Toner bottle, toner supply system and image forming apparatus using same

A toner supply container for supplying toner into a main assembly of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, comprising:

• a toner accommodating portion for accommodating toner to be supplied into a main assembly;
• a toner discharging opening for discharging the toner accommodated in said toner accommodating portion, said toner discharging opening being provided in said toner accommodating portion;
• an openable member, slidable along an outer surface of said toner accommodating portion, for openably sealing said toner discharging opening, said openable member being slidable in a direction crossing with a longitudinal direction of said toner accommodating portion;
• a rotatable member, rotatable relative to said toner accommodating portion and provided at one longitudinal end of said toner accommodating portion, wherein said rotatable member is provided with a plurality of teeth and engageable with a main assembly gear portion of a rotating force treansmission member provided in the main assembly when said toner supply container is mounted to the main assembly;
• and
• a plurality of teeth as a rotating force receiving portion for receiving a rotating force produced by rotation of said rotatable member and said teeth provided on said rotatable member and the main assembly gear portion to unseal said toner discharging opening by the rotation of said rotatable member when said toner supply container is mounted to the main assembly, wherein said teeth as the rotating force receiving portion are integral with said openable member.

A toner supply container for supplying toner into a main assembly of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, comprising:

• a toner accommodating portion for accommodating toner to be supplied to the main assembly of said electrophotographic image forming apparatus;
• a grip member provided at one longitudinal end of said toner accommodating portion, said grip member being provided for being gripped by an operator and being rotatable relative to said toner accommodating portion;
• a plurality of first teeth provided integrally with said grip member, said first teeth being arranged in a direction substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of said toner accommodating portion, wherein said first teeth are engageable with a first gear of a main assembly gear portion provided in the main assembly when said toner supply container is mounted to the main assembly;
• a toner discharging opening for discharging the toner accommodated in said toner accommodating portion, said toner discharging opening being provided in said toner accommodating portion, wherein said toner discharging opening is disposed at an end of said toner accommodating portion closer to said grip portion opposed to an end of said toner accommodating portion, which is not provided with said grip portion, in a longitudinal direction of said toner accommodation portion;
• a plate member, slidable along an outer surface of said toner accommodating portion, for openably sealing said toner discharging opening, said plate member being slidable in a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of said toner accommodating portion and being curved along the outer surface of said toner accommodating portion;
• a plurality of second teeth for receiving a rotating force produced by rotation of said grip member to unseal said toner discharging opening by the rotation of said grip member when said toner supply container is mounted to the main assembly, said second teeth being arranged in a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of said toner accommodating portion, wherein said second teeth are integral with said plate member, and are engageable with a second gear of the main assembly gear portion provided in the main assembly when said toner supply container is mounted to the main assembly to receive a rotating force produced by rotation of said grip member through the first gear and the second gear;
• a toner feeding member, provided in said toner accommodating portion, for feeding the toner accommodated in said toner accommodating portion toward said toner discharging opening;
• a driving force receiving member for receiving driving force to rotate said toner feeding member by the main assembly when said toner supply container is mounted to the main assembly, said driving force receiving member being provided at a side opposite from a side having said grip member in a longitudinal direction of said toner accommodating portion;
• and
• a toner filling opening for filling said toner accommodating portion with toner, said toner filling opening being provided at a portion side opposite from a side having said driving force receiving member in the longitudinal direction of said toner accommodating portion, wherein said toner filling opening is sealed by a cap, and wherein said toner filling opening and said cap are covered with said grip member.

A toner supply container for supplying toner into a main assembly of electrophotographic image forming apparatus, comprising:

• a toner accommodating portion for accommodating toner to be supplied into main assembly;
• a toner discharging opening for discharging the toner accommodated in the toner accommodating portion, said toner discharging opening being provided in said toner accommodating portion;
• a sealing member for openably sealing said toner discharging opening;
• a rotatable member which is rotatable relative to said toner accommodating portion;
• and
• a rotating force receiving portion for receiving rotating force produced by rotation of said rotatable member through a rotating force transmission member provided in the main assembly to unseal a main assembly openable member which seals a toner receiving opening provided in the main assembly by rotation of said rotatable member, when said toner supply container is mounted to the main assembly.

An electrophotographic image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material with toner, which electrophotographic image forming apparatus is supplied with the toner from a toner supply container, comprising:

• (a) a rotating force transmission member;
• (b) a toner container mounting portion for detachably mounting said toner supply container, said toner supply container including:
• a toner accommodating portion for accommodating toner to be supplied into a main assembly of said electrophotographic image forming apparatus;
• a toner discharging opening for discharging the toner accommodating in the toner accommodating portion, said toner discharging opening being provided in said toner accommodating portion;
• a container openable member for openably sealing said toner discharging opening;
• a rotatable member, which is rotatable relative to said toner accommodating portion, for imparting a rotating force to the rotating force transmission member provided in said main assembly when said toner supply container is mounted to the main assembly;
• a rotating force receiving portion for receiving the rotating force from said rotating force transmission member when said toner supply container is mounted to said main assembly to move said openable member relative to said toner accommodating portion so as to open said toner discharging opening;
• (c) a feeding member for feeding the recording material.

