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. 08, 2012
Filed:
Mar. 04, 2011
Kazuchika Saeki, Kanagawa, JP;
Toshitaka Yamaguchi, Kanagawa, JP;
Masaharu Furuya, Kanagawa, JP;
Takahiro Nakayama, Kanagawa, JP;
Takuya Sekine, Kanagawa, JP;
Kazuchika Saeki, Kanagawa, JP;
Toshitaka Yamaguchi, Kanagawa, JP;
Masaharu Furuya, Kanagawa, JP;
Takahiro Nakayama, Kanagawa, JP;
Takuya Sekine, Kanagawa, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes an intermediate transfer belt, a photosensitive belt, a primary transfer roller, a secondary-transfer opposing roller, and a secondary transfer roller. The photosensitive belt comes into contact with a surface of the intermediate transfer belt to form a primary transfer nip. The secondary-transfer opposing roller comes into contact with the surface of the intermediate transfer belt to form a secondary transfer nip. The closest distance between a surface of the photosensitive belt and that of the primary transfer roller is greater than the thickness of the intermediate transfer belt. A toner image on the intermediate transfer belt is transferred onto a recording sheet at the secondary transfer nip while a transfer bias is applied to the secondary transfer roller.