Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Hitachi Koki Co., Ltd.

Iwatsu Electric Company Ltd.

Kenji Nozawa

Masami Okamoto

Keisuke Kubota

Kohki Asada

Shuutaroh Yuasa

Kaori Hemmi

Fumihiro Hirose

Kazuaki Kamihara

Yuuki Kikushima

Ryusaku Hida

Kensuke Yamaji

Naoto Suzuki

Genichiroh Kawamichi

Hiroyuki Shimada

Jun Okamoto

Yoshihiro Sonohara

Takashi Kagami

Kazuo Suno

Syoichi Kaneko

Hiroshi Sawase

Masato Ogawa

Hiroki Ishihara

Yoshikuni Sasaki

Takehiro Nakamura

Yoshihiro Takahashi

Yoshitaka Fujinuma

Seiji Saitoh

Masayuki Ainoya

Toshihiro Nakagaki

Yuichiro Suzuki

Yuuta Kanda

Koji Kato

Takayuki Seki

Daisuke Nakamura

Takashi Oshima

Masahiko Satoh

Shun Saito

Teppei Kikuchi

Tsutomu Nakagawa

Satoshi Aizawa

Jun Ogino

Kazuhiro Shimojima

Tomonari Hokkyo

Kenta Kudou

An open and close device, a sheet conveyor, and an image forming apparatus. The open and close device includes an open and close portion to open or shut, a biasing mechanism to bias the open and close portion in an opening direction, and a holder to hold the open and close portion shut. The biasing mechanism includes a first spring whose biasing force is invariable regardless of a stroke of the first spring, and a second spring whose biasing force is variable due to a stroke of the second spring. The sheet conveyor includes the open and close device, and the open and close portion includes a conveyor to convey a sheet. The image forming apparatus includes the sheet conveyor.

Open and close device, sheet conveyor, and image forming apparatus

A conveyance device includes a conveyance member, a guide, and a rotator. The conveyance member has a conveyance surface with a joint, the conveyance member to convey an object to be conveyed, with the object on the conveyance surface. The guide approaches the conveyance surface and guides the object from or to the conveyance member. The rotator contacts the conveyance surface. The guide displaces in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance surface, in conjunction with displacement of the rotator when the rotator contacts the joint.

Conveyance device, drying device, image forming apparatus, and liquid discharge apparatus

A device attaches and detaches at least one of rollers in a belt conveyor in which an endless belt is wound around the rollers between a front plate and a rear plate of the belt conveyor. The device includes a guide and a roller holder. The guide has a base end and extends along a longitudinal direction of the detachable roller and includes a guide groove. The roller holder holds the detachable roller and includes an engagement portion, another engagement portion, and a guided portion. The engagement portion detachably engages with the front plate. The other engagement portion detachably engages with the rear plate. The guided portion slides along the guide groove toward the rear side or the front side of the device to engage or disengage the engagement portion with or from the front plate and engage or disengage the other engagement portion with or from the rear plate.

Device for attaching and detaching roller, and belt conveyor including the device

An attachment mechanism includes a first holding member and a second holding member. The first holding member is configured to hold a device side plate of a belt device to attach a main body side plate of an apparatus in which the belt device is incorporated. The second holding member is configured to be fixed to the first holding member. The first holding member and the second folding member are configured to adjust a posture of the device side plate with respect to the main body side plate in assembly of the belt device.

Attachment mechanism, apparatus including attachment mechanism, belt device, conveyance device, cooling device, and printing apparatus

A heater includes an irradiator configured to irradiate a heating object including a liquid attachment region, onto which a liquid is applied, with an active energy ray, and circuitry configured to control an output of the active energy ray emitted from the irradiator to an edge portion in the liquid attachment region of the heating object to be larger than an output of the active energy ray emitted from the irradiator to a non-edge portion in the liquid attachment region excluding the edge portion.

Heater, liquid discharge apparatus, and printer

A sheet heater includes a first conveyance belt configured to convey a sheet on which a liquid has been discharged in a conveyance direction, a heating unit facing the first conveyance belt, the heating unit configured to heat the sheet conveyed by the first conveyance belt, and a second conveyance belt disposed upstream of the first conveyance belt in the conveyance direction, the second conveyance belt configured to convey the sheet to the first conveyance belt. A surface temperature of the second conveyance belt is lower than a surface temperature of the first conveyance belt when the first conveyance belt and the second conveyance belt convey the sheet.

