Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Katsuaki Miyawaki

Hiromichi Matsuda

Tetsuo Watanabe

Makoto Obu

Shuji Hirai

Takashi Seto

Jun Yamane

Yasushi Nakazato

Yusuke Takeda

Osamu Satoh

Yoshinori Nakagawa

Satoshi Ouchi

Nekka Matsuura

Koichi Suzuki

Nobuo Iwata

Keisuke Shimizu

Kazumi Suzuki

Masaaki Yamada

Atsushi Nakafuji

Shin Kayahara

Takeo Tsukamoto

Hideki Kosugi

Katsuhiro Aoki

Takashi Fujita

Takeshi Watanabe

Takashi Hashimoto

Hideyuki Takayama

Hisashi Shoji

Yasuhiro Maehata

Yuichi Aoyama

Hiromitsu Takagaki

Sadayuki Iwai

Tetsurou Sasamoto

Kei Yasutomi

Fumihito Masubuchi

Seiji Hoshino

Hitoshi Maruyama

Takeshi Iijima

Atsuyuki Oyamada

Yoshihiko Hotta

Tomoko Takahashi

Koichi Kudo

Masanori Saitoh

Toshihiro Okamoto

Toshio Kawakubo

Hirohmi Tamura

Hitoshi Shimizu

Makoto Komatsu

Yasuo Suzuki

Takeo Suda

Takeshi Takemoto

Noriyasu Takeuchi

Takeshi Saitou

Tetsuroh Miura

Hiromi Tamura

Takashi Mori

Tsuneo Kurotori

Tsuyoshi Sugimoto

Noriyoshi Tarumi

Yasuyuki Ishii

Masahiko Itaya

Eisaku Murakami

Hiroshi Ikeguchi

Yasuhisa Ehara

Mie Yoshino

Kimiharu Yamazaki

Toshiyuki Kawanishi

Eiichi Ohta

Tetsuya Amano

Masato Igarashi

Masakazu Muranaka

Nobuhiko Umezawa

Toshio Inada

Masami Hiramatsu

Masaki Hiroi

Daiki Sekita

Satoshi Igari

Takeo Wada

Kozoh Sudoh

A sheet conveying device, which is incorporated in an image forming apparatus, includes a first detector to detect an angle deviation of a recording medium to a sheet conveying direction, a second detector to detect a lateral shift of the recording medium to a width direction, a third detector to detect at least one of the angle deviation and the lateral shift after correction of the angle deviation detected by the first detector and the lateral shift detected by the second detector, and a rotary body to perform a primary movement by (1) rotating in the sheet conveying direction and returning to a reference position and by (2) moving in the width direction and returning to the reference position, and a secondary movement by performing at least one of (1) and (2) after the primary movement.

Sheet conveying device and image forming apparatus incorporating the sheet conveying device

A sheet conveying device, which is included in an image forming apparatus and a post processing device, includes multiple position detectors and a position corrector. The multiple position detectors are aligned along a sheet conveying direction and configured to detect a side end of a sheet. The position corrector is configured to convey the sheet and correct a position of the sheet based on a positional deviation amount of the sheet, obtained by a detection result of the multiple position detectors. The positional deviation amount of the sheet is obtained by an extreme downstream position detector in the sheet conveying direction, of the multiple position detectors. A position of a subsequent sheet is corrected based on a sum of the positional deviation amount of the sheet and a positional deviation amount of the subsequent sheet.

Sheet conveying device, image forming apparatus incorporating the sheet conveying device, and post processing device incorporating the sheet conveying device

A sheet conveying device, which is included in an image forming apparatus, includes a sheet holding roller to move while holding a sheet, a detector to perform a primary detection to detect a sheet position before the sheet holding roller holds the sheet and a secondary detection to detect a sheet position downstream from the sheet position detected by the primary detection, and a controller configured to cause the sheet holding roller to perform a first drive to move the sheet holding roller in at least one direction of a width direction of the sheet and a rotation direction in a sheet conveying surface based on a result of the primary detection and a second drive to move the sheet holding roller opposite to the at least one direction of the first drive, based on a result of the secondary detection.

A sheet conveying device, which is included in an image forming apparatus, includes a detector to detect a lateral end face of a sheet, a first pair of rollers to hold and convey the sheet and swing in a direction parallel to a plane of the sheet, a second pair of rollers to convey the sheet together with the first pair of rollers, and a controller to rotate the first pair of rollers to multiple angles, detect time changes at each angle at the lateral end face while conveying the sheet, and determine a home position corresponding to a position where respective rates of the time changes of the sheet at the first and second nip regions are substantially identical to each other or a home position having a least difference of rates of the time changes of the sheet at the first and second nip regions.

