stretching the preform 10 as a whole, as shown in FIG. It is preferable to design so that the vertical and horizontal stretch ratios of the sheet are suppressed to 1.5 to 3 times. That is, as shown in FIG. 21, when the diameter of the preform 10 is represented by C and the diameter of the toner bottle 13 is represented by D, 1.5C ≦ D ≦ 3.0. The dimensions of the preform 10 for the desired toner bottle 13 are set so that 1.5A ≦ B ≦ 3.0A when the height of 10 is represented by A and the height of the toner bottle 13 is represented by B. It is preferable to do this. In FIG. 21, the height A of the preform 10 and the height of the toner bottle 13 are represented by the height from the flange 10b to the bottom, but this is substantially the total height of the preform 10 and the toner bottle 13. Needless to say, it represents.

  In general biaxial stretch blow molding, first, the preform is heated while rotating, and when the heating is completed, the preform is stopped at an arbitrary rotational position and set in a mold. When the projection 27 is provided on a plate-like portion such as the flange 10b as in the toner bottle 13, the positioning of the projection 27 with respect to the mold is necessary.

  In order to solve such a problem, the preform 10 is heated in a state where it is set on the blow pin (carrier pin) 12, and when this heating is completed, the pusher 68 which can be moved forward and backward by a driving means 67 such as a cylinder is used. It is preferable that the tip end is engaged with the protrusion 27 and the protrusion 27 is pressed to define the rotational position of the preform 10 and then put into the mold 11. This eliminates the need to correct the orientation (rotation position) of the preform 10 when the preform 10 is placed in the mold 11 and closed. When the rotational position of the preform 10 is adjusted by the pusher 68, the carrier pin 12 is released from a drive source (not shown) for rotationally driving the carrier pin 12 so that the carrier pin 12 is rotatable. It is good to keep.

  As illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13, when the empty toner bottle 13 is crushed and reduced in volume, the modified example of the means for preventing the toner remaining in the toner bottle 13 from blowing out to the outside. Is shown in FIGS. In these drawings, the lower portion of the side wall of the toner bottle 13 has a vent hole 70 formed by punching, and the vent hole 70 is attached with, for example, a non-woven fabric seal 72 via an adhesive 71. . The nonwoven fabric seal 72 is preferably attached with a peelable seal on its outer surface. When the toner bottle 13 is emptied, the toner remaining in the toner bottle 13 can be prevented from being blown out when the toner bottle 13 is crushed after the peeling seal is removed. Such a vent 70 may be provided in any part of the wall constituting the toner bottle 13, and for example, the vent 70 may be provided in the bottom 13a.

  In the blow molding described with reference to FIG. 2 or FIG. 18, if necessary, the bottom portion of the toner bottle 13 is reliably stretched to improve the mold transfer property of the bottom portion. As shown in FIG. 25, the stretch pin SP is constituted by a hollow rod whose front end surface is closed, and the hollow stretch bin SP has a front end portion and / or a middle portion thereof, preferably at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. Alternatively, a plurality of air discharge ports, that is, openings 75 may be provided apart from each other in the axial direction, and compressed air may be discharged from the openings 75. That is, when blow-molding, compressed air may be blown out from the opening 75 at the tip portion through the internal passage 76 of the stretch pin SP. Thereby, even if the bottom part of the toner bottle 13 is molded or the toner bottle 13 has a complicated shape, the molding accuracy can be ensured.

It is a conventional manufacturing process diagram of a toner bottle. It is a molding process figure of the toner bottle according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a side view of a part of a toner bottle according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a preform used for manufacturing a toner bottle according to an embodiment of the present invention. 4A and 4B are operation explanatory views of a protruding portion provided in the toner bottle of the embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 5A is a front view of the toner bottle, and FIG. FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams for explaining the operation of the protruding portion of the toner bottle according to the embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 5A is a front view of the toner bottle, and FIG. 5B is a side view of the toner bottle. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the main part of the toner bottle showing a modification of the mouth of the toner bottle according to the embodiment of the present invention. (A) shows a side view of the toner bottle according to the present invention, and (b) shows a state after the toner bottle main body is crushed. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the action of a slide type for making a protruding portion provided in the toner bottle of the embodiment of the present invention. 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating a rib as a bottle driving force transmission unit included in the toner bottle according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 4A is a front view of the bottom of the toner bottle, and FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the shaping | molding die of a preform. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a cap attached to a mouth portion of a toner bottle according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is the principal part sectional drawing same as FIG. 12 which shows the example which stuck the nonwoven fabric seal to this cap while illustrating the modification of the cap shown in FIG. It is a perspective view of the instrument for crushing the toner bottle of the present invention. FIG. 15 is a side view of the empty toner bottle crusher of FIG. 14. It is a perspective view of the cap shown in FIG. It is a perspective view of the modification of the cap of FIG.12 and FIG.16. It is a figure for demonstrating the metal mold | die used for the biaxial blow molding of the toner bottle according to this invention, and the shaping | molding method using the same. FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram for pointing out a problem for molding a toner bottle having a partial protruding portion as shown in FIG. 18. It is a principal part enlarged view of the metal mold | die shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the dimension setting of a preferable preform for shape | molding a toner bottle by a biaxial stretch blow molding method. It is a figure for demonstrating the adjustment method of the rotation position of the preform performed before setting the preform containing a plate-shaped part to a metal mold | die. It is a schematic perspective view of a toner bottle provided with an opening provided with a filter in a wall portion. FIG. 24 is a longitudinal sectional view of the toner bottle in FIG. 23. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the example which discharges compressed air from the internal channel | path of this stretch pin using the hollow stretch pin inserted in preform, when carrying out biaxial stretch blow molding of the preform.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Preform for making toner bottle Toner bottle mouth part 10b Toner bottle flange 11 Toner bottle mold 13 Toner bottle 13a Toner bottle bottom 17 Toner bottle body 18 Toner bottle mouth 19 Spiral rib 20 Outlet portion 26 Rib 27 formed on the bottom of the toner bottle 27 Identification projection 30 Preform mold 32 Nesting mold 40 Bottle crusher 50 Toner bottle cap 51 Cap vent 52 Open-cell sponge 60 Toner bottle protrusion 61 Gold Mold recess 62 Gas vent hole 63 opened in mold recess Porous hard material 68 provided in gas vent hole 70 Pusher 70 Vent hole provided in toner bottle wall 72 Non-woven fabric seal provided in vent hole R Preform roughness Rough surface (rough surface)
SP stretch pin

Claims (1)

A method of forming a toner bottle for supplying toner to an electrophotographic apparatus by a biaxial stretch blow molding method,
The toner bottle (13) is rotated around its axis so that the toner inside the bottle (13) is sent out toward the mouth (18).
The toner bottle preform (10) includes a plate-like portion (10b), a shall and a projection (27) projecting from said plate portion, after heating the preform (10), forward and backward The tip of the movable pusher (68) is engaged with the projection, and the projection position of the preform is matched with the fitting portion (32) of the die (11) for biaxial stretch blow molding. (11), and after forming a toner bottle having a rib (26) inclined and extending from the bottom of the toner bottle, the toner bottle is rotated by the protrusion (27) while being rotated from the mold (11). A biaxial stretch blow molding method for a toner bottle, wherein the toner bottle is released.

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