Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Akira Shimura

Tomohiro Nakajima

Shuichi Yamazaki

Satoru Tomita

Takashi Yokota

Masaki Narita

Shigeru Suzuki

Masaichi Niro

Yutaka Kodama

Shigeru Yamazaki

Kunihiko Ikeda

Tatsuya Ito

Katsumi Yamaguchi

Satoru Ito

Yokota Takashi

A compact printer has a sheet feeder positioned at its front wall and electrophotographic components arranged along a sheet moving path for receiving a sheet from the sheet feeder and for exposing, developing, then transferring a toner image onto the sheet. At its rear side, the printer has an image fixing unit and a discharge portion for discharging the sheet to a side output tray or onto the top wall of the printer. The discharge portion is provided with a detachably hinged, sheet turning apparatus when it is desired to discharge sheets onto the top wall, or with a detachably hinged cover with a rear opening to discharge sheets onto a rear side output tray.

Printer with face-down delivery of collated printed sheets at the top, and a manually removable PC/developer cartridge

A method and apparatus that prevent degradation of an image quality due to a change of a beam pitch in a subscanning direction of each optical beam on a record medium. At a given time, for example, when power is first turned on, a CPU detects a beam pitch on a record medium, e.g., a photosensitive drum, by using a CCD line image sensor. If the detected value differs from a value set according to a currently-selected scanning density, an LD arrangement change motor is rotated via a motor driver so that the beam pitch matches the set value so as to change an arrangement of laser diodes in a laser diode array. Control over the beam pitch occurs for a variety of conditions including control at regular intervals, power-on events, or when a scanning density specification signal indicates a different beam pitch than the detected beam pitch. Similarly, adjustment over the beam pitch is not typically made during a copying operation.

Image recording method and apparatus using multiple laser beams

The current disclosure discloses methods of and systems for automatically adjusting or selecting a pitch between beams in a multi-beam scanning system. An array of light sources is mounted on a rotatable housing and emits light in a direction perpendicular to the rotational plane. The system or method measures a pitch on or near an intermediate image-forming surface. In response to the measured pitch, the scanning as well as sub-scanning pitch is automatically adjusted or selected by rotating a housing unit to maintain a desired pitch.

Multi-beam pitch adjustment system and method

A multiple beam scanning apparatus in which a plurality of light beams are repeatedly scanned at the same time, including a light source unit defining an optical axis and including plural laser diodes, collimator lenses for respectively converting light beams emitted by the laser diodes to respective parallel light fluxes, and a beam composing unit for superposing the light beams and emitting the superposed light beams therefrom. The light source unit is rotatively adjustable around the optical axis and is constructed such that respective light fluxes emitted from the beam composing unit are emitted with predetermined respective different angles at least in a main scanning direction.

Multiple beam scanning apparatus

Printer

Residual toner carried on the imaging surface of a photoconductive belt is removed by a cleaning sleeve, conveyed to a toner discharging station and let fall through an opening into a removable container. A spring biased closure member stops the opening when the container is removed for disposal, thereby preventing contamination to the adjacent structural elements. Means is provided for urging one to position the container always in a predetermined orientation relative to the opening at the toner discharging station. Undesirable particles entrained by the other surface of the belt is collected by a counter member which is located at the opposite side to the cleaning sleeve with respect to the belt. The counter member may take the form of a block of soft material or bristles carried on a support member.

Photoconductive element cleaning apparatus and residual toner collecting

An apparatus for cleaning a recording medium is provided. The cleaning apparatus of the present invention is applicable to an electrophotographic or electrographic recording system. The present cleaning apparatus comprises a toner cleaner for removing residual toner particles from the surface of a recording medium, a counter member disposed on the opposite side of the recording medium with respect to the toner cleaner, and a mechanism for urging at least either one of the toner cleaner and the counter member against the other. Accordingly, the recording medium is kept in pressure contact with the toner cleaner so that cleaning of the recording medium may be carried out at upmost efficiency at all times. Besides, due to the provision of the urging mechanism, the alignment of parts is made less severe in assemblage of the apparatus, thus facilitating the manufacturing process.

Apparatus for cleaning a recording medium

A skew control apparatus for use in a recording apparatus, capable of detecting the skew of an endless-belt-shaped recording material, and reversing the direction of the skew during a non-recording period, even if such skew is detected during the recording operation period.

Growing community of inventors

Kawasaki, Japan

Akira Shimura