Developer cartridge

Abstract

A developer box relates to the field of electronic photography imaging technology, comprising a box body and a rotating member provided with an axial hole; an axial rod extending outward from an end wall of the box body and perpendicular to the end wall; a first obstruction surface and a second obstruction surface perpendicular to the outer surface of the end wall, both of which are located on a convex block protruding outward from the end wall; a sliding surface perpendicular to and adjacent to the first obstruction surface; a tube notch is provided on one side of the rotating member facing the end wall, the end surface of the tube notch is a stepped surface along the circumferential direction, the rotating member also has a limit plate, the limit plate is perpendicular to the end wall; the axial hole and the axial rod are in clearance fit. It has the advantages of simple structure and convenient reset.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a developer box which can be detachably installed in an electronic photographic image forming device. Background Art

[0002] Chinese invention patent application with publication number CN1828447A discloses an imaging device and a developer box, wherein the developer box is provided with a counting mechanism, and the imaging device is equipped with a new product detection device for detecting whether the developer box installed in the imaging device is new.

[0003] A Chinese invention patent application with publication number CN102799090A discloses a developer box with a counting mechanism. The developer box has been improved to solve the problems of high precision requirements for the counting mechanism, difficult production process control and increased costs. The developer box provided by the developer box includes a box body, a counting mechanism and a counting mechanism driving member; the counting mechanism includes a protrusion, which is driven by the counting mechanism driving member to move from a first position that touches a touch rod on an electronic photographic imaging device to a second position that does not touch the touch rod on the electronic photographic imaging device, thereby realizing the counting of the developer box. The counting mechanism includes a fixed member and a rotating member, a top column is provided on one end face of the rotating member, and the protrusion is provided on the other end face of the rotating member; an opening corresponding to the top column is provided on the fixed member; the opening acts on the top column to make the protrusion move perpendicular to the side wall of the box body.

[0004] The imaging device used for the above two developer cartridges has a characteristic when working. When a developer cartridge is judged to be new, the printing quantity of the new cartridge is usually limited, for example, 5000 pages of standard pages of A4 format can be printed. When the printing count reaches 5000 pages, the imaging device prompts to replace the new developer cartridge. At present, with the improvement of the production level and quality of the parts in the developer cartridge, a developer cartridge can usually print more pages, so it can continue to print after filling new toner. However, after filling new toner, the counting mechanism needs to be reset, that is, after the old developer cartridge filled with toner is installed in the imaging device, the imaging device will judge it as a new cartridge and perform printing. However, the developer cartridges in the above two prior arts have the problem that it is difficult to reset the counting mechanism, and the end cover needs to be removed for reset. For general consumers, the technical requirements for resetting the counting mechanism are too high if they want to reuse the developer cartridge. More importantly, the counting mechanisms of the above two developer cartridges also have the problems of complex structure and unreliable operation. Summary of the invention

[0005] The main purpose of the present invention is to provide a developer box with simple structure and reliable operation;

[0006] Another object of the present invention is to provide a developer box with a manual reset mechanism.

[0007] To achieve the above main purpose, the developer box provided by the present invention includes a box body and a rotating member provided with an axial hole; an axial rod extending outward from an end wall of the box body and perpendicular to the end wall; a first obstruction surface and a second obstruction surface perpendicular to the outer surface of the end wall, the first obstruction surface and the second obstruction surface are both located on a convex block protruding outward from the end wall; a sliding surface perpendicular to and adjacent to the first obstruction surface; a pipe notch is provided on the side of the rotating member facing the end wall, the end surface of the pipe notch is a stepped surface along the circumferential direction, and the rotating member also has a limiting plate, the limiting plate is perpendicular to the end wall; the axial hole and the axial rod are in clearance fit; after the rotating member starts to rotate toward the second obstruction surface from the position where the limiting plate abuts against the first obstruction surface, the end surface of the pipe notch slides along the sliding surface and moves along the axial rod in a direction away from the end wall under the guidance of the end surface of the pipe notch, and when the limiting plate reaches the second obstruction surface, the rotating member moves back along the axial rod in a direction close to the end wall under the guidance of the end surface of the pipe notch.

