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US-12625442-B2 - Powder container, image forming apparatus, and method for manufacturing powder container

US12625442B2US 12625442 B2US12625442 B2US 12625442B2US-12625442-B2

Abstract

A powder container for storing powder inside includes a container main portion. The container main portion has a substantially cylindrical shape to rotate around a rotation axis of the container main portion to convey powder stored inside the container main portion in a conveyance direction along a direction of the rotation axis. The container main portion is a component made of paper formed by press working.

Inventors

  • Shuntaro Tamaki

Assignees

  • Shuntaro Tamaki

Dates

Publication Date
20260512
Application Date
20241120
Priority Date
20231127

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A powder container for storing powder inside, comprising: a container main portion having a substantially cylindrical shape to rotate around a rotation axis of the container main portion to convey powder stored inside the container main portion in a conveyance direction along a direction of the rotation axis, the container main portion being a component including paper formed by press working; and a container head portion disposed to communicate with an opening of the container main portion on a downstream side of the container main portion in the conveyance direction, wherein the container head portion includes: an ejection port to eject the powder conveyed from the container main portion to an outside of the powder container; and a gear formed on an outer circumferential surface of the container head portion, and the container head portion is rotatable together with the container main portion and is a component made by resin molding.
  2. 2 . The powder container according to claim 1 , wherein; the container main portion has a plurality of concave-and-convex portions formed by press working, and the plurality of concave-and-convex portions are recessed from an outer circumferential surface of the substantially cylindrical shape and protrude toward an inner circumferential surface.
  3. 3 . The powder container according to claim 2 , wherein; the plurality of concave-and-convex portions are spirally arranged in the container main portion having the substantially cylindrical shape.
  4. 4 . The powder container according to claim 3 , wherein: each of the plurality of concave-and-convex portions is a spiral of a half of the circumference or less in the container main portion.
  5. 5 . The powder container according to claim 2 , wherein: the container main portion is formed such that a first semi-cylindrical portion and a second semi-cylindrical portion coupled at a bent portion are formed by press working and bent at the bent portion to join an end of the first semi-cylindrical portion and an end of the second semi-cylindrical portion together into the substantially cylindrical shape.
  6. 6 . The powder container according to claim 5 , wherein; the plurality of concave-and-convex portions are formed on each of the first semi-cylindrical portion and the second semi-cylindrical portion.
  7. 7 . The powder container according to claim 6 , wherein: in a state of a flat sheet of paper before the press working, the container main portion is formed such that both the plurality of concave-and-convex portions formed on the first semi-cylindrical portion and the plurality of concave-and-convex portions formed on the second semi-cylindrical portion extend in a direction inclined at a specified angle with respect to the bent portion extending in the direction of the rotation axis.
  8. 8 . The powder container according to claim 7 , wherein; the container main portion having the substantially cylindrical shape is formed such that an imaginary line connecting the plurality of concave-and-convex portions formed on the first semi-cylindrical portion and the plurality of concave-and-convex portions formed on the second semi-cylindrical portion draws one spiral.
  9. 9 . The powder container according to claim 7 , wherein; the container main portion having the substantially cylindrical shape is formed such that an imaginary line connecting the plurality of concave-and-convex portions formed on the first semi-cylindrical portion draws one spiral, and an imaginary line connecting the plurality of concave-and-convex portions formed on the second semi-cylindrical portion draws another spiral shifted in the direction of the rotation axis with respect to the one spiral.
  10. 10 . The powder container according to claim 7 , wherein: in the state of the flat sheet of forming paper before the press working, the container main portion is formed such that one area, closer to the bent portion, of one of the plurality of concave-and-convex portions formed on the first semi-cylindrical portion and one area, closer to the bent portion, of one of the plurality of concave-and-convex portions formed on the second semi-cylindrical portion overlap each other when viewed in the direction orthogonal to the direction of the rotation axis.
  11. 11 . The powder container according to claim 10 , wherein: in the state of the flat sheet of forming paper before the press working, the container main portion is formed such that one area, farther from the bent portion, of one of the plurality of concave-and-convex portions formed on the first semi-cylindrical portion and one area, farther from the bent portion, of one of the plurality of concave-and-convex portions formed on the second semi-cylindrical portion overlap each other when viewed in the direction orthogonal to the rotation axis direction.
  12. 12 . The powder container according to claim 7 , wherein: in the state of the flat sheet of forming paper before the press working, the container main portion is formed such that one area, farther from the bent portion, of one of the plurality of concave-and-convex portions formed on the first semi-cylindrical portion and one area, farther from the bent portion, of one of the plurality of concave-and-convex portions formed on the second semi-cylindrical portion overlap each other when viewed in the direction orthogonal to the direction of the rotation axis.
  13. 13 . The powder container according to claim 1 , wherein; the container main portion has a plurality of cuts parallel to the direction of the rotation axis.
  14. 14 . The powder container according to claim 1 , wherein; the powder container is a toner container or a developer container.
  15. 15 . An image forming apparatus comprising: a body; and the powder container according to claim 1 detachably attached to the body.
  16. 16 . A powder container comprising: a container main portion having a substantially cylindrical shape to rotate around a rotation axis of the container main portion to convey powder stored inside the container main portion in a conveyance direction along a direction of the rotation axis, the container main portion being a component including paper formed by press working; and a container bottom portion disposed to close an opening of the container main portion on an upstream side of the container main portion in the conveyance direction, wherein the container bottom portion is rotatable together with the container main portion and is a component made by resin molding or by press working of paper.
