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. 11, 2012
Filed:
Dec. 07, 2007
Kohji Hatayama, Kanagawa, JP;
Tomofumi Inoue, Osaka, JP;
Takeshi Sakashita, Osaka, JP;
Mitsutoshi Kichise, Osaka, JP;
Yuuji Meguro, Ibaraki, JP;
Takeru Muramatsu, Ibaraki, JP;
Kohji Hatayama, Kanagawa, JP;
Tomofumi Inoue, Osaka, JP;
Takeshi Sakashita, Osaka, JP;
Mitsutoshi Kichise, Osaka, JP;
Yuuji Meguro, Ibaraki, JP;
Takeru Muramatsu, Ibaraki, JP;
Ricoh Company, Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A transfer device includes a cleaning device, a waste toner bottle, a connecting unit, and a regulating unit. The cleaning device removes waste toner remaining on an intermediate transfer belt. The waste toner bottle has an intake opening for collecting the waste toner therein. The connecting unit conveys the waste toner from the cleaning device to the waste toner bottle, and has a discharge opening that is configured to engage the intake opening to discharge the waste toner into the waste toner bottle through the intake opening. The regulating unit regulates the position of the waste toner bottle in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the waste toner bottle before the discharge opening comes in contact with the intake opening.