Electrophotography – Having particular structure – Modular or displaceable
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-30
2001-05-01
Chen, Sophia S. (Department: 2852)
Electrophotography
Having particular structure
Modular or displaceable
Reexamination Certificate
active
06226477
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toner cartridge that can be used for an electrophotographic recording apparatus such as a facsimile apparatus, printer and copier.
2. Description of the Related Art
A recording apparatus equipped with a toner cartridge is known. A typical toner cartridge comprises a photosensitive drum, charger that uniformly charges the surface of the photosensitive drum, toner hopper that contains toner, magnet roller that provides toner for the surface of the photosensitive drum and waste toner unit that removes and collects the toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum.
Recently, a toner cartridge is required to have a structure easy to be taken apart for refilling. To meet this requirement, the toner cartridge may be composed of two separable parts. Such a toner cartridge can be taken apart into a part including the toner hopper and the other including the waste toner unit. The photosensitive drum and magnet roller are placed in either the part including the toner hopper or the other including the waste toner unit.
There is no problem if the photosensitive drum and magnet roller belong to the same part. However, a problem arises when the photosensitive drum and magnet roller belong to different parts. This is because both sections in this structure become easily separable from each other. Since the photosensitive drum should maintain a certain distance from the magnet roller, the recording performance deteriorates if the distance between the photosensitive drum and the magnet roller is not constant.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been implemented taking the problem above into account and it is an objective of the present invention to provide a toner cartridge that can maintain the distance between the photosensitive drum and magnet roller constant and achieve high recording performance while having a structure easy to be taken apart.
In order to solve the conventional problem described above, the present invention provides a coupling section comprising a first support section that supports the axis of the photosensitive drum and a second support section that supports the axis of the magnet roller and mounts this coupling section in such a way that the first support section supports the axis of the photosensitive drum provided in the first part and the second support section supports the axis of the magnet roller provided in the second part, thus providing a configuration to maintain a predetermined distance between the axis of the photosensitive drum and the axis of the magnet roller.
Since the coupling section can maintain a predetermined distance between the axis of the photosensitive drum and the axis of the magnet roller, the distance between the photosensitive drum and the magnet roller never changes during a recording operation and it is always possible to maintain optimal recording. Moreover, the present invention eliminates the need to design so that both sections come closer to each other according to the load on the gear, thus simplifying the gear configuration of the recording apparatus, which will reduce the size of the recording apparatus.
A first embodiment of the present invention is a toner cartridge comprising a first part containing a photosensitive drum that retains an electrostatic latent image to be developed on the surface and a second part containing a magnet roller that supplies toner in the toner hopper to the photosensitive drum and develops the electrostatic latent image, further comprising a coupling section made up a first support section that supports the axis of the photosensitive drum and a second support section that supports the axis of the magnet roller, and mounting this coupling section in such a way that the first support section supports the axis of the photosensitive drum and the second support section supports the axis of the magnet roller, thus maintaining a predetermined distance between the axis of the photosensitive drum and the axis of the magnet roller.
Since the coupling section can maintain a predetermined distance between the axis of the photosensitive drum and the axis of the magnet roller, the distance between the photosensitive drum and the magnet roller can always be kept constant even if the photosensitive drum and magnet roller are placed in different parts, preventing the recording performance from deteriorating.
Another embodiment of the present invention couples the first part containing the photosensitive drum above and the second part containing the magnet roller in a pivotable manner centered on a fulcrum at a position apart from the axial lines of the photosensitive drum and magnet roller and maintains a predetermined distance between the photosensitive drum and magnet roller by means of the coupling section.
If the first part and second part are coupled in a pivotable manner in this way, the photosensitive drum and magnet roller can come closer to each other up to a predetermined distance by rotating the first and second parts, and the first part and second part can be coupled by coupling the axis of the photosensitive drum and the axis of the magnet roller in this position by means of the coupling section, thus allowing the toner cartridge to be assembled easily.
Another embodiment of the present invention has a configuration with the first support section of the coupling section held in a through hole formed in a side plate of the first part in a pivotable manner and the second support section that can be engaged with the axis of the magnet roller by rotating the coupling section with the first support section inserted and kept in the through hole.
This configuration allows the coupling section to be attached to the side plate by inserting the first support section into the through hole of the side plate of the first part, then allows the second support section to be engaged with the axis of the magnet roller and held by making the first support section support the photosensitive drum and by making the magnet roller come closer to the photosensitive drum up to a predetermined distance and then rotating the coupling section, thus making easier an assembly operation to couple the two separated parts.
Another embodiment of the present invention has such a configuration allowing the first support section of the coupling section to be inserted into the through hole formed in the side plate of the first part from the outer surface of the side plate at a predetermined rotation angle and preventing the first support section from coming off by rotating the coupling section a little further from the position, and allowing the second support section to be engaged with the axis of the magnet roller by rotating the coupling section with the first support section inserted in the through hole, and further providing a provisional stopper mechanism for the first part and the coupling section to temporarily prevent the rotation of the coupling section that is rotating in the direction to engage with the magnet roller.
This configuration allows the toner cartridge to be assembled by mounting the coupling section by inserting its first support section into the through hole in the side plate of the first part and making the first support section support the photosensitive drum, then rotating this coupling section up to a position where the rotation of the coupling section is regulated by the provisional stopper section, which prevents the first support section from coming off from the side plate and further prevents the coupling section and the photosensitive drum supported thereby from coming off from the first part, thus making it easy to handle the first part. Then, it is possible to engage the second support section with the axis of the magnet roller and easily perform an assembly operation coupling the two separated parts by incorporating the second part with predetermined parts assembled in the first part, making the magnet roller come closer to the photosensitive drum up to a predetermined distance and then rotati
Kurosawa Eiji
Naito Takashi
Yawata Katsumi
Chen Sophia S.
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
Matsushita Graphic Communications Systems Inc.
Tran Hoan
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