Toner cartridge recharging tool

A toner cartridge recharging tool has a base that includes a workholder to receive and prevent significant axial movement of a toner cartridge. There is also a guide slot mount and a swivel arm mount attached to the base. The toner cartridge is inserted between a pair of receiving members and the adhesive strip seal is wrapped over the insertion tongue. The tongue guide shoe and the tongue itself are fit into the two guide slots and the swivel arms are engaged with a protrusion on the tongue guide shoe. Movement of the arm thus forces the insertion tongue into the thin slit in the side of the toner cartridge and, when the movement of the arm or arms is reversed, the adhesive strip seal is left in place.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to reloading toner cartridges so as to make 
them reusable as new. One particular problem associated with reloading 
cartridges is to properly seal the toner storage chamber in order to 
prevent toner spillage during handling and transportation. With the advent 
and popularity of laser printers there has arisen a large demand for toner 
to supply these printers. Most printer manufacturers have chosen to supply 
replacement toner in the form of complex toner cartridges which are custom 
fitted to their particular brand of printer. These cartridges are 
generally complex and expensive moldings often carrying integral parts of 
the printer mechanism as a part of their embodiment. The theory was that 
it would be easy to sell these expensive toner cartridges to users because 
that was the only way they could get their expensive printer to print. 
These "throwaway cartridges" represented a significant waste of labor and 
energy not to mention the additional burden placed on our landfill sites 
with more non-biodegradable waste. The integral printer parts included 
with some throwaway cartridges commonly include the finely machined and 
finished transfer drum along with its bearings and drive gear. The wear 
and tear encountered by these peripheral parts rarely justifies their 
replacement upon every toner exhaustion. Since the cartridges were 
designed to be throwaway in nature there has been no forethought given to 
the ease with which they might be refilled and resealed. 
As time went on and more and more laser printers began to be used, the 
users began to tire of the $100.00 charge for a refill cartridge every 
time their laser printer needed toner ink. Entrepreneurs began to refill 
used toner cartridges with fresh toner and sell the recycled product at 
far below the cost of a new replacement product. The semi-automation of 
the recycling process is the next logical step in the progression. This 
invention semi-automates one important area of the toner cartridge 
recycling process. 
One of the most difficult and perplexing tasks involved in recycling toner 
cartridges has been resealing the cartridge toner chamber after refilling 
so as to prevent messy spillage and leakage of the toner during shipping 
and handling. This is because the factory applied seal is made at a point 
of partial assembly of the cartridge, whereas the required points of 
sealing are effectively covered and hidden when the cartridge is fully 
assembled. One such commonly occurring, but difficult, task involves a 
situation where an adhesive sealing tape must be applied across a long, 
relatively wide toner opening wherein the only access to that opening is a 
tiny slot originally designed to be just large enough to remove the thin 
strip of adhesive tape. This invention fills an important need by 
providing a tool for admirably performing that task with ease and 
dispatch. 
It is to be understood from the outset that the scope of this invention is 
not limited to these fields or to the specific examples of potential uses 
presented hereinafter. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Several United States Patents have been granted which strive for solution 
of the above mentioned problems or otherwise show some features similar to 
those of this invention. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,279,065 issued to Sernevi on Jul. 21, 1981, shows a pusher 
rod 17 for inserting foam rubber strips into the ends of tubing members so 
as to form semipermanent plugs. The disclosure is considered pertinent to 
the apparatus of the instant invention only in so much as it teaches the 
insertion by pushing of a flaccid material into a relatively confined 
opening. 
U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,845 issued to Maclauchlan on Sep. 1, 1992, shows a 
pusher 20 for inserting end caps into cigarette boxes. Again the only 
pertinence to the instant invention is the use of a pusher to insert an 
object into a relatively inaccessible location. 
