Medium Filling Device And Method
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.
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 INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
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.
2. Description of the Related Art
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.
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.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-92100, for example, discloses a toner filling device for a toner container, a toner cartridge, or a process cartridge (hereinafter referred to as a toner container) configured to supply an airflow into a toner filling device to fill a toner container with the toner.
In addition, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-104301, for example, discloses a powder filling device configured to introduce a gas into a container containing powder to fluidize powder, and fill a powder container with the fluidized powder.
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.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is an objective of the present invention to provide a medium filling device and method that enables anyone to easily fill a target with an image forming medium anywhere with a simple structure at low cost.
According to one aspect of an embodiment, 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.
Features, embodiments, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings:
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. Note that the toner is used as an image forming medium in the following descriptions of the present embodiments.
First EmbodimentA 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.
In addition to the legs 12, stainless legs 15 (see
The supporting shafts 13, 14 are arranged on opposed sides, placing the container body 11 therebetween. The legs 12, 15 are U-shaped with L-folded portions on the bottom side. Then, width L1 of the bottom side is set larger than that L2 of a top side (width between the one end 12A and the other end 12B of the legs 12). In addition, the supporting shafts 13, 14 as the rotation center of the container body 11 are arranged above the center of gravity of the container body 11 while the container body 11 is erected.
The container body 11 includes, at the center of in vertical direction, a cylindrical member 16 provided with a dispenser 17 and a discharger 18. With the container body 11 inverted, the dispenser 17 is located on the bottom side of the container body 11, and the discharger 18 is located on the top side of the container body 11. The dispenser 17 is shaped of a cylinder having a bottom closed. The discharger 18 is formed to have a tapered top portion of which a ball valve 19 is attached to a tip end.
The discharger 17 penetrates an end of the cone portion 11B of the container body 11 and is integrally formed with the cone portion 11B (see
The discharger 17A comprises a check valve 21 on the top portion. The check valve 21 is formed of a circular plate one lateral side of which (right side in
As shown in
The operation of the toner filling device according to the present embodiment will be described as follows.
Normally, the container body is placed in an erected state, as shown in
First, for filling a target with a toner, as shown in
Next, the container body 11 is turned as indicated by arrow B in
Thus, according to the present embodiment the toner is flowed from the container body into the dispenser 17 by increments by rotating the container body 11 to be in the inverted state from the erected state. Then, by turning the container body 11 from the inverted state to the erected state, the toner is transferred from the dispenser 17 into the discharger 18 to fill a target. Accordingly, this is a very simple operation for anyone with no experience in any place to smoothly fill the target with the toner.
Second EmbodimentThis 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.
As shown in
In
In addition, the auxiliary container 31 includes a projection 31F on the entire outer circumference of the main portion 31B. The projection 31F is fitted into a groove 11F formed on the inner circumference of the outward protrusion 11E when the auxiliary container 31 is fitted into the outward protrusion 11E of the container body 11. Thereby, when fitted into the outward protrusion 11E, the auxiliary container 31 is easily rotated around the center shaft (arrow C1, C2 directions) while it is not easily moved in a direction along the center shaft (arrow D direction). Specifically, this makes it difficult for the auxiliary container 31 to come off from the outward protrusion 11E. In replace of the projection 31F or the groove 11F, a female screw and a male screw are formed on the inner circumference of the outward protrusion 11E and on the outer circumference of the auxiliary container 31, respectively, to engage them.
A T-shaped handle 32 is provided on the bottom wall 31A to allow an operator to easily rotate the dispensing discharger in the arrow C1 and C2 directions by a manual manipulation of the handle.
The inward protrusion 33 includes on the one end a blocking wall 33A which includes a fan-like outlet hole 33B. A center angle θ2 of the fan-like outlet hole 33B is 120 degrees. Further, the inward protrusion 33 includes two inlet holes on the peripheral wall closer to the open end. The inlet holes 33C are formed on the opposed sides, placing a center shaft of the inward protrusion 33 therebetween. The outlet hole 33B has almost the same shape as the outlet hole 31C of the tapered portion 31C of the auxiliary container 31. The inlet holes 33C have an almost same shape as the outlet hole 31E of the main portion 1B of the auxiliary container 31.
Then, the inlet holes 33C of the inward protrusion 33 and the inlet hole 31D of the auxiliary container 31 are formed so that their bases match when the auxiliary container 1 is completely fitted into the outward protrusion 11E and the inward protrusion 33.
As shown in
The operation of the toner filling device according to the present embodiment will be described as follows:
The container body 11 is normally placed in an erected state in storage or when carried as shown in
When the toner flow into the auxiliary container 31 has completed, the auxiliary container 31 is rotated in either of the arrow C1 and C2 directions by 120 degrees with the handle 32 to deflect the inlet hole 31D of the auxiliary container 31 from the inlet hole 33C of the inward protrusion 33. The auxiliary container 31 is set to have a constant capacity and flow a constant quantity of toner into the auxiliary container 31.