  17. 17 . The powder container according to claim 16 , wherein: the container main portion has a plurality of concave-and-convex portions formed by press working, and the plurality of concave-and-convex portions are recessed from an outer circumferential surface of the substantially cylindrical shape and protrude toward an inner circumferential surface.
  18. 18 . The powder container according to claim 17 , wherein: the plurality of concave-and-convex portions are spirally arranged in the container main portion having the substantially cylindrical shape.
  19. 19 . A method of manufacturing a powder container for storing powder inside, the method comprising: performing press working on a flat sheet of paper to form a plurality of concave-and-convex portions that are recessed from a front surface of the flat sheet of paper and protrude toward a back surface of the flat sheet of paper; and joining ends of the flat sheet of paper to form a container main portion having a substantially cylindrical shape after the press working, wherein the performing the press working includes: forming a first semi-cylindrical portion and a second semi-cylindrical portion connected to each other at a bent portion on the flat sheet of paper; and forming a plurality of concave-and-convex portions on the first semi-cylindrical portion and the second semi-cylindrical portion, and wherein the joining includes bending the first semi-cylindrical portion and the second semi-cylindrical portion at the bent portion to join an end of the first semi-cylindrical portion and an end of the second semi-cylindrical portion to each other.
  20. 20 . The method according to claim 19 , wherein the performing the press working includes: forming the first semi-cylindrical portion and the second semi-cylindrical portion connected to each other at the bent portion on the flat sheet of paper; and forming the plurality of concave-and-convex portions before and after the forming of the first semi-cylindrical-portion forming and the second semi-cylindrical-portion forming are performed.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This patent application is based on and claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2023-199557, filed on Nov. 27, 2023, and 2024-049040, filed on Mar. 26, 2024 in the Japan Patent Office, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. BACKGROUND Technical Field Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a powder container in which powder such as toner is stored therein, an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer, a facsimile, or a multifunction peripheral thereof including the powder container, and a method for manufacturing the powder container. Related Art Image forming apparatuses such as copiers and printers are widely known in which a substantially cylindrical toner container attached to and detached from a body of an image forming apparatus is disposed. Specifically, the toner container typically includes a substantially cylindrical container body and a cap. The container body has an opening portion in a head portion and a spiral projection formed on an inner circumferential surface of the container body. The cap has a toner ejection port (supplying port) at its bottom portion, and the head portion of the container body is inserted therein. SUMMARY In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a powder container for storing powder inside includes a container main portion. The container main portion has a substantially cylindrical shape to rotate around a rotation axis of the container main portion to convey powder stored inside the container main portion in a conveyance direction along a direction of the rotation axis. The container main portion is a component made of paper formed by press working. In another embodiment of the present disclosure, an image forming apparatus includes a body and the powder container detachably attached to the body. In still another embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of manufacturing a powder container for storing powder inside includes performing press working on a flat sheet of paper to form a plurality of concave-and-convex portions that are recessed from a front surface of the flat sheet of paper and protrude toward a back surface of the flat sheet of paper and joining ends of the flat sheet of paper to form a container main portion having a substantially cylindrical shape after the pressing working. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A more complete appreciation of embodiments of the present disclosure and many of the attendant advantages and features thereof can be readily obtained and understood from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an image forming device included in the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a view of a toner container disposed in a toner supply device; FIG. 4 is a perspective view of toner containers disposed on a mount; FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a toner container; FIG. 6 is a side view of a container main portion (a container body) of a toner container; FIG. 7 is a plan view of a flat sheet of forming paper before formation of a substantially cylindrical container main portion; FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a concave-and-convex portion, taken along line A-A of FIG. 7; FIGS. 9A to 9D are diagrams illustrating a step of manufacturing a substantially cylindrical container main portion; FIG. 10 is a plan view of a flat sheet of forming paper before formation of a substantially cylindrical container main portion, according to a first modification; FIG. 11 is a plan view of a flat sheet of forming paper on which press working is performed, according to a second modification; and FIGS. 12A and 12B are diagrams illustrating a step of manufacturing a substantially cylindrical container main portion after the press working of FIG. 11. The accompanying drawings are intended to depict embodiments of the present disclosure and should not be interpreted to limit the scope thereof. The accompanying drawings are not to be considered as drawn to scale unless explicitly noted. Also, identical or similar reference numerals designate identical or similar components throughout the several views. DETAILED DESCRIPTION In describing embodiments illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology is employed for the sake of clarity. However, the disclosure of this specification is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology so selected and it is to be understood that each specific element includes all technical equivalents that have a similar function, operate in a similar manner, and achieve a similar result. Referring now to the drawings, embodiments of the present disclosure are described below. Embodiments of the present disclosure are described below in detail with reference t