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:
Nov. 11, 2014
Filed:
Mar. 28, 2013
Koji Kawahara, Ibaraki, JP;
Koji Kawahara, Ibaraki, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes: an image carrier configured to carry an electrostatic latent image thereon; a developing device to render the electrostatic latent image visible with a developer including toner and a carrier; a developer container to contain the developer collected from the developing device; a developer conveyance path through which the developer discharged from the developer container is conveyed to the developing device; a coolant conveyance path to convey a coolant; and a cooling device to cool the developer contained in the developer container when the coolant is contacted to an external surface of the developer container, in which the developer container and the coolant conveyance path are made of different materials and a thermal conductivity of the developer container is higher than that of the coolant conveyance path.