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. 20, 2011
Filed:
Oct. 27, 2009
Hideto Higaki, Yokohama, JP;
Toshifumi Togashi, Zama, JP;
Manabu Nonaka, Chigasaki, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
In a sheet separator of a sheet supplier, a friction separator and an electrostatic separator separate an uppermost sheet from other sheets of a plurality of sheets loaded on a sheet tray by a friction force and an attraction force generated by a non-uniform electric field, respectively. A conveyance member is provided downstream from the friction separator and the electrostatic separator in a sheet conveyance direction to feed the uppermost sheet separated by at least one of the friction separator and the electrostatic separator in the sheet conveyance direction. The friction separator and the electrostatic separator are arranged in such a manner that planes of projection of the friction separator and the electrostatic separator overlap or coincide in a direction perpendicular to the sheet conveyance direction in which the conveyance member feeds the uppermost sheet.