Kyocera Document Solutions Inc.

Panasonic Corporation

Ube Industries, Inc.

Kyocera Mita Corporation

Masaru Takagi

Tomohiko Yamakawa

Koji Izumi

Hayato Mori

Hiroaki Ohashi

Masayuki Yamada

Takehiro Sato

Yuta Nohara

Yuya Shimohora

Koji Abe

Shusaku Goto

Toshikazu Hamamoto

Masami Fuchi

Akira Ueki

Shoichiro Watanabe

Sumihito Ishida

Yuzuru Nanjo

Masahiro Ueno

Ryo Matsuyama

Shinji Nemoto

Syoji Koda

Koji c/o Ube Chemical Factory Abe

Akira c/o Ube Chemical Factory Ueki

Toshikazu c/o Ube Chemical Factory Hamamoto

Each of four outer side surfaces of each of a plurality of square pipes includes a groove portion formed along a longitudinal direction of each of the plurality of square pipes, and a pair of ridgeline portions on both sides of the groove portion. An additional member has a contact plane that comes in contact with one or both of the pair of ridgeline portions of each of the plurality of target pipes. A plurality of cantilever portions of the additional member come in contact with only one of the pair of ridgeline portions. An overhang portion of the additional member is formed between two specific cantilever portions of the plurality of cantilever portions, and comes in contact with both of the pair of ridgeline portions of the specific pipe. An edge of each of the plurality of cantilever portions is welded to the groove portion.

Structure and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a housing frame, an image forming unit, a registration unit, and an exposure unit. The housing frame forms a skeleton of a housing. The image forming unit has a photoconductor drum. The registration unit performs skew correction of a sheet. The exposure unit exposes the photoconductor drum. In the image forming apparatus, the registration unit and the exposure unit are adjacent within the housing frame. The registration unit is attached to the housing frame via a pair of flat plates. The registration unit is supported by a plurality of elastic pieces bent up from the pair of flat plates.

Image forming apparatus capable of suppressing vibration transmission to exposure unit

A gripping mechanism () includes a gripping roller () and a holder () that houses the gripping roller (). A gripped portion () of a first component () is gripped between an outer surface of the gripping roller () and an inner surface of the holder () through action of gravity acting on the gripping roller (). Preferably, the gripping roller () includes a core () that is cylindrical or columnar in shape and a covering section () that is an elastic body covering a circumferential surface of the core (). Preferably, the covering section () has a circumferential surface with a friction coefficient greater than a friction coefficient of the circumferential surface of the core ().

Gripping mechanism, assembly apparatus and component

An image forming apparatus comprises a grip member, a support portion, and a housing. The support portion is provided in the housing and supports the grip member to be able to slide between a first position where the grip member is stored further inside than a side surface of the housing and a second position where the grip member protrudes outward from the side surface and can be gripped. The grip member has an upper grip portion and a lower grip portion that are separated in the up-down direction and supported by the support portion to be able to slide substantially horizontally. The image forming apparatus includes restricting mechanisms configured to restrict both grip portions from sliding toward the first position in a state in which the grip member is at the second position and an upward force is applied to at least one of the grip portions.

Image formation apparatus including grip member to be gripped during transportation

A transfer unit includes first and second rollers, first and second bearing members, a roller holder, first and second urging members, a switching cam, and a driving mechanism. The switching cam includes first and second guide holes with which first and second engaging portions formed on the first and second bearing members engage. The first and second guide holes are formed, each in an approximately arcuate shape, at positions at different distances from the rotation center of the switching cam. By rotating the roller holder, one of the first and second rollers is arranged opposite an image carrying member and, by rotating the switching cam, the first or second roller arranged opposite the image carrying member is arranged selectively either at a reference position where the first or second roller is in pressed contact with the image carrying member or at a released position.

Transfer unit and image forming apparatus therewith

A transfer unit includes, as transfer rollers, a first roller and a second roller of which the latter has an elastic layer larger in an axial direction than that of the former, a first bearing member, a second bearing member, a roller holder, a first urging member, a second urging member, a switching cam, a transfer voltage power supply, and a driving mechanism. By rotating the roller holder, one of the first and second rollers is arranged opposite an image carrying member and, by rotating the switching cam, the first or second roller arranged opposite the image carrying member is arranged either at a reference position at which, by being kept in pressed contact with the image carrying member, the first or second roller forms a transfer nip or at a released position at which the first or second roller lies away from the image carrying member.

Transfer unit capable of switching between two transfer rollers

A transfer unit includes first and second rollers of which the second roller has an elastic layer larger in the axial direction than the first roller, a roller holder, and a switching cam. One of the first and second rollers is, by rotating the roller holder, arranged opposite an image carrying member and, by rotating the switching cam, arranged selectively either at a reference position to form a transfer nip or at a released position to lie away from the image carrying member. Let a length of the elastic layer of the first roller in the axial direction, a width of an effective image area on the image carrying member to which a toner image can be transferred, and a width of a recording medium of a maximum size allowing transfer using the first roller be L1, L3, and L4 respectively, L4&#x3c;L1&#x2264;L3&#x2212;5 mm is fulfilled.