[0008] It can be seen from the above scheme that the tube gap of the rotating part of the present invention cooperates with the sliding surface on the protrusion to realize the axial reciprocating movement of the rotating part, and the rotation angle is limited by the cooperation of the limit plate and a pair of obstruction surfaces to realize the identification and counting of new boxes, so the structure is relatively simple.

[0009] A further solution is to further include an end cover, wherein the cover portion of the end cover perpendicular to the end wall is provided with an operation port, and the operation port is directly opposite to the rotating member. After refilling with toner, the rotating member can be moved axially away from the end wall relative to the shaft through the operation port, and then rotated back to the initial position, that is, the position where the limit plate abuts against the first obstruction surface, thereby achieving another purpose of the present invention. The advantage of this solution is that the user can conveniently manually reset the developer box after refilling with toner.

[0010] A further solution is to further include a transmission gear, wherein the transmission gear is provided with a driving part, and the driving part is used to start the rotation of the rotating member, so that the transmission gear is meshed with the gear of the rotating member. The advantage of this solution is that the counting start can be smoother.

[0011] A further solution is that when the limit plate of the rotating member abuts against the second obstruction surface, the gear is disengaged from the transmission gear in the circumferential direction.

[0012] Another further solution is to provide smooth curved surface transition or inclined surface transition between the steps of the step surface.

[0013] A further solution is that when the end face of the tube notch at the maximum axial dimension is located on the sliding surface, there is still a gap between the rotating member and the end cover, and the gap is sufficient to allow the rotating member to continue to move away from the end wall, so that the transmission gear and the gear notch of the rotating member are completely disengaged in the axial direction. The advantage of this solution is that manual resetting is more convenient. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] Figure 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a developer cartridge of the present invention;

[0015] Figure 2 is an exploded view of the structure in which the end cover and the rotating member are separated from the developer box;

[0016] Figure 3 It is a structural exploded view of the end cover, the rotating member, and the transmission gear being separated from the developer box;

[0017] Figure 4 It is the view of the rotating part from the end face direction of the pipe notch;

[0018] Figure 5 It is a three-dimensional diagram of the rotating part;

[0019] Figure 6 It is a stereogram of the rotating part from another perspective;

[0020] Figure 7 It is a cross-sectional view of the ZY plane. On the X-axis, the cross-sectional view is located far away from the end wall and close to the sliding surface. Figure 7 The middle limiting plate abuts against the first obstruction surface;

[0021] Figure 8 This is a three-dimensional picture after opening the end cover. Figure 8 The end face of the middle tube is located on the sliding surface;

[0022] Fig. 9 is with Figure 7 The same section view, Fig. 9 The middle limiting plate abuts against the second obstruction surface. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] The present invention is an improvement on the aforementioned prior art, and therefore the developer box should be implemented with reference to the contents disclosed in the prior art, and the parts closely related to the present invention will be described in detail below. A rectangular coordinate system is given in each figure of the embodiments of the present invention to facilitate the unified orientation and description of different views of the specific structure when the viewing angle changes.

[0024] See also Figure 1The developer box 100 has a box body 1 with an inner cavity for containing toner, and a stirring frame, a powder feeding roller and a developing roller 11 rotatably installed in the box body 1 relative to the box body 1. The rotational power of the imaging device is input through a power receiving port 12, and the above-mentioned rotating parts are driven to rotate at a specified speed through a gear system. The end cover 4 is a cover-shaped shell, which covers the end wall of the box body 1, thereby covering the gear system.