Sheet heater, liquid discharge apparatus, and printer

A heating device includes a blower configured to blow air, the blower comprising a channel member defining a channel of the air, and a heater disposed outside the channel member. The channel member has end portions and a central portion in a longitudinal direction, each of the end portions having higher heat absorption property than the central portion, and said each of end portions of the channel member faces the heater.

Heating device, liquid discharge apparatus, and printer

A dryer includes a first airflow generator configured to generate a first airflow to be blown to a sheet conveyed in the blower, a second airflow generator configured to generate a second airflow to exhaust air in the blower outside the blower, and circuitry configured to control the first airflow generator and the second airflow generator to control a blowing amount of the first airflow and an exhaust amount of the second airflow according to a type of the sheet.

Dryer, printer, and blower

A sheet conveyor includes a conveyance belt configured to rotate to convey a sheet on which a liquid has been applied in a conveyance direction, and a guide configured to guide the sheet to the conveyance belt, a position of the guide being variable in the conveyance direction.

Liquid discharge head, liquid discharge device, and liquid discharge apparatus

A cooling device includes a cooling member to absorb heat from a conveyed sheet and a plurality of cooling units to cool the cooling member. Each of the cooling units includes a coolant channel through which a coolant flows and a liquid-cooling device configured to cool the coolant that flows in the coolant channel. The coolant channels are disposed on or inside the cooling member and arranged side by side in a sheet conveyance direction. The coolant channels includes a downstream coolant channel being downstream from at least one of the plurality of coolant channels in the sheet conveyance direction, and an upstream coolant channel being upstream from the downstream coolant channel in the sheet conveyance direction. One of the liquid-cooling devices coupled to the downstream coolant channel has a cooling capacity higher than a cooling capacity of another of the liquid-cooling devices coupled to the upstream coolant channel.

Cooling device and image forming apparatus

A heating device includes a heat irradiator configured to heat a sheet on which a liquid is applied and is conveyed in a conveyance direction, an ultraviolet irradiator on a downstream of the heat irradiator in the conveyance direction, the ultraviolet irradiator configured to heat a portion of the sheet, and a circuitry configured to control an output of the heat irradiator and an output of the ultraviolet irradiator based on a thickness of the sheet.

A heating device includes a conveyor configured to convey a sheet onto which a liquid is applied in a conveyance direction, an irradiator including a light emitter on an irradiation surface of the irradiator, the light emitter configured to emit light onto the sheet to heat the sheet with the light, a channel plate between the conveyor and the irradiation surface of the irradiator, an airflow generator configured to generate an airflow along the irradiation surface between the irradiation surface of the irradiator and the channel plate, and a suction device configured to suck and discharge the airflow in a direction from the irradiation surface of the irradiator toward the conveyor.

A coating apparatus is connectable to both an image forming apparatus and a sheet feeder. The coating apparatus includes a coater, a carry-in entrance, and an ejector. The coater coats a recording medium with a treatment liquid. The carry-in entrance is on one of two exterior wall surfaces facing each other. The recording medium is conveyed from the sheet feeder through the carry-in entrance. The ejector is on another of the two exterior wall surfaces. The ejector ejects the recording medium to the image forming apparatus. A position of the carry-in entrance on the one of the exterior wall surfaces matches a position of the ejector on said another of the exterior wall surfaces.

Coating apparatus and image forming system

An application apparatus includes a first roller configured to apply a treatment liquid to a recording medium conveyed; and a second roller disposed in contact with the first roller and forming, with the first roller, a conveyance nip in which the recording medium is nipped. The application apparatus further includes a third roller disposed in contact with the first roller at a position different from the conveyance nip, and a fourth roller disposed in contact with the second roller at a position different from the conveyance nip. The third roller has a rigidity higher than a rigidity of the first roller, and the fourth roller has rigidity higher than a rigidity of the second roller.

Application apparatus and image forming system incorporating same

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Kanagawa, Japan

Kenji Nozawa