Means and method of installing toner seals

#This invention relates to the field of electrophotographic printers employing replaceable toner cartridges which are containers holding a supply of toner particles. The toner is fed, by various means, to the development section of the printer. The toner is in powder form that typically has a particle size ranging from 5 microns to 20 microns. The toner is designed to flow freely, which makes it difficult to contain in the toner cartridge during shipping without a seal completely covering the opening. The seals must be able to withstand the rigors of transport and be easily removed by the end user of the cartridge.

#Printer cartridges are designed to be compact. As a rule, many toner cartridges have very narrow, openings to the integral toner hopper which makes either manual or automatic seal placement difficult. Many seats use a pressure-sensitive adhesive. When the pressure-sensitive adhesive is exposed prior to insertion, it tends to make placement difficult while maneuvering in a restricted opening, particularly in a manual seal insertion process.

#There have been various designs to make such seals easier to insert over the toner cartridge opening. One construction includes a removable cardboard strip with perpendicular tabs on the top surface of the seal. This design provides a rigid support for the seal and a means to grasp the seal for insertion. The disadvantage accompanying this design is that it is still difficult to maneuver the seal into position with the adhesive fully exposed, and it is even more difficult in a manual process in toner cartridges having very narrow access openings. It is not possible to see the whole position of the seal as it is installed because the seal is held by hand, and the hand blocks the view.

#In the drawings, to which reference will be made in the specification, similar reference characters have been employed to designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

#FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a seal installation tool forming part of the disclosed embodiment.

#FIG. 2 is a corresponding side elevational view showing the engagement of the tool with a known toner seal.

#With reference to the drawing, reference character 10 indicates a known flexible toner cartridge seal having a main body 11 formed from metallic foil, and bounded by an upper surface 12, a lower surface 13, longitudinal edges 14 and 15, end edges 16 and 17, tear strip reinforcements 18 and 19, and a flexible tear strip 21 which when pulled after installation, opens the seal. The undersurface adjacent the longitudinal edges 14 and 15 are provided with a suitable pressure-sensitive adhesive, as is known in the art, such edges being hereinafter being referred to as distal and proximal, respectively, with respect to the access opening in the cartridge (not shown).

#Referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated in detached form an installation tool 23 as described hereinabove. The tool includes a main body 24 of planar material such as synthetic resin or metal, bounded by an inner edge 25, an outer edge 28, side edges 28 and 29, tapered edges 30 and 31. A manually-engageable portion 32 is located adjacent a seal-engaging portion 33 defined by a raised guide 34 having an outer edge 35 defining a shoulder. A seal-engaging surface 36 includes a release coating, typically of silicon type, which enables the engagement of the proximal portion of the pressure-sensitive adhesive while allowing easy disengagement once a portion of the adhesive has been engaged along the distal edge of the mouth of the seal.

#Installation of the seal will be apparent from a consideration of the drawing. Once the toner cartridge has been thoroughly cleaned and all traces of a previous seal removed, the replacement seal is positioned as shown in FIG. 2 wherein the distal edge of the adhesive projects beyond the inner edge 25 (after the original protective silicon release paper has been removed), and the tool and seal together are inserted into the opening of the toner cartridge to a point where the seal directly overlies the toner hopper opening. This position will normally be detected by observing the end edges of the tool which will normally extend outwardly of the toner cartridge access opening.