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. 16, 2014
Filed:
Dec. 06, 2012
Hiroyuki Shimada, Kanagawa, JP;
Akiyasu Amita, Kanagawa, JP;
Hiroyuki Shimada, Kanagawa, JP;
Akiyasu Amita, Kanagawa, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A gloss applicator to apply a gloss to toner by heating and then forcibly cooling a toner image on a recording medium, includes: a plurality of rollers including a heat roller disposed upstream in a conveyance direction of the recording medium bearing the toner image thereon; an endless belt wound around the plurality of rollers and including a taut portion along the conveyance direction of the recording medium; a pressure roller disposed at a position opposite the heat roller sandwiching the endless belt together with the heat roller; a cooling member disposed at an interior surface of the taut portion of the endless belt; and a pair of separating members disposed at both ends of the cooling member and configured to contact and separate the endless belt to and from the cooling member so as to change an area of contact of the cooling member with the endless belt.