As described above, the handle 32 includes the toner passage 32A at the center connected to the ball valve 34 attached to the handle 32. Then, for filling a not-shown target with the toner in the auxiliary container 31, the tip end of the ball valve 32 is connected to the target and opened to flow the toner from the auxiliary container 31 into the target and fill it with the constant quantity of toner.
When the filling of the target with the toner is completed, the ball valve 34 is closed. The handle 32 is further rotated by 120 degrees so that the outlet hole 31E of the auxiliary container 31 matches the outlet hole 33B of the inward protrusion 33. The container body is then rotated in a direction opposite to the arrow E direction of
In filling the target with the toner from the auxiliary container 31, the toner may not be completely discharged but may slightly remain in the auxiliary container 31. However, allowing the outlet hole 31E to match the outlet hole 33B enables any remaining toner in the auxiliary container 31 to completely flow back to the container body 11.
Specifically, in
In
In
According to the present embodiment, by turning the container body 11 to be in the inverted state from the erected state, the toner flows from the container body into the auxiliary container 31 by increments. Then, the target can be filled with the toner in the auxiliary container 31 by opening the ball valve 34. Hence, this is a very simple operation for anyone with no experience in any place to smoothly fill the target with the toner.
Meanwhile, as shown in
Meanwhile, as shown in
The third embodiment describes a mechanism for filling a target with the toner in the auxiliary container 31. As shown in
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 in the flexible hose 43. Additionally, the flexible hose 43 can connect the ball valve 34 and the target 41 or 42 reliably even if there is a slight difference in the diameter of the tip end of the ball valve and a receiving port of the target 41 or 42.
The flexible hose 43 in
When the operator manually rotates the manual rotation member 46, the coiled spring 44 is rotated as a screw conveyor to carry toner in the flexible hose 43 to the target 47. In addition, when the flexible hose 43 is bent, the coiled spring 44 in the flexible hose 43 is freely bent along the flexible hose 43, thus improving operability for connecting the flexible hose 43 to the target 47.
In
In the present embodiment, the bellows type hose 49 can be extended long in
The container body 11 is made from an ABS material in an overall thickness of 5 mm a height of 40 cm, an outer diameter of 40 cm and an internal capacity of 50 liters. The toner content in the container body 11 is 15 kg at 0.3 g/cc.
The cap 56 of the container body 11 includes an auxiliary container 57 as a dispensing discharger at the center. The auxiliary container 47 has an auxiliary container body 57A made from the same ABS material as that of the container body 11.
The auxiliary container 57 has an outer diameter of 10 cm and a height of 5 cm, and a capacity of approximately 400 cc. The toner is temporarily transferred from the container body 11 to the auxiliary container body 57A and then filled into a target such as a toner container, a toner cartridge, or a process cartridge.
As shown in
By the rotation of the opening/closing member 59 in the arrow F1 and F2 directions, the interior of the container body 11 can be spatially communicated or blocked with/from the interior of the auxiliary container body 57A.
Alternatively, the opening/closing members 58, 59 can include two each of fan-like through holes 58B, 59B having a center angle of 90 degrees, as shown in
Moreover, as shown in
Further, when the auxiliary container 57 is attached to the container body 11 for the transportation or storage of the container body 11, the fixing member 64 is tilted to fit into the grooves 62, 63 in the arrow G2 direction. Then, the pin 64A abuts the groove 62, is tilted in the arrow H2 direction, and completely fitted into the groove 62. By fitting the fixing member 64 into the grooves 62, 63, the auxiliary container body 57A can be firmly fixed and prevented from inadvertently moving or rotating relative to the container body 11.
Moreover, in
A circular discharge regulation plate 66, as shown in
The operation of the toner filling device according to the present embodiment will be described as follows.
The container body 11 is normally placed in an erected state in storage or when carried, as shown in
Moreover, flowing into the opening/closing mechanism 60, the toner passes through the through-hole 58A of the opening/closing member 58 and the through-hope 59A of the opening/closing member 59, and flows into the auxiliary container body 57A. The auxiliary container body 57A is sufficiently filled with the toner is turned in the reverse direction to seal the interior thereof by avoiding the through-hole 59A of the opening/closing member 59 from coinciding with the through-hole 58A of the opening/closing member 58. The auxiliary container body 57A including the through-hole 59A of the opening/closing member 59 and the through-hole 66A of the discharge regulation plate 66 is set to have a certain capacity. Thus, by the operations the certain quantity of toner can be flowed.
Next, a method of filling a target with the toner from the auxiliary container body 57A will be described. To fill the target, the blocking plate 67 on the discharge regulation plate 66 at one end of the body 57A is removed and a toner filler 68 is attached to the discharge regulation plate 66, as shown in
The toner filler 68 has a ring-shaped base 68A and a conical filling portion 68B at the center of the base 68A, and a filling port 68C at an end of the filling portion 68B. It additionally includes two screw holes 68D so as to match a screw hole 66B of the discharge regulation plate 66. Then, in order to attach the toner filler 68 to the discharge regulation plate 66, two screws 69 are threadably engaged into the screw hole 66B of the discharge regulation plate 66 through the screw hole 68D of the toner filler 68 and tightened. Thus, the toner filler 68 can be firmly attached to the discharge regulation plate 66.
