Patent Publication Number: US-9851687-B2

Title: Toner cartridge for electronic image forming apparatus

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to toner cartridge and more particularly, to a toner cartridge mounted in an electronic image forming apparatus. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     A conventional photosensitive drum disposed in a toner cartridge can process with charging, exposing, developing and transferring toner powders on a paper to copy document. The photosensitive drum mainly comprises a photosensitive roller disposed inside a case body of the toner cartridge and a transmitting assembly disposed at an end of the photosensitive roller. The case body of the toner cartridge has an opening, the transmitting assembly is extended through the opening and connected with a driving member disposed inside a housing of the electronic image forming apparatus, to transmit a rotational kinetic energy from the driving member to the photosensitive roller. The toner cartridge further has a cover member disposed at the opening, the cover member has a through hole. Therefore, when the transmitting assembly is extended through the opening, the transmitting assembly can insert into the through hole, and the cover member can be directly disposed at the opening with success. 
     Nowadays there may be many transmitting assemblies with different structures which have been developed. For example, a transmitting assembly has an axial member and two engaging claws rotatably disposed at the axial member, the two engaging claws can be opened or closed relative to the axial member; when there is no external force applied on the aforementioned transmitting assembly, the two engaging claws are in an opened position, meanwhile if it is tried to mount the cover member on the opening, part of structure of the cover member may be interfered with the engaging claws, and it is failed to mount the cover member. In order to overcome this situation, an operator has to close the two engaging claws first, and the cover member can be mounted on the opening. However, the procedure for mounting the cover member on the opening would take too much time and be inconvenient. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above-noted circumstances. It is an objective of the present invention to provide a toner cartridge, the procedure for mounting a cover member of which on an opening of the toner cartridge would save time and be convenient. 
     To attain the above objective, the present invention provides a toner cartridge, which comprises a case body, a photosensitive roller, a transmitting assembly and a cover member. The case body has an inner space and a side opening communicated with the inner space and outside. The photosensitive roller is disposed at the inner space and has an imaginary axis. The transmitting assembly has a gear member fixed at an end of the photosensitive roller, an axial member provided with an end disposed at the gear member, and two engaging claws rotatably disposed at the other end of the axial member, wherein the gear member and the axial member are coaxial with the photosensitive roller; each of the engaging claws is rotatable between an opened position and a closed position; each of the engaging claws is provided with a vertex; when the engaging claw is in the opened position, the vertex of the engaging claw is defined with the imaginary axis a maximum distance that is greater than a distance between any other position on the engaging claw and the imaginary axis, and the maximum distance is greater than a distance between any position on the engaging claw and the imaginary axis when the engaging claw is in the closed position. The cover member has a main body disposed at the side opening of the case body and abutted against the gear member, and a connecting hole located at the main body and configured in a way that the axial member is insertable into the connecting hole and the two engaging claws in the opened position are accommodatable in the connecting hole. 
     Accordingly, even though the two engaging claws of the transmitting assembly are in the opened position, the two engaging claws still can be accommodated in the connecting hole of the cover member and not interfered with the connecting hole. Therefore, during the procedure for mounting the cover member on the side opening of the case body, the operator would not need to close the two engaging claws, and the cover member still can be mounted on the side opening, so that the procedure for mounting the cover member may save time and be convenient. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a toner cartridge according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a photosensitive roller, a transmitting assembly and a cover member according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a side view of engaging claws of the transmitting assembly in an opened position according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a side view of the engaging claws of the transmitting assembly in a closed position according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a side view of a gear member abutted against the cover member according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the cover member according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the cover member from another view angle according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  is a front view of the cover member according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 9  is a front view of the cover member and the transmitting assembly according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a toner cartridge  1  according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention. The toner cartridge  1  includes a case body  10 , a photosensitive roller  20  (as shown in  FIG. 2 ), a transmitting assembly  30  and a cover member  40 . The toner cartridge  1  is adapted for being mounted in an electronic image forming apparatus (not shown). 
