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:
Dec. 21, 2004
Filed:
Feb. 12, 2003
Kazunobu Shima, Wakayama, JP;
Hidetoshi Nishikawa, Wakayama, JP;
Masazumi Ishikawa, Wakayama, JP;
Kiyotaka Arai, Wakayama, JP;
Yuji Yamamoto, Wakayama, JP;
Masasuke Funase, Wakayama, JP;
Kazuo Nagaosa, Wakayama, JP;
Masaki Nakamoto, Wakayama, JP;
Masanori Inoshita, Wakayama, JP;
Noritsu Koki Co., Ltd., Wakayama-Ken, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes a printing unit having a print head for applying ink to a surface layer of a recording medium transported thereto; a loop-forming unit capable of temporarily storing the recording medium discharged from the printing unit; and a heating unit for heating the recording medium fed from the loop-forming unit for fixing the ink applied to the surface layer onto its fixing layer. The heating unit includes a preliminary heating subunit for heating the recording medium from a normal temperature level to a ink fixing temperature level, a main heating unit for heating the recording medium at the ink fixing temperature level and a slow cooling subunit for slowly cooling the recording medium to the normal temperature level.