JPS61259282A - Image forming device provided with rotary developing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate a guiding member, a hooking mechanism etc. and simplify constitution by providing a housing chamber of plural developing devices in a rotary body and providing a device that holds developing devices to allow free attaching and detaching in the chamber and constituting to allow free attaching and detaching of the rotary body in radial direction. CONSTITUTION:Four chambers 400Y, 400B, 400C and 400BK are partitioned by stays 403 connecting disks 401, 402 of a rotary body 400, and each chamber can contain a developing device. A roller 42 is held rotatably on the same axis with the developing sleeve 41 of a developing device 40, and the roller 42 is fitted to concave grooves 411 formed in the disk 401, 402 and thrusted against innermost part 411a of the grooves to position the developing device 40. A locking arm 409 is turned around an arm shaft 413 and fixed with a screw to a flat nut 410. Under this state, an end of the roller 42 is thrusted by the innermost part 411a and arm 409 and supported. Reverse operation is made when detaching the developing device 40 from the rotary body 400.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention generally relates to a developing device suitable for use in color electrophotographic copying machines and color recording devices constituting output devices such as computers and facsimiles. In particular, the present invention relates to a rotary developing device in which a plurality of developing devices are mounted on a rotating body and a desired developing device is rotated and moved to a position facing the object to be developed to perform development. .

G. The color electrophotographic copying machine, color recording device, etc. to which the developing device according to the present invention is applied is not limited to full-color printing, but can also be used for two or 15 to 3 or more monochromatic colors, so-called multi-color printing. However, in this specification, a case will be described in which the developing device of the present invention is used in a full-color child photocopying machine.

Conventionally, with the aim of downsizing devices for reducing the diameter of photosensitive drums, there have been developed rotary developing devices that carry multiple developing devices on a rotary body and carry out mobile development at a developing position facing the photosensitive drum as desired. Proposed.

In such a rotary developing device, the individual yellow, magenta, cyan, and black developing devices need to be detachable from the rotating body for developer replacement and other necessary maintenance. Another method is to attach and detach the photosensitive drum from the front side of the copying device in the longitudinal direction (rotational axis direction).

FIG. 2 shows an example of this system, in which developing units 10f, 10
The guide bins 210 and 211 of the developing units 2, 103, and 104 are installed along the guide rail sooom of the rotating body 1000 that supports each developing unit, and the guide bins 210 and 211 of the developing units are installed in the final position.
11 is engaged with the seven hooks 310 of the rail 300 and carried by the rotary body 100 (shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B). In FIG. 3, the right side in the drawing indicates the rear side in the direction of the apparatus.

When the developing device mounted in this manner moves to the developing position, the developing device 101, 1 is moved by the cam 520 shown in FIG.
02, 103, and 104 are pushed in the direction of the photosensitive drum 1, and the roller 0130 that insures the distance between the photosensitive drum and the sleeve arranged coaxially with the developing sleeve of the developing device comes into contact with the photosensitive drum and performs the above-mentioned steps necessary during development. The distance between the sleeve and the drum is shown.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In such an attachment/detachment mechanism, a long guide member for guiding the developing device extending in the longitudinal direction is required inside the rotating body; ■ A developing device held inside the rotating body; A mechanism for ensuring a distance between the photosensitive drum and the developing sleeve at the developing position is also required, and the entire structure of the rotating body becomes complicated. Furthermore, . ■ Since an opening area is required in the front plate of the rotating body to allow the rotating body to be pulled out toward the front, there are problems such as difficulty in maintaining the rigidity of the entire rotating body.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, it is an object of the present invention to provide a round image forming apparatus having a rotary developing device having an attachment/detachment mechanism in which the rotating body structure of the developing device is simplified.

Means to solve problems The above objects are achieved by the present invention.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a rotary developing device that includes a plurality of developing devices and performs development by rotationally moving a desired developing unit to a developing position, and the rotating body includes: a) the plurality of developing devices; b) a rotary developing device having a holding means for removably holding the developing device in the storage chamber, the rotary developing device being able to be attached to and removed from the rotating body in a radial direction of the rotating body; have

Embodiment FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a full-color electrophotographic copying apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

In the figure, the direction of arrow E is toward the photosensitive drum, which is the latent image carrier.
Roll 1m. There are two chargers around it. Exposure optical system 3. Development equipment fl! 4. A transfer system 5 and a cleaning device 6 are provided. The optical system 3 includes a document scanning section 3a and a color separation filter portion 3b. Further, the developing device 4 integrally includes a yellow developer 4Y using yellow toner, a magenta developer 4M using magenta toner, a cyan developer 4c using cyan toner, and a black developer 48k using black toner.

As disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-20579 by the applicant of the present invention, each developing device is prevented from scattering toner by the action of a magnetic field, and is removably held on a support 4i as shown in the figure, and centered around a central axis 4b. By rotating, the developing device is replaced with respect to the developing position. On the other hand, the transfer section 5 includes a drum 5b having a gripper 5a and a transfer discharger 5c inside the drum 5b.

A full-color image is formed by transferring KJ1ff next color toner onto a transfer material supported on the transfer drum, as in a conventional copying machine. This transfer material is supplied from the cassette 7, and the transfer material that has completed the transfer process is separated by the separating means 8 and reaches the tray lo via the fixing device 94.

