Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Kazuki Suzuki

Makoto Kikura

Hiroshi Ishii

Kazuosa Kuma

Yutaka Fukuchi

Yuusuke Noguchi

Kiyonori Tsuda

Yuji Arai

Hiroshi Hosokawa

Masanori Kawasumi

Kazuhiko Umemura

Satoshi Narumi

Ryuta Takeichi

Masumi Sato

Motokazu Yasui

Tomotoshi Nakahara

Hiroyasu Shijo

Hiromichi Ema

Yasuhiro Maehata

Takayuki Niihara

Tetsuji Nishikawa

Masahiro Ishida

Tomohiko Sasaki

Yasuhiro Kawashima

Isamu Kubo

Yoichi Ito

Kazunori Bannai

Yuji Tanaka

Masanori Tanaka

Tomomi Katoh

Toshiyuki Uchida

Joh Ebara

Noriaki Funamoto

Akiyoshi Tanaka

Soyoung Park

Kuniyori Takano

Kunihiro Yamanaka

Taku Hatakeyama

Eiji Sawamura

Fumitaka Kikkawa

Misaki Uchiyama

Honriku Jo

Shigeyuki Ito

Mitsuya Matsubara

Osamu Takashima

Satoshi Endoh

Yuichi Tanioku

Kazuyuki Saitoh

Masahiro Tomita

Yusuke Noguchi

Shizuo Kawamura

Masumi Satp

A liquid discharge apparatus includes a liquid discharge head, a drying unit, and circuitry. The liquid discharge head performs a liquid discharge operation that includes discharging liquid onto a medium. The drying unit radiates heat to dry the liquid adhering to the medium. The circuitry moves the liquid discharge head. Further, the circuitry changes a drying target position on the medium after the liquid discharge head performs the liquid discharge operation. The drying target position is an area where the heat from the drying unit reaches.

Liquid discharge apparatus and liquid discharge method having a changing drying target position

A head cleaner to clean a liquid discharge head including a nozzle face in which nozzles are formed includes a wiper to wipe the nozzle face by moving relative to the liquid discharge head in a wiping direction. The wiper includes a wiper sheet, a blade having a higher water repellency than the wiper sheet, and a controller that controls the wiper to perform a first wiping operation and a second wiping operation. The first wiping operation involves wiping the nozzle face with the wiper sheet without bringing the blade into contact with the nozzle face, and the second wiping operation involves wiping the nozzle face with the wiper sheet and the blade by bringing the wiper sheet and the blade into contact with the nozzle face. The controller controls the wiper to perform the second wiping operation after performing the first wiping operation at least once.

Head cleaner and liquid discharge apparatus

A waste liquid container for storing a waste liquid discharged from an image forming apparatus is disclosed that includes a first container having a single waste liquid inlet into which the waste liquid enters and a second container communicating with the first container. The first and second containers are detachably attached to each other.

Waste liquid container and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes recording heads, a maintenance device, a carriage, cap members, cams, a cam shaft, a feeler member, a home position detection device, and a cap position determination device. The feeler member has a first portion to detect a home position of the cam shaft with the home position detection device and a second portion to determine with the cap position determination device whether the cap members are at a raised position or a lowered position. When the cap position determination device determines that a suction cap is at the raised position, the suction cap is lowered to the lowered position before the carriage mounting the recording heads moves for scanning in a first direction. When the cap position determination device determines that the suction cap is at the lowered position, the carriage is permitted to move to a print start position.

Image forming apparatus

An image apparatus includes a carriage, a first recording head, a second recording head, and a maintenance assembly. The carriage is movable in a main scanning direction. The second recording head is displaced from the first recording head on the carriage in a sub scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction. The maintenance assembly includes a frame member, a first maintenance device, and a second maintenance device. The frame member has a guide portion, a first contact portion, and a second contact portion. The second maintenance device is reciprocally movable along the guide portion in the sub scanning direction between a first position to oppose the first recording head and a second position to oppose the second recording head. The second maintenance device stops at the first position in contact with the first contact portion and at the second position in contact with the second contact portion.

Image forming apparatus having carriage mounting recording head for ejecting liquid droplets

An image forming apparatus includes an apparatus body, a carriage, a first recording head, a second recording head, and a maintenance assembly. The carriage is movable in a main scanning direction. The first recording head has nozzles in a nozzle face thereof to eject liquid droplets. The second recording head has nozzles in a nozzle face thereof to eject liquid droplets. The second recording head is displaced from the first recording head in a sub scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction. The maintenance assembly maintains and recovers the first recording head and the second recording head. The maintenance assembly includes a first maintenance device and a second maintenance device. The first maintenance device is held by the apparatus body. The second maintenance device is reciprocally movable between a first position to oppose the first recording head and a second position to oppose the second recording head.