An electrophotographic image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material with toner, which electrophotographic image forming apparatus is supplied with the toner from a toner supply container, comprising:

• (a) a main assembly gear portion;
• (b) a toner container mounting portion for mounting said toner container, said toner container including:
• a toner accommodating portion for accommodating toner to be supplied into a main assembly;
• a toner discharging opening for discharging the toner accommodated in the toner accommodating portion, said toner discharging opening being provided in said toner accommodating portion;
• a container openable member, slidable along an outer surface of said toner accommodating portion, for openably sealing said toner discharging opening, said container openable member being slidable in a direction crossing with a longitudinal direction of said toner accommodating portion;
• a rotatable member which is rotatable relative to said toner accommodating portion and which is provided at one longitudinal end of said toner accommodating portion, said rotatable member being provided with a first plurality of teeth arranged and engageable with said main assembly gear portion when said toner supply container is mounted to the main assembly,
• a second plurality of teeth as a rotating force receiving portion for receiving rotating force produced by rotation of said rotatable member through said teeth provided on said rotatable member and said main assembly gear portion to unseal said toner discharging opening by the rotation of said rotatable member when said toner supply container is mounted to the main assembly of said electrophotographic image forming apparatus, wherein the teeth as said rotating force receiving portion are integral with said container openable member;
• (c) a feeding member for feeding the recording material.

An electrophotographic image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material with toner supplied from a toner supply container, comprising:

• (a) a main assembly gear portion including a first gear and a second gear;
• (b) a toner container mounting portion for mounting said toner container, said toner container including:
• a toner accommodating portion for accommodating toner to be supplied to the main assembly;
• a grip member provided at one longitudinal end of said toner accommodating portion, said grip member provided for being gripped by an operator and being rotatable relative to said toner accommodating portion;
• a plurality of first teeth provided integrally with said grip member, said teeth being arranged in a direction substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of said toner accommodating portion, wherein said first teeth are engageable with the first gear when said toner supply container is mounted to the main assembly;
• a toner discharging opening for discharging the toner accommodated in said toner accommodating portion, said toner discharging opening being provided in said toner accommodating portion, wherein said toner discharging opening is disposed at an end closer to said grip portion than an end of said toner accommodating portion, which is not provided with said grip portion, in the longitudinal direction of said toner accommodating portion;
• a plate member, slidable along an outer surface of said toner accommodating portion, for openably sealing said toner discharging opening, said plate member being slidable in a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of said accommodating portion and being curved along the outer surface of said toner accommodating portion;
• a plurality of second teeth for receiving a rotating force produced by rotation of said grip member to unseal said toner discharging opening by rotating said grip member when said toner supply container is mounted to the main assembly, said second teeth being arranged in a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of said toner accommodating portion wherein said second teeth are integral with said plate member, and are engageable with the second gear when said toner supply container is mounted to the main assembly to receive a rotating force produced by rotating said grip member through the first gear and the second gear;
• a toner feeding member, provided in said toner accommodating portion, for feeding the toner accommodated in said toner accommodating portion toward said toner discharging opening;
• a driving force receiving member for receiving a driving force to rotate said toner feeding member by the main assembly when said toner supply container is mounted to the main assembly, said driving force receiving member being provided at a portion opposite from a portion having said grip member in the longitudinal direction of said toner accommodating portion;
• a toner filling opening for filling said toner accommodating portion with toner, said toner filling opening being provided at an end opposed to an end having said driving force receiving member in the longitudinal direction of said toner accommodating portion, wherein said toner filling opening is sealed by a cap, and wherein said toner filling opening is sealed by a cap, and wherein said toner filling opening and said cap are covered with said grip member;
• (c) a feeding member for feeding the recording material.

An electrophotographic image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material with toner supplied from a toner supply container, comprising:

• (a) rotating force transmission member;
• (b) a toner container mounting portion for mounting said toner container, said toner container including:
• a toner accommodating portion for accommodating toner to be supplied into a main assembly;
• a toner discharging opening for discharging the toner accommodated in the toner accommodating portion, said toner discharging opening being provided in said toner accommodating portion;
• a sealing member for openably sealing said toner discharging opening;
• a rotatable member, which is rotatable relative to said toner accommodating portion;
• and
• a rotating force receiving portion for receiving a rotating force produced by rotating of said rotatable member through said rotating force transmission member provided in the main assembly to unseal a main assembly openable member, which seals a toner reception opening provided in the main assembly by rotating said rotatable member, when said toner supply container is mounted to the main assembly;
• and
• (c) a feeding member for feeding the feeding member.

A toner supply container for supplying toner to a main assembly of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, wherein the main assembly including a first main assembly engaging portion, a second main assembly engaging portion and a driving force transmitting portion for transmitting to said second main assembly engaging portion driving force received by said first main assembly engaging portion, said container comprising:

• a toner accommodating portion for accommodating the toner;
• a toner discharging opening for discharging the toner accommodated in said toner accommodating portion;
• an openable member for openably sealing said toner discharging opening
• a first container engaging portion for transmitting driving force to said first main assembly engaging portion when said toner supply container is mounted to the main assembly;
• and
• a second container engaging portion for receiving driving force from said second main assembly engaging portion when said toner supply container is mounted to the main assembly,
• wherein when said toner supply container is mounted to the main assembly, the driving force transmitted to the main assembly by said first container engaging portion is received by said second container engaging portion from the main assembly, and said openable member is moved by the driving force to open said toner discharging opening.

A toner supply container for supplying toner to a main assembly of an image forming apparatus, wherein said toner supply container is detachably mountable to the main assembly, said toner supply container comprising:

• a toner accommodating portion for accommodating the toner, said toner accommodating portion being provided with a toner discharging opening for discharging the toner from said toner accommodating portion;
• an openable member for openably closing said toner discharging opening;
• a movable member, which is movable relative to said toner accommodating portion, for imparting a driving force to a driving force transmission member provided in the main assembly;
• a driving force receiving portion for receiving the driving force from said driving force transmission member when said toner supply container is mounted to the main assembly to move said openable member relative to said toner accommodating portion so as to open said toner discharging opening.