Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Sadao Kakeno

Osamu Naruse

Tatsuya Furukawa

Chuji Ishikawa

Michio Umezawa

Hiroshi Yamazaki

Masanori Horike

Kyuhachiro Iwasaki

Hiromichi Komai

Minoru Ameyama

Tamio Ohori

Tomoyuki Yamaguchi

Taisen Hayashi

Kenichi Ichikawa

Isokazu Furukawa

Satoshi Sekimoto

A planetary differential gear type reduction device of the present invention includes an output gear affixed to an output shaft connected to an object to be driven. A stationary gear has a smaller number of teeth than the output gear and is coaxial with the output shaft, but not rotatable. A planetary gear is rotatably mounted on a planetary gear shaft, which is driven by the torque of a drive source to revolve round the output gear and stationary gear, and revolves round the output gear and stationary gear in mesh therewith. The planetary gear has a first portion and a second portion meshing with the stationary gear and output gear, respectively, and having the same number of teeth as each other. At least one of the output gear, stationary gear and first portion and second portion of the planetary gear is implemented as a profile shifted gear.

Planetary differential gear type reduction device, driving device with a reduction mechanism and image forming apparatus

A charge and deflection control type ink jet printer in which at least an ink jet head section, a charging section and a deflecting section are configured in a single replaceable module, or unit. The user of the printer may replace the module without the help of a serviceman. The replaceable unit is further provided with an ink ejection adjusting mechanism, a deflection efficiency adjusting device, an a drive efficiency adjusting device.

Charge and deflection control type ink jet printer

An ink-jet printer includes an ink-jet head assembly which has a modular structure. The head assembly includes a generally bathtub-shaped bottom case in which an ink head for ejecting a series of charged ink droplets is mounted and a pair of top and bottom deflection electrodes is also mounted. The head assembly also includes a similarly bathtub-shaped top case which is mounted on the bottom case upside down to define a substantially enclosed space therebetween. The ink head is supported so as to be adjustable in orientation. And, one end of the ink head is supported as a pivotal point so that the other free end may be oriented in any desired direction. In another structure, a print head assembly is detachably mounted on a carriage and the print head assembly includes an inner ink mist absorbing member formed with a slit and formed from a metal. A carriage cover is detachably mounted on the carriage to cover the print head assembly set in position. The carriage cover is provided with an outer ink mist absorbing member formed with a slit and formed from a resin material.

Ink-jet printer with an encased printer head unit

A disposable container for collecting waste liquid is disclosed. A casing has therein an absorption member for absorbing waste liquid toward the interior of the casing, and a liquid holding member held in contact with the absorption member to retain the waste liquid absorbed by the absorption member. The receptacle is applicable to an ink jet recording apparatus for collecting waste ink. A fresh ink container may be combined with the waste ink receptacle in an integral cartridge configuration to be mounted in an ink jet recorder.

Receptacle for waste ink collection in ink jet recording apparatus

An ink ejection head including a nozzle holding member having an ink ejection nozzle threadably connected to a forward end portion of a liquid chamber structure. The ink ejection heads further includes a sealing member, such as a packing or an O-ring, located inwardly of a threaded connection as viewed from a liquid chamber in the liquid chamber structure. Introduction of dust or grit through the threaded connection into the liquid chamber can be effectively avoided by this arrangement, to thereby prevent obturation of the ink ejection nozzle.

Ink ejection head

An electrostatic type ink-jet recording method wherein ink drops issuing from a nozzle are never placed adjacent one another in the direction of the deflection. According to one embodiment of the present invention, when a number of n contiguous ink dots are to be formed in each column in the direction of the deflection by deflecting the charged ink drops at a rate of a number of n ink drops per deflection interval, a number of n ink dots are divided into a number of m groups (where m&lt;n) each consisting of a number of n/m ink dots spaced apart from each other by a distance nearly equal to m times the diameter of the ink dots, and in response to a print signal a first group of ink dots are formed in one deflection interval, next a second group are formed in the one deflection interval, and so on until a m-th group are formed, whereby the merging and bouncing apart of charged ink drops may be avoided.

Ink jet recording method

A deflection plate array for electrostatic deflection type ink-jet printers is provided in which a plurality of deflection plates each consisting of an insulating substrate and thin-film electrodes formed on the major surfaces thereof, respectively, and a plurality of insulating spacers are interleaved in such a way that the portion of each deflection plate bearing the thin-film electrodes is extended downward beyond the bottom of the corresponding spacer; and two electrode rods are extended through the array of interleaved deflection plates and spacers in such a way that one of the electrode rods is electrically connected to one of the thin-film electrodes on one surface of each deflection plate while the other electrode rod is electrically connected to the other thin-film electrode on the other surface of the deflection plate.

Deflection plate array

In one embodiment of the present invention an ink manifold is divided into a first ink chamber communicated with an ink drop issuing nozzle and a second ink chamber communicated with an ink source and the first ink chamber through a narrow passage. First and second piezoelectric elements are mounted in opposed relationship with the first and second ink chambers, respectively. The second piezoelectric element is normally applied with such a second driving voltage that the ink will not issue through the nozzle. The frequency of a first driving voltage applied to the first piezoelectric element is twice as high as that of the second driving voltage, and the first driving voltage is selectively applied in synchronism with the second driving voltage only during the positive going half cycle thereof so that an ink drop may be issued through the nozzle during the positive going half cycle of the first driving voltage. In another embodiment of the present invention a plurality of ink drop generating cells substantially similar in construction to the ink drop generator described above are assembled to provide an ink drop generator having an array of nozzle matrix.

System for driving ink drop generator of ink-jet printer

An ink jet head comprises a nozzle unit having a plurality of nozzles and a vibration unit having vibrating plates opposite to the nozzles. One or more ink distributing pipes having a plurality of ink outlets are arranged in parallel with the rectilinear nozzles, whereby the ink under uniform pressure is applied from the ink outlets of one or more pipes to the nozzles and the ink drops in the same size are jetted from the nozzles respectively.

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Yokohama, Japan

Sadao Kakeno