JPH11143201A - Toner cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] To provide a toner cartridge capable of manually stirring toner without removing it from a main body when a toner shortage warning is issued, thereby reducing a burden on a user. The toner cartridge includes toner therein and is configured to be detachable from the main body of the electrophotographic apparatus, and further includes a detecting unit for detecting a decrease in toner and a warning unit for warning a decrease in toner. A stirring means (manual knob 110 and stirring rod 111) for stirring the toner manually is provided. According to the present invention, when a warning of toner shortage is issued by the warning unit, the toner in the toner cartridge 101 can be manually stirred without removing the toner cartridge 101 from the main body of the electrophotographic apparatus. Can be reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toner cartridge which can be attached to and detached from a main body of an electrophotographic apparatus such as a facsimile machine, a copying machine, a printer and the like using a powdery toner as a developer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electrophotographic apparatus such as a facsimile apparatus, a copying machine, and a printer using a laser writing system in a recording section uses plain paper as recording paper. It has the advantage that it can be added and stamped, and that it is resistant to discoloration and fading and has high storage properties.

In such an electrophotographic apparatus, a powdery toner is used as a developer, and the toner is consumed as the recording output of image information is repeated, and when the remaining amount of the toner becomes small, a new toner is used. Replenishing the toner.
Generally, toner is replenished by replacing a component called a toner cartridge or the like, and a used toner cartridge having a low remaining toner amount is filled with a new toner. By replacing the toner cartridge with a new toner cartridge, the replenishment of the toner is completed.

[0004] However, since the toner is powdery, the toner is biased in the toner cartridge, and even if a printed image is deteriorated, the toner cartridge may still have an amount of toner capable of printing a plurality of sheets.

Therefore, a stirring rod is provided in the toner cartridge to stir the toner inside and to make the printed image uniform.

[0006]

However, when an electrophotographic apparatus is actually used, the stirring of the toner is insufficient with only the stirring rod, and the shortage of the toner is detected and a warning of the shortage of the toner is issued. However, a sufficient amount of toner that can be printed on a plurality of sheets remains in the toner cartridge. When the toner shortage is detected and a toner shortage warning is issued, the user removes the toner cartridge from the electrophotographic apparatus main body and shakes the toner cartridge to stir the toner. This operation is performed more frequently as the amount of toner decreases, and the burden on the user increases. Further, in a large-sized electrophotographic apparatus, the toner cartridge also becomes large, and it takes a lot of labor to remove the toner cartridge from the main body each time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to stir toner manually without removing it from the main body when a toner shortage warning is issued. An object of the present invention is to provide a toner cartridge that can reduce a load.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus, wherein toner is housed therein and is detachably mountable to an electrophotographic apparatus main body. In a toner cartridge provided with a detecting means for detecting and a warning means for warning of a decrease in toner, a stirring means for manually stirring the toner is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the agitating means manually agitates the toner in a horizontal direction.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the agitating means manually agitates the toner in the vertical rotation direction.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the stirring means is connected to the reciprocating manual knob and the agitating means reciprocating in the horizontal direction together with the manual knob. It is characterized by comprising a rod.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first or third aspect of the invention, the stirring means is constituted by a rotating manual dial and a stirring rod which rotates vertically with the manual dial. Features.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the toner in the toner cartridge can be manually stirred without removing the toner cartridge from the main body of the electrophotographic apparatus when the warning means issues a warning of insufficient toner.
The burden on the user can be reduced.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a schematic structural view of a toner cartridge 101 according to the present invention.
02 is a photosensitive drum, 103 is a primary charger, 104 is a developing cylinder, 105 is a cleaner blade, 106 is a stirring rod, 107 is a toner detection sensor, and 108 is a toner room.

The photosensitive drum 102 is connected to the primary charger 1
03, the surface is uniformly charged, and an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface by exposure to a laser beam. And
The toner in the toner room 108 is charged by the developing cylinder 104, the toner adheres to the surface of the photosensitive drum 102, and the electrostatic latent image is developed to be visualized as a toner image.

Thereafter, the toner image is transferred to a transfer material, and the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 102 is removed by the cleaner blade 1.
05. Note that, since the toner is in a powder form, the stirring rod 10 is
6 stirs the toner. In addition, the output of the toner detection sensor 107 is checked, and if the output becomes equal to or less than a predetermined value, it is determined that the toner is insufficient and a warning is issued.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram including the toner cartridge 101 and a part of the main body.

