Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Tohoku Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Daisuke Hasebe

Yukihiro Asano

Kenta Takahashi

Tatsuroh Watanabe

Yusuke Nemoto

Takeshi Sakashita

Masanari Fujita

Yuuji Meguro

Masanori Takahashi

Naoki Takai

Naoki Okazaki

Mitsuhiro Sugawara

Katsuaki Ono

A wiping device includes a roll unit, a moving member, processing circuitry, and a groove. The roll unit includes a band-shaped member, a first axial member, and a second axial member. The band-shaped member is wound around the first axial member to form a feed-side roll, and is wound around the second axial member to form a winding-side roll. The first axial member is movable relative to the second axial member. The moving member slides the roll unit. The processing circuitry controls sliding of the roll unit. The groove supports the first axial member at a position substantially horizontally opposed to the second axial member when a diameter of the feed-side roll is equal to or larger than a size, and guides the first axial member so that the first axial member moves upward and farther away from the second axial member as the diameter of the feed-side roll decreases.

Wiping device, head maintenance device, and liquid discharge apparatus

A roll device includes a feeding roll in which a web is wound, a winding roll configured to wind the web fed from the feeding roll, and a partition disposed between an outermost winding portion of the web fed from the feeding roll and an inner winding portion of the web overlapped with the outermost winding portion.

Roll device, roll apparatus, head maintenance device, and liquid discharge apparatus

A wiping device includes a wiping member including a web to wipe an object to be wiped, and circuitry to cause the wiping member to perform a wiping operation to wipe the object to be wiped. The circuitry causes the wiping member to perform a first wiping operation to move the wiping member relative to the object to be wiped in a first direction to wipe the object to be wiped from a wiping start side of the first wiping operation, and perform a second wiping operation to relatively move the wiping member relative to the object to be wiped in a second direction different from the first direction, to wipe the object to be wiped from a wiping finish side different from the wiping start side of the first wiping operation with the wiping member.

A roll unit includes a feeding roller to which a belt-shaped member is wound, and a winding roller to which the belt-shaped member fed from the feeding roll is wound. One of the feeding roller and the winding roller is relatively movable to the other of the feeding roller and the winding roller.

Liquid discharge apparatus

An image forming apparatus is disclosed, including a movable image bearer bearing an image thereon which is transferred to a recording medium when the image comes into contact with the recording medium; and a twining prevention member which is arranged in the vicinity of the image bearer on the side downstream of a portion of the contact between the recording medium and the image bearer in a moving direction of the image bearer to prevent the recording medium from twining around the image bearer, wherein the twining prevention member includes, in the portion of the contact with the recording medium, a high friction resistance portion which regulates movement of the recording medium.

Image forming apparatus

Disclosed is an image forming apparatus that includes plural recording heads that eject liquid droplets and plural maintenance units that correspond to the plural recording heads. The plural maintenance units are capable of separately moving between opposed positions opposed to the plural recording heads and retracted positions not opposed to the plural recording heads, and the plural maintenance units are retracted into the retracted positions in postures different from postures at the opposed positions.

An image forming apparatus includes a suction unit; a pressure unit configured to pressurize the inside of a supply channel extending from a liquid container to a recording head at a pressurizing position along the supply channel; an opening and closing unit configured to open and close the supply channel at a position downstream of the pressurizing position; and a control unit configured to cap a nozzle surface with a cap and suction ink from nozzles with the suction unit, to move the cap away from the nozzle surface after pressurizing the inside of the supply channel with the pressure unit to a pressure greater than or equal to atmospheric pressure, to wipe the nozzle surface with a wiping part after closing the supply channel with the opening and closing unit, and to open the supply channel with the opening and closing unit after wiping the nozzle surface.

A stencil printing method of the present invention intentionally transfers a smaller amount of ink from an upstream print drum to a paper sheet than from a downstream print drum to the same paper sheet such that images printed on the paper sheet one above the other have the same density at the end of a printing cycle. The method obviates a density difference and the roll-up of a paper sheet ascribable to retransfer particular to a single pass, color printing system. A stencil printer for practicing the method is also disclosed.

Stencil printing method and stencil printer therefor

A multicolor stencil printer including print drums each storing an ink of a particular color, pressing members each positioned and configured to move into contact with a particular one of the print drums to nip a recording medium for printing and move out of the contact to transport the recording medium toward downstream, and holding devices each assigned to a particular one of the pressing members for holding the particular one of the pressing members out of the contact with the particular one of the print drums, wherein in a color selective mode, the print drums and the pressing members selectively cooperate to nip the recording medium such that the holding devices assigned to unused pressing members hold the unused pressing members away from the print drums associated cooperatively with the unused pressing members.

Multicolor stencil printer having pressing member holding devices

A stencil printer of the type including a print drum around which a master is to be wrapped is disclosed. A press roller presses a paper sheet or similar recording medium against the master wrapped around the print drum. A press roller displacing device moves the press roller between an operative position where it presses the recording medium against the master and an inoperative position where it is spaced from the print drum. A press roller driving device causes the press roller held at the inoperative position to rotate, at a position where the roller faces the print drum, in the same direction as the direction in which the drum rotates during printing. The press roller driving device causes the press roller to rotate only when the roller is held at the inoperative position. The printer is capable of effecting preliminary rotation of the press roller at a stable, accurate speed with a relatively simple configuration while freeing the master, recording medium and print drum from loads.

Growing community of inventors

Miyagi, Japan

Daisuke Hasebe