[0025] See also Figure 2 and Figure 3 ,and Figure 2 compared to, Figure 3 Some shaft end gears and bridge gears are omitted, and the rotating part 3 rotates around its own axis by an angle, and the transmission gear 2 is decomposed from the box body 1. The function of the transmission gear 2 is to transmit the rotational power to the gear gap 34 of the rotating part 3 through the gear 21 in its double gear. In this example, the transmission gear is fixed to the shaft end of the stirring frame, that is, the transmission gear 2 is the shaft end gear of the stirring frame, and the transmission gear 2 is also provided with a driving part 22. An end wall 13 of the box body 1 extends outward with a shaft rod 14, and the shaft rod 14 is perpendicular to the end wall 13, that is, the normal of the main surface of the end wall 13 is in the X direction, and the center line of the shaft rod 14 is also in the X direction. The protrusions 15 and 16 also protrude outward from the end wall 13, that is, they protrude in the positive direction of the X axis. The rotating member 3 has an axial hole 35 that is loosely matched with the shaft 14. Therefore, under the drive of the transmission gear 2, the rotating member 3 can be rotated around the shaft 14 and moved along the X-axis. The rotating member 3 can also be moved through an operating port 41 provided on a cover shell portion of the end cover 4 that is perpendicular to the end wall 13. The operating port 41 in this example is provided at the lower part of the end cover 4 and directly opposite to the rotating member 3, so that the rotating member 3 can be manually reset through the operating port 41. The rotating member 3 is provided with a pipe notch 31 on the side facing the end wall 13. The end surface of the pipe notch 31 facing the end wall 13 is a stepped surface. The rotating member 3 also has a limit plate 32, which is perpendicular to the end wall 13. The rotating member 3 is provided with a moving part 33 that cooperates with the contact member in the imaging device on the side facing away from the end wall 13. When the rotating member 3 rotates, the moving part 33 will drive the contact member once in the process of moving from the first position to the second position, giving a signal that the developer box 100 is a new box.

[0026] A compression spring is arranged between the end cover 4 and the rotating member 3, and the restoring force of the compression spring causes the rotating member to have a tendency to move in the negative direction of the X-axis.

[0027] See also Figure 4 , radially outward from the center line of the rotating member 3, there are the shaft hole 35, the pipe notch 31, the limit plate 32 and the gear notch 34.

[0028] See also Figure 5 and Figure 6The end face of the tube notch 31 is a stepped surface along the circumferential direction, which means that it is connected in the circumferential direction by a first face 311, a second face 312, a third face 313, and a fourth face 314 to form a surface whose coordinates change in the X-axis direction. These surfaces should be transitioned by smooth curved surfaces or inclined surfaces, which constitute the tube notch 31 of the present invention compared with an abnormal tube.

[0029] See also Figure 7 In this example, due to the limited structural space, the protrusion is divided into two, namely the aforementioned protrusion 15 and protrusion 16. The surface of the protrusion 15 that is approximately facing the positive direction of the Y axis and perpendicular to the end wall 13 is the first obstruction surface 151, and the surface that is facing the positive direction of the X axis is the sliding surface 152. Obviously, the sliding surface 152 is perpendicular to and adjacent to the first obstruction surface 151. The surface of the protrusion 16 that is approximately facing the positive direction of the Y axis and perpendicular to the end wall 13 is the second obstruction surface 161. In other embodiments, if space permits, the protrusion 15 and the protrusion 16 can be formed as one piece.

[0030] The following describes the operation of the developer cartridge 100 of the present invention when it is a new cartridge.

[0031] See also Figure 7 When the cartridge is new, the rotation angle of the rotating member 3 is at the position where the limit plate 32 abuts against the first obstruction surface 151, and it is at the position closest to the end wall 13 in the X-axis direction under the action of the restoring force of the compression spring, and the gear notch 34 does not mesh with the gear 21. After the imaging device is installed, the transmission gear 2 will be at the beginning of normal operation. Figure 7 The driving part 22 will touch the driven part 36 of the rotating member 3 (see Figure 5 ), the rotating member 3 starts to rotate and the gear 34 meshes with the gear 21, so the stop plate 32 rotates counterclockwise. At the same time, the end surface of the pipe 31 starts to slide on the sliding surface 152. First, the fourth surface 314 contacts the sliding surface 152, and then the third surface 313 contacts the sliding surface 152. Figure 8 The state shown, the second surface 312, and the first surface 311.