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,851 issued to Williams on Jul. 15, 1986 there is 
shown a method of filling a dry toner cartridge. The relevance of this 
patent to the instant invention is in its discussion of grasping the tail 
30 of the heat sealed tape and pulling it to break the seal between the 
tape and the flange 18, thus allowing the toner particles to discharge 
into the hopper. 
None of the above prior art, taken singly or in combination, anticipates or 
makes obvious the invention claimed herein. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention consists of a base that includes a workholder means 
to receive and prevent significant axial movement of a toner cartridge. 
There is also a guide slot mount and a swivel arm mount attached to the 
base. The toner cartridge is held by the receiving means and the adhesive 
strip seal is wrapped over the insertion tongue. The tongue guide shoe and 
the tongue itself are fit into two guide slots and the swivel arms are 
engaged with a protrusion on the tongue guide shoe. Movement of the arm 
thus forces the insertion tongue into the thin slit in the side of the 
toner cartridge and, when the movement of the arm or arms is reversed, the 
adhesive strip seal is left in place. 
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide a toner 
cartridge recharging tool to semi-automate the process of recharging an 
exhausted toner cartridge. 
It is another object of the invention to provide a toner cartridge 
recharging tool where the wrapping of the adhesive strip seal about the 
insertion tongue is aided by having the tongue removable from the rest of 
the device. 
It is a further object of the invention to provide a toner cartridge 
recharging tool where the insertion tongue is attached to a tongue guide 
shoe that has an adjustable stop means thereon to limit the travel of the 
insertion tongue. 
Still another object of the invention is to provide a toner cartridge 
recharging tool where the insertion tongue and tongue guide shoe are each 
engaged, during the insertion process, by separate guide slots. 
It is still yet another object of the invention to provide a toner 
cartridge recharging tool where the insertion tongue has a slight downward 
bend or bow to ensure that it contacts the guide shelf on the toner 
cartridge and thus easily slips into the thin slit therein. 
It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and 
arrangements thereof in an apparatus for the purposes described which is 
inexpensive, dependable and fully effective in accomplishing its intended 
purposes.

Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently 
throughout the attached drawings. 
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, the toner cartridge recharging tool X 
comprises a base 10, a swivel arm mount 12, workpiece holder 14 that 
comprises two workpiece holder members 16, 18 adapted to receive a toner 
cartridge T as shown by broken line T1 and hold it in place. The guide 
slot mount 20 has two guide slot mount members 22, 24 that define an 
insertion member travel area 300, shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, and mounted 
transversely therein is a travel stop 26. The guide slot mount members 22, 
24 have attached to them a pair of L-shaped feed guides 26, 28. 
Turning to FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 8, the insertion member 30 is shown to have 
an insertion tongue 32, a tongue guide shoe 34 that includes a protrusion 
36 and an adjustable stop means 38. The adjustable stop means is, in the 
preferred embodiment of the invention, a threaded screw 150 with a locking 
nut 160, both shown in FIG. 8, that can be tightened to hold the threaded 
screw 150 at a predetermined distance from the tongue guide shoe 34. The 
insertion member 30 also has a tongue guide lower member 39 located on the 
opposite side of the insertion tongue 32. In FIG. 3 it is seen that the 
insertion tongue 32 has a bow or bend therein. In interval 32a the 
insertion tongue 32 is oriented at a small angle upwards. In interval 32b 
the insertion tongue 32 is oriented at a slight angle downwards thus the 
insertion tip 32c of the insertion tongue 32 tends generally downwards in 
relation to the plane described by insertion guide shoe 34. 
The swivel arm mount 12 has a first arm 50 attached by swivel hinge 52. A 
second arm 54 is attached to the first arm 50 by a second universal type 
hinge 56 where the two pivot axes are orthogonal. The second arm also has 
an aperture 58, shown in FIG. 1, that is configured to receive the 
protrusion 36 on the tongue guide shoe 34 thus allowing the user to slide 
the insertion member 30 along within the guide slot mount members 22, :24. 
