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Medium Filling Device And Method

a filling device and medium technology, applied in liquid transfer devices, instruments, electrographic processes, etc., can solve the problems of heavy burden on suppliers, large device size, and inability to supply toner refill products in some areas, and achieve low cost, simple structure, and convenient filling a target

Inactive Publication Date: 2013-09-26
YOSHIDA RYUJI +3
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The objective of this patent is to create a device and method to easily and inexpensively fill a target with an image creating medium. The purpose of this invention is to offer an efficient, simple and cost-effective solution for filling a target with any image forming medium.

Problems solved by technology

However, in emerging countries there are few suppliers offering refilled products and the transportation infrastructure has not been well developed, so that toner refill products are not available in some areas.
However, the above-mentioned filling devices are suitable to fill a larger number of toner containers (or powder containers) with toners in well-equipped working facilities such as a plant, but the devices are so large in scale that the costs required for initial investment are heavy burden on suppliers.
Accordingly, the users of image forming devices have to be charged higher filling costs.
In addition, due to an adequate transportation infrastructure, filling work at facilities such as a plant costs more in some areas, further increasing filling costs.
Moreover, the suppliers faces a problem that using a productive large-lot toner filling device is not good for filling a variety of small-lot toner containers and decreases productivity because a large amount of man-hours are required to switch toner types or powder types.
Another problem is that a large-scale device requires enormous amounts of electricity for operation, which also increases the filling costs.

Method used

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  • Medium Filling Device And Method
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  • Medium Filling Device And Method

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

first embodiment

[0044]FIGS. 1A, 1B are schematic cross sectional view showing the configuration of a toner filling device according to a first embodiment when a container of the toner filling device is inverted and when the container of the toner filling device is erected, respectively.

[0045]A container body 11 is comprised of a main portion 11A as a bottomed cylinder and a cone portion 11B above the main portion 11A. The container body 11 is held at two locations on its sides by stainless legs 12. Specifically, supporting shafts 13, 14 are fixed to the sides of the main portion 11A of the container body 11, and one end 12A of the legs 12 is rotatably attached to the supporting shaft 13 while the other end 12B of the legs 12 is rotatably attached to the supporting shaft 14.

[0046]In addition to the legs 12, stainless legs 15 (see FIG. 13 and FIG. 14) are also attached to the supporting shafts 13, 14. Likewise, one end 15A of the legs 15 is rotatably attached to the supporting shaft 13 while the othe...

second embodiment

[0058]FIG. 3 shows a toner filling device according to a second embodiment. The same symbols are assigned to same parts as the first embodiment, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[0059]This embodiment differs from the first embodiment in the structure to flow a constant quantity of toner from the container body 1 and discharge the toner to a target. Specifically, the device additionally comprises an auxiliary container 31 as a dispensing discharger on an upper tip end of a cone portion 11B of the container body 11 when the container body 11 is erected.

[0060]As shown in FIG. 4, a cylindrical outward protrusion 11E is formed on the tip end of the cone portion 11B of the container body 11. The auxiliary container 31 is fitted into the outward protrusion 11E.

[0061]In FIG. 4, the auxiliary container 31 is comprised of a cylindrical main portion 31B having a bottom wall 31A and a tapered portion 31C above the main portion 31B. As shown in FIG. 6, the main portion 31B incl...

third embodiment

[0086]The third embodiment describes a mechanism for filling a target with the toner in the auxiliary container 31. As shown in FIGS. 16A, 16B, the auxiliary container 31 includes a handle 32 on a bottom wall 31A and a ball valve 34 is attached to the handle 32. Then, a tip end of the ball valve 34 and a target 41 or 42 are connected to each other with a flexible hose 43. The flexible hose 43 is transparent partially or entirely. In FIG. 16A the target 41 has a height h1 while the target 42 has a height 2 (h11). The target 41 is higher than the target 42.

[0087]In the present embodiment, an intermediate part of the flexible hose 43 can be gradually tilted for the target with a high height, and steeply tilted for the target 42 with a low height. Thus, the same flexible house 43 can be used for the tip end of the ball valve 34 and the targets 41, 42. In addition, due to the partly or entirely transparent flexible hose 43, it is made possible for an operator to observe how a toner flows...

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PUM

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Abstract

A medium filling device includes a container rotatably supported, to contain an image forming medium, a dispenser configured to receive a constant quantity of the image forming medium from the container by a turn of the container, and a discharger configured to discharge the image forming medium from the dispenser to a target.

Description

PRIORITY CLAIM[0001]The present application is based on and claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2012-065319, filed on Mar. 22, 2012, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates to a medium filling device and method for filling an image forming medium such as a toner into a toner container, a toner cartridge, or a process cartridge.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]There are two kinds of toners for use in an electrophotographic image forming devices, that is, genuine products offered by the manufacturers of the image forming devices and refilled products offered by toner suppliers to users. The latter, the refilled products are more cost-effective for users, therefore, are higher in demand than the former.[0006]However, in emerging countries there are few suppliers offering refilled products and the transportation infrastructure has...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): B67D7/84
CPCB65D83/00G03G15/0877G03G15/0865
Inventor YOSHIDA, RYUJIUEDA, TETSUTOSAITOH, KAZUYAHAYAKAWA, TADASHI
Owner YOSHIDA RYUJI