Transfer unit capable of switching a transfer roller to one of a size appropriate to a recording medium

A transfer unit includes, as transfer rollers, first and second rollers of which the second has an elastic layer larger in an axial direction than the first, first and second bearing members, a roller holder, first and second urging members, a switching cam, a driving mechanism, and a first pre-transfer guide. By rotating the roller holder, the first or second roller is arranged opposite an image carrier and, by rotating the switching cam, the first or second roller arranged opposite the image carrier is arranged selectively either at a reference position where the first or second roller is in pressed contact with the image carrier or at a released position where the first or second roller lies away from the image carrier. With the first or second roller arranged at the reference position, the first pre-transfer guide is arranged at a first guide position.

Transfer unit capable of switching between two transfer rollers and maintaining a positional relationship with pre-transfer guide

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming portion, an image input portion, a transfer unit, a transfer voltage power supply, and a control portion. The transfer unit includes a transfer roller having a metal shaft and an elastic layer laid around an outer circumferential face of the metal shaft to form a transfer nip by keeping the elastic layer in pressed contact with an image carrying member, and transfers a toner image formed on the image carrying member to a recording medium as it passes through the transfer nip. The transfer unit includes, as the transfer roller, a first roller, and a second roller having a larger axial-size elastic layer compared to the first roller. The control portion arranges the first or second roller opposite the image carrying member according to width-direction sizes of the recording medium and image data fed to the image input portion.

Image forming apparatus that can selectively switch between two transfer rollers

A receptacle includes a pair of spare terminals that are located on both sides of a plurality of receptacle terminals in a longitudinal direction and are short-circuited. A plug includes a pair of relay electrodes that respectively come in contact with the pair of spare terminals when the plug is connected to the receptacle. A connector inspection instrument includes a conduction detecting circuit and a pair of terminal support portions supporting a pair of inspection terminals, and a displacement mechanism. The displacement mechanism supports one or both of the pair of terminal support portions in such a way as to displace the one or both of the pair of terminal support portions in a width direction to narrow or widen an interval between the pair of inspection terminals.

Connector inspection instrument, connector set

An assembly apparatus is for assembling a first member and a second member. The assembly apparatus includes a first gripping section, a second gripping section, and a driving section. The first gripping section includes a contact member and an elastic member. The second gripping section includes a contact member and an elastic member. The driving section drives the first and second gripping sections. The driving section drives the first and second gripping sections such that the contact member of the first gripping section and the contact member of the second gripping section make contact with the second member. The first and second gripping sections grip the second member through the two elastic members urging the respective contact members. The driving section drives the first and second gripping sections such that the first member and the second member are assembled.

Assembly apparatus and structure fabricating method

An assembly apparatus assembles a first component and a second component. The assembly apparatus includes a gripping section, a correcting section, and a driving section. The gripping section grips the first component. The correcting section corrects positional shift of the first component relative to the second component. The driving section drives the correcting section. The correcting section includes a first mechanism connected to the gripping section and a second mechanism connected to the driving section. The first mechanism has a first tapered portion on a surface opposite to the gripping section. The second mechanism has a second tapered portion on a surface opposite to the driving section. The second tapered portion has a substantially identical shape to the first tapered portion. The first tapered portion is placed on the second tapered portion.

Assembly apparatus having positional shift correction of components

A gripping mechanism includes a holder, a gripping roller, and a lever. The gripping roller is housed within the holder and grips an object between the roller and an inner surface of the holder. The lever releases gripping of the object by pushing the gripping roller upward. Preferably, the holder includes two plate sections which support a weight of the gripping roller. An opening is located between the two plate sections. The opening receives insertion of the object. One of the two plate sections is inclined relative to a vertical direction.

Gripping mechanism and assembly apparatus

In a structure body, a lower-layer portion includes four first column portions, a bottom frame portion, and a first partition frame portion, an upper-layer portion includes four second column portions, a top frame portion, and a second partition frame portion. The bottom frame portion is welded to lower end portions of the first column portions. The first partition frame portion is welded to upper end portions of the first column portions. The second column portions are formed to continue to the lower-layer portion and vertically extend on extension lines of the first column portions. The top frame portion is welded to upper end portions of the second column portions. The second partition frame portion is welded to the second column portions at a position between the first partition frame portion and the top frame portion. Each of the first column portions is thicker than each of the second column portions.

Structure body of image forming apparatus, image forming apparatus

A gripping mechanism includes an inclined surface, a rolling element, and a facing gripping part. The inclined surface is a surface inclined to a vertical direction. The rolling element freely rolls obliquely upward and downward on the inclined surface. The facing gripping part is arranged to face the inclined surface and forms an opening space with an end of the inclined surface, the opening space being narrower than a diameter of the rolling element. The rolling element includes: a core member forming a core of the rolling element; an annular member that is provided around the core member and has elasticity; and a plurality of ribs each of which is interposed between an outer periphery of the core member and an inner periphery of the annular member, and forms a gap between the core member and the annular member.

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Masaru Takagi