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:
May. 02, 2000
Filed:
Aug. 19, 1997
Yasunori Kawaishi, Narashino, JP;
Kenichi Mizuma, Yokohama, JP;
Hideya Furuta, Yokohama, JP;
Yoshihiro Sakai, Tokyo, JP;
Leo Munakata, Yokohama, JP;
Hideki Kamiyama, Yokohama, JP;
Minoru Sugiyama, Nishinomiya, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus of the type forming a toner image on a photoconductive drum or similar image carrier, transferring it to a paper or similar transfer medium via an intermediate transfer body, e.g., belt, and fixing it on the medium by a fixing device is disclosed. Just after the transfer of a toner image of the last color which is to lie over the other toner images on the intermediate transfer belt, the peripheral speed of the belt is switched to a comparatively low speed matching a fixing and paper transport speed. At this instant, the belt is moved away from the drum. The length of the transfer medium and the distance between a paper transfer position and a fixing position is compared. For a relatively short transfer medium, the peripheral speed of the belt is not switched to the low speed.