As shown in FIG. 2, the toner cartridge 1
01 includes a toner detection sensor 107, and an output signal 203 of the toner detection sensor 107 is sent to a DC controller 206 by a toner remaining amount detection signal 205 via a high voltage unit 204. Then, the DC controller 206
Is performed, a warning is displayed on the display panel 208 by the signal line 207 when the toner is insufficient.

Here, a determination routine for issuing a toner shortage warning will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.

The toner remaining amount detection signal 205 transmitted from the high voltage unit 204 to the DC controller 206 is A / D converted and fetched as a variable X (step 501), and the variable X is compared with a preset specified value (step 501). 502). As a result, if the variable X is less than the specified value, a toner shortage warning is issued (step 503).

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the toner cartridge 101 is provided with a manual knob 110 which slides along a sliding groove 109 formed in the longitudinal direction. A stirring rod 111 newly added is attached to the manual knob 110.

By holding the manual knob 110 by hand and moving it left and right along the sliding groove 109, the stirring rod 111 attached to the manual knob 110 moves left and right in the toner room 108. Toner room 108
Stir the toner inside.

Here, the position where the manual knob 110 is provided depends on the position of the toner cartridge 10 in the electrophotographic apparatus.
When the door is opened when replacing the toner cartridge 1, the toner cartridge 101 is set within the range of the toner cartridge 101 visible to the user. This allows the user to use the toner cartridge 1
The user can operate the manual knob 110 to stir the toner without detaching the 01 from the main body of the electrophotographic apparatus without removing it from the main body of the electrophotographic apparatus. .

Note that the shape of the stirring rod 111 is not limited to a circle, but a shape that can efficiently stir the toner according to the shape of the toner room 108.

<Second Embodiment> A second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a toner cartridge according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.
In this drawing, the same elements as those shown in FIG. 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted below.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 112 denotes the toner room 10
8 is a rectangular wave-shaped stirring rod newly added to the inside of the apparatus 8, and a gear 113 is attached to an end of the stirring rod. And
A manual dial 114 meshes with the gear 113, and a part of the manual dial 114 is exposed on the surface of the toner cartridge 101.

When a warning of toner shortage is issued, the user rotates the manual dial 114 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Then, the rotation of the dial 114 is shifted to the gear 1
The toner is transmitted to the stirring bar 112 via the shaft 13 and rotates in the vertical direction, so that the toner in the toner room 108 is stirred by the stirring bar 112.

Here, the position where the manual dial 114 is provided is the position of the toner cartridge 1 in the electrophotographic apparatus.
When the door is opened when replacing the toner cartridge 01, the toner cartridge 101 is set within the range of the toner cartridge 101 which is visible to the user. This allows the user to use the toner cartridge 1
The user can operate the manual dial 114 to stir the toner without detaching the 01 from the main body of the electrophotographic apparatus without removing it from the main body of the electrophotographic apparatus. .

The shape of the stirring bar 114 is not limited to the waveform, but is set to a shape that can efficiently stir the toner according to the shape of the toner room 108.

[0031]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, when a warning of toner shortage is issued by the warning means, the toner cartridge is manually removed without removing the toner cartridge from the main body of the electrophotographic apparatus. Can be agitated, and the burden on the user can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a toner cartridge according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram including the toner cartridge and a part of a main body according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a determination routine for issuing a toner shortage warning.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the toner cartridge according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a toner cartridge according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 101 Toner cartridge 107 Toner detection sensor (detection means) 110 Manual knob (stirring means) 111, 112 Stirring rod (stirring means) 114 Manual dial (stirring means)

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A toner cartridge containing a toner therein and configured to be detachable from an electrophotographic apparatus main body, and having a detection unit for detecting a decrease in toner and a warning unit for warning a decrease in toner. A toner cartridge, further comprising a stirring means for stirring the toner manually. 2. The toner cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the agitating means manually agitates the toner in a horizontal direction. 3. The toner cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the stirring unit manually stirs the toner in the vertical rotation direction. 4. The stirrer according to claim 1, wherein the stirrer comprises a reciprocating manual knob and a stir bar connected to the manual knob and reciprocating in the horizontal direction together therewith. The toner cartridge as described in the above. 5. A toner cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said stirring means comprises a rotating manual dial and a stirring rod which rotates in a vertical direction together with said manual dial.