FIG. 1 shows #l of a rotating body 400 which is an embodiment of the present invention.
There is a same diagram.

The rotating body 400 has four parts M400Y, 400B, 40 by a stay 403 connecting two discs 401 and 402.
It is partitioned into 0C, 4008k. Each of the four rooms has developing units 4Y, 4M, 4C, and 4Bk shown in the fourth diagram.
It can be stored. 404 is a central axis of a rotating body 400 fixed to the main body, and the rotating body 400 is rotatably supported by a bearing 405. A positioning hole 40 is provided in the storage room of each developer to position the developer in the axial direction.
6.407, and the positioning pin on the developer side is engaged.

A gear 408 is a drive gear for driving the developing device, and is driven by a gear (not shown). Discs 40 before and after the rotating body
A lock arm 409 is rotatably supported at 1,402, and waits for the developing device in the state shown in FIG. 1 when the developing device is pushed in.

The developing device has its positioning bin 43 inserted into the positioning hole 406.4.
07, it is pushed in in the direction of the arrow shown in the first figure.

The perspective view in FIG. 6 and the sectional view in FIG. 7 show a state in which one developing device 40 is housed in the rotating body 400.

Developing device 40 (developing device 4Y, 4M, 4C, 48k in Fig. 5)
A roller 42 is rotatably supported on the same axis as the developing sleeve 41 of the rotating body, and the roller 42 engages with a concave groove 411 formed in both discs 401 and 402 of the rotary body, and the roller 42 engages with the innermost end of the groove. By being pressed against the portion 411a, the developing device 40 is positioned in the pushing direction. Then, the lock arm 409 is rotated about the arm shaft 413, and the lock arm 409 is fixed to the plate nut 410 by screws 412 as shown in the sixth figure. In this state, the roller 42 of the developing device 40 is
One end is the inner end 4 of the concave groove 411 of the disk 401, 402.
11a and is held by a lock arm 409. Then, when removing the developing device 40 from the rotating body 400, the above-described operation is performed in reverse.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing the developing device in the developing device, and FIG.
The figures each show a cross-sectional view of the developing device in the attachment/detachment position.

In FIG. 8, a developing device 40 stores a developer containing toner carrier in a container 41, and has two screws 42.
．． At 44, the mixture is circulated back and forth in the container and stirred. Developing roller 4
6 is a known magnetic roller with borosilicate electrodes arranged around it;
The developer pumped up by the S pole is regulated by a doctor 45 and is supplied to the photosensitive drum 1.

From FIG. 8, the development 'a40 in FIG.
It is located at a position 1800 rotations from 04, and is attached to and detached from the rotating body 400 by the method described above.

In this state, since the bottom of the container of the developing device is flat, when it is taken out and placed outside the machine, the developing device can be held horizontally without being tilted.

That is, in the above embodiment, the inside of the developer container has a curved shape to improve the agitation of the developer, as shown in Figure 8, but when it is attached and detached, it rotates 180 degrees, so that a part of the container that does not have a screw is removed. It uses a shape that makes it easy to place.

In the above embodiments, the rotary developing device is configured to move endlessly around the rotating shaft, but it may also be configured to move endlessly, such as in a freewheeling circle. Further, regarding the H4 mounting configuration, parts such as the lock arm may be modified or other parts may be replaced.

Of course, the configuration of the developing device and the developing roller and screw can be modified.

Effect of the invention As described above, the present invention provides the following effects.

(2) There is no guide member, hook mechanism, etc. that spans the rotational direction of the rotating body, resulting in an extremely simple configuration of the rotating body.

■ The developing device can be installed and removed at a location away from the photosensitive drum and the process unit for forming latent images around the drum.
Can be installed and removed without damaging other functional parts.

■ The attachment/detachment path is short and the attachment/detachment direction is straight, making it easy to attach/detach.

■ Since the developing device does not require any play when attached to the rotating body, it can be securely fixed, so vibrations of the developing device during driving are suppressed and the image is not disturbed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 6 are perspective views of a rotating body showing one implementation side of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a rotating body in which a developing device is attached and removed in the axial direction of the rotating body, and FIG. 3A, B is a plan view showing the relationship between the developing device and the attachment/detachment rail, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the positioning mechanism of the developing device of the 21st method, and FIG. 5 is a diagram of a color electrophotographic copying machine to which the present invention is applied. 7 is a side view of the rotating body of FIG. 6, FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the developing device in the eighth image position, and FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the developing device in the attachment/detachment position. In the figure, 4 is a developing device, 46 is a magnet roller, 4
00 is a rotating body, 40 is a developing device, 409 is a lock arm,
411 is a groove, and D is a developer.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In an image forming apparatus having a rotary developing device including a plurality of developing devices and in which a desired developing device is endlessly moved to a developing position to perform development, the developing device includes: a) storing a plurality of developing devices; b) a room for attaching and detaching the developer to the storage room; c) means for stopping the developer at a predetermined developing position; An image forming apparatus having a rotary developing device characterized by being flexible. (2) An image provided with a rotary developing device according to claim (1), wherein each of the developing devices has a bottom shape that maintains a substantially horizontal state when placed on a flat surface in a detached state. Forming device.