     The case body  10  has an inner space  12  in where toner is accommodated, and a side opening  14  communicated with the inner space  12  and outside, the said outside is referred as space outside of the case body  10 . 
     The photosensitive roller  20  is disposed at the inner space  12  of the case body  10 , the photosensitive roller  20  has an imaginary axis L and is rotatable along the imaginary axis L. 
     The transmitting assembly  30  has a gear member  32  fixed at an end of the photosensitive roller  20 , an axial member  34  provided with an end movably or unmovably disposed at the gear member  32 , and two engaging claws  36  rotatably disposed at the other end of the axial member  34 . The gear member  32  and the axial member  34  are coaxial with the imaginary axis L of the photosensitive roller  20 . The gear member  32  has an annular notch  321 . Each of the engaging claws  36  is rotatable between an opened position (as shown in  FIG. 3 ) and a closed position (as show in  FIG. 4 ). Each of the engaging claws  36  is provided with a vertex  361 ; when the engaging claw  36  is in the opened position, the vertex  361  is defined with the imaginary axis L a maximum distance D that is greater than a distance between any other position on the engaging claw  36  and the imaginary axis L, and the maximum distance D is greater than a distance between any position on the engaging claw  36  and the imaginary axis L when the engaging claw  36  is at the closed position. The two engaging claws  36  are engageable with a driving member of the electronic image forming apparatus, so that a rotational kinetic energy of the driving member can be transmitted to the photosensitive roller  20  through the transmitting assembly  30  to rotate the photosensitive roller  20 . When the two engaging claws  36  are not yet engaged with the driving member, the two engaging claws  36  are in the opened position; when the two engaging claws  36  engaged with the driving member, the two engaging claws  36  are in the closed position. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 5 to 9 , the cover member  40  has a main body  42  disposed at the side opening  14  of the case body  10  and abutted against the gear member  32 , and a connecting hole  44  located at the main body  42  and configured in a way that the axial member  34  is insertable into the connecting hole  44 . A proximal side of the main body  42  adjacent to the gear member  32  has a tubular portion  421 , a distal side of the main body  42  away from the gear member  32  has an extending portion  423 , and inner edges of the tubular portion  421  and the extending portion  423  define the connecting hole  44 . When the main body  42  is abutted against the gear member  32 , the tubular portion  421  inserts into the annular notch  321  of the gear member  32 , so that the gear member  32  is rotatable relative to the cover member  40 . In the present embodiment, the tubular portion  421  is in a circular tubular shape, a nearest distance between the extending portion  423  and the imaginary axis L is smaller than (or equal to in other embodiment) a radius of the inner edge of the tubular portion  421 , and the nearest distance between the extending portion  423  and the imaginary axis L is not less than the maximum distance D between the vertex  361  and the imaginary axis L when the two engaging claws  36  are in the opened position. Accordingly, the two engaging claws  36  in the opened position (as shown in  FIG. 9 ) is accommodatable in the connecting hole  44 . In other embodiments, the shape of the tubular portion  421  can be modified depending on different situations and not limited to the circular tubular shape; the structure of the cover member  40  can be modified depending on demand, only if the two engaging claws  36  in the opened position are accommodatable in connecting hole  44  thereof. 
     Accordingly, even though the two engaging claws  36  of the transmitting assembly  30  are in the opened position, the two engaging claws  36  still can be accommodated in the connecting hole  44  of the cover member  40  and not interfered with the connecting hole  44 . Therefore, during the procedure for mounting the cover member  40  on the side opening  14  of the case body  10 , the operator would not need to close the two engaging claws  36 , and the cover member  40  still can be mounted on the side opening  14 , so that the procedure for mounting the cover member  40  may save time and be convenient. 
     The above description represents merely the preferred embodiment of the present invention, without any intention to limit the scope of the present invention. The simple variations and modifications not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.