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:
Sep. 25, 2001
Filed:
Jul. 19, 2000
Takatsugu Fujishiro, Tokyo, JP;
Nobuhiko Umezawa, Kanagawa, JP;
Nobuto Yokokawa, Saitama, JP;
Atsushi Takehara, Kanagawa, JP;
Masayuki Ueda, Kanagawa, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus including a plurality of image forming sections each having an electrostatic latent image bearing member to form a latent image on its surface, a charging device to uniformly charge the electrostatic latent image bearing member, a developing device to develop the electrostatic latent image formed on the electrostatic latent image bearing member into a visible image and a cleaning device to remove developer adhered to the electrostatic latent image bearing member. The image forming sections are disposed in series in close proximity to or contacting a transfer sheet conveying belt spanned rotatively and are configured to differentiate an amount of a lubricant to be supplied to the surface of each electrostatic latent image bearing member such that at least one image forming section is differentiated from other image forming sections.