The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 11, 2019
Filed:
Dec. 06, 2016
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Ohta-Ku, JP;
Nobuo Takami, Kanagawa, JP;
Tetsuro Hirota, Kanagawa, JP;
Kenji Kikuchi, Kanagawa, JP;
Koichi Yamazaki, Kanagawa, JP;
Atsushi Nakamoto, Kanagawa, JP;
Naohiro Kawashima, Kanagawa, JP;
Tatsuya Kubo, Kanagawa, JP;
Shinnosuke Koshizuka, Kanagawa, JP;
Kazunori Suzuki, Kanagawa, JP;
RICOH COMPANY, LTD., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A powder supply device that includes a powder reservoir including a rotator having a rotation shaft, to store powder supplied from a powder container; and a powder amount detector. The powder amount detector includes a detected member disposed in the powder reservoir, a contact member attached to the rotation shaft, to contact the detected member to vibrate or move the detected member, a detector to detect vibration or a displacement of the detected member, and a detection result processor to detect the amount of the powder in the powder reservoir based on detection by the detector. The powder supply device further includes a controller to supply the powder from the powder container to the powder reservoir based on detection by the powder amount detector. The controller rotates the rotator in discharging the powder from the powder reservoir and supplying the powder from the powder container to the powder reservoir.