A sheet conveying device, which is included in an image forming apparatus and a post processing device, includes a position corrector and either one of a rolling body and a contact resistance reducer. The position corrector is configured to convey a sheet and correct a position of the sheet. The rolling body is disposed at least one of an upstream side and a downstream side of a sheet conveyance passage from the position corrector in a sheet conveying direction and is configured to roll in at least a direction intersecting the sheet conveying direction. The contact resistance reducer is configured to reduce contact resistance generated due to contact of the sheet to a neighboring part when the position of the sheet is corrected by the position corrector.

A planetary gear mechanism includes a plurality of planetary gears, an outer gear, a sun gear, a carrier, and a stick mount. The outer gear meshes with the plurality of planetary gears. The sun gear is coaxially disposed on the same axis as the outer gear and transmits force to the planetary gears. The carrier rotatably supports the plurality of planetary gears and is rotatably and floatingly supported. The carrier includes a hole through which a stick member penetrates in a direction of axis of rotation of the carrier. The stick member penetrates through the hole and is mounted on the stick mount. The stick mount is disposed opposite the carrier. The outer gear and the sun gear are held such that one of the outer gear and the sun gear does not rotate.

Planetary gear assembly, drive unit including the planetary gear assembly, and image forming apparatus including the drive unit, and installation method for planetary gear assembly

An image reading device, which is included in an image forming apparatus and used to perform a method of reading images, includes an image reading body configured to read one of a recording medium and the recording medium together with a background area adjacent to the recording medium, a moving body disposed facing the image reading body, and a reference body as a reference in shading correction. The moving body is configured to hold the recording medium and the reference body in a direction intersecting a sheet conveying direction of the recording medium such that the recording medium and the reference body contact to and separate from the image reading body.

Image reading device, image forming apparatus and method using the image reading device employing movable guide plate holding the medium and shading correction plate

A power transmission device includes a drive coupling, a driven coupling, and an intermediate transmission member. The drive coupling receives power from a drive source and rotates. The driven coupling is disposed coaxially on a first rotary shaft of the drive coupling and detachably attachable relative to the main body of the image forming apparatus. The intermediate transmission member meshes with the drive coupling and the driven coupling and is held by one of the drive coupling and the driven coupling in a state in which the driven coupling is disengaged from the main body. One of the drive coupling and the driven coupling, whichever holds the intermediate transmission member, constitutes a retaining coupling including an attachment member attached to one of a drive-side device and a driven-side device, and a stopper assembly facing the intermediate transmission member in an axial direction of the first rotary shaft.

Power transmission device and image forming apparatus including the same

A reduction gear unit incorporatable in an image forming apparatus includes planetary gear mechanisms each including a sun gear, an outer gear, planetary gears arranged between the outer gear and the sun gear at equal intervals and meshing with the sun gear and the outer gear, and a carrier rotatable coaxially with the sun gear and the outer gear to rotatably support the planetary gears. An extreme upstream mechanism in the drive transmission direction includes an input element connected to a drive source. An extreme downstream mechanism includes an output element connected to a member outputting the drive force to a rotary member. Any mechanism other than the extreme downstream mechanism includes an output element connected to an input element of an adjacent mechanism located downstream of any other mechanism. The sun gear of the extreme downstream mechanism has a larger pitch diameter than any other mechanisms.

Reduction gear unit and image forming apparatus incorporating same

A driving device includes a drive source, a planetary gear decelerator, a drive-target shaft, a rotation speed detector, and a sensor mount. The planetary gear decelerator includes a planetary gear mechanism equipped with an output shaft, a sun gear, an outer gear, a plurality of planetary gears, and a rotatable first carrier. The outer gear is made of resin and includes a deformable portion at a drive target side, and the deformable portion is elastically deformable in a radial direction. The plurality of planetary gears engages the sun gear and the outer gear. The rotatable first carrier rotatably supports the planetary gears. The rotation speed detector detects a rotation speed of the planetary gear decelerator, and includes a sensor and a detection target disposed coaxially on the output shaft. The sensor mount supports the sensor and moves in the radial direction in accordance with elastic deformation of the outer gear.

Driving device and image forming apparatus including the driving device

A rotating-body driving device that includes a rotating body; a driving source; a reduction gear that includes an output shaft and a gear rotating at a non-integer ratio of rotation period to a rotation period of the output shaft, and the reduction gear reducing rotation speed of the driving source; a pulse-signal generating unit; a pulse-count storage unit; a speed-fluctuation storage unit that stores therein a rotation speed fluctuation of the output shaft; and a driving-source control unit. The driving-source control unit detects the speed fluctuation information associated with the accumulated number of pulse signals from the speed-fluctuation storage unit, and performs for the driving source a feedforward control to set off the rotation speed fluctuation.

Rotating-body driving device and image forming apparatus

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Kanagawa, Japan

Katsuaki Miyawaki