Electrophotography – Internal machine environment – Particle or contaminant control
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-20
2002-11-19
Grainger, Quana M. (Department: 2852)
Electrophotography
Internal machine environment
Particle or contaminant control
C399S102000, C399S105000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06484000
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sealing member for sealing an opening of a container, and a container having the opening sealed with the sealing member, the container having a hole for taking out the sealing member when the sealing member is unsealed.
2. Discussion of the Background Art
A sealing member for sealing an opening of a container is well known. For example, a sealing member has been used on a toner container, toner hopper, and the like, and incorporated to a machine such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, a printer, and the like, which is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 4-136961/1992 (hereinafter referred to as background art 1), Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-80653/1993 (background art 2), Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-197287/1993 (background art 3), Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-204246/1993 (background art 4), and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 7-121019 (background art 5).
The sealing member disclosed in the aforementioned background arts 3 and 4 is mounted so that the sealing member seals the opening from one end towards another end, and from one end to approximately a middle part of the sealing member having an adhesive portion, and a rest of the sealing member which exceeds the length of the opening in a longitudinal direction is folded back to the side of the first end of the sealing member, and a folding portion at a side end of the opening is used as a knob portion for operation (a leader for pinching the sealing member). That is, the opening is constructed so that the sealing member can be removed from the opening by pulling out the sealing member and pinching the knob portion thereof, when the sealing member is unsealed.
An example of such a sealing member is shown in FIG.
31
. Referring to
FIG. 31
, edge portions of four sides of a pulling-out seal
104
as a sealing member are adhered to a seal adhering-face
103
of a toner-supplying outlet
102
formed on a toner case
101
as a toner container supplying toner to a developing device (not shown). Thereby, the toner-supplying outlet
102
is sealed. When the seal of the toner-supplying outlet
102
is unsealed, an operator pulls out the pulling-out seal
104
in a direction indicated by a white arrow shown in
FIG. 31
, pinching the knob-end
104
a
thereof. Thereby, the pulling-out seal
104
is peeled off from the seal adhering-face
103
on the backside of the toner case
101
, and the seal of the toner-supplying outlet
102
is unsealed.
However, a sealing face of the sealing member
104
which faces the contents (for example, a developer such as toner) inside the toner case
101
is externally exposed when the sealing member
104
is unsealed by being peeled off, and at a time of throwing away the sealing member. As a result, toner taken off from the opening (toner-supplying outlet
102
) of the toner case
101
in this kind of sealing member
104
has a strong possibility of dirtying an operator's hands, clothing, and the like, with contents (for example, toner, or the like developer) which are stuck to the sealing-face of sealing member
104
.
In contrast, a sealing member can be constructed to be made of a sheet-like shape having an opening at a part which can be wound so that open/close operations of the sealing member are automatically performed by moving the sealing member to the opening of the toner container. Such a device for winding a sealing member is disclosed in the aforementioned background art 1, and in this disclosed construction the toner-supplying outlet
102
of the toner hopper is sealed with an end of the sealing member, and another end of the sealing member is fixed at an agitation member in the toner hopper. Further, a sealing member is wound with a rotation of the agitation member in the aforementioned background art 2. Since in this art the open/close operations of the sealing member are automatically performed, and the sealing member can be easily wound at a side of the container after an unsealing operation is performed, there is less possibility that the operator's hand and clothing is dirtied with the contents (for example, a developer such as toner) stuck to the opening sealing-face of the sealing member.
However, these background arts 1 and 2 have a complicated construction and the mounting method of the sealing member is not easy, and manufacturing costs may be increased accordingly.
Furthermore, the background art 5 is another art relevant to a sealing method for sealing an opening of a toner container with a sealing member. This art discloses a device such that when an opening of a toner container is sealed, an elastic element sheet is detachably mounted at an end of a longitudinal direction of an inserting member, and the elastic element sheet is led to a position for sealing the opening by penetrating the inserting member through a gap between the toner container and a developing device frame. Subsequently, the opening of the toner container is sealed as if the elastic element sheet is detached from the inserting member. However, since this operation procedure is complicated and the operation includes many steps, this method is not considered practical.
On the other hand, in a cartridge as a container, such as a toner cartridge or a process cartridge, having a construction in which an opening of a developer containing section for containing toner or the like developer as contents is sealed with the aforementioned sealing member, a seal taking-out hole for taking out the sealing member when the sealing member is unsealed is formed on the side of the cartridge housing. A maximum size of the seal taking-out hole formed on the side portion of the cartridge housing has been hitherto formed larger than a width of the sealing section that is rectangular to the opening direction of the sealing member so that the aforementioned sealing member can be pulled out with relative ease. However, the seal taking-out hole formed on the side portion of the container, such as the cartridge, is in a state of being connected to the containing section in an opening state of the opening of the containing section for the contents such as the developer after the sealing member is unsealed.
Accordingly, there is a problem that if the seal taking-out hole is kept open, contents contained in the containing section flow out through the seal taking-out hole formed on the side portion of the container in this kind of hitherto provided container. Therefore, in this kind of hitherto provided container, the seal taking-out hole is sealed with the taking-out hole sealing member for preventing the flowing out of the contents from the seal taking-out hole of the container after the opening of the container is opened by pulling out the sealing member via the seal taking-out hole. However, if a size of the seal taking-out hole of the container is large, a pressure of the contents contained in the container forced to flow out from the seal taking-out hole becomes high, and accordingly, there is a problem in which a sealing performance of the taking-out hole sealing member that seals the seal taking-out hole deteriorates.
Further, in a case that a shape and a size of the opening of the container are different, the shape and the size of the seal taking-out member for sealing the opening are different, and the shape and the size of the seal taking-out hole individually is in a different shape and size corresponding to the shape and the size of the sealing member. Accordingly, in hitherto used containers, the taking-out hole sealing members having individually a different shape and size are required to be prepared corresponding to the shape and the size of the seal taking-out holes, and therefore, there has been a problem that selection of the sealing member for the taking-out hole becomes complicated.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is made in light of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a
Ogawa Moriaki
Okamoto Keiji
Grainger Quana M.
Ricoh & Company, Ltd.
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