The insertion member 30 is engaged between the guide slot mount members 
22, 24 by the guide slot carrying members 60, 62, This is best seen in 
FIGS. 6 and 7. The guide slot carrying members 60, 62 are preferably made 
of a hardened steel and each contain an upper slot 64 and a lower slot 66. 
The inner surfaces of the guide slots are coated at 180 and 190 with a 
teflon or silicon low friction bearing surface. The upper slots 64 engage 
with fingers 64a extending dorsally of the tongue guide shoe 34 and the 
lower slots 66 engage the dorsal edges 66a of the insertion tongue 32. 
In use, the toner cartridge recharging tool X is readied by placing the 
toner cartridge T within the workpiece holder members 16, 18 to fix it in 
place. The ends of holder member 18 engage with shoulders 15 and 17 on the 
toner cartridge to prevent unwanted axial motion and back wall 19 of the 
toner cartridge abuts the inner face of holder member 16 to prevent 
unwanted lateral motion. The vertical position of the cartridge may be 
determined by contact of the toner cartridge with base 14 or by contact 
between the upper surfaces of members 16 and 18 upon corresponding 
horizontal ledges on the edges of the toner cartridge. The insertion 
member 30 is removed from the recharging tool X by sliding it in the 
direction indicated by arrow A3 in FIG. 2. The adhesive strip seal S, as 
shown in FIG. 8, is wrapped about the insertion tongue 32 at the insertion 
tip 32c, leaving a longer tail S1 extending proximate the grip end 80 of 
the insertion member 30. The insertion member 30 is then placed back into 
the recharging tool X by placing insertion tip 32c, and thus the insertion 
tongue 32, on the L-shaped feed guides 26, 28 and allowing the feed guides 
26, 28, while the insertion member 30 is slid opposite the direction 
indicated by arrow A3, to direct the dorsal edges 66a of the insertion 
tongue 32 into the lower slots 66 of the guide slot carrying members 60, 
62. As the sliding movement is continued, eventually the extending dorsal 
fingers 64a will engage the upper slots 64 of the guide slot carrying 
members 60, 62. At this point, the first arm 50 and the second arm 54 are 
manipulated by means of the swivel hinge 52 and the universal type hinge 
56, the movement of the latter being illustrated in FIG. 1 by arrows A1 
and A2. The aperture 58 in the second arm 54 is brought into alignment 
with, and receives, protrusion 36 on the tongue guide shoe 34. Then the 
second arm 54 is now manipulated in the direction indicated I at arrow A2. 
The insertion tongue 32, carrying the adhesive strip seal S with it, 
enters the thin slot 100 on the side of the toner cartridge T. As 
discussed above, this process is aided by the small angle orientation 
changes at intervals 32a, 32b that tend to keep the insertion tip 32c 
tended downwards thus keeping the insertion tip 32c adjacent to the guide 
shelf 102 that is integral with the toner cartridge T. The second arm 54 
is moved in the direction indicated I at arrow A2 until the adjustable 
stop means 38, more specifically the head of the threaded screw 150, butts 
against the travel stop 26. The movement of the second arm is then 
reversed. The adhesive strip seal S is left within the toner cartridge T 
while the insertion tongue 32 retracts, and the tail S1 is left protruding 
from the thin slot 100. The toner cartridge T is now ready to be refilled. 
When the user wishes to use the recharged cartridge, pulling the tail S1 
brings the toner reservoir (not shown) and the transfer drum D into 
communication. 
In a second embodiment of the invention, shown in FIG. 5, The travel stop 
26 and the adjustable stop means 38 are replaced by an adjustable 
protrusion 200, similar to the threaded screw and locking nut discussed 
above. This adjustable protrusion is located on the swivel arm mount 12. 
There is a plate 210 on the second arm 54 located so as to engage the 
adjustable protrusion 200 when the insertion tongue 32 has progressed 
sufficiently far enough into the toner cartridge T. 
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the 
sole embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments 
within the scope of the following claims.