[0032] See also Figure 8 When the end face of the tube notch 31 with the largest axial dimension is located on the sliding surface 152, that is, when the third surface 313 is located on the sliding surface 152, there is still a gap between the rotating member 3 and the end cover 4, and the gap is sufficient to allow the rotating member 3 to continue to move away from the end wall 13, so that the transmission gear 2 and the gear notch 34 of the rotating member 3 are completely disengaged in the axial direction.

[0033] See also Fig. 9When it reaches the second surface 312, under the action of the restoring force of the compression spring, the rotating member 3 rapidly approaches the end wall 13, and at the same time, the gear notch 34 is disengaged from the gear 21. At this time, the limiting plate 32 is still located between the first obstruction surface 151 and the second obstruction surface 161, but is close to the second obstruction surface 161. The rotational inertia of the rotating member 3 is curbed because the limiting plate 32 abuts against the second obstruction surface 161.

[0034] The following describes the operation process of environmentally friendly refurbishment of the developer cartridge 100 of the present invention.

[0035] Before or after the toner is refilled into the developer box 100, before the image forming device is installed, the rotating member 3 needs to be reset. The reset process is to manually reset the rotating member 3 by Fig. 9 The status displayed returns to Figure 7 The operating port 41 is used to apply a force to the rotating member 3 to overcome the restoring force of the compression spring, that is, a force to move in the positive direction of the X axis, so that the rotating member rotates to the position without being constrained by the transmission gear. Figure 7 You can let go of the angle indicated and it will return to its original position under the restoring force of the compression spring.

[0036] Other Implementations

[0037] The shape of the projection may also be other shapes, as long as it has a first obstruction surface, a sliding surface and a second obstruction surface, that is, it can achieve the same function of limiting the two positions of the limiting plate and making the end face of the pipe notch slide.

Claims

1. A developer box, comprising a box body and a rotating member provided with an axis hole, and an axis extending outward from an end wall of the box body and perpendicular to the end wall; Features: A first obstruction surface and a second obstruction surface perpendicular to the outer surface of the end wall, wherein the first obstruction surface and the second obstruction surface are both located on a protrusion protruding outward from the end wall; a sliding surface perpendicular to and adjacent to the first obstruction surface; The rotating member is provided with a pipe notch on one side facing the end wall, the end face of the pipe notch is a stepped face along the circumferential direction, the stepped face is formed by connecting a first face, a second face, a third face and a fourth face, the rotating member also has a limit plate, the limit plate is perpendicular to the end wall; The shaft hole and the shaft rod are clearance-matched; After the rotating member starts to rotate toward the second obstruction surface from the position where the limit plate abuts against the first obstruction surface, the end face of the pipe cutout slides along the sliding surface and moves along the shaft rod in a direction away from the end wall under the guidance of the end face of the pipe cutout. When the limit plate reaches the second obstruction surface, the rotating member moves back along the shaft rod in a direction close to the end wall under the guidance of the end face of the pipe cutout.

2. The developer cartridge according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes an end cover, wherein a cover shell portion of the end cover that is perpendicular to the end wall is provided with an operation port, and the operation port is directly facing the rotating member.

3. The developer cartridge according to claim 2, characterized in that: It also includes a transmission gear, which is provided with a driving part. The driving part is used to start the rotation of the rotating member, so that the transmission gear is meshed with the gear of the rotating member.

4. The developer cartridge according to claim 3, characterized in that: When the limiting plate of the rotating member abuts against the second obstruction surface, the gear is disengaged from the transmission gear in the circumferential direction.

5. The developer cartridge according to claim 1, characterized in that: The steps of the step surface have smooth curved surface transition or inclined surface transition.

6. The developer cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: When the end face of the tube notch at the maximum axial dimension is located on the sliding surface, there is still a gap between the rotating member and the end cover, and the gap is sufficient to allow the rotating member to continue to move away from the end wall, so that the transmission gear and the gear notch of the rotating member are completely disengaged in the axial direction.

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