Once the toner filler 68 is attached, the filling port 68C of the toner filler 68 is connected to the target to be then filled with toner from the auxiliary container body 57A. Upon completion of the filling operation, the container body 11 is placed into the erected state and the toner receiving portion 65D drops due to its own weight, forming the gap G. Hence, any toner remaining in the auxiliary container body 57A drops into the container body 11 through the gap G.
With such a configuration, the toner filler 68 is attachable to the discharge regulation plate 66 with a single step, simply by pressing the projection 68E of the toner filler 68 along the outer periphery of the discharge regulation plate 66. The toner filler 68 can be also easily removed from the discharge regulation plate 66.
In the present embodiment, although not shown, the legs 12, 15 and the carrying assistance member 35 in
Further, the present invention can provide a medium filling method which comprises the steps of turning a container containing an image forming medium to thereby flow a constant quantity of the image forming medium to a dispenser, and discharging the image forming medium from the dispenser to fill a target.
Although the present invention has been described in terms of exemplary embodiments, it is not limited thereto. It should be appreciated that variations or modifications may be made in the present embodiments described by persons skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.
For example, the toner filling device according to any of the above embodiments can be applied for filling any powder other than toner.
Claims
1. A medium filling device, comprising:
- 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.
2. A medium filling device, comprising:
- a container rotatably supported, to contain an image forming medium;
- a dispenser provided in a top part of the container and configured to receive a constant quantity of the image forming medium from the container when the container is turned to be inverted; and
- a discharger provided in a bottom part of the container and configured to discharge the image forming medium from the dispenser to a target when the container is turned again to be erected.
3. The medium filling device according to claim 2, wherein
- the container comprises a tubular member to connect the dispenser and the discharger, through which the received image forming medium is conveyed from the dispenser to the discharger when the container becomes erected.
4. The medium filling device according to claim 2, further comprising:
- an inflow hole between the container and the dispenser, through which the image forming medium is flowed into the dispenser; and
- a check valve provided between the dispenser and the tubular member and configured to allow the image forming medium to be conveyed from the dispenser to the discharger when the container becomes erected.
5. The medium filling device according to claim 4, wherein
- the container comprises a cone-shaped top portion and is formed such that a bottom end of the inflow hole is located below a top surface of the cone-shaped top portion when the container becomes inverted.
6. A medium filling device comprising:
- a container rotatably supported, to contain an image forming medium; and
- a dispensing discharger configured to receive a constant quantity of the image forming medium from the container by a turn of the container and to be connected to a target to discharge the received image forming medium to the target when the container is turned to be inverted.
7. The medium filling device according to claim 6, wherein
- the dispensing discharger is rotatably attached to the container and is detachable from the container.
8. The medium filling device according to claim 6, wherein
- the dispensing discharger includes an inlet hole into which the image forming medium is flowed from the container and an outlet hole from which the image forming medium is flowed back to the container, and has a blocking function to block between an interior of the dispensing discharger and an interior of the container.
9. The medium filling device according to claim 6,
- wherein the dispensing discharger includes an opening/closing mechanism for allowing or blocking a flow of the image forming medium.
10. The medium filling device according to claim 6, wherein
- the dispensing discharger comprises a filler detachably attached thereto, to fill the target with the received image forming medium.
11. The medium filling device according to claim 10, wherein
- the container includes a cone-shaped top portion formed such that a bottom side of the inlet hole is flush with a top surface of the cone-shaped top portion when the container becomes inverted.
12. The medium filling device according to claim 1, further comprising
- a flexible hose attached to a tip end of the discharger for discharging the image forming medium to the target.
13. The medium filling device according to claim 12, wherein
- the flexible hose comprises a rotatable coiled spring.
14. The medium filling device according to claim 12, wherein
- the flexible hose is a bellows type hose.
15. The medium filling device according to claim 12, wherein
- the flexible hose is formed to be transparent partially or entirely.
16. The medium filling device according to claim 12, wherein
- the flexible hose comprises, at an end, a fixing bracket formed to be detachably attached to the tip end of the discharger or the dispensing discharger by use of a screw.
17. The medium filling device according to claim 1, wherein
- the container comprises a leg on a lateral side and rotatably supported by the leg.
18. The medium filling device according to claim 17, wherein
- a rotation center of the container is positioned above a gravity center of the container while the container is erected.
19. The medium filling device according to claim 1, wherein
- the container comprises a holder on a lateral side to hold the container when the container becomes inverted.
20. The medium filling device according to claim 1, wherein
- the container comprises a carrying assistance member on a lateral side to allow an operator to carry the container on an operator's back.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 15, 2013
Publication Date: Sep 26, 2013
Inventors: Ryuji YOSHIDA (Yokohama-shi), Tetsuto Ueda (Sagamihara-shi), Kazuya Saitoh (Sagamihara-shi), Tadashi Hayakawa (Yokohama-shi)
Application Number: 13/842,081