An image forming apparatus includes a recording head configured to have a nozzle face on which nozzles that discharge liquid droplets are formed; a cap configured to cap the nozzle face of the recording head; a discharge path configured to be connected to the cap; a suction pump configured to be provided in the discharge path and be made of a tube pump; and an atmosphere opening part configured to open an airtight space, created when the nozzle face is capped by the cap, to the atmosphere. The atmosphere opening part is configured to communicate with the inside of the cap at a position higher than a surface of liquid discharged into the cap, and a check valve configured to prevent a flow of the liquid toward the cap from the suction pump is provided in the discharge path.

Image forming apparatus, method of suctioning liquid from nozzles of recording head and computer readable information recording medium

A toner bottle includes: a bottle main part to contain toner therein and having a rotational axis; an outlet at an end of the bottle main part; a spiral raised ridge in an inner wall of the bottle main part and arranged to deliver the toner contained in the bottle main part to the outlet by rotation of the bottle main part around the rotational axis; a plurality of toner guiding portions on a side of the spiral raised ridge adjacent to the outlet and arranged to move the toner to the outlet beyond the spiral raised ridge; and a gear adjacent to the outlet to rotate the bottle main part around the rotational axis. The bottle main part has a diameter larger than a diameter of the outlet, and the gear is formed integrally with the bottle main part between the outlet and the plurality of toner guiding portions.

Developer container, developer supplying device, and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a print head to eject droplets, a subtank to supply ink to the print head, a main tank to supply the ink to the subtank, a supply pump to supply the ink from the main tank to the subtank, a pump driver to drive the supply pump, an amount sensor to sense an ink amount in the subtank and output a signal when the ink amount in the subtank is at a predetermined level, and a unit to drive and control the pump driver, which is configured to decrease an ink supply rate of the supply pump in response to the signal outputted by the amount sensor and to stop the supply pump when predetermined time has passed after the signal is outputted by the amount sensor.

A driving device includes a shaft member and a driven gear rotatably disposed to the shaft member that is formed to be fixed to a surface plate member inside the driving device. The shaft member is provided with a flow passage for air penetrating along a shaft line thereof. A cavity is formed in a bearing member of the driven gear to be spaced from the shaft member.

Driving device and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a carriage configured to movably scan, and including a recording head configured to discharge ink droplets and a sub tank configured to supply ink to the recording head; a main tank configured to supply the ink to the sub tank via a tube; a negative pressure detector configured to detect a state of a negative pressure in the sub tank; a count unit configured to count a number of scans conducted by the carriage; and a control unit configured to cause the negative pressure detector to detect the state of the negative pressure in the sub tank to return the negative pressure in the sub tank to a normal state based on a detection result obtained by the negative pressure detector when the number of scans carried out by the carriage as counted by the count unit reaches a predetermined scan count.

Image forming apparatus including recording head

An image forming apparatus for use with a toner container which dispenses toner to the image forming apparatus, depending on an angular position of a rotatable cap of the toner container. The rotatable cap has a handle attached thereto. There is a toner container holder to support the toner container which permits the cap of the toner container to rotate. The image forming apparatus has a cover to selectively cover and uncover the toner container. There is also a device which moves with movement of the cover which interacts with the handle of the toner container.

An image fixing device for use in an image forming apparatus. The fixing device includes a fixing member which fixes a toner image on a recording medium at a nip area, a pressurizing member which pressures the recording medium toward the fixing member at the nip area, a carbon lamp which emits infrared rays, and a reflecting member which reflects the infrared rays to the nip area.

Image fixing device having carbon lamp and reflector

A method of installing a toner container and a container. The container includes a body for storing toner, a handle attached to an end of the container, an opening for discharging the toner to an image forming device, and a shutter which selectively opens and closes the opening due to rotation of the handle. There is a gear which protrudes through the end of the container, and rotation of the gear causes toner in the body to be moved from the body of the container into the end of the container and subsequently out through the opening of the end of the container.

An image forming apparatus includes a toner container, an image development mechanism, and a toner container holder. The toner container has a longitudinal length with first and second longitudinal ends, is driven for rotation to move the toner. The image development mechanism develops an electrostatic latent image into a toner image. The toner container holder includes a base plate onto which the toner container is inserted in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the toner container. The toner container holder further includes first and second supporters. The first and second supporters are mounted in traversal edge sides of the base plate and support the first and second longitudinal ends of the toner container, respectively.

Apparatus for image forming and image developing with an improvement of toner container holding

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Saitama, Japan